Another New Year

Today we begin another new year.

2008 was a wild one. Most people are probably happy to see it go.

For me personally, the biggest event of 2008 was our son Jed going to Iraq as a brand new cavalry officer, and returning safely 10 months later. There was also a wonderful trip to Turkey to teach in a conference on the Holy Spirit, and many other happenings in our family and church.

For the world, the biggest news was probably a tie between the economic downturn and the election of Barack Obama to be president of the United States.

These two events lead directly to thoughts of the coming year. What will happen? How can we best prepare?

As Christians, we have to keep two things foremost in our minds: the God we know and worship is the same God who made the universe, and he calls us to use our prayers to open a way for that love to act.

Sometimes going to church and singing the songs and hearing the sermon gets so routine that we lose sight of just who it is we are worshiping. We act as if we have forgotten that God is not confined to our church building. This is the God who created the world and everything in it. This is the God who holds all things together and keeps them running. So we are not facing the new year alone. God knows you, God loves you, and God is with you.

Through our faith in Jesus, this God of love and power has granted us intimate access to himself. So the second point is that we need to use that access through our prayers to bring God’s loving power to bear on our circumstances and our world.
The Bible is clear that God often waits for our prayers before he will do something, even something good. In fact, some theologians have said that God will not do anything without prayer.

The Bible is also clear that any Christian can offer prayers that are powerful and effective in their results.

As we enter 2009, we face many challenges, as individuals and families and churches and nation and world. But we face them with the love and power of the God of the universe, accessible through our prayers.

Pray for yourself. Pray for your family. Pray for your church. Pray for the economy. Pray for Barack Obama. Your prayers are the key to 2009.

If I could encourage you to make one New Years resolution, it would be this: learn and practice prayer.