A prayer for the New Year (adapted from the prayers Year’s End and New Year in The Valley of Vision).

Our Father in heaven.
You are great and You are good.
You are merciful and You are gracious.
We thank You for bringing us safely through another year.
A year where we saw so much of Your goodness.
You were good when you gave, and You were good when you took away.
You were good when the sun shined upon us, and You were good when the night fell around us.
There was never a moment when You were not good to us.

You have promised in Your Word that You have loved us since before the foundation of the world,
And last year that love was always with us,
even in those times when we wandered and went astray,
when our hearts were hard, ungrateful, and unbelieving.
Thank You that there was nowhere we could go that was beyond Your love, beyond Your reach, and beyond Your care and compassion.
You are so good, and we are so grateful.

Lord, we trust that You will continue to be faithful to us this coming year.
Please grant us a grace that guides, sustains, and sanctifies us every day and every hour,
that we would not live a moment apart from You.
Help us to rely on Your Spirit to supply every thought,
to speak every word,
to direct our every step,
to prosper all that we do,
to build up our faith,
and to give us a deep desire to display Your glory,
to advance Your kingdom,
and to declare Your great love shown to us in Your Son, Jesus Christ.

Gracious God, we are sure that Your goodness will be with us in the year ahead.
If you have appointed trials and tribulation, we know that You will be with us to guide and comfort us through them all.
If we have to pass through persecution or times of deep temptation, we can trust that You will never leave us nor forsake us
If this is to be the year you call us home, we rejoice to know that we will be in your presence at last.
And if this is the year that Christ returns – how we long that this would be the year – we look forward to joining with all creation in praising Your name.
But if You are to give to us length of days and bring us safely through this new year,
whatever may come, we pray that we will glorify You in all that we do.

Father, in times of joy or sadness,
in times of security or trial,
in times of peace or temptation,
would You be pleased to make Yourself known and make Yourself great through us.

We pray this in the mighty name of Jesus.

Amen.

(Photo: Freely)

A prayer based on John 1:14-18.

We give You our God all the glory and praise as we marvel at that awe-inspiring moment,
when Your Son,
the eternal Word of God,
the uncreated Creator,
who made everything and holds everything together,
became flesh;
when He added human nature to His divine nature,
when He who was infinite, unlimited, invisible became finite, limited, and visible,
as He shrank Himself into a baby;
as He came into our world as the man Jesus Christ,
to dwell among His people in an even more personal and much closer way.
We praise You that in Him,
You have made Yourself known with a clarity never seen before.
That He has revealed Your glory by showing You to be a God who is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth;
that You are a God who forgives iniquity, rebellion, and sin.

Lord Jesus, we thank You that You are full of grace and truth, and we can know this for sure, by looking at the cross.
As we see You bleeding and dying as a sacrifice for sin,
we see Your grace, as You are forgiving the sins of Your people who don’t deserve any forgiveness from You.
As we hear You cry out as One forsaken by Your Father,
we see Your truth, as You are not leaving the sin and guilt of Your people unpunished but receiving what they deserve.
We thank You that You took on flesh so that You would have flesh to offer up to God as a sacrifice for us, so that we can be brought into relationship with Him.

Gracious Father,
We are truly amazed by what Your Son has done for us.
We are astonished by how much He must love us that He would give up the riches and splendour and glory of heaven to enter this dark world of sin and suffering,
to experience all the weakness and temptation we face.
And yet we confess our response to the news that the Word became flesh for us is not what it ought to be.
Though He cares about us, about every detail, domain, and day of our lives,
we do not care about Him as we should.
We are prone to drift and disobey and dishonour Him daily.
Though He has saved us from all our guilt and shame before You, and rescue us from the wrath to come,
we do not live in a manner worthy of this salvation.
Though He has given us eternal life and a future hope,
we do not live as citizens of heaven,
but cling far too tightly to the things of this world and continue to be attracted by its ways.
Forgive us we pray and continue to conform us by Your Spirit into the image of the Son, who loved us and became flesh for us.
Help us to fix our eyes on Him who is the author and perfector of our faith;
and in whatever we do, to do it all to Your glory and the glory of Your Son, our Saviour and King.

Amen.

(Photo: Freely)

A prayer based on John 1:10-13.

Father in heaven,
We praise You for Your Son,
the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Word who became flesh,
because in Him, life and light has come into this world.
We praise You that He is the One who can give spiritual life to those who are dead in their transgressions and sins,
who are objects of God’s wrath,
and who are deserving of His judgment.
We praise You that He is the One who can give spiritual life to those who are in darkness,
showing to them how they can be saved.
And we praise You that He came into this world,
this world in rebellion,
this world without hope and not in relationship with You,
with an incredible invitation:
The invitation for people to be children of God and to have You as thier Father.

We thank You for the immense privilege we have of being called Your children.
We don’t deserve this right.
We don’t deserve this access to You.
We don’t deserve any of the good gifts you give to us,
the love and care we can count on You for,
the work You are doing by Your Spirit in our lives to grow us in Christlikeness,
nor the security of knowing that our future is in Your heavenly home;
for, these blessings have come to us, because You have been so gracious and merciful.
They have not come because we were born into the right family or in the right country.
They have not come because of anything we’ve done or will do.
They are only ours because by Your Spirit,
You have opened our blind eyes to see Jesus,
You have unplugged our death ears to hear the message of Jesus,
and You have changed our hearts to respond in faith to Him.
We will be forever grateful for the new birth we each have experienced.

And yet we are grieved at the sheer number of people in our country, and especially in our community, who have not received Christ by believing in His Name;
who do not see Jesus as He truly is,
who do not trust Him with their lives and deaths,
who will not worship Him as their King.
For those who are unable see Him, who have been kept from recognising Him because of their sin, whose minds have been blinded; show them Your glory in the face of Your Son.
For those who are unwilling to see Him, because they love the darkness; show them how evil and wicked sin is, and how unsatisfying and dangerous is it because it leads to death.
For those who are too proud to admit they need saving; humble them so that they cry out for rescue.
We pray this especially for those we are witnessing to at this time;
who we are seeking to tell the good news about Jesus Christ to.
Would they not reject the offer of life – new life, spiritual life, eternal life – and instead come to Jesus who is the way, and the truth, and the life.

Amen.

(Photo: Freely)

A prayer based on John 1:6-9.

We praise You our God that the true light that gives light to everyone has come into the world.
That Jesus the true light came into this dark world.
That He came to be our Saviour.
That He came to be our King.
And He came to give light.
To make You known.
To expose our sin.
And to bring us into relationship with You.

We give You thanks that this unbelievable news about Christ has been announced to us by witnesses.
For sending people to proclaim the truth about who the light is,
and what He has done to save a people for Himself,
so that we might believe and by believing have life in His name.

We are grateful for the witness of John the Baptist,
who announced that Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,
that He is the One who baptises with the Holy Spirit, filling us with Your very presence,
and that He is the Son of God.
For the Gospel writers, who have provided a record of His testimony,
but also eyewitness accounts of what Jesus said and did;
who testify to His perfect and righteous life,
death on the cross as a ransom for many,
and that when the women visited the tomb, the stone had been rolled away, the body was gone, because He had risen from the grave.
And we are full of gratitude for all those who have continued to make known what they know to be true about the true light based on the reliable testimonies found in Your Word.

For those who have taught us the Word:
Parents who read the Bible at bedtime or at dinner table;
Sunday School teachers who simply explained the gospel to us;
Friends who invited us to church to hear about some who had transformed their lives and patiently answered questions that we had;
Pastors and preachers who Sunday by Sunday faithfully opened the Scriptures and showed us Christ;
Evangelists who passionately spoke of our need to be rescued from the wrath of God that is coming.
For all those whom You used to bring us to faith in Jesus, we give You our thanks.

Help us, we pray, by Your Spirit, to be faithful witnesses ourselves.
To testify that the light has come and that He gives light.
To point people to the Lord and what He has done.
To speak of the wonder of what it means to be rescued by Him.
To not hold back from the uncomfortable parts of the message:
that judgment is real
and repentance of sins is necessary.
To call people to trust in Jesus and be saved.
Because Lord, it is our great desire that sinners be saved, rebels be rescued, and unbelievers believe.
Would we see that happen?
Would you do that marvellous work before our eyes?
Would our labour for You not be in vain but produce fruit?

Lord Jesus, build Your church and extend Your kingdom in this community and beyond through our witness about You.

Amen.

(Photo: Freely)

A prayer based on John 1:1-5.

Almighty and everlasting God,
Our Father in heaven,
We praise You that You have made Yourself known to us,
through Your Son,
the Lord Jesus Christ;
who is the eternal Word,
there in the very beginning,
before there was time,
existing from eternity,
who was with God and who is God.

We thank You that as we look at Him,
we see what You our Father are like.
As the second person of the Godhead,
everything that is true of You is true of Him.
You are all-powerful, so is He.
You are all-knowing and all-wise, so is He.
You are full of mercy and grace and compassion, so is He.
You are holy, so is He.
You are great and good and glorious, so is He.
And we could go on and on acknowledging and delighting in Your character and attributes,
because He has made You known, by coming into the world.

Lord Jesus,
How grateful we are that You did.
Though what was made through You has revealed God’s existence and power,
since the Fall, we, like the rest of humanity, has suppressed this truth.
The truth that the powerful Creator who made the heavens and the earth, who made us in His image, is the only God,
and He is worthy of our worship, our thanks, and our dependence.
We have no excuse for not giving You along with the Father and the Spirit, all the glory You are deserving of, yet foolishly we don’t.
We confess that we were born spiritually dead.
Because of our sin, we don’t know You as our God.
We confess that we were born spiritually darkened.
Unable to see the truth and choosing to believe lies and falsehood.
So, we thank You that You came to bring life and light to us.
Opening our eyes to our need for rescue.
Showing us how we can be through Your righteous life and sacrificial death.
Giving us forgiveness and eternal life when we turned from our sins and put our trust in You.
Christ Jesus, we can’t thank You enough.
Forever we will be giving to You all blessing and honour and glory and power,
for by Your blood shed for us and in our place on the cross,
You have done for us what we could never do for ourselves.
O Lord, our Lord, how majestic You are, our Creator and our Saviour.

Amen.

(Photo: Freely)

A prayer based on Luke 23:26-43.

Our God,
We want to acknowledge before you the truth about who we are.
We are sinners.
We are guilty before You.
We have done what is wrong in your sight in so many ways.
We have failed to love You with all our hearts and love our neighbours as ourselves.
We have broken Your laws, ignored Your commands, and fallen short of Your glory.
We have no excuses, nothing we can say to justify our thoughts, words, and deeds.
Our mouths are shut before You.
And we recognise that Your judgment is what we deserve.
It is right that we weep for ourselves.
For the day is coming when You will unleash Your wrath upon the world.

Yet astonishingly we can have hope.
Hope of paradise.
Hope of being back in the garden, like Eden, only better.
Hope of a future in unspoilt beauty, an existence free of sin and death, and rest from all life’s problems.
Hope of being with You.
And this hope isn’t wishful thinking.
It is assured.
It is guaranteed.
It is definite.
Because it has been promised by Your Son whose words are trustworthy and true.

Lord, we marvel at how this can be.
We are amazed by the mercy You are willing to show to us.
That we can have so much joy, not just in the future, but even now in this life, if our faith in Jesus Christ.
We thank You that He was the Messiah.
The Chosen One.
The King of the Jews.
The Saviour.
We thank You that He stubbornly refused to save Himself when He was dying on the cross, because He was dying to save others.
To save sinners like us.
We thank You that He took upon Himself all our sin, and that He went through all the pain and agony and mocking and sneering and punishment that we deserve, so that we never have to.
So, that He can give us what we don’t deserve.
Paradise not punish.

How wonderful it is to know that Jesus will remember us at the end of our lives on this earth or when He comes again.
And that He will welcome us into His kingdom.
Holy Spirit, strengthen our faith and hope in our Saviour each day.
Help us to grasp further the love of Christ who would do all this for us.
And to live our lives in such a way that show that this is our future.

Amen.

(Photo: Freely)

A prayer based on Luke 15.

Our God,
We praise and thank you that You so loved the world that You sent Your Son to earth to seek and to save the lost.
To seek and save people like us.
People who by nature are dead in their transgressions and sins.
People who are unable to help themselves.
People who are without hope and without God.
Who were far from You; living immoral lives with no consideration of You.
Or people who have been living moral lives.
Who think that they don’t need You because they can make themselves right with You by their own efforts.

We thank you Lord Jesus, that You search out for those who know they are sinners.
For lost sheep and prodigal sons and daughters.
We thank you that You look for religious people, who are trusting in their own righteousness.
For lost coins and elder brothers.
And that Your desire is to save them.
That out of love You came down from heaven to earth.
That out of love You lived a perfect life of obedience, never ever putting one step out of place, keeping every single command.
That out of love You chose to walk the hardest, loneliest path to the cross where You carried for us all our sin and guilt and shame.
That out of love You hung there until the punishment we deserve was paid.
And Satan’s head was crushed.
Your Father’s wrath was satisfied.
And justification and redemption and reconciliation was achieved for all who trust in You.

How grateful we are that we can know for certain that all this is ours by faith because on the third day Lord Jesus, You rose again and have ascended to the presence of your Father.

Gracious Father, please forgive us for not appreciating as we should what Your Son has done for us by coming to seek and save us when we were lost in our sins.
And how costly it was for Him to make His very own, our sins and sorrow and shame and bear the penalty we deserve for us to bring about this wonderful rescue.
Forgive us for all the times we behave not as those who have been made alive, but as those still dead in our sins.
For acting as those who are still lost, not as those who have been found.
For when we lack joy
When we lack contentment.
When we grumble that others seemingly are blessed more than we are.

So, help us now, by Your Spirit, we pray, to rejoice like the angels that we and others have been rescued from sin and death and hell.
And to appreciate how incredible this salvation is.
That now You don’t treat us as servants but as sons.
That we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing, so that it is like the best robe, the ring, the sandals have been put on us and the fattened calf has been killed and we are enjoying the feast, knowing that one day this will be a reality.
It is truly remarkable what you have done for us.
We give to You now our praise and our thanks.
Through the precious Name of Jesus.
Amen.

(Photo: Freely)

A prayer based on Luke 11:1-13.

Our Father,
We are amazed that we can call You, our God – Abba, Father.
We recognise that we have this privilege and this right because when we believed in Jesus, we were adopted as Your children.
We thank You for your great love that made this possible, for You to bring us into Your family as those who are forgiven and accepted.
What a great cost it was to You to send Your Son into this world to bear the wrath and judgement that our sins deserved.
You truly are great and glorious and worthy of all our love and trust.
And not just our love and trust, everyone’s.

Lord, our Lord, we long that Your name be honoured as holy.
We pray that You would make Yourself known in all the earth.
That You would display Your greatness, Your magnificence, Your beauty, Your supremacy, so that all people would praise You, and give You the adoration, the respect, the honour You deserve as Creator, King, Shepherd, Saviour and Judge.
That they would recognise how marvellous, how wonderful, how gracious and merciful You are.
How we long that we would know You more, and glorify You in our actions, in our words, in our thoughts, in our emotions, and in our worship.
That we would live under Your rule in every area of our lives; living as citizens of heaven, for that is what we are.
We praise You that we are no longer in the kingdom of darkness, and we pray that Your rule would spread to those who are and bring them into Your kingdom.
For others to be attracted to Christ, and to submit to His rule before He returns to bring His kingdom to completion.

Until that day, as we wait for our Saviour to come, give us all we need each day.
Provide for us our daily bread.
Food, clothing, warmth, a home, a job, education.
But also provide for our spiritual needs in Jesus.
Help us to follow Him faithfully each day and live lives worthy of the salvation that is ours.
Yet we confess gracious Father, that we will fail to, and will need Your pardon.
We ask for You to forgive us our sins, that great debt we owe to You, which Jesus has paid for us on the cross.
We praise You that there, our sin, not in part but the whole, was nailed, so we bear it no more.
As we trust that Christ has paid the penalty for all our sins, past, present, and future, restore to us our day to day relationship with You our God.
And to grow in our obedience and faithfulness to You.
We know this is hard.
Our enemies, the world, the flesh, and the devil, are strong.
We cannot resist the temptation to sin on our own.
So, we pray for protection.
By Your Spirit help us to not giving into those sins we are prone to – lust, envy, anger, greed, discontent, pride.
Do not bring us into temptation.
And as You provide and pardon and protect us, may we give You all the glory, now and for ever.

Amen.

(Photo: Freely)

A prayer based on Luke 5:1-11.

We thank You our God and Father,
that we can come to You.
We can come to You with our praise,
with our thanks.
with our confessions of sin.
with our burdens and cares,
and with our needs and disappointments.
We thank You that we can come to You because You care for us,
but also because the way is open to us because Your Son, the Lord Jesus,
has died so that our sins can be forgiven,
and on the basis of His righteous life, we can be accepted by You.

We praise You for Your Word,
for every opportunity we have to read it and especially to hear it preached.
It is a delight to hear good preaching, faithful preaching, through which Christ speaks to us.
We thank You that His voice is powerful;
powerful to wake up those who are dead in their sins and transgressions and bring them to new life.
And that His voice has authority to lead and guide us along paths of holiness.
May we continue to make most of every opportunity we have to hear Him speak to us.

Lord, we praise You for the good things that You give us to do –
for the work we have before us each day.
Help us to be diligent and faithful in all our tasks, seeing them as being done for You.
Give energy to those whose labour is exhausting.
Give concentration to those whose calling demands focus.
Give patience to those who interact with different people all day.
Give protection to those whose job is dangerous.
Above all, may we be a blessing to those we work for and work with.
Thank you for all the ways in which You provide for our needs, and we ask that You would continue each day to give us our daily bread.

We thank You that for every opportunities You give us as a church, individually and together, to make Christ known.
Help us, if we are feeling weary, to carry on.
Help us, if we are downcast because we are not seeing much growth from our efforts, to keep going and to keep being guided by the Word of God.
Help us to leave the outcomes with You and to depend on Your goodness.
We would dearly would love to see many come to Christ, but if for a time we have ‘caught nothing’, let us not lose heart, but all the more plead for You to show us Your favour.
As sinful men and women, we don’t deserve anything from You.
We are not worthy of Your kindnesses.
But Lord Jesus, You came into the world to save sinners, so we turn again to You.
May You be gracious to us and encourage us with fruit.
We pray this for our good, but ultimately for Your glory and praise.

Amen.

(Photo: Freely)

A prayer based on Mark 16:1-8.

Our Lord and God,
Saviour for the world
Rescuer of all trust in Your Son.
How we praise You for Your plan of redemption;
for the grace and mercy You give to those who don’t deserve any of it;
for the cross where Your wrath against us because of our sin was satisfied,
where the penalty of our transgressions was paid for,
and where forgiveness was achieved.

We thank You that Jesus gave His life as a ransom for many and the many included us,
because Your Spirit gave us new life.
We thank You that He opened our eyes to see and gave us the faith to believe that Jesus is who He says He is and has done and will do all that He said He will.
We thank You for the certainty and assurance we can have of this because He is alive.
He has risen from the dead.
Thank You that His resurrection guarantees that He has been victorious over sin and death and has secured salvation and eternal  life for us.

Father, we confess that at times this good news, that a human died and came back to life on the third day, seems hard to believe.
We ask for Your help in overcoming any doubts we may have.
Strengthen our faith in the historical facts of Jesus’ resurrection:
that when those brave women went to the tomb, to anoint the body of the most despised man in the whole of Israel, they saw the stone had been rolled away and Jesus’ body was gone.
Help us to believe the heavenly explanation that came from the angel they met:
that the reason Jesus who was crucified was not there, that His body was gone, was because He was no longer dead, that He had been raised and is alive.
Give us certainty in our minds and a recognition that the eyewitness testimonies are reliable and trustworthy.

And may we not stay silent about this.
Holy Spirit give us a boldness to go and tell people that Jesus has risen.
Remove any embarrassment we may feel about speaking about our resurrected Lord, because His death and resurrection is good news for everyone.
Would we not be ashamed to speak of the One who can save people from their sins,
and testify about the One who has taken the punishment our wickedness deserves.

Lord Jesus, as You made clear to Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salmone, You have not finished with the ‘Peter’s’ of this world;
those who fail You;
who haven’t loved You as they should;
and who have rejected You.
We thank You that this means we can call people to repent and believe the gospel.
Increase our faith that as we do, Your Spirit will be drawing people to You to be saved.

We give You our God all the glory because Your Spirit has opened our eyes to see our risen Saviour and have granted us faith to believe in Him.
And Lord, would You do that for those we know who are lost and perishing, so they can join us in adoring You.

Amen.

(Photo: Freely)