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Together, let’s make a New Year’s offering
We can make all the resolutions we want, but we can’t change
ourselves. But when we willingly offer our lives to God, He will
change us. The NIV translation of Romans 12:2 says, “…be transformed by
the renewing of your mind.” The renewing of our mind requires inward change
and comes from God at work in us. It requires diligence on our part. It
requires changing our thoughts, our priorities, and goals to be aligned with
those of Christ.
It’s baby steps. And it doesn't require changing everything
all at once.
Let’s begin today with our first step … a simple prayer,
offering our hearts to God.
How do we do this?
We’re going to write a prayer together. I’ll start. You
finish.
Heavenly Father, I praise You this day as Elohim, God my
Creator. You are the Author of my life. You are the Strength of my heart and my
Portion forever. You are all I need. My heart’s desire in this New Year is to
grow closer to You. In knowing You better, I will know myself more because my
identity is found in You.
I want to become a person after Your own heart. God, I ask
You to help me each day carve out time to spend with You. Give me eyes to see,
ears to hear, a heart to receive, and a mind to understand all that You will
teach me. Make my heart tender to hear Your voice each time I meet with You.
Take Your Word and penetrate my heart. Create a hunger deep
inside my soul for more and more of You. May nothing else satisfy me more than
You.
Give me a heart of humility. If there is anything in me that
keeps me from hearing You, reveal it to me. Convict me. Move me to confession.
Cleanse my heart and renew a right spirit within me so I can be in perfect
fellowship with You.
Fill my heart with Your truth. Plant it deep so that it
takes root. Move me. Change me. Transform me. Empower me to live out what I
hear and learn.
Every day of this New Year, make my life one long walk of
obedience in response to Your Word and Your Holy Spirit Who lives and reigns in
me. Let Your love and Your Word shape my life. This is my prayer offering. I
ask this in Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Now let’s commit together to pray our prayer throughout the
year … asking God to change us from the inside out … in baby steps.
Read through Romans 12:1-2. Take some time in the next few
days to make this New Year’s prayer offering your own. After you've written it,
tuck it in your Bible or journal and commit to pray it each day.
Power Verses:
Psalm 51:17, “The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.” (NLT)
Psalm 51:17, “The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.” (NLT)
This is from Proverbs 31 .org Devotions
http://proverbs31.org/devotions/devo/my-new-years-offering
http://proverbs31.org/devotions/devo/my-new-years-offering
