I encourage you to read the one-minute introduction for this study: My New Year's Prayer. Now let's study the elements of that prayer, point by point, Scripture by Scripture.
♥ God's Word
Ask God to help you make this coming year a year to discover new things in His Word, reading it daily.
“Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law.” Psalm 119:18
♥ God's voice
Ask God to help you hear His voice when you read His Word, giving you wisdom for plans and purposes in your life.
“Now then, my children, listen to me; blessed are those who keep my ways. Listen to my instruction and be wise; do not disregard it. Blessed are those who listen to me, watching daily at my doors, waiting at my doorway.” Proverbs 8:32-34
♥ A focus on the future
Ask God to make this a year when you leave behind past sins and move forward confidently in His forgiveness and purposes for you.
“Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:13-14
♥ Awareness of God's love
In every situation you face this year, remember that God loves you deeply.
“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3:16-19
♥ God's peace
In this coming year follow these instructions for handling anxiety:
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7
♥ Trust
Ask God to make this a year when you trust Him more confidently than ever before.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. ” Proverbs 3:5-6
♥ Transformation
Ask God to help you to continue transforming your mind this year so you will reject worldly values.
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:1-2
♥ Forgiveness
Don't start the year with any bitterness. Take it to the Lord and get rid of it.
“Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” Colossians 3:13
♥ Repentance to God
Make sure you have honestly confessed your sins to the Lord. Don't start the year with un-confessed sin.
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.” 1 John 1:9-10
♥ Repentance to others
Make sure you start the year with a clean slate in your relationships, asking forgiveness of anyone you've offended.
“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” James 5:16
♥ God's purposes
Ask God to help you identify His purposes for you this year.
“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10
♥ Wholehearted devotion
Consider practical ways you can know Christ better this coming year.
“But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.” Philippians 3:7-11
copyright 2016, Gail Burton Purath, BiteSizeBibleStudy.com, updated and edited in 2026
Thank you! With this I feel prepared to greet the New Year.
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