Dec 31st 17 Posted by Natalie Nichols in Christian Living

Heavenly Father, We Welcome You Into the New Year (Part One)

Heavenly Father, we welcome You and the things You have planned for the coming year. We welcome Your kingdom and say Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. We welcome Your presence, power, and promise into our lives in this new year:

We Welcome You to Our Lives

Father, we welcome You to our hearts, our time, our values, our possessions, our moments, our days, our nights, our present, our future. We present our bodies and everything we have and are to you as a living sacrifice, an offering of worship.

• “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” — Romans 12:1 ESV
• “So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.” — Romans 12:1, MSG

We Welcome Your Kingdom

Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. We seek Your Kingdom first above all else. As we do, You promise to provide for our needs.

• “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” — Matthew 6:33, ESV
• “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” — Matthew 6:10, ESV

We Welcome Your Plans

Father, we welcome Your plans of blessing and abundance into our lives. But we also welcome Your plans that do not match our temporal desires—plans that work toward our eternal good but are uncomfortable to us in the here and now… plans that make us uneasy but cause us to press into Your presence… plans that usher us into Your courts. … plans with eternal glory that exceed their temporal discomfort.

• “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” — Jeremiah 29:11, ESV
• “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” — Romans 8:28, ESV

We Welcome Repentance

Father, may Your kindness lead us to repentance. Show us how we have sinned against You and against others. Show us how we have disobeyed You and chosen our own way. Show us the things we have done that have grieved You and hindered Your work in our lives. Give us godly sorrow for our sins. Help us repent, turn from our sins, and follow you wholeheartedly.

• “Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out.” — Acts 3:19 ESV
• “Don’t you realize how patient he is being with you? Or don’t you care? Can’t you see that he has been waiting all this time without punishing you, to give you time to turn from your sin? His kindness is meant to lead you to repentance.” — Romans 2:4, TLB

We Welcome Inward Transformation

Father, we welcome Your word into our lives. May we dwell on scripture and meditate on it day and night. Cause Your words to renew our mind and bring inward transformation.

• “Do not conform yourselves to the standards of this world, but let God transform you inwardly by a complete change of your mind. Then you will be able to know the will of God—what is good and is pleasing to him and is perfect.” — Romans 12:2, GNT

We Welcome Your Understanding and Turn From Ours

Father, may we trust in You with all our heart. May we look to You and lean not to our own understanding.

• “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” — Proverbs 3:5-6, ESV

We Welcome Your Life Living In Us

Father, we welcome the crucifixion of our natural man and its desires. We invite the Spirit of Christ to live in us and through us.

• “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20, NIV).

We Welcome Your Daily Mercies

Father, thank You for Your steadfast love that never ceases. We welcome Your mercies that are new every morning. Great is Your faithfulness!

• “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” — Lamentations 3:22-24, ESV

We Welcome Your Strength and Power

Father, as we wait on You, renew our strength. May Your power rest on us in our weakness.

• “But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” — Isaiah 40:31, ESV
• “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.‘ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” — 2 Corinthians 12:9-10
• “Forsake me not when my strength is spent and my powers fail. … I will come in the strength and with the mighty acts of the Lord God; I will mention and praise Your righteousness, even Yours alone.” — Psalm 71:9, 16, AMPC

We Welcome Your Peace

No matter what trouble surrounds us, we will not be afraid. You have given us Your peace. The things that threaten us are nothing to You, God. You have power over all things, even the power of the enemy. We cast out all fear and welcome Your peace.

• “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” — John 14:27 ESV

We Welcome Your Courage

Father, You have called us to do things this year that require courage. We cannot shrink back in fear. So we cast out fear and welcome Your courage, bravery, and strength!

• “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” — Joshua 1:9, ESV
• “Wait and hope for and expect the Lord; be brave and of good courage and let your heart be stout and enduring. Yes, wait for and hope for and expect the Lord.” — Psalm 27:14, AMPC

We Welcome Your Hope

No matter how hopeless things appear, our hope is not cut off! It’s never too late for You, God! You can and will work miracles!

• “Surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.” — Proverbs 23:18, ESV
• “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13 Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. 14 I will put my Spirit in you and you will live.” — Ezekiel 37: 11-14, NIV
• “Yes, let none who trust and wait hopefully and look for You be put to shame or be disappointed….” — Psalm 25:3, AMPC
• “They shall not be put to shame who wait and hope expectantly for Me.” — Isaiah 49:23, AMP
• “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” — Romans 15:13, ESV

We Welcome the Resurrection of Dead Things

Father, we welcome the resurrection of dead things. We tell the enemy, “Don’t gloat over us. Though we have fallen, we will rise! We may sit in darkness now, but God IS going to be our light!”

Mighty God, You are going to breathe life into us and raise us on our feet, mighty warriors for Your kingdom! We prophesy to the breath of the Spirit and say to it, “Come…from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live!”

Father, we welcome Your resurrection of dead things! Even the deadest of dead things will rise to life!!

• “But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me. Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light.” — Micah 7:7-8
• “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! 5 This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. 6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”

“7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.

“9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.” — Ezekiel 37:4-9

Questions: How are you welcoming God’s presence, power, and promise into your new year? Which of these promises most spoke to your need?

 

OTHER POSTS IN THIS SERIES:

• Heavenly Father, We Welcome You Into the New Year (Part 2)

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