Praying in the New Year

The New Year is a wonderful opportunity to reflect with thanksgiving on the year that is past, and to pray in faith for the year that lies ahead. What are your prayers for the New Year?

The news this year has been dominated by stories of elections and new governments. There have been grim reports of wars and conflicts in Ukraine/Russia, and Israel with its neighbours. We might add that there are numerous other conflicts around the world which don’t appear in our national media, including Sudan and Burma/Myanmar. Our prayers might well include petitions for peace, and for just and righteous laws in our country and around the world. We are commanded to pray for rulers and authorities. Jesus teaches us to pray ‘Your will be done’ which includes a desire for God’s will and creation purposes to be reflected in a sinful world.

We are mindful that very often Christians are at the receiving end of violence and persecution. We think especially of regimes like North Korea, China, and Eritrea. There are disturbing reports of increasing hostility to the gospel in India. Many of the countries where Christians suffer are Islamic. We are commanded to pray for our brothers and sisters who are in prison or mistreated ‘as though in prison with them’ (Heb.13:3).

Pray for God's purposes to be worked out

We might add more personal and local issues which are on our hearts. But it is interesting that the focus of Paul’s prayers in the New Testament are not on our comfort, or even for the end of all suffering and persecution. Rather it is for God’s purposes to be worked out through suffering. In 2 Thessalonians 1, Paul boasts of the believers’ faith and steadfastness in the midst of suffering. In Colossians 1 he prays for endurance and patience. In Philippians he gives thanks that his own imprisonment advances the gospel. In other words, Paul does not anticipate that suffering and struggle will end until the Lord returns. If we are looking for consolation, that is to be the focus of our hope. And in the meantime we are to understand that often it is persecution and suffering which are the context for the greatest growth of God’s Kingdom. China and Iran are striking modern examples of that.

The freedom that can befuddle

When I travel to Eastern Europe I always find it sobering that while church leaders rejoice in their freedoms since the fall of the Iron Curtain, they also see the different challenges that freedom brings. In the persecuted church it is very clear who are real Christians and who are not. The culture of church life is wholehearted commitment, and godliness. In more prosperous times of freedom, it is much easier to be swept away by the culture, and to become worldly in our thinking.

Amidst all of the good and important things that we might pray for at this season, the priority is to pray for God to be glorified in our lives personally, in our local churches, and in the world. That might be in both trouble and joy. Pray that our thinking would not be befuddled by wealth and comfort, or desire for worldly ‘success’, popularity, or respectability. In the economy of God’s Kingdom it is faith, hope and love which is the only currency which has enduring value. Pray that we would live in the light of the Lord’s return, looking only for His ‘well done’. And pray that the Lord would come quickly.