Feb08_01

Our Father and our God, as we stand at the beginning of the
new year, we confess our need of Your presence and Your
guidance as we face the future. You alone know what it holds
for us, and only You can give us the strength and the wisdom
we will need to meet its challenges. So help us to humbly put
our hands into Your hand, and to trust You and seek Your will
for our lives during this coming year.
*In the midst of life's uncertainties in the days ahead, assure
us of the certainty of Your unchanging love. *In the midst of
life's inevitable disappointments and heartaches, help us to
turn to You for the stability and comfort we will need.
*And in the midst of our daily preoccupations and pursuits,
open our eyes to the sorrows and injustices of our hurting
world, and help us to respond with compassion and sacrifice
to those who are friendless and in need.
*We pray for our nation and its leaders during these difficult
times, and for all those who are seeking to bring peace and
justice to our dangerous and troubled world. We pray
especially for Your protection on all those who serve in our
armed forces, and we thank You for their commitment to
defend our freedoms, even at the cost of their own lives. Be
with their families also, and assure them of Your love and
concern for them.
*As we select a new president and our other leaders this
coming November, we pray that Your will may be done and
the You will grant to them an extraordinary measure of your
wisdom and grace--for they will need it.
*Bring our divided nation together, and give us a greater
vision of what you would have us to be. Your Word reminds
us that "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord" (Psalm
33:12, NIV).
*As we look back over this past year, we thank You for Your
goodness to us--far beyond what we have deserved. May we
never presume on Your past goodness or forget all your
mercies to us, but may they instead lead us to repentance
and to a new commitment to make You the foundation and
center of our lives this year. And so, our Father, we thank
You for the promise and hope of this new year, and we look
forward to it with expectancy and faith. This I ask in the
Name of our Lord and Savior, who by His death and
resurrection has given us hope both for this world and the
world to come. Amen.