Monday January 6, 2025

Today is Monday, January 6. This week we prayerfully explore what God has next for us in the upcoming new year.

As I enter a time of prayer, I pause and become still. I calm my thoughts and silence my mind. I breathe deeply and slowly, and center myself upon the presence of God. Come Holy Lord, reveal whatever You have next for me in this new year. I surrender myself to Your pleasing and perfect will, trusting in the knowledge that You work all things together for good. Guide and equip me to fulfill Your desires, purposes and plans. Order my steps, instruct my ways, inspire my intentions and direct my motivations. Amen.

This is what the Lord says, “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:10-13

As a new year begins, I am already tempted to crowd the empty calendar with my agenda, priorities, activities and plans, before spending time discerning God’s desires for me in 2025. God has a plan for my future and I can completely trust His will for my life. January is an appropriate season to surrender myself to God. I pause to yield my willful self to the will of my Lord and Savior.

In today’s text, the prophet Jeremiah is speaking to the ancient people of Israel exiled faraway in Babylon. The exiles spent seventy years separated from their homeland, longing to return, and wondering what was next for them. Jeremiah’s words to them speak to me today as I seek the Lord, long for a fresh start and wonder what God has next for me.

Since the beginning of time, God’s intention and will have been playing out in the landscape of human existence. God has a plan for the world and it is for good. God has a plan for my life and it is for good. God knows the plans He has for me and I can trust Him to fulfill all His promises. God’s desire is for me to prosper, thrive and grow – physically, spiritually, emotionally, intellectually, and relationally. The knowledge that God has a design for my future gives me hope whatever my current circumstances.

In the chill of this January morning, as a new year stretches before me, I look to the past as well as the future. I consider how God has guided me in the past and how I have obeyed and disobeyed. I contemplate how God might want to guide me in my current circumstances. I seek God’s guidance for my future. I do not know what this upcoming year holds for me, but God knows. God knows everything that is in store for me and is already ahead preparing the way.

As I begin this new year of 2025, I call on God’s name. I begin the year in prayer. On my knees, I seek God with all my heart. I trust that if I seek Him, I will find Him.

Ask: How might God be revealing what is next in my life and fitting me for the journey? Do I place my complete trust in God’s good plan for what is next in my life? How might I surrender myself to the dreams God has for my future?

Pause and Pray

Holy Lord God, I seek You with all my heart. Come to me and fulfill the promises revealed in scripture. Bring me close to Your side through the love of Your Son Jesus. Reveal the plans You have for my life and show me the next steps I need to take in order to fulfill Your purposes for me. Teach me to obey Your will. Reveal the good path and caution me to not step to the left or the right, but follow faithfully. Shine a light on the way I should go and equip me for the voyage ahead. Remind me I can completely trust in Your leadership and surrender everything to You. Amen.

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