As one year ends and another begins, here are five things to pray for your walk with God in the year ahead, all drawn from Philippians 3 v 12-14. Why not print it out and use it in your quiet times or with your family?
“I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me” (v 12).
Look back and thank Jesus for how he first took hold of you when you became a Christian. Praise him for the way he’s kept hold of you through the twists and turns of life in this past year. Give thanks for specific seasons or moments when you have particularly felt his loving grip on you.
“I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it” (v 13).
This side of eternity, no one has “arrived” as a Christian. Repent of any ways in which you’ve grown complacent in your faith. Confess times when you’ve felt proud of what you’ve achieved, or settled for compromise instead of striving to grow. Ask God to show you how he wants to make you more like Christ in 2018.
“… forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead…” (v 13).
As you look back at 2017, what is it that you regret? Maybe it’s something you did, or something you didn’t do. Thank God that he has dealt with your past sin—ask him to help you to “forget” it, now he’s forgiven it. Thank him that your best days are ahead of you in eternity, not behind you in this life.
“But one thing I do … I press on towards the goal” (v 13-14).
Pray that faithfully following Jesus every day of your life would be the “one thing” you do. What threatens to distract you from that great aim? What draws your eyes away from the goal? Ask God to give you a wholehearted determination to keep serving Christ this year.
“… to win the prize for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus” (v 14).
Whatever your goals for the year ahead, thank God that you’re heading for a prize so much better than checking off the next big life milestone, or a gold-plated pension, or the holiday of a lifetime—you’re heading to meet Jesus in heaven! Spend some time rejoicing in that truth now. Pray that, by God’s grace, you would walk by faith until you hold that prize.
This is adapted from Five Things to Pray for Your Heart: Prayers That Change You to Be More Like Jesus—which will be released in May and is available to pre-order now.
To give your spiritual life a kick-start in 2018, why not take our Spiritual Healthcheck—16 short devotions helping Christians to see where and how they can grow in their faith and joy.
Rachel Jones is the author of A Brief Theology of Periods (Yes, really), Is This It?, and several books in the award-winning Five Things to Pray series, and serves as Vice President (Editorial) at The Good Book Company. She helps teach kids and serves on the mission core team at her church, King's Church Chessington, in Surrey, UK.
