Here is a prayer for the New Year:
“Heavenly Father,
Thank you for the Holy Spirit who comes to bring change. Thank you that your Holy Spirit is given to all those who call Jesus Lord. Please change my life. Change me by the Holy Spirit to seek first your kingdom. Change me to live for Jesus and not myself. Change me so that all I truly desire is you and that I trust you every moment of this year. Change me by your Holy Spirit.
In the name of Jesus,
Amen”
Why this prayer? Because it is the New Year. We love the fresh start of the New Year – new year, new me, right? But here’s my problem: new year – same old me. The numbers on the calendar change, but the dude living out the calendar is still me. Perhaps you resonate with me.
I’d love for a calendar change to equal real change. Wouldn’t it just be awesome if a new year meant a new me? A new response to old problems, a new love for people, a new power of self-control, a new sense of self and place in the world.
New year new you
Let me tell you the best new news I know. This new year can bring a new you. Not because of the calendar change but because of the change brought by Jesus Christ. Jesus came among us to die for us, to save us and to change us. And the way he changes us is by pouring out the Holy Spirit upon his people. This is the change we need. It is bigger than a new year change. It is a new life change.
Let me share with you one of the most astounding moments in the whole history of humanity. It is the answer to a million prayers.
As part of the very first Easter, the resurrected Jesus appears to his disciples, shows them his scars from the cross, proclaims God’s peace and says ‘”As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." And with that Jesus breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit.”’ (John 20:22).
Soak up that moment. Be captured by the change. Jesus breathing out the Holy Spirit on his disciples was a pivot point in the history of the world. It echoes the time when God breathed life into Adam, the first man. Then, humanity was created. But now, a new spirit will be poured out - the Holy Spirit. The disciples will be created, again, by the power of God’s Spirit when the Spirit is poured out in a few short weeks at Pentecost.
New in Jesus
What is promised here is new creation. Creation again with God’s holiness right at the centre. That is a big change. Better than just the change of a new year. It’s a change of every year because it means complete newness for the disciple of Jesus. It means a new minute, new day, new month and new year for the one living these moments out is new in Jesus.
A dip into an Old Testament passage will make us see the wonder of this change. Here’s God’s promise to the ancient Jews.
"'For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. “ (Ezekiel 36:24-27 NIV)
God promised his Holy Spirit to the unchanging Jews because no matter the troubles that fell upon the ancient Jews because of their sin and wickedness, they did not change. They could not change. The history of the ancient Jews could be summarised as: new year – new sin – new disaster, with just a few exceptions.
But God promised change. It was always his plan. And the change was the deepest, most profound change a human heart could know. A new Spirit would create a new person from the inside out. This promised change, ached for over the ages, was inevitable after Jesus stood among his disciples and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’
After this statement Jesus stayed with his disciples a few short days, ascended to the Father and then poured out the Holy Spirit. And hearts were changed. Lives were changed from the inside out. New Spirit – new you, new us. The unchanging can now change.
That’s why I wrote the prayer above, for the New Year. Will you pray it with me? Will you ask for change you want in your life this year?
If Jesus isn’t your Lord, a prayer
But what about if you don’t know Jesus? What if he isn’t your Lord? Then here is a prayer for you.
Heavenly Father,
I don’t know Jesus. But I need change, I ache for it. Please bring someone into my life to teach me about Jesus. Please enable me to find a church that teaches me about Jesus. Please change my heart to bow to Jesus so that I might receive the Holy Spirit and be changed.
Amen.