Renew, Restore, Refresh our Hearts in 2021

This week - the days that fall right after Christmas and before New Year's Day have always been a special and unique time for me. It is almost like a pause in time mixed in with a dose of anticipation.

There is just something special about a new year. It is a perfect time to wipe the slate clean, to get up and try again with the momentum of newness spurring us on. A New Year, a time to ponder things we would like to change, things we would like to do better and breath in the air of opportunity that is around us.

We’re in the practice of resolutions. These prayers for the New Year will move us toward spiritual renewal too. God clearly designed us for internal renewal. The Lord does a spiritual renovation in each person He indwells. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” As new creations, our hearts, minds, and desires begin to mimic Christ’s.

Yet even our new hearts need a daily refresh button. Since many of us are already in the practice of beginning New Year’s resolutions, why not dedicate this year to spiritual renewal? We all need a daily heart reset, and nothing does the job better than prayer. To help us get started, I've found four basic prayers to commit to praying this year. Every Monday in January, I will be sharing them in depth. The topics can be life changing:

Renewed Thoughts
Renewed Awareness of Weakness
Renewed Relationships
Renewed Family Members

God hears our prayers and desires us to keep asking. Like any New Year's resolution, for change to come, we must build new habits. I hope you will join me here every Monday in January where we will discover prayers that will fill our heart with newness and transformation!

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