Looking Ahead

This is our final day of reflecting on the year that has passed and preparing ourselves for the year ahead, using an ancient method of prayer known as the Examen. So far, we have noticed where God was present, practiced gratitude, reflected on the emotions the past year stirred, and invited God to speak. Today, we turn from the past and look to the future.

Loving Father, please help me to be still. I open my ears to hear You now, and I quietly prepare my heart for all that You have for me as I look toward the year ahead.

Read: Psalm 25:4-5 (NLT)

Pause and pray

Hebrews 11 is a roll-call of faith-full heroes in the Bible, and the following chapter begins with an invitation for me to join in with them…

Read: Hebrews 12:1-3 (MSG)

Here, and elsewhere in the Bible (Isa. 43:18, Prov. 4:25, Phil. 3:12-14), I am encouraged not to dwell too much on the failures or the successes of what has gone before, but to fix my eyes on what is ahead to where Jesus is leading and guiding me.

The final stage of the Examen involves looking forward with faith.

And so, as I look ahead, how do I feel about the year to come?

What am I hoping for?

What am I excited about?

What are my apprehensions and anxieties?

Lord God, I surrender all that I am feeling about this coming year to You, and I ask You to speak to me. Show me a particular verse, a story from the Bible, or maybe a picture that You want me to carry into this new year.

Pause and pray

Turning my prayers outwards, I ask God to show me who He wants me to pray for today.

Lord God, I ask You to give me a verse or story from the Bible, or a picture, that You want to encourage this person with as they enter the new year.

Pause and pray

At the 1924 Olympics in Paris, the Scottish sprinter Eric Liddell, refused to run the 100-metre heats because they were held on a Sunday. So, he entered the 400 metres instead and won the gold medal. ‘It has been a wonderful experience to compete in the Olympic Games and to bring home a gold medal,’ he said. ‘But since I have been a young lad, I have had my eyes on a different prize. You see, each one of us is in a greater race than any I have run in Paris, and this race ends when God gives out the medals.’*

Lord Jesus, I yield myself to You and Your plans for me this year. Help me to throw off anything that will hold me back and to carry forward the good things that I have gained and the holy habits that I learned last year. I fix my eyes on You, and I run the race that You have marked out for me in this new year.

Amen.

* Janet and Geoff Benge, Eric Liddell: Something Greater than Gold, (YWAM Publishing, 1999).

Now that you’ve finished the New Year Revolution plan, learn more about ancient forms of Christian prayer (including the Examen ) with 24-7 Prayer.