My Prayer for 2018

I implemented something pretty simple into my life way back in 2005. I began that year to write out a short, one or two sentence prayer, that I would make the central focus of my prayer time that year.  I don't remember where I learned the idea... my guess is it was from the men's Bible study put out by Man in the Mirror since I has heavily influenced by them back in those days... regardless of where I learned it, this practice has been a huge blessing in my life, my family and in my work in the church.

Some years I've very spiritual about it and spend days, even weeks, praying to God asking him to give me the prayer I should pray. After all, wouldn't it be so much better to be regularly praying God's will? Of course! Other years, I just simply picked something that I wanted more of. Some years I've seen instant changes around me through these prayers... and other times, it was only when someone pointed it out to me that I became aware of any change.

For 2018, I've been thinking about this one prayer for quite some time... and I believe it's something that is more and more needed in our culture today.  This is my short prayer for 2018:
God, fill me with more and more of your JOY and let that JOY be noticed by all and be a blessing to all.
 Let me unpack this a bit.

Why joy? Why not happiness or some other type of feeling? Happiness is created by what is happening around us. You can't fake happiness in times of sadness... you need to be sad. You can't make happiness in times of trouble... you need to deal with the trouble. Joy is different. Joy is not based on the happenings around us, rather is comes from a state of being, a source outside of oneself. For the Christian, the Joy of the Lord is the gladness of heart that comes from knowing God, abiding in Christ, and filled with the Holy Spirit. Nothing that happens in life can change that truth of our identity as Christians... the source of joy is unchanging!

Our culture is rapidly losing joy... the internet is filled with hate. Families seem under more and more pressure financially. Politicians and celebrities are crashing and burning out with character flaws. We are becoming more and more cynical. And I'm not immune to this influence. I can easily, if not careful, become grumpy and cynical myself... Tension in ministry, if not careful, can cause that as well.

So I want more JOY in my heart... not fake JOY, but joy that can only come from who I am as a child of God. God loves me! God died for me! God filled me with his spirit and blesses me so that I can live a life of blessing to others! And this joy from God becomes our strength regardless of what is happening around me.

I don't want that joy simply for my benefit. Sure, it's great to beat the winter blues and get that crusty feeling out of my heart... but I want more joy in my life to be a source of joy everywhere that I go and everywhere that I serve. The ultimate joy is spreading joy.

That's my prayer for 2018. How about you? What are you praying for?

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