January 2024 Prayer Devotional Blog

I hope you all had a blessed Christmas and are feeling ready to dive into this next year, equipping ourselves to walk in God’s plan for us!

If you were able to attend our December event, you know we learned about the gift of repentance. In preparing for the event and settling into the Christmas season afterwards, it was interesting to shift my perspective to viewing repentance as a gift. Melony Lucas, who gave the awesome teaching for the event, walked us through a “moving” representation of our heart posture and how that plays into our relationship with Christ, how our sinful nature turns us from Him. However, we have the gift of Jesus that offers us forgiveness and the ability to turn back to Him. Our sin can only separate us, but the power of Jesus brings us closer to our Savior. This gift, freely given, still has to be opened and used for it to have influence in our lives. God wants us to partner with Him in assessing where our hearts are and doing the work to brings us back to Him. 

Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting. 
– Psalm 139:23-24

Before we go any further, let’s all pause and take some honest heart inventory. Am I open to hear what God would ask me to repent of (turn away from)? Do I want to turn away from the things that (known or unknown to me) keep distance between myself and God? Am I willing to put in the work that will be required to change?

If after sitting on those questions for a minute you are like, “Nope, no way! I’m not there,”—or perhaps you’re thinking to yourself, “I haven’t even considered these things and I have no idea!”—then my challenge for you would be to have some honest time with God in prayer. Maybe you know why this is how you feel; if not, ask God to give you some answers about yourself. Take some time to journal your answers (great time to use this years women’s ministry prayer journal!). If you’re willing to take it one step further, ask God to change your perspective on repentance. He wants you to try, but He also wants to use the Holy Spirit to help us! He loves to answer His children, especially if we are asking for His help in growing closer to Him.

Some may read the above questions and have a cautious yes, or you may give a resounding YES, BRING IT ON! (I wish I could relate to that more often…) However emphatic our “yes” is, ready or not, aware or not of the challenges ahead, we must walk in wisdom when asking God to correct us. If we ask for God’s input, we must be ready and willing to listen.

How do we hear from God? I am no expert, and even if I was, this would not be the place to do a deep dive. So, I’m keeping it simple and borrowing from a study I just went through by Jerry Bridges on the fruit of the Spirit. First and I’d say most importantly, God has given us His Word. His Word is truth and a firm foundation to build our lives on. Are we reading His Word regularly and actively, looking for application to our own lives? Before reading Scripture, ask God to use His Word to open your eyes to things you need to repent of. It’s so easy to read Scripture and relate to the person in the story who is “in the right,” but there have been many times I read again and God revealed how I instead am just like the Pharisee, the brothers of Joseph who were jealous, Peter denying Jesus three times, just to give a few examples. Secondly and tying into my first suggestion: prayer. Are we daily asking God, as David did in the Psalms, to search us and reveal to us how we are out of line, so to speak?  Let’s slow down and invite God into our daily lives and to give us soft hearts willing to see the many ways we fall short.

Now lest this turn into a pity party or a self-hate bash, which is not Gods intent, let’s throw some heavenly perspective in here. While yes, we need to be aware and see our sinful ways, we are also forgiven and redeemed children of God. Again, to pull on Melony’s wisdom at the event, our right shame acknowledges our guilt and leads us to the One who forgives and offers new life. We are not tackling our sinful nature alone—we have the power of the Holy Spirit working in us, which makes us capable of seeing our errors while still standing strong.

Another way we often neglect to move forward in repentance is to ask trusted council to give us feedback. Often others can see our blind spots, things we have no idea we struggle with because it is so ingrained in our flesh, our habits. Key word here is to ask trusted people for council. Ask God for wisdom in seeking out the right person to ask for this sensitive feedback, someone you know is also looking to God for their standard and response. The tricky part for me in asking for this kind of input is to not go just off of my first reaction! My initial response to even a trusted person telling me, “Yes of course I see ways you can improve, three pop into mind right away!” is to want to get angry or defensive. How dare this person so easily find fault in me?! Perfect me?? However, if instead of quickly responding I take time to let their feedback sink in, I remember that I am a flawed human and that’s why I asked for their opinion in the first place. Joking aside, when asking for input I’ve found it helpful to not initially respond. Thank them for their willingness (it’s not easy to tell a friend you see their flaws!) and take time to process alone with the Lord.

Now, whether we have received feedback from the Word, God Himself through prayer, or through the gift of the body of Christ (i.e., trusted council), what good is that feedback if we don’t have a plan for how to engage with it? I believe we must first bring these things before God in prayer. Thank Him for the opportunity to grow, ask for wisdom in how to be more like Christ, and most importantly ask for His help in achieving this.

For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. – Philippians 2:13

Using wisdom, create a game plan for how to tackle the things you have been challenged with. Now that you know what you need to repent of, do you know what you will do the next time you are tempted by it? It’s not enough to just say “I now know I need to turn away from this.” How are you going to do it? Now would be a great time to invite those trusted council people back in for accountability and to also help you come up with ideas. Even if all they can offer is that they will be praying God helps you, that is possibly the most supportive and effective thing they could do!

Let us not become weary in doing good,
for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 
 – Galatians 6:9

Now comes the hard part: the day-in, day-out effort towards the things that have now been revealed to you. Be prepared to daily accept God’s forgiveness and actively forgive yourself.

 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 
 – Romans 7:15

We will daily battle our sin nature, until the day we die, like it or not. How we equip ourselves for that battle is up to us. We can opt either to shrug it off after thinking about it for a day or two, or daily commit ourselves to God and His way. In heaven, we will experience God’s perfection, and here on earth we get to partner with Him in our progress. What we do not pursue we will not achieve. Let us not make lofty new year’s resolutions, but with grateful hearts embrace each new day and the opportunities it presents us.  Remember, it is a gift to be aware of how we fall short, because it is an opportunity to rejoice in the redeeming power of our Lord and Savior, and turn towards His forgiveness won for us on the cross.

Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion
until the day of Christ Jesus. 
 – Philippians 1:6