Old prayers—like the Lord’s Prayer, the Gloria, and the Magnificat, to name only a few—can be helpful. They’ve proven their worth. They’ve stood the test of time. They can comfort and console.
But when the disciples of Jesus asked Him to teach them to pray—to pray the way He did—He didn’t recite the ancient Shemaor the (possibly) familiar Amidah; He recited for them a new prayer, which has since come to be called “The Lord’s Prayer.”
What would happen if you asked the Lord to give you a new prayer? Now, today, at the outset of a new year? Nothing can replace The Lord’s Prayer, and none of us should abandon the heart cries for which we still await answers. But in addition to those, what would a “new prayer for a new year” look like for you?
Maybe, if you’re in the habit of earnestly praying to be delivered from your fears and anxieties, a new prayer could be a daily hymn of thanks to God for the blessings and comforts of your life.
If you’ve been repeatedly asking God to change your spouse—or child or in-laws or neighbors—you might start praying a new prayer, asking God instead to change you.
If your spiritual life has been sluggish lately, you might try entering into a prayer covenant with your spouse or a close friend, asking him or her to hold you accountable. Or, if your circumstances allow, enlist a partner to pray with you each week or every weekday or even on the phone at a certain time.
Maybe you focus less on asking and more on giving praise. Or start a new way of praying, such as singing or chanting your prayers. You might write a daily or weekly prayer of your own or compose a prayer to recite every day for the coming year to reflect your hopes, dreams and possibilities.
What would happen if you asked the Lord to give you a new prayer for 2021? You won’t know…until you do.
