This prayer is for the first day of the new year, when many people want to start well and entrust what lies ahead to God. Pray it on New Year’s Day morning, before the calendar fills up, or at night as you look back over the past twelve months. You can read it aloud exactly as written, or use it as a starting point and speak in your own words.
Blessings for New Year’s Day
Lord, thank you for bringing me to the first morning of a new year. I did not earn this day, and I do not know everything it holds, but I know you are already in it. Some of this year feels uncertain to me. There are decisions I have not made, relationships I am worried about, and money and health questions that keep me awake. Be near to me in each of them.
Bless the work of my hands this year, and give me wisdom for the small choices as well as the large ones. Where I have been tired or discouraged, renew my strength. Where I have failed, forgive me and teach me to start again. Protect the people I love, especially those who are far away, sick, or carrying heavy burdens they have not told anyone about. Give us patience with one another and gentleness in the hard conversations.
Above all, let this year draw me closer to you. Let me notice your faithfulness in ordinary days and trust you more than I trust my plans. Whatever happens in the months ahead, I want to walk with you through it. Amen.
A Shorter Version to Pray in a Moment
Father, this is a new year and I am not sure what it will bring. Go before me into every week of it. Bless my home, my work, and the people I love. Give me enough courage for today and enough trust for tomorrow. Keep me close to you all year long. Amen.
Scriptures to Pray Alongside
Numbers 6:24-26
24 ‘The LORD bless you, and keep you. 25 The LORD make his face to shine on you, and be gracious to you. 26 The LORD lift up his face toward you, and give you peace.’
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This is the blessing God told Aaron to speak over Israel. On New Year’s Day you can pray it directly over your family, your church, or yourself, asking that the Lord would keep, favor, and give peace to each person in the year ahead.
Psalm 90:12
So teach us to count our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
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Moses asks God to teach us to number our days. Pray this verse as you begin the year, asking for a wise heart that uses the coming months well rather than simply rushing through them.
Lamentations 3:22-23
22 It is because of the LORD’s loving kindnesses that we are not consumed, because his compassion doesn’t fail. 23 They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness.
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These verses remind us that God’s mercies are new every morning. Thank him that yesterday’s failures do not have to define this year, and ask for fresh compassion to meet each day as it comes.
Philippians 1:6
Being confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.
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Paul is confident that the God who began a good work will carry it on to completion. Pray this over the areas of your life where you feel unfinished, trusting that he is still working in you this year.
Psalm 121:7-8
7 The LORD will keep you from all evil. He will keep your soul. 8 The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in, from this time forward, and forever more.
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The Lord keeps your going out and your coming in, from this time forth and forevermore. Pray it as you step into unfamiliar seasons, asking for his watchful care over every journey and every return home.
How to Pray This Prayer
Many people find it helpful to pray this on New Year’s Day morning, with a cup of coffee or tea in hand, before the day’s noise begins. Sit somewhere quiet, perhaps near a window, and read the prayer slowly once through. Then read it again and pause after each paragraph to add names or situations that come to mind.
You can also pray it with someone else. Read it together at a family breakfast, or send it to a friend who is starting the year with a hard situation. Writing down one or two specific things you are handing to God this year, and keeping that note somewhere you will see it, gives the prayer a place to return to in the months ahead.
A Blessing to Close
May the Lord go before you into this new year and walk beside you through every week of it. May he keep you steady when the path is unclear, and meet you with mercy each morning. May his peace guard your heart and his faithfulness be the ground you stand on all year long.
