Morning by Morning—Daily Prayer Journey with Tommy Hays

Monday, January 04, 2016

Morning by Morning, January 4 - And So It Begins

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Put Your thoughts in my mind and Your desires in my heart. Make me more like You today. ...

"I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:3-6 NKJV).

And so it begins....

We begin a new year. In many ways, it feels like a clean slate, a fresh start, a new beginning. And from the very beginning, I want begin well. To begin well is to willingly choose to be desperately dependent upon You alone. This is the way of humility instead of pride, depending upon You instead of myself, trusting in Your plans instead of mine, embracing Your will instead of insisting upon my own. "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble" (James 4:6).

So as I begin by seeking to humble myself in your sight, I can trust that You will lift me up (James 4:10). As I allow You to be at work within me, I know I can confidently trust Your promise that He who began a good work in me with be faithful to complete it (Philippians 1:6). "For it is God who works in (me) both to will and to do for His good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13).

Come be at work within me this new year, Lord God. By Your Holy Spirit at work within me, make me more like You each day. Cause me to will what is right and to do what is right, all for Your good pleasure, as You put Your thoughts in my mind and Your desires in my heart.

I thank You for all You've already done and for all that is eternally done. But at the same time, I thank You for all You are doing and will be doing in me now and throughout this year. "Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press to toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind..." (Philippians 3:12-15). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays

I pray you will joyfully trust the One who began a good work in you to be faithful to complete it, making you more like Him each throughout every day of this new year, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!