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New Year’s Reading | Day 2
Prayer
As you come to spend time with Jesus, calm your mind and body until you feel fully present. Ask God to teach you about Himself and how to make Him a priority this year through the reading today.
Bible Reading: Colossians 4:2
Read these verses three times slowly.
Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.
Reflection & Questions
In our New Year’s Readings we’re looking at our priorities and how 2024 might be different from 2023. Yesterday we saw that connecting with God needs to be our number one priority. One way that we connect with God is through prayer. In our reading today, Paul says “Devote yourselves to prayer.” What if 2024 was marked by a dramatic increase in the amount you prayed? What if in 2024, the first thing you did in the morning and the last thing at night was to talk to God? What if 2024 was a year where we paused throughout the day to pray? What if when someone at work shared a struggle, you began asking, “Can I pray for you?” If 2024 is going to be a year of connecting with God more, devoting ourselves to prayer will be key.
Notice the second half of the verse: “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.” The “being watchful and thankful” helps with the devotion. We’re to watch to see how God responds to our prayers. We’re to be thankful for how He does answer. And as we see Him answer, the devotion to prayer increases. If we forget about what we’ve prayed for and fail to “watch” for the answer, we may well miss out on the joy of seeing God’s work! One idea that some have found helpful in “being watchful” is a prayer list or journal. They record prayer requests and how God has answered them. This is just one idea, but however we devote ourselves to prayer, let’s not forget to “watch” for the answer!
- On a scale of 1 to 5 where 1 is “not devoted at all” and 5 is “totally devoted,” how would you rate yourself in your devotion to prayer? What do you think it would look like to increase your number by 1? What would it take? What would you change? What would you start doing and stop doing?
- How will you be watchful for how God answers prayer this year?
Prayer
Talk to God in response to the reading today.
Worship Song
You might use this song today to worship Jesus today:
Check out more Bible Reading Plans here.
Questions?
Ed Applegate
