Each New Year we hit the reset button as a culture and consider again who we’ve been, who we are, and who we’d like to be in the next year. How do we plan to get there? As we reflect on how we want to reset in 2022 and begin trying to live that out in this first month of January, let’s also consider what it might look like to reset in our relationship with God.
Reset means “to set, adjust, or fix in a new or different way.” We profoundly reset when we place our faith and trust in Jesus. We reset worship in that moment—turning toward God and away from sin and self-reliance, fixing our hearts and lives in the direction of loving God and others. There’s no more fundamental “reset” than being “born again” (John 3:3-8)!
“What” happened is a matter of spiritual transformation of the soul by God, but do you remember “how” it happened? Wasn’t it prayer of some kind? Yes, the most essential reset was happening in the heart when we are saved by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9), but that was expressed through prayer, communicating with God (Galatians 4:4-7; Romans 10:9).
Billy Graham once said, “prayer is the voice of faith.” Prayer is what happens when we listen and respond to God as we trust in Him. He speaks. We reply. We speak. He replies. On and on we go in a life-long (and beyond) conversation with God. This goes for singing, too! Most of the prayers of the Bible are songs. So, anytime we voice our hearts to God in faith—whether sung, spoken, felt or “groaned” (Romans 8:26-27), alone or together with others, anytime of day or night, in any mood or season of life—we are praying.
And, you know what? God’s good news just keeps on coming.
“The Lord has heard my plea; the Lord accepts my prayer.”
Psalm 6:9“Truly God has listened; He has attended to the voice of my prayer.”
Psalm 66:19“He regards the prayer of the destitute and does not despise their prayer.”
Psalm 102:17
What would it look like for us to reset prayer in 2022? Not only do we worship anytime we reset toward God (like we shared last week), but we also pray anytime we listen and respond to God.
There are so many good ways to explore worship and prayer. One good way to connect with God in prayer is The Real FM Prayer Center. This is a way that we can both ask for prayer and pray for others by submitting prayer requests and interacting with those prayer requests online. One way or another, may we grow in our listening and responding to God this year.
