A Prayer for the New Year

🛐 Daily Prayer: "Now, we set sail into another year."

Author

SpurgeonBooks
January 01, 2026

Pray with Spurgeon

Daily Newsletter from SpurgeonBooks

DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Now, we hoist the sail and draw up the anchor to sail into another year. Blessed pilot of the future and the past, we are so happy to entrust everything to you; but in entrusting everything to you, we have one wish for the new year and it is that you would glorify the Father’s name in us more than in any other year of our lives. Perhaps this may involve deeper trials; let it be if we can glorify God. Perhaps this may involve being cast aside from the service that we love; but we would prefer to be laid aside if we could glorify you better. Perhaps this may involve the ending of all life’s pleasant work and being taken home—well, your children make no sort of stipulations with their God, but this one prayer ascends from all true hearts this morning, “Father, glorify your name.” Will you glorify yourself, great Father, by making us more holy? Purge us every day, we beg you, from the selfishness that clings to us. Deliver us also from the fear of man, from the love of approval so far as these might lead us astray. Help us to be resolute and self-contained to do, think, and speak the right at all times. Give us great love for other people. May we love them so that we could die for them if necessary.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

The newness which Jesus brings is bright, clear, heavenly, enduring. We are at this moment especially ready for a new year. Many have grown weary with the old cry of depression of trade and hard times; we are glad to escape from what has been, to many, twelve months of great trial. The last year had become wheezy, croaking, and decrepit, in its old age; and we lay it asleep with a psalm of judgment and mercy. We hope that this new-born year will not be worse than its predecessor, and we pray that it may be a great deal better. At any rate, it is new, and we are encouraged to couple with it the idea of happiness, as we say one to another, “I wish you a happy New Year.”

PRAY FOR THE NATIONS

This week, we’re praying for the Abkhaz of Turkey.

The Abkhaz value hospitality highly and give guests great honor. They are open to outsiders — will we bring the good news of Christ to them?

Pray that the missionaries that God will send to the Abkhaz will receive a warm welcome.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

What will 2026 be for your family?

In 2026, will God be PART of your family’s life or will he be the CENTER of your family’s life? The simplest way to actually make God the center of your family is to make him the center of every day by cultivating simple daily habits and routines that orient your family around God and his grace.

That’s why I’m challenging every parent reading this to make 2026 a Year in the Word — read the Bible to your kids EVERY DAY in 2026.

The Bible isn’t like any other book. It is the Word of God. It is living and active. It is sharp and powerful. There is NOTHING more powerful than the Bible in forming the love of God in the hearts of our children. Bring your kids, each and every day, to see and enjoy the goodness of God in his Word every day.

You’re not alone — I’ve put together some resources to help you, including a simple six-step guide to actually making family devotions happen every day (a FREE resource) and a series of family devotionals to help you explain, discuss, and apply Scripture with your kids every day (paid subscription). Find all of these resources here.

LAST WORD FROM SPURGEON

“Am I, in all respects, more like my Master Jesus than I was a year ago?” — Charles Spurgeon