A New Year's Prayer: Colossians 1:9  

    Let me suggest a first-rate prayer as you intercede for others in 2012. By the way, I'm suggesting a prayer rather than a New Year's resolution, but anyone looking for a resolution suggestion might try the Resolution Randomizer for a lark! It suggested I resolve to "Refrain from singing showtunes around town." That's a resolution I can probably keep!  

   The prayer I'm recommending is one of Paul's:  

We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives. Colossians 1:9b

This prayer is superb due to both its content and its lofty outcomes. When this prayer is answered -- and the ones we're praying for have the full knowledge of God's will -- they will live a life worthy of the Lord, pleasing Him in every way! Can we ask for anything more?

   But what does it mean to have the full knowledge of God's will? What would we actually be asking God for? When we pray this, we are asking God to give people an understanding of what He wants for them, what He intends to do in and through them. You see, we can hardly conceive what God has already done for us. This prayer challenges us to fully know what God continues to want for us!

The glory of the good news is that he has made us into something different than what we once were. Therefore the primary course in the curriculum of the Spirit is to learn who you are now, what God has made you to be, and, especially, your new relationship to Him. - Ray Stedman

   Will you join me in praying this for others? I'll be praying it for our pastors, leaders, and churches through 2012. I'd ask you to pray it with me (and for me) -- and let's watch with anticipation how God works out His will in us!