6 Uplifting Prayers to Start Each Day as a “New Creation”
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By Cindi McMenamin, Crosswalk.com
Do you ever just want to start over?
It’s a good thing the God of Heaven is a God of fresh starts and new beginnings. He made a world that starts anew every day with sunrise. Every week has a first day to it. There’s a first of every month and a New Year’s Day to celebrate the birth of every year. God must have known we’d need fresh starts—sometimes as often as every 24 hours! So, He provided us with ample opportunities for new beginnings. And with each new day, we have a reminder that we can try again, get another chance, and make a clean start.
In 2 Corinthians 5:17, we are told, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (ESV). That is our permanent condition when we are trusting Christ as our Savior. But when we continue to mess up and disappoint God and others, we can confess that sin and pick up right where we left off with Him… in a fresh start as His renewed creation.
Here are six prayers to start each day as a new creation.
1. A Prayer of Gratitude for Your Salvation
Sometimes, we forget just how much we have in our new condition as one who is accepted by God and given eternal life. Thus, starting each day thanking God for that will reinforce to us the blessing and privilege of being called a child of God, a redeemed one, a new creation.
Lord, thank You for giving me the righteousness of Your Son Jesus through my faith in Him and His atonement for me on the cross. Because of this undeserved gift, I can not only experience eternal life, but live in the newness of life every day. Help me to express gratitude and joy on account of this priceless gift You’ve given me, and don’t ever let me forget who I really am in Christ Jesus—a loved, redeemed, treasured, and adopted child of God (Romans 8:15). Thank You that I have nothing to fear, I am never alone, and I now have a purpose—to serve and glorify You. May I live in joy and gratitude to You this day because of all You have done for me.
2. A Prayer for a Clean Heart
We all mess up at times. But praying Scripture, more particularly the words of the psalmists, can be another way of starting each day as a new creation. In Psalm 51, David opened his song by asking for God’s mercy and forgiveness. He then talked of God’s holiness in contrast to his sin. In verses 10-12, David asked God to create in him a clean heart and renew a right spirit within him. Pray Psalm 51 from the New Living Translation to start your day with a clean heart:
Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins. Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin. For I recognize my rebellion; it haunts me day and night…
Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me…Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you (verses 1-3, 10, 12 NLT).
Keep in mind that, although David prayed in verse 11: “Do not banish me from your presence and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me,” you and I never have to pray that or worry that we will be without God’s presence. Through our faith in Jesus, the indwelling Holy Spirit was given to us as a seal, a promise, a guarantee, that we will never be outside of His presence and He will never leave us no matter what we might do (Hebrews 13:5, Ephesians 1:13-14).
3. A Prayer for a Renewed Mind
Romans 12:2 commands us to “not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect” (NASB). To pray for a renewed mind each day, insert your name and situation into this verse. That is what it means to pray God’s Word (and literally to pray His will) for your life. Here’s how:
Lord, help me not to be conformed to this world and its values, but to be transformed by the renewing of my mind, so that I may prove what Your will is in my situation. Lord, renew my mind by controlling my thoughts and making them reflective of Your thoughts. Eliminate my doubt and give me, instead, a complete trust in You. Redirect my doubt and turn it into trust in You. Renew my passion for Your Word and Your will to be done in my life. Help me not to be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and pleading with thanksgiving, to let my requests be made known to You. Thank You that as I do, Your peace will guard my heart and mind in Christ Jesus. Finally, help me to think only on what is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, and commendable. If there’s anything worthy of praise, let me think on that (Philippians 4:6-8). Thank You, Lord, that as a new creation, I have a renewed mind and spirit, and I am Yours.
4. A Prayer to Die to Your Old Way of Life
Sometimes, it’s easy to slip back into our old way of living before we were redeemed by our Savior. That’s why Paul’s motto in Galatians 2:20 is a great one and makes a wonderful prayer to start each day as a new creation.
Lord, as Paul prayed, ‘I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.’ Help me to be dead (completely unresponsive) to anything that is not of You and to fully rely on Your power through me to live a Christ-like life. Don’t let me—even for a second—revert back to the old self that lives my way, but to continually recognize and remember I am set free from that old life and empowered to now live an obedient life for You. Help me to glorify You today in all I think, say, and do. In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.
Photo Credit: ©Pexels/Tobi
5. A Prayer for God to Examine Your Heart
Sometimes, we aren’t aware of remnants of sin in our lives, or we may feel we’re doing just fine, and then we get triggered to act from some deep-seated pain that we haven’t fully surrendered to the Lord. As redeemed people, we want to make sure our hearts are tuned into the gentle conviction of the Holy Spirit and God’s daily direction of our lives. David’s prayer in Psalm 139:23-24 is one we can say each day to reinforce the new creation that we are…asking God to examine our hearts and show us what might be lurking in us that needs to be brought before Him and cleansed so we can fully live as His new creation.
From my book, When a Woman Overcomes Life’s Hurts, I paraphrased these verses as a prayer, taking into account the full meaning behind the original Hebrew words David used when he wrote it:
Intensely examine me, O God, and know my innermost thoughts, intentions, and understanding. Test my quality and endurance like You would test precious metal and know my thoughts. And see if there exists in me any painful, sorrowful, or idolatrous course of action and guide me in the course of my life continually.
Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/AaronAmat
6. A Prayer to Exhibit the Fruits of the Spirit
In Galatians 5:22-23, we are given a description of what the life of a new creation in Christ Jesus looks like. The list includes the character qualities of Christ, known as the “fruits of the Spirit.” When we are surrendered to the control of God’s Holy Spirit, rather than the control of our own flesh, we can exhibit these Spirit-empowered traits. Here’s how to pray we will live each day as God’s new creation:
Lord God, help me today, through the power of your Holy Spirit, to live a Christ-like life and exhibit the fruits of the Spirit. Help me to display love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Lord, don’t let me fall back into the old self, which does not reflect who is Savior and Lord of my life. May You be honored through my character, surrender, and obedience to You, and may others see that because I display the fruits of Your Holy Spirit, I truly am a new creation. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.
For more on living as a new creation in Christ, see Cindi’s book, When a Woman Overcomes Life’s Hurts.
