LORD, keep me holy in 2026
New Year’s Prayer—"LORD, keep me holy in 2026”
We had a great celebration of worship yesterday, kicking off the New Year 2026. I want to encourage you to read through Psalm 19 sometime today or this week. As we evaluated our motives yesterday, I did not get a chance to share this great Psalm with you. The psalmist spends the first six verses talking about how God shows himself to us in creation. This is called general revelation. What do you see when you see the majestic mountains? What do you think about when you look out at beauty of creation (the sun, moon, and stars)? All of the heavens declare the glory of God. Romans tells us that all creation speaks to us of God’s eternal power (so man is without excuse). General revelation points us to God, but specific revelation is what offers us salvation. The psalmist (here in Psalm 19) turns from general revelation to specific revelation through the Word of God (verses 7-11). We know that faith comes from hearing and hearing from the Word of God (Romans 10:17). There are a lot of connections with Psalm 19 and the book of Romans, right? Specific revelation is salvific. What does that mean? The Word of God leads us to salvation through Christ, and Christ alone. Through the Word of God, we see our sin and our need for a Savior. Not only does the Word of God lead us to Christ and faith in Christ, the word of God (along with the Spirit of God, as we spoke about on Sunday), keeps us holy and set apart for God. In Jesus’ high priestly prayer of John 17, Jesus prays for believers saying, “Sanctify (set apart as holy) them in the truth; your word is truth. In the closing verses of Psalm 19 (verses 12-14), the psalmist asks for protection against sin (even willful sin) and closes with the following prayer:
“May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.”
The LORD sees the motives of our hearts. He knows our thoughts and is greater than our thoughts (1 John 3:20). He has the ability to clean us up and set us free from sin’s control over us. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, and the sanctifying power of the Word, we can be pure and holy vessels for Jesus in 2026. Let’s adopt this prayer together and pray it often, in the name of Jesus (who is our Rock and our Redeemer).
P.S.—Psalm 139:23-24 is another great prayer for asking God to evaluate your heart.
Walking side by side, together in the Faith,
Pastor Todd
We had a great celebration of worship yesterday, kicking off the New Year 2026. I want to encourage you to read through Psalm 19 sometime today or this week. As we evaluated our motives yesterday, I did not get a chance to share this great Psalm with you. The psalmist spends the first six verses talking about how God shows himself to us in creation. This is called general revelation. What do you see when you see the majestic mountains? What do you think about when you look out at beauty of creation (the sun, moon, and stars)? All of the heavens declare the glory of God. Romans tells us that all creation speaks to us of God’s eternal power (so man is without excuse). General revelation points us to God, but specific revelation is what offers us salvation. The psalmist (here in Psalm 19) turns from general revelation to specific revelation through the Word of God (verses 7-11). We know that faith comes from hearing and hearing from the Word of God (Romans 10:17). There are a lot of connections with Psalm 19 and the book of Romans, right? Specific revelation is salvific. What does that mean? The Word of God leads us to salvation through Christ, and Christ alone. Through the Word of God, we see our sin and our need for a Savior. Not only does the Word of God lead us to Christ and faith in Christ, the word of God (along with the Spirit of God, as we spoke about on Sunday), keeps us holy and set apart for God. In Jesus’ high priestly prayer of John 17, Jesus prays for believers saying, “Sanctify (set apart as holy) them in the truth; your word is truth. In the closing verses of Psalm 19 (verses 12-14), the psalmist asks for protection against sin (even willful sin) and closes with the following prayer:
“May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.”
The LORD sees the motives of our hearts. He knows our thoughts and is greater than our thoughts (1 John 3:20). He has the ability to clean us up and set us free from sin’s control over us. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, and the sanctifying power of the Word, we can be pure and holy vessels for Jesus in 2026. Let’s adopt this prayer together and pray it often, in the name of Jesus (who is our Rock and our Redeemer).
P.S.—Psalm 139:23-24 is another great prayer for asking God to evaluate your heart.
Walking side by side, together in the Faith,
Pastor Todd
Recent
Archive
2026
January
2025
January
March
June
August
September
November
2024
2023
April
December
2022
2021
November
2019
March
Categories
no categories
No Comments