January Prayer Ministries

“Be Watchful and Pray - For Oneself”

“No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man.

God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond what you

can bear, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of

escape.” 1 Corinthians 10:13

As each new year arrives, many of us like to make resolutions to either

continue a good practice, to change an undesired trait, to improve a bad

behavior, or to accomplish a personal goal. However, as the year

progresses, many of those resolutions made in good faith, end up

broken. Perhaps it is because of our busyness, forgetfulness, or we just

find it too difficult to accomplish the resolution that we made.

Maybe this year our resolution should center around our relationship

with God. God is well aware of the temptations that we face on a daily

basis. Satans’ whole desire is to separate us from God and he is very

good at planting seeds of sin in our heart. And, they aren’t always big,

obvious sins. Sometimes, they may seem like “harmless” little things

that we think aren’t very serious. Yet they can be ugly weed seeds that

grow to be very dangerous. Satan is very sneaky. He knows that in our

human nature, we are weak and we possess hidden desires that can

easily draw us to do things that are not always pleasing to God. It is

when we are watchful for these sinful temptations and we prayer for

God’s power; God will open our eyes to see the danger of what we are

facing.

Jesus, like us, experienced temptations when he lived on earth. He, too,

had to be awake and watchful and he even prayed with crying and tears

to his Father so sin would not get into his heart. (Hebrews 5:7) Jesus

shows us that through prayer we have a constant connection with God

to overcome whatever negative and sinful things we might encounter in

our lifetime. When we have that personal relationship with God from the

time we wake until the time we go to sleep, we will know he’s always

there to guide us in truth and give us the strength to overcome all of

satan’s evil ways.

So, let our new year’s resolution bring us closer to God. God called

each of us to have a wonderful life. Do we want our sin to spoil what

we’ve been given? This year, let us be watchful for those temptations

that come our way and may we pray that our hearts be kept pure and

clean. When we are watchful, when we pray, and when we have God

with us, how can we lose.