Now that another year has gone by, I want to say a prayer for 2011.

Dear Lord,

I thank you for all the blessings of 2010. I couldn’t have made it through the year without you. I thank you for my family, my church and my friends. I thank you for the supernatural provision and protection You have shown us. You are a Holy God and worthy to be praised.

I thank You, Lord, that you still choose the least of them to astonish the world. If You didn’t, I would never have had a chance to make a difference. I thank You that both my sons have jobs because I have always asked You to let me survive long enough to become a burden to them. Besides, one of these days, I may have to go live with one or the other.

I thank You that in 2010, only the tailgate of my truck was stolen and not the rest of the vehicle. I thank You that when the tree limbs fell onto my house, they didn’t cause any damage. I thank You for the faith to trust You when our upstairs shower flooded and came through the kitchen ceiling . . . three times.

Father, I know You have all authority over everything but also that sometimes You choose not to use your power on my behalf. I do have a couple of requests for the coming year. Is there any way You can make sure the telemarketers hold their calls until the Moore household has finished dinner?

I also pray that this year all the traffic will be on the other side of the road and an empty parking space waiting whenever I get where I’m going. I pray my hair, gums, blood pressure, triglycerides, cholesterol, white blood count, weight and mortgage interest will not rise.

I pray 2011 will be the year I get a clean bill of health from the dentist, psychiatrist, ophthalmologist, cardiologist, gastroenterologist, urologist, proctologist, podiatrist, plumber and of course the IRS.

In these difficult financial times, I pray my checkbook and budget will balance and ask You to surprise me with how much You bless me so I can give to Your work. I pray the focus of my joy will not be the Dow Jones, NASDAQ, NASCAR, Super Bowl, American Idol or the lottery but You alone. Lord, help me believe everything Your Holy Word says, three-fourths of what the pastor preaches, half of what comes out of my children, one-fourth of professional wrestling and nothing that comes from a politician.

Lord, this year I ask You to explain to the people who work at the gym that You didn’t design us to touch our toes. If you had intended that, You would have put toes on our knees.

More than anything else, I pray You will remind me to say “I love you” at least once a day to my wife, my children and especially to You. This year, please teach me again that I am wonderfully and fearfully made, a person of worth and value even though the world says differently. I pray my light will get brighter and my salt saltier. I pray my heart will understand what it means when my mouth says, “Everybody matters to God.” The starving, homeless and unwanted children in so many countries matter to You. Widows matter to You, families matter to You and the church matters to You. I ask You to give me Your heart so each of these will matter to . . . me.

Finally, Lord, I pray that during the next 12 months; 52 weeks; 365 days; 8,760 hours; 525,600 minutes and 31,536,000 seconds I will be a blank slate upon which You can impose Your will and ways. In the mighty name of Jesus I pray, Amen!

As we begin the New Year, I would like to give you a verse for 2011: “In Thee they trusted and were not disappointed“ (Psalm 22:5b, NASB). The Lord does not deliver disappointment. Was the cross a disappointment? Heavens, no! It reveals the unique mystery of God. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28). When we line up our lives with Him, our disappointments become His divine appointments.
Do you want a disappointment-free year? Trust God. Trust God for everything. Simply trust God.
Let me get back to my prayer . . . Lord, how is that parking situation coming along?
Happy New Year to all my Baptist Messenger readers!

Walker Moore is president of AweStar Ministries in Tulsa, P.O. Box 470265, Tulsa 74147, e-mail walker@awestar.org, phone 800/AWESTAR (293-7827)