As 2022 draws to a close and we enter a new year, you may feel a swirl of both excitement and anxiety about what comes next. The days between Christmas Day and New Year's Eve is the perfect time to introduce New Year's prayers into your daily prayer rotation so you may reflect on the months gone by and ponder what you want in 2023. New Year's scripture, from Bible verses about gratitude to prayers about trust in God's plan, will help you release the past and focus on the next chapter in your life. The following Near Year's prayers will manifest protection, health, and love for the year ahead.
Regardless of your New Year's Eve plans this year, you can share these meaningful prayers with a friend or family member to welcome a safe space where you can both focus on goals and resolutions for 2023. Maybe you are marrying your partner and want a blessing from God about this new phase in your life. Or maybe you have a sick family member and are looking to give them strength as they continue their treatment plan in January. These New Year's prayers speak to a variety of feelings that surface at the end of a year, but they also remind you that God is by your side every day no matter the year.
Advertisement - Continue Reading Below
1
A Prayer to Prepare for the Year Ahead
Dear God,
Thank You for new beginnings. What an incredible day this is with a fresh year's potential stretched out before me. I want to be found faithful this year in each and every opportunity You bring to me. Thank You, Lord, for new beginnings. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.
— Pastor David McGee
2
For a Strong Relationship With God
Lord Jesus,
I thank You that You are with me, that You are in me. Resolutions might come in one year and go out the other. Open my ears this year, so that I can hear You and enjoy You at every junction, when You tell me to turn right or left. Amen.
— Pete Briscoe
3
A Prayer for New Beginnings
Consult not your fears, but your hopes and your dreams.
Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential.
Concern not yourself with what you tried and failed in, but what it is still possible to do.
Now is the time to put aside past and present setbacks and failures and look with confidence to the new day called tomorrow.
— Pope John XXIII
4
A New Year's Prayer for Strength
Dear God,
Give me the courage to begin again — to overlook the difficulties, to overcome the obstacles and to stay open to the moment as best I can. Help me be patient enough to know it takes time to start over, and wise enough to ask for help from friends and family when I need it. As I look to the future, may I reflect on the past and remember the lessons it’s taught me. And God, may I always look to you for strength and guidance.
— Abbey Caskets
5
A Prayer for Letting Go of the Past
Dear God,
On this day I ask You to grant this request?
May I know who I am and what I am, every moment of every day.
May I be a catalyst for light and love, and bring inspiration to those whose eyes I meet.
May I have the strength to stand tall in the face of conflict, and the courage to speak my voice, even when I'm scared.
May I have the humility to follow my heart, and the passion to live my soul's desires.
May I seek to know the highest truth, and dismiss the gravitational pull of my lower self.
May I embrace and love the totality of myself? My darkness as well as my light.
May I be brave enough to hear my heart? To let it soften so that I may gracefully choose faith over fear.
Today is my day to surrender anything that stands between the sacredness of my humanity and my divinity.
May I be drenched in my Holiness and engulfed by Your love.
May all else melt away.
And so it is.
— Debbie Ford
God of Love,
You are with us in every transition and change.
As we enter into this new era with excitement and even some anxiety, we recall your deep compassion, presence, and abounding love.
We thank you for the gifts, talents and skills with which you have blessed us.
We thank you for the experiences that have brought us to this moment.
We thank you for the work of others that gives breadth and depth to our own work.
Be with us as we move forward, rejoicing with you and supporting one another.
We ask this in your Holy Name.
— Joseph P. Shadle
As the dawn breaks on a new year, let us give thanks for all we hold dear: our health, our family and our friends.
Let us release our grudges, our anger and our pains, for these are nothing but binding chains. Let us live each day in the most loving ways, the God-conscious way. Let us serve all who are in need, regardless of race, color or creed.
Let us keep God of our own understanding in our hearts and to chant God's name each day. Let us lead the world from darkness to light, from falsehood to truth and from wrong to right.
Let us remember that we are all one, embracing all, discriminating against none.
May your year be filled with peace, prosperity and love. May God's blessings shower upon you and bestow upon each of you a bright, healthy and peaceful new year.
— Rev. Marcy Sheremetta
8
For a Peaceful New Year
God of all time, help us enter the New Year quietly, thoughtful of who we are to ourselves and to others, mindful that our steps make an impact and our words carry power.
May we walk gently.
May we speak only after we have listened well.
Creator of all life, help us enter the New Year reverently, aware that you have endowed every creature and plant, every person and habitat with beauty and purpose.
May we regard the world with tenderness.
May we honor rather than destroy.
Lower of all souls, help us enter the New Year joyfully, willing to laugh and dance and dream, remembering our many gifts with thanks and looking forward to blessings yet to come.
May we welcome your lavish love.In this new year, may the grace and peace of Christ bless us now and in the days ahead.
— Vinita Hampton Wright; Offered by Douglas Ruschman
May the Lord make my New Year a happy one...
Not by shielding me from sorrow and pain, but by strengthening me to bear it if it comes.
Not by making my path easy, but by making me sturdy enough to tread any path.
Not by taking hardship from me, but by taking all cowardice and fear from my heart as I meet hardships.
Not by granting me unbroken sunshine, but by keeping my face bright even in the shadows.
Not by making my life always pleasant, but by showing me where men and His cause need me most and by making me zealous to be there and to help...
God, make my year a happy one.
— From Guideposts magazine
10
For Trust in God's Plan
Heavenly Father,
At midnight,
When the old year dies,
And the new comes bounding in,
I draw strength from knowing
That in the next twelve months
The snows will go
The buds will burst
The heat will rise
The leaves will fly,
That all these things will happen
According to Your schedule
And in Your time;
That there is order in Your universe,
And that I am part of it.
— Van Varner
O God of steadfast love, trusting you, we devote our hearts to learning and our lives to walking.
Teach us truth, that we may walk with courage.
Teach us mercy, that we may walk with humility.
Teach us forgiveness, that we may walk with compassion.
Teach us grace, that we may walk with strength.
Teach us wonder, that we may walk with praise.
Teach us goodness, that we may walk with those in need.
O God of steadfast love, learning from you, may we walk well.
Amen.
— J. Bradley Wigger
12
A Prayer for Restoring Your Relationship With God
I believe that I enter a glorious new year to be filled with prayer and praise.
With service to God and mankind, with inspired creative activity.
I believe that God’s presence goes with me wherever I shall go this year, by train or Ires or car or boat, slowly paced on foot, or high in air.
I believe his love is shining in my body, his wisdom guides my mind, his peace fills me with poise, his strength is ever at my call.
Oh I believe that this is God’s new year.
— Elizabeth Searle Lamb
13
A Short New Year's Prayer
Eternal God, You gave us the greatest gift: the gift of life.
In the coming year, help us use it wisely.
May we grow in generosity, kindness and forgiveness, hope, faith and love.
Amen.
— Rabbi Evan Moffic
14
A New Year's Prayer for Trust
Father, I abandon myself into your hands.
Do with me whatever you will. Whatever you may do, I thank you.
I am ready for all, I accept all. Let only your will be done in me, and in all your creatures.
Into your hands I commend my spirit. I offer it to you with all the love that is in my heart. For I love you, Lord, and so want to give myself, to surrender myself into your hands, without reserve and with boundless confidence, for you are my Father.
Amen.
— Charles de Foucauld
15
God Is Always by Your Side
Lord,
Whether I leave behind a year of joy or of trials and difficulties, I pause to give thanks.
Thank you for being with me every day of every year. Thank you for making all things new and for giving me the grace of fresh starts and new beginnings.
Remind me of your presence in the days to come, even when I feel pushed and rushed by busyness. Be glorified in my life this year.
Amen
— Heather C King
16
A New Year's Message for New Beginnings
Dear Father,
I thank You that throughout the season of life, there are endings and new beginnings.
I bless Your Word that reminds us that there is a time for every purpose under heaven.
So, I thank You for the things that have ended in my life and I bless you for new beginnings.
In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.
— Ecclesiastes 3:1
Dear Father,
You are the God of love and I thank You that You are with me in every change and transition.
I trust in Your Word that says, “the Lord Your God goes with you.”
Therefore, as I enter into this new season, I will not be anxious of the uncertainty, but I declare Your Word that says, I must not be anxious for anything but in everything through prayer and supplication, I will make my requests be made known unto You.
Amen.
— Deuteronomy 31:6, Philippians 4:6
18
A Prayer for Welcoming the Future
Lord,
I fight against change so often.
Settle into what’s comfortable and what’s known.
But I know You are doing something new.
Thank You that even when everything changes around me, you always remain the same —faithful, true, trustworthy, and full of grace.
Please help me to know where to go and what to do.
Show me when to say goodbye to the old and how to welcome new seasons and opportunities.
Please remind me of your presence and help me be strong and courageous, knowing that You are with me.
In Jesus’ name, Amen
— Heather C King
19
A Short Prayer for the New Year
Lord, grant me peace above all else no matter the circumstances I may face this year.
— Philippians 4:6-7
20
A Prayer for Trusting God's Plan
Father, I bring all my plans for the year before you — only approve them if they are in line with your plan for me.
— Proverbs 19:21
21
A Prayer for Forgiveness
Father, I choose to forget the past today. I don’t want anything to hold me back from the good future You have prepared for me. I choose forgiveness and ask that You help me by Your Spirit to press forward in every area of my life.
In Jesus’ Name.
Amen.
— Joel Osteen
22
A Prayer for a New Chapter in Your Life
Heavenly Father,
I am about to embark on new beginnings as I face an end to this chapter of my life.
So, I ask that You lead and direct me as I go through new challenges.
Father, will You stay close to me so that I do not stray from You. You are my Good Shepherd and I am Your sheep; so help me to keep my eyes fixed on You as I trust You in all things.
Grant me provision for all that I need, in order to start this new journey, through the directing of Your Holy Spirit.
Thank You Father, Amen.
— Psalm 22:11, John 10:11, Hebrews 12:2
Ni'Kesia Pannell
Contributing Writer
Ni'Kesia Pannell is an entrepreneur, multi-hyphenate freelance writer, and self-proclaimed Slurpee connoisseur that covers news and culture for The Kitchn.
Corinne Sullivan
Contributing Writer
Corinne Sullivan is a digital writer and editor who covers a variety of beats, including lifestyle, entertainment, relationships, holidays and more.
Advertisement - Continue Reading Below
