Jesus
Must Increase: A Prayer for the New Year
Article
by
Jon Bloom
Staff writer, desiringGod.org
“Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. He must increase, but I must decrease.” (John 3:30)
O
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
When
John the Baptist made the beautiful declaration in the text above about your
Son’s public prominence eclipsing his, it completed his joy! His joy was full!
And we know that this was only possible because in the secret place, where no
one else saw, your Spirit disciplined him until he no longer trusted or acted
on any selfishly ambitious impulse and the desires of his heart were aligned
with yours.
This
is our desire too. Jesus must increase and we must decrease. To that end, we
make this prayer to you as we begin this new year:
Increase our love for you as the greatest treasure of our hearts and decrease any idolatrous love of lesser things.
If
this doesn’t happen we will be idolaters and our lives will be governed by fear
of losing our gods. But we want no gods before you (Exodus
20:3)! And if we love you with all our being (Luke
10:27) we will lose nothing!
We will only ever gain! Help us to return to our first love (Revelation
2:4)! Do whatever it takes this year to increase our love for your Son,
Jesus Christ, until he is truly all (Colossians
3:11).
Increase our trust in your promises and decrease our trust in our perceptions (Proverbs 3:5–6).
If
this doesn’t happen we will let our circumstances dictate our actions. And they
are tyrants. But if we really believe what you promise us, we will be “free
indeed” (John
8:36)! There is no greater apologetic in this world than a Christian who
really believes (Hebrews 11:6). That’s what we want to be. Do
whatever it takes this year to help us walk by faith and not by sight (2
Corinthians 5:7).
Increase our passion for Jesus’s reputation and decrease our passion for our own.
If
this doesn’t happen our witness will be hesitant, timid, or non-existent. We will
be ashamed of the gospel (Romans 1:16) and that may lead to Jesus being
ashamed of us when he returns (Mark
8:38). No, Father! But if we love your Son’s glory more than ours we will
find the freedom in witness and God-displaying works that we long for and we
will see people come to Christ (2
Timothy 1:8) and we will labor so that the nations will be glad (Psalm
67:4)! Do whatever it takes this year to increase our love for Jesus’s
glory!
Increase our faith in your power and willingness to provide our material needs and decrease our fear-fueled efforts to financially secure our futures.
If
this doesn’t happen we will not sacrificially give to see the Great Commission
fulfilled, our local churches amply funded, nor will we move to places in our
cities or the world where the gospel is most needed. And we may prove to not
know Jesus at all because we won’t minister to him by serving the least of his
brothers (Matthew
25:40). But if we really believe Philippians
4:19 and learn the secret of being content with what you provide in every
circumstance (Philippians 4:12–13), not only will your Son’s
kingdom receive a surge of resources, but the faith manifested in them will
overcome the world in a thousand ways (1 John
5:4)! Do whatever it takes this year to set us wonderfully free from any
bondage to serving money and let us know the joy and freedom of radical
generosity (2
Corinthians 9:8)!
Increase our sense of the reality of the resurrection and decrease our fear of death.
If
this doesn’t happen, we will live in a plethora of fear and spend inordinate
time and money on guarding our health. But you crushed your Son (Isaiah
53:10) and raised him on the third day (Acts
10:40) to remove the sting of death (1
Corinthians 15:55)! Death died in Jesus’s death (John
11:25-26)! Therefore, life really is Christ (John
14:6), and death is gain (Philippians 1:21). And if we believe that with
all our hearts, we will be an unstoppable force for the gospel all over the
world! Do whatever it takes this year for us to live more in the freedom of the
resurrection!
Yes,
Father! Jesus must increase! Jesus must increase! We must decrease! If Jesus
increases and we decrease, our joy, with John the Baptist’s, will be full!
So
this is our prayer for 2023: increase our love for you, our trust in your
promises, our passion for your Son’s glory, our faith in your provision, and
the realization of the reality of our resurrection.
We
pray this in the name of Jesus, with the deep desire that he may be glorified
more in us this year than ever before, amen.
https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/jesus-must-increase-a-prayer-for-the-new-year
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Jesus
on the mainline is 24/7
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Dustin W. Benge on the word of God for the New Year [PHOTO SOURCE: https://www.facebook.com/SuzannesFaithBlog/photos/a.1380671201948152/6481404691874752/] |
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