Do you ever just want to start over?
It’s a good thing that the God of Heaven is a God of fresh starts and new beginnings. He made a world that starts anew every day with the sunrise. Every week has the first day to it. There’s a first of every month and a New Year’s Day to celebrate the birth of every year. God must have known we’d need fresh starts…as often as every 24 hours! In fact, He knew we’d need them even more often than that. So He provided us with ample opportunities for new beginnings.
With each new day, we have a reminder that we can try again, get another chance, make a clean start. And with each new month, we can recommit ourselves to God anew with a prayer for a fresh start.
If you’ve made bad choices, thought wrong thoughts, done stupid things, or said careless words, you can pray for a fresh start every new month. If you’ve missed some divine appointments and have regrets about that, or just want to live more fully for Him, you can renew your heart with every new month. Here are four prayers for a fresh start every new month.
Lord God, Creator of all things. Thank You for this new month that You have given me…a new month in which to start fresh. Thank You, that You have the ability – and the desire – to wipe my slate clean. Thank You that forgiveness is there for the asking and You are the God of restoration and new beginnings. Your Word says, “Anyone who belongs to Christ is a new person. The past is forgotten, and everything is new” (2 Corinthians 5:17 CEV). That doesn’t just mean I become “new” when I initially come to Christ and surrender my life to Him. It means I can have a new beginning every day – every time that I see the need to start over. Every time I want to make it right with You again.
I praise You for the privilege to “come boldly to the throne of grace, that [I] may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16). I thank You for the promise in Scripture that if I ask anything according to Your will, You hear me. And if I know You hear me in whatever I ask, I know I have what I have requested of You (1 John 5:14-15). Lord, I ask, in Your name, that You forgive me for the times I’ve crowded You off the throne of my life and sought to be the ruler of my decisions and will. Forgive me for my desire to control, for my lack of faith that You are sovereign over every event under heaven, and for my sin that has grieved Your heart.
Thank You for seeing that I am human, I still sin. Even though I love You and set out to do what’s right, I still mess things up at times. That is why I need a Savior. That is why I need You, my Savior. I praise You that a new start awaits me every time I ask You for it. As David prayed in Psalm 51 (after a disastrous series of events): “God, make a fresh start in me. Shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life… Bring me back from gray exile, put a fresh wind in my sails” (verses 10-12, The Message).
Thank You, Lord, that just as You gave King David a fresh start after messing up big time (committing adultery and then murdering one of His “mighty men” to cover up his sin), You can show mercy to me as well, no matter where I’ve been and what I’ve done.
“Search me, God, and know my heart; Put me to the test and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there is any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way” (Psalm 139:23-24 NASB). Lord, as this is a new month, make everything about me new. Everything. My mind– to think pure thoughts. My body – to live purely from day to day. My mouth – to speak words that heal, not wound. My heart – to seek after a path that is straight and right.
Thank You, that in Your mercy, and in Your righteousness, You have “removed our rebellious acts as far away from us as the east is from the west” (Psalm 103:12 NLT). Hurl my sins further than the California Coast is to the Jersey shore. From years past into a million years hence. I praise You that “As far as sunrise is from sunset, [You have] separated us from our sins” (MSG). With regrets behind me, put me on a new road, toward a new direction, into a brand new month, with a fresh new start.
2. A Prayer for Guidance in the New Month
Lord God, You not only know every offense I’ve ever committed, You see all that lies in my future as well. Help me to see every divine appointment that comes my way in this new month. Open the doors in front of me to walk into Your will. Open my eyes to recognize each opportunity to share Your love and the truth of Your Word with someone who needs it. Each day of this new month, chart me a clear path to be obedient to You and to be used for Your kingdom’s purposes, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant the work may be. Give me a servant’s mindset to see every task in front of me as an opportunity to glorify You so that “whatever [I] do, in word or deed, [I] do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father” (Colossians 3:17NASB).
3. A Prayer for Boldness to Live Purely in the New Month
Lord, help me to take seriously Your command to be perfect as You are perfect (Matthew 5:48). I know that apart from You, I can do nothing (John 15:5) and I have nothing within me (except Your Holy Spirit) to attain holiness. Help me to do “all things without complaining or arguments; so that [I] will prove [myself] to be blameless and innocent, [a child] of God, above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom [I] appear as [a] light in the world” (Philippians 2:14-15 NASB). Don’t let me be conformed to this world, but may I be “transformed by the renewing of [my] mind, so that [I] may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2). Jesus, shine through me so others see Your holiness in my heart and actions.
4. A Prayer to Share God’s Love with Others in the New Month
Lord, in this new month may I not be overly focused on myself, but ever aware of those around me who need to see and experience Your love. Heavenly Father, help me to understand that others will not come to know You because of my intellectual superiority or my theological astuteness. Your Word says they will know You by the love expressed by Your followers. Remind me daily of Your command to love others as You have loved me. By this, all will know that I am Your disciple if I have a love for one another (John 13:34-35 NKJV).
Help me to show kindness, extend grace, show love, and live humbly as my Lord Jesus did. Impress upon my heart that it is more important to be loving to others than to win an argument, more important to be kind than to be right. Help me to see others through Your loving eyes, love them with Your tender heart, and serve them with the hands and feet You have given me. Don’t let me waste this new month by continuing old patterns of the past. Instead, launch me forward in this new month into new growth, new opportunities, and new confidence to show Jesus to others in everything I say and do. In Jesus’ powerful Name, Amen.
For more on growing in your faith, see Cindi’s books: God’s Whispers to a Woman’s Heart, Letting God Meet Your Emotional Needs, and When Women Long for Rest.
Cindi McMenamin is a national speaker, Bible teacher, and award-winning writer who helps women and couples strengthen their relationship with God and others. She is the author of 17 books, including When Women Walk Alone (more than 150,000 copies sold), When a Woman Overcomes Life’s Hurts, When God Sees Your Tears, and When Couples Walk Together, which she co-authored with her husband of 32 years. Find out more about her speaking ministry, coaching services for writers, and books to strengthen your soul, marriage, and parenting, at www.StrengthForTheSoul.com.
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