The Upper Room 1st January 2024 Devotional || Speak a New Beginning
Read and Study Today’s The Upper Room Daily Devotional for January 1, 2024 Message written by P. E. Uloh (Edo, Nigeria). God bless you as you study today! Please share with your friends and loved ones.
TODAY’S READING
John 1:1-9
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
With the light of Christ comes great hope.
God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. – Genesis 1:3 (NRSVUE)
I felt extremely grateful at the New Year’s Eve service in 2021. It indeed felt like a new beginning, a new hope against the odds of the past year. Yet after the service, I was in tears as I thought of all the things I didn’t have. I wanted so much for the new year, but I didn’t know how or where to start. I felt hopeless.
That night, I decided to pray again. I didn’t ask for anything. Instead, inspired by 1 Thessalonians 5:18, I gave thanks for all that I had, and I felt blessed by everything on my list. After this prayer of gratitude, I had Genesis 1:3 in my heart and a new understanding of the verse. In Genesis 1:1-2 it was the beginning, and it looked hopeless. In that bleak situation, God spoke light. With that light came hope, and God kept speaking, forming sky, seas, and land. What God wanted for the future, day after day, God spoke into being. Until it was all good, God spoke.
As believers, when faced with a hopeless situation, the first thing we can do is invite the Light into that situation. We can speak: “Thank you, Jesus.” He is the light of the world (see Jn. 8:12). With Christ’s light comes hope. My resolution this year is to speak light through all my days.
TODAY’S PRAYER
Dear God, help us to be grateful in all situations. Show us how to speak light and goodness into our lives and the lives of those around us. Amen.
PRAYER FOCUS
Gratitude for all that I have
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