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Here is a powerful January 22 prayer to read and reflect on now, or save for later.
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Find the January blessings reading plan (with a free printable) here.
Bible verse for January 22 Prayer
“And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” (2 Corinthians 9:8)
Reflection For Our January 22 Prayer from 2 Corinthians 9:8
I don’t know about you, but I pray for blessings often. I may not always label it as a “blessing,” but I find myself praying for what’s next. Sometimes I’ll be praying for a pay increase or a new house, or for my kids to do well. These are all good things to pray; there is not one thing wrong with those prayers. But I have to make sure I check my heart when I’m praying what I call “what’s next” prayers.
If we read the 2 Corinthians 9:8 verse, we are reminded of two specific things.
#1 We focus on what we want, but God will always give us what we need.
Remember the days of Mapquest? We would print out our directions and then hit the road, with simply nothing but a few printed pieces of paper. Some of us may have had a huge block cellphone at that point. Others of us had to pull off the road and ask for directions if we were lost. We never knew if there was going to be a detour or an accident or any other details.
Now, my phone will set up the best route for me. Somedays it will tell me why it chooses a different route (“accident reported ahead, would you like the route that is 2 minutes faster?”) but some days it will not. And so I have two options. I can either decide that the GPS on my phone has enough technology to know what is best, or I can force it to do my normal route, not knowing why it chose a different route that day. Usually, I follow my GPS, because it knows something I don’t know.
God doesn’t just know something we don’t know. He knows everything about earth, everyone about eternal life, and everything about what is going to happen next. And He has great plans for it. So when we pray for blessings, we also need to confidently pray for God’s will, and that He will do what is best for us, and ultimately what is best to serve His kingdom.
#2 The blessings that God gives us have a purpose: to serve Him in good works.
“…having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.”
Another issue I struggle with when I pray those “what’s next prayers” is that I get stuck focusing on what’s next. When God answers a big, bold prayer I have, even if I do say thank you I find myself jumping to my next prayer of praying for something in the future to happen. Then I get stuck in this cycle of always forgetting what God has done for me and thinking simply about what’s next.
God gives us a blessing so that we can do good work in His name. It is a glorious reason to receive a blessing, but we have to be bold and decide what we will do with that blessing.
Question for your January 22 Prayer
Write down 5 blessings that you have received so far this year. Next to those blessings, write down some brainstorming ideas of what you can do with those blessings that will result in good works of blessing other people.
January 22 Prayer
Dear God, thank you for your blessings upon blessings. Help me to pause and remember the good that you have done for me, and help me use those blessings to create a cycle of blessing other people, Amen.
Resource of the Day
Check out our YouTube video about 2 Corinthians 12:9!