A Prayer for January
The theme that the Lord gave us for 2021 is “Flourish!” and we want to live into that call in the upcoming year. We have spent a year that felt diminished, and dry, and desolate – but we want to walk in faith for ourselves, for Accessible Hope as an entity, and for the people with disabilities that we serve around the world that we were created to FLOURISH! To bear fruit. To be and give life. Join us this year in these monthly prayers, as we explore the idea of flourishing in the Bible. And let us know how we can pray for you as well!
The righteous will flourish like a palm tree,
they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon;
planted in the house of the Lord,
they will flourish in the courts of our God.
Psalm 92:12-13
Creator God, you made us to flourish; to be fruitful and to have dominion over the rest of your creation. But sometimes the weight of the broken world we have created causes us to wither instead. You tell us that the righteous will flourish like the palm tree, or a cedar tree, planted in your own house. But when we look around at the world right now, we wonder about the righteous part of this. Let us walk in the truth that Jesus. Is. Our. Righteousness. He did for us what we cannot do – kept the law and pleased you, God. We fall far short of that – but Jesus gave us HIS righteousness, and so you call us righteous! And we are made to FLOURISH! Palm trees are hardy and difficult to kill. Even when burned by fire, they don’t die. Only when their sap is drained for other uses do they wither and perish. Spirit, you are the life-sap of our flourishing lives.
God, while we often struggle to live out the flourishing lives that you intend for us, we know that people with disabilities around the world struggle even more. They often can’t even find a place of flourishing in their imaginations, let alone in their reality. Let them find you, Jesus, as the source of abundant life. Let them know what it would look like to flourish and be fruitful. Let this year, 2021, be the appointed time when they find salvation in you, receive the righteousness you offer to them, and flourish like the palm trees. And use us as you will to ensure that they hear that message of life.
By the power of your Name, Jesus,
Amen