Starting the Year With Christ — Giving the Year to Jesus

John Fisch
Jan 1
4 min read

Scripture:

Show me your ways, Lord,

teach me your paths.

Guide me in your truth and teach me,

for you are God my Savior,

and my hope is in you all day long.

-Psalm 25:4–5

Additional reading: Proverbs 16:3 • Proverbs 3:5–6 • Isaiah 30:21 • James 4:13–15 • Psalm 143:8

Intro:

Before we make plans, set goals, or decide what we want this year to become, there is a harder question we rarely ask:

Who is actually leading our life?

We often invite Jesus to walk with us—but only after we have chosen the direction. We ask Him to bless what we have already decided. Yet Scripture calls us to something far deeper than ambition or fresh resolve. It calls us to surrender.

To begin the year with Christ is not to start with confidence in ourselves, but with trust in Him. Not with control, but with obedience. Not with noise, but with a quiet willingness to be led—wherever He chooses to take us.

2026 - A New Year With the LORD

Advice pours in. Goals are set. Expectations rise. Voices compete for your attention, each promising direction, improvement, or success—if only you follow their plan. But before another voice speaks, before another plan is made, Scripture invites us to do something quieter and far more powerful:

Ask God to lead.

Psalm 25 is not the prayer of someone confident in their future—it is the prayer of someone surrendered to God’s guidance. David does not ask for speed, success, or certainty. He asks to be taught. To be shown. To be led. That posture matters, especially at the start of a year we cannot see.

To begin the year with Christ is not to hand Him a list of goals and ask for blessing. It is to lay the entire year before Him and say, “Show me Your way. Even if it isn’t mine.”

Proverbs reminds us that when we commit our work to the Lord, our plans are established—not because we planned well, but because He is faithful to guide those who trust Him. Isaiah echoes this promise: “This is the way; walk in it.” Not shouted from a distance, but spoken close enough to hear while walking.

James gives us a needed correction at the start of the year. He warns against planning as though tomorrow belongs to us. Life is fragile. Time is borrowed. The future is not guaranteed—but it is held. And that truth is not meant to create fear, but humility and trust.

The daily, ordinary moments of the year can feel repetitive. Wake. Work. Eat. Sleep. Repeat. But when a life is surrendered to Christ, nothing is wasted—not the quiet days, not the unseen faithfulness, not the slow obedience. When we give the year to God, He brings meaning into the mundane and purpose into places we never expected.

Psalm 143 captures the heart of this surrender: “Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love… show me the way I should go.” That is not a one-time prayer for January 1. It is the posture of a life walking with Jesus—day by day, step by step.

This year does not need to be driven by pressure or fear of falling behind. It needs to be walked with Christ.

Give Him your mornings.

Give Him your work.

Give Him your plans— and your interruptions.

Give Him the year.

And trust that the God who calls you to walk with Him is faithful to make your paths straight.

Reflection Questions

What would change if you measured this year by obedience to Christ instead of visible success?
Are there areas of your life you are planning without fully surrendering them to God?
What would it look like to begin each day of this year asking the Lord to guide your steps?

A Prayer for 2026

Lord Jesus Christ,

Before this year moves another step forward, I come to You without plans to defend and without outcomes to demand. I do not know what this year will hold, but I know You are already there. I confess how often I ask You to bless my direction instead of asking You to lead it. Today, I release that control.

Teach me Your ways, not just the ways that feel comfortable. Guide my steps even when Your path interrupts my expectations. I do not want a year shaped by fear, pressure, or ambition—I want a year shaped by obedience and trust. Strip away what does not belong. Reorder what I have misplaced. Quiet every voice that competes with Yours.

When I am uncertain, remind me that You are steady. When I am tempted to rush ahead, teach me to wait. When I am afraid of the unknown, anchor my heart in Your faithfulness. Let me not measure this year by success or ease, but by faithfulness to You.

Cover every day ahead—both the ordinary and the unseen. Walk with me through the work, the waiting, the joy, and the hard places. Let my life reflect a quiet dependence on You, and may my steps be led not by my will, but by Your truth.

I place this entire year into Your hands—every plan, every interruption, every unknown—and I trust You to lead me where I need to go.

In the name of Jesus, amen.