Everyone Christian has a dream to have a vibrant prayer life, especially to get to the place where they are praying daily for the important people in their life. Maybe you’ve had this desire for a long time and many times made New Years’ resolutions to revitalise your praying, but life got busy and it fizzled out and you feel a failure in this area of your Christian life.

While it’s good to have such a  desire – and wishes, and ambitions should be a part of all of our lives, the question is, “What are you doing with your dream?”

Most dreams never come true. It’s not that we’re not smart enough, not outgoing enough, or not spiritual enough. Usually, our dreams don’t come true because we’re unwilling to take the necessary action to achieve them.

One action you could take at the start of this New Year is to use your old Christmas cards  from your family and friends to kick start your prayer life. Don’t throw them out whatever you do! Recycle them for God!

Get hold of a box to put them in, along with any Christmas email greetings that you can print off, then starting from the front each day take one card out, put it up somewhere obvious in your room and pray for that person every time you see the card. You can also put in the box your church directory if you have one and pray each day for one of the people in it, gradually working your way through it. Perhaps you also have a list of mission workers and persecuted believers – put them in the box as well!

Then put that card at the back of the box and the following day take a new one from the front. Over the year you will pray for all the key people in your life several times!!!  Having such a box will keep your prayer life fresh and exciting – who will come out of the box today?

Try it and make this the year you break through in this tough area to crack.

The Bible shares a sad one-sentence commentary about a king who failed to achieve an important ambition in his life:

“ Jehoshaphat built ocean–going ships to sail to the land of Ophir for gold, but they were wrecked at Eziongeber and  never sailed —” (1 Kings 22:48).

As Rick Warren says commenting on this verse:  ‘While it’s a tragedy for your ship to never come in in life, it’s a greater tragedy for you to build a ship and never set sail’.

Imagine the energy and expense expended by King Jehoshaphat. He built an entire fleet of ships to go after the gold, and not one of them set sail. They never got out of the harbour. Evidently a storm came up and, while these ships were in the harbour, they slammed against the rocks and were destroyed.

Some people spend their whole lives waiting for their ship to come, for a magical ability to pray to come upon them.  But God isn’t waiting for your ship to come in. He’s waiting for you to sail your ship out of the harbour.

To live a life with unfulfilled dreams is a tragedy. Ships aren’t made for the harbour. They’re made to set sail. Your old Christmas cards are too valuable to be binned, but to be boxed and to sail out every day throughout the coming year.

So are you ready to set sail and pray in the New Year?