Thursday, January 1, 2026
Scripture Readings
- Primary Reading: Acts 1-2
- Secondary Reading: Psalms 1
Key Verse
Acts 2:11 — “Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.”
Devotional Thought
What does this first day of a new year ask of us? Acts opens with a company of ordinary people—Peter, James, John, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, and the rest—told to wait in Jerusalem for a promise they could not yet see. They had watched Jesus ascend from the Mount of Olives until a cloud received Him out of their sight. Two men in white apparel asked why they stood gazing into heaven, and so they returned to an upper room, about a hundred and twenty of them, and continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus. They did not know the times or the seasons. They only knew to wait, and to pray.
Then came Pentecost. A sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind filled the house. Cloven tongues like as of fire sat upon each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues. Devout Jews out of every nation—Parthians, Medes, Elamites, dwellers in Mesopotamia, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, Libya, visitors from Rome, Cretes and Arabians—heard the wonderful works of God in their own languages. Some mocked; Peter stood with the eleven and preached Joel’s prophecy and David’s psalm, declaring that God had raised up this same Jesus and made Him both Lord and Christ. Three thousand souls were baptized that day, and the church began not with programs but with steadfast doctrine, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayers.
Psalm 1 sets the same choice before us: the blessed man delights in the law of the LORD and meditates therein day and night; he is like a tree planted by rivers of water, bringing forth fruit in his season. The ungodly are chaff the wind drives away. Here is the quiet logic of the upper room and of Pentecost alike—those who wait on God, who give themselves to prayer and to His word, are planted and fruitful; those who scorn are blown away.
A new year begins today. We do not know what it holds, any more than those disciples knew what Pentecost would bring. But we know what they did in the waiting: they prayed together, searched the Scriptures, and stayed in one accord. That is our calling as well—not to map the future, but to be planted by the rivers of water, meditating on His law day and night, ready for the Spirit’s filling when He comes.
Reflection
- The disciples waited ten days in prayer before Pentecost came. What would it look like for you to wait on God in prayer this year rather than rushing ahead of Him?
- Psalm 1 describes the blessed man as a tree planted by rivers of water. What “counsel of the ungodly” or “seat of the scornful” is currently shaping your thinking, and how might daily meditation on Scripture uproot it?
Prayer
Lord, as this new year opens before us, we confess that we often want to know the times and the seasons rather than to wait upon You. Teach us to be like that upper-room company—of one accord, steadfast in prayer, delighting in Your word day and night. Plant us by the rivers of Your water, that we may bring forth fruit in season and that our leaf may not wither. Fill us with Your Holy Ghost, and make us faithful witnesses of the risen Christ, in Jerusalem, in all Judaea, in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. We ask it in the name of Jesus, both Lord and Christ. Amen.
Psalm Verse
Psalms 1:1 — “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.”