7 Powerful Morning Prayers to Begin Your Day
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Whether you dread mornings or cherish them, there’s no denying that dawn brings the chance for a new day, a fresh start, and perhaps even a reset. The morning provides a perfect time to talk to God and start your day focused on His promises and goodness through daily morning prayer. Like springtime, the sun’s rays cast a glimmer of hope and renewal, even on the foggiest, gloomiest, rainiest of mornings.
Lamentations 3:22-23 reminds us the Lord’s mercies never fail and are restored with every rising sun, while Psalm 30:5 says that while weeping stays for the night, joy comes in the morning.
Coaches often advise people embarking on a lifestyle change to start their day with a positive, affirming routine that both centers and energizes them. Whether that’s meditation, a workout routine, or a healthy breakfast, starting the day “right” often leads to a strong noon, and that momentum carries through until nightfall. Similarly, starting your day in prayer, by bowing heart, mind, and soul to the Lord of the universe, can propel your day from ho-hum to positively sparking with the fire of the Holy Spirit.
Here are some short, powerful morning prayers that can help you center your day exactly where it belongs: in the Lord.
1. Morning Prayer of Gratitude
Here is an example of a morning prayer that prompts you to focus on the many blessings that surround you:
Heavenly Father, Thank You. You made the heavens and the earth, the land and the sea, the fish that swim in the waters and the creatures that crawl upon the shores. You made me—truly, Your hand crafted everything in this universe.
Help me, Lord, not to take any of this for granted. Help me know in my soul I do not deserve the blessings You choose to bestow, yet You offer them anyway. You do this because You love me, because You are perfect and good, and because Your ways are infinitely higher than my own.
Thank you, Father God, for breath in my lungs and sun on my skin. Thank You for the opportunity of salvation and for the gift of Your son, Jesus Christ.
Help me to hold this gratitude in my heart all day long and to overflow with joy so I can share it with others in all I think, say, and do. In Your holy and precious name I pray, Amen.
2. Prayer for Daily Faith
Here is a sample daily prayer to remember to trust in God no matter what may come today:
Lord, In this time of busy, hectic rushing, with so many priorities clamoring to take my attention, help me to push aside all the other voices in culture competing for my heart and mind. Instead, let the truth of the Great I Am wash over me. Help me cling to You as the only source of rescue and refuge. Help me know in every ounce of my being that You are Lord and Savior, the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End. Help me have the humility and passion of the father in Mark 9:23-24 who begged Jesus to heal his son, crying out, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”
In You I trust, and in You I place my hope, now and forever. In Your name and vast love I pray, Amen.
3. Prayer of Contentment
Here is a powerful morning prayer to rest knowing that God loves you and will provide all that you need:
Father God, Sometimes my heart yearns for all the things I think I don’t have, instead of cherishing the blessings You give. Today, I choose to turn over all my wants and instead rest in Your love. In Psalm 46:10 You urge us to recognize Your glory, telling us, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Your glory is enough—You are enough. As You told your son Joshua as he was about to enter the Promised Land all those thousands of years ago, You will never leave us or forsake us. We can trust in You, and You will protect and provide for us.
Help me rest in that love and feel the peace that You provide rest on my bones today and every day. I love You, Lord. Amen.
4. Prayer for Strength Throughout the Day
When you're feeling weak, use this sample prayer in the morning to lean on God's strength:
Lord God, sometimes the tasks before me loom high and insurmountable, like a wall I cannot possibly scale. I grow weary. My human weaknesses threaten to bring me to my knees.
But with You, Lord, I can do all things. With Your supernatural power, my faith can move mountains, because it rests in You, the author of all things.
Please grant me strength, endurance, health, and stamina today. Help me devote all I do to You, Lord. I pray this with all I am, Amen.
5. Morning Prayer for Protection
Begin your day by telling God about your fears and anxieties and asking for his protection over your life and those you love:
Heavenly Lord,
Wrap me in Your loving, protective arms today. Temptations press in, calling my name—please keep me safe and empower me to resist their allure by calling on Your Precious Name. Illnesses, toxins, and other physical attacks surround me also. Keep me sheltered from them and encircled in Your care. Most importantly, help me keep my gaze focused on You and trust that there is nothing on earth that can befall me that can possibly compare to Your great power and might. As Jesus reminds us in Matthew 10:28, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” You protect me with a passionate, perfect care, and I commit my soul to You now and always. Amen.
6. Prayer for Guidance
Use this sample daily prayer to seek God's wisdom in the decisions you will face today:
Lord, I don’t know what You know. I see the world and my own life with all-too-human eyes, and I miss the wider perspective. But You see all things, and You know Your ultimate purpose. Guide my steps, my thoughts, my decisions, and my life so it all points to You and Your plan. Let me not fear making a decision, for I know that if it is not Your will, I can trust that You will speak truth into my life and steer me back on track. Guide me today and every day Lord, helping me remember with every breath I take that my job is to align myself with You. Amen.
7. Prayer to Love and Forgive
Here is an example morning prayer to focus on living like Jesus today:
God of the Universe, God of all Creation, Thank You for the life You put in me. I am so thankful for the love we share. Today, even though it might be difficult, help me to honor that love with a generous, compassionate heart. Help me to love not only myself and those in my inner circle of family, friends, and neighbors, but also those who despise me, those who’d see me dead or trampled in the dust, those who wish me ill. Help my love for You eclipse all my worries so that the love I exhibit shines so extravagantly that people can look at me and know I belong to You. Forgive those who hate or wrong me. Let my life inspire their path to You so we can all share in Your Kingdom forever. In Your precious name I pray, Amen.
These are just a few prayers you can use in the morning to start your day. Whether you read these aloud or in your head, or whether they inspire you to offer your own words of gratitude, repentance, glory, and thanksgiving, know that God hears you and loves you. Your words are never empty, but rather a love offering from your heart to the Lord’s.
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Listen to today's daily prayer!
Every morning we bring you a devotional and prayer to help you start your day in conversation with God. The Bible tells us to bring our prayers and petitions before God and He WILL give us peace! May these daily prayers help you find the words to pray and focus your heart and mind on the love of God today.
Photo credit: Getty Images/Tanes Ngamsom
