10 Inspirational Prayers to Encourage You throughout Your Day

As I open my eyes this morning, God, I want You to be the first thing I see. Be the first thought in my mind. Be the first word I speak.

You say that Your mercies are new every morning. This morning, would You help me receive those mercies again? I still need them just as much as ever.

As I reach for the alarm clock to silence its malicious ringing, I surrender to You my frustration at being forced awake. I ask You to fill me instead with hope and excitement for what You want to accomplish in the world through me today.

Energize me for the moment I throw off the blanket and swing my feet down to the floor. From my first step today to my last, let me walk with You.

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God, You are the God who sees me. You see me better and more completely than I see myself. I pray that as I look at my reflection in the mirror, You would give me eyes to see myself the way You see me.

When I’m tempted to obsess over everything that is wrong with my body—the missing muscles, the extra weight, the blemished skin, all the ways I don’t look like my society’s vision of perfection—remind me of the delight You took in me when You first knit me together and called me good.

When I like what I see, help me to thank You without becoming puffed up or self-absorbed.

As I turn away from the mirror, let me take my eyes off myself and direct them in love toward You and toward the world around me.

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Open my ears, God, to hear Your voice speaking to me from Scripture today. I don’t want to just settle for easy answers. I don’t want to just read the Bible in a way that makes me feel good. I want to give You continual, constant permission to interrupt and rearrange my life.

Give me passion as I read to take seriously the truth of what I am reading. Help me resist the temptation to put Your words into my head without letting them change my heart and my actions. I confess that knowledge about You isn’t enough. I need life transformation. Please show me how the Scripture I’m reading is meant to transform the way I inhabit my world.

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God, I’ve been running nonstop all day, and as soon as I get out of this line, I’ll probably keep on going full speed ahead. It’s frustrating being forced to stop. But here I am, stuck in line—waiting.

Is there anything You want to say to me while I’m waiting? Is there anything Your voice has been whispering to me while I’ve been racing around and making too much noise to listen? If so, I’m listening now. Keep me from being irritated and impatient and instead, help me to receive this moment as a gift of time with You.

Remind me how much You love these strangers standing in line beside me. In this moment, teach me again that my world isn’t just about me. Make my heart more patient and generous, more deeply full of love, as I wait.

And then, once You’re ready for me to move on, please get me to the front of the line.

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I know You’re in control, God. But sometimes it takes a while for my heart to believe the things my brain knows about You. And right now, I’m having trouble believing You’re still in charge as my heart pounds with fear.

In this moment, in the middle of my fear, I ask You to make me strong and courageous. Even if my heart is still pounding. Even if I don’t feel brave at all.

Give me the courage to do what You’ve called me to do, even when every muscle in my body wants to sprint in the opposite direction. Help me to act courageous before I feel courageous.

Fill me with confidence that You have good things planned for me. Fill me with trust. Fill me so full that there’s no room left for fear.

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God, I need to weep right now. Will You weep with me?

I thought I knew how this story was supposed to go. I thought I knew the good thing You had planned. It turns out I was wrong. Now I’m holding the broken pieces of how I hoped the world would be, wondering if any amount of glue can piece them back together.

This heartbreak isn’t Your fault, God—but I also know it didn’t catch You by surprise. There are no accidents in the story You’re telling over my life. You have a knack for turning sorrow into something beautiful in the end.

I can’t see the beauty yet. I’m not ready to do more than weep. But as I weep, I pray that You would help me weep like someone who knows there’s hope ahead.

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It’s me again, God, crawling back to You once more, covered in the muck and guilt of my own failure. I wouldn’t blame You if You got tired of forgiving me. If You ran out of patience—if You ran out of grace—I’d understand.

But You haven’t run out of grace. And You never will.

It’s because of that endless grace that I’m here again, asking Your forgiveness. I don’t want to keep living the way I’ve been living. I don’t want to treat grace like something cheap. I want to turn around and live differently. I want to live so deeply in love with You that I won’t settle for anything less than You.

Thank You for dying to make me new. Teach me to die to myself so that I can live in You.

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God, You’ve seen the wrong that was done to me. You know how much it hurt me. You know that the person responsible doesn’t deserve to be forgiven.

But that’s just the point, isn’t it? Forgiveness isn’t supposed to be something we deserve. You’ve forgiven me even though I don’t deserve it. When I try to withhold forgiveness from other people, I’m acting like their offenses against me are worse than my offenses against You. I’m making a mockery of the grace I’ve received.

It’s out of obedience to You that I want to let go of my right to resentment and revenge. Not because the offense against me doesn’t matter. Not because it’s easy to forget. But because You’ve already forgiven my debts, and there’s no other way for me to respond except to forgive my debtors.

Help me to unclench my fists and release my unforgiving grip. Where there is bitterness, fill me up with grace instead.

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The day’s commotion is finally over, God—at least, I hope it is. The house is quiet, the living room empty, my schedule blank. Even the night sky outside my window looks less crowded now, everything erased from view except a dusting of starlight.

In this quiet moment, I ask You to refresh my vision of who You are and who I am called to be. I don’t want to expend my energy running on the world’s hamster wheel, going nowhere for no reason. I want to check in with You and make sure that I’m living in accordance with what You want for my life.

Thank you for the simple beauty that I find when I hold still.

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Holy Spirit, I’m grateful for the ways You’ve been beside me today. Thank You for celebrating today’s victories with me and thank You for comforting me as I faced today’s sorrows. Thank You for never once leaving me alone.

If fear or worry or anxiety about tomorrow threatens to keep me awake, I silence it by declaring that Your mercies are new every morning. I don’t need tomorrow’s mercies quite yet—but as soon as I need them, You’ll provide them. My needs have never outstripped Your ability to provide, and they never will. I thank You in advance for the gift of tomorrow’s mercies.

Now, as I fall asleep, please stay beside me. As I breathe in and out, fill me and surround me with Your presence. Let me rest in You and wake up refreshed to walk with You again.

Amen.

Gregory Coles is the author of Single, Gay, Christian and an English instructor at Penn State University. Learn more at www.gregorycoles.com or follow him on Facebook.

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