The cold, dreary winter months are slowly fading and spring is just around the corner. The promise of warmth and new life lifts our spirits, and we find our souls singing as they yearn for renewal, change, and awakening, along with the earth.
One way we can invite spiritual renewal and change this spring is through prayer, by asking God, who is always at work in our lives (Philippians 2:13), to awaken those areas that need a reset.
Here are eight prayers to help guide you through a season of renewal, inspiration, and joy as you grow closer in your walk with the Lord.
Lord, as I clean my house, readying it for the long summer days ahead, help me to take inventory of those things in my soul, heart, mind, and life that need a good freshening up. Bring to my mind whatever dust of sin that still lingers and I have not dealt with over the past months, sin that I need to repent of and which needs to be wiped clean with your forgiveness and grace. Restore my soul, Father, and bring healing. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Father of Creation, Ruler of all nature, I rejoice in the beauty of the refreshing rain, the blooming flowers, the budding trees, the singing birds, the fresh grass, the rushing waters, and the birth of new creatures, great and small. You bring forth life anew and give good gifts to both man and beast. How wonderous are your works! In Jesus’ name, amen.
Continue by reading Psalm 104: A Song of Praise for God’s Creation:
Praise the Lord, my soul.
Lord my God, you are very great;
you are clothed with splendor and majesty.
The Lord wraps himself in light as with a garment;
he stretches out the heavens like a tent
and lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters.
He makes the clouds his chariot
and rides on the wings of the wind.
He makes winds his messengers,
flames of fire his servants.
He set the earth on its foundations;
it can never be moved.
You covered it with the watery depths as with a garment;
the waters stood above the mountains.
But at your rebuke the waters fled,
at the sound of your thunder they took to flight;
they flowed over the mountains,
they went down into the valleys,
to the place you assigned for them.
You set a boundary they cannot cross;
never again will they cover the earth.
He makes springs pour water into the ravines;
it flows between the mountains.
They give water to all the beasts of the field;
the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
The birds of the sky nest by the waters;
they sing among the branches.
He waters the mountains from his upper chambers;
the land is satisfied by the fruit of his work.
He makes grass grow for the cattle,
and plants for people to cultivate—
bringing forth food from the earth:
wine that gladdens human hearts,
oil to make their faces shine,
and bread that sustains their hearts.
The trees of the Lord are well watered,
the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.
There the birds make their nests;
the stork has its home in the junipers.
The high mountains belong to the wild goats;
the crags are a refuge for the hyrax.
He made the moon to mark the seasons,
and the sun knows when to go down.
You bring darkness, it becomes night,
and all the beasts of the forest prowl.
The lions roar for their prey
and seek their food from God.
The sun rises, and they steal away;
they return and lie down in their dens.
Then people go out to their work,
to their labor until evening.
How many are your works, Lord!
In wisdom you made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
There is the sea, vast and spacious,
teeming with creatures beyond number—
living things both large and small.
There the ships go to and fro,
and Leviathan, which you formed to frolic there.
All creatures look to you
to give them their food at the proper time.
When you give it to them,
they gather it up;
when you open your hand,
they are satisfied with good things.
When you hide your face,
they are terrified;
when you take away their breath,
they die and return to the dust.
When you send your Spirit,
they are created,
and you renew the face of the ground.
May the glory of the Lord endure forever;
may the Lord rejoice in his works—
he who looks at the earth, and it trembles,
who touches the mountains, and they smoke.
I will sing to the Lord all my life;
I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
May my meditation be pleasing to him,
as I rejoice in the Lord.
But may sinners vanish from the earth
and the wicked be no more.
Praise the Lord, my soul.
Praise the Lord.
Lord God, now is a good time to set a new pace for the rest of this year, a slower pace. I want to take time to really see and take in what’s around me. Help me to cease striving in my busyness and to make space for You more. Help me to recalibrate my calendar so that I can devote more time to prayer, being in union with You, to behold You more and to be beheld by You.
In this process, show me those activities, such as excessive social scrolling, listening to numerous podcasts, or watching too much TV, that distract, and detract, from my relationship with You. Help me to “weed out” all the unnecessary noises and voices that prevent me from hearing You more clearly. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Lord, I ask that you bless my family and friends, my pastor and my church in this season. I know You are “able to bless [them] abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that [they] need, [they] will abound in every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8). Bless their lives, their work, their ministries. Make them fruitful in whatever they put their hands to. Shower them with Your grace and love and give them strength and peace for each new day. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Lord, I am thankful for the food You provide through hard-working farmers and ranchers around the world. Farming and ranching are not easy jobs, nor is there certainty in the weather for the growth of crops and grass for livestock. But we know You are the Lord of the Harvest, and we pray Zechariah 10:1, “Ask rain from the Lord in the season of the spring rain, from the Lord who makes the storm clouds, and He will give them showers of rain, to everyone the vegetation in the field.” In Jesus’ name, amen.
Precious Lord, my soul is weary with the “winter blues.” My mood mimics the gray skies above. I feel spiritually lethargic and lack motivation. I feel as if I have lost my purpose. I yearn for a spiritual revival and renewed purpose, Father, and I know You can provide both. Over the next several weeks, “Restore unto me the joy of Your salvation; And uphold me with a willing spirit” (Psalm 51:12). As well, open my heart and mind to what You would have me do for You the rest of this year. I surrender this season to You as I await Your guidance and direction. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers to-day;
And give us not to think so far away
As the uncertain harvest; keep us here
All simply in the springing of the year.
Oh, give us pleasure in the orchard white,
Like nothing else by day, like ghosts by night;
And make us happy in the happy bees,
The swarm dilating round the perfect trees.
And make us happy in the darting bird
That suddenly above the bees is heard,
The meteor that thrusts in with needle bill,
And off a blossom in mid air stands still.
For this is love and nothing else is love,
The which it is reserved for God above
To sanctify to what far ends He will,
But which it only needs that we fulfil.
Father, help me to love more deeply and forgive more readily. Let me abound with love. Let me shower those around me, even my enemies, with kindness and compassion. As You are love, Father, let me demonstrate that love to others. In Jesus’ name, amen.
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