When you are experiencing a mental or emotional slump, negative thoughts can quickly get overwhelming. Mental health professionals call these “faulty thinking patterns.” An easy way to understand this is to think of your emotional state as a balance that should be weighted equally—logical, rational thinking on the left side of the scale, feelings on the right, evenly balanced.
But sometimes, our feelings get out of control, and more weight begins to bring that scale off-balance. That’s when we often experience “faulty thinking,” expecting the worst, making assumptions, unfairly blaming ourselves, and more. When this happens, it can be helpful to ask God to take away these negative and irrational thoughts and counter them with His mighty and perfect truth.
Here, then, are eight prayers you can pray to help eliminate or reduce faulty thinking patterns.
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1. A Prayer to Stop Black and White Thinking
Oh, Lord, please help me. The enemy speaks lies into my heart and mind, and I begin to believe very polarized things. I use words like always, never, everybody, nobody. I think things like, “I will always feel this way. Nobody understands. I will never have peace.”
Help me know that these are all lies. The only true absolute in all things is You and Your great love.
Lord, drive out these extremist words from my vocabulary in all things, except when it comes to You. Help me see them as lies, and help my brain return to a more rational, logical state. Help me not be controlled by my feelings and know that it is normal to feel things, but not good to be controlled by how I feel.
Let me rest in Your presence and hope, feeling the joy that is contentment in You. Things might not be “happy” or “pleasant” in my life right now, but it doesn’t mean I cannot rest in Your joy.
And help me heed the words of Ephesians 6:16, to “take up the shield of faith,” with which You and I together can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
In Your holy name I pray,
Amen
2. A Prayer to Stop Minimizing
Father God, I know that minimizing is one of the tools the enemy uses to make me feel small, helpless, and alone. But I am not alone. You are always with me. As Deuteronomy 31:6 reminds me, You will never leave me nor forsake me.
Minimizing is a lie, for it downplays the good stuff in my life. Yet I am Your child. You love me, and You are only good. You have created this beautiful world, and though the circumstances of my life right now might be difficult, I belong to You. Because of You, I belong to the light that is Your goodness. In You I can do all things and endure all things, and at the end, I know I have salvation in heaven for all eternity with You.
Lord, push the enemy’s minimizing lies far away. I am a beautiful creation handcrafted by You. You give me spiritual gifts and many, many blessings.
Help me see this and be grateful for the blessings You give.
I love You, God,
Amen
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3. A Prayer to Stop Mind-Reading
Heavenly Father, You are sovereign, not me. You read minds, not me. You know hearts, not me. But sometimes I get confused. I assume people are thinking things about me or otherwise that simply are not true. Perhaps I am projecting my own fears into the situation, or I am simply wrong. I might think a person doesn’t like me, or doesn’t want to spend time with me, instead of understanding they might express their feelings differently from me or have other priorities in their life right now that You are calling them to honor.
Lord, help me stop mind-reading and, instead, look to You for my worth and my validation. Help me know that You love me, and You are in control, not me.
In Your beautiful and precious name I pray,
Amen
4. A Prayer to Stop Awfulizing
Dear God, when my soul is weary, I’m sometimes guilty of expecting the worst outcome in a situation. I see gloom and doom. I think I know what will be, and I rely on my own knowledge or fears or expectation instead of doing what I should do: trust in You.
Your Holy Word tells me otherwise. I am to put my hope, trust, and claim in You alone.
Enable me to embrace the words of Psalm 62:5, “Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him.”
Help me sear the words of Psalm 39:7 upon my heart: “But now, Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in you.”
I don’t need to know what will be. I only need to trust in You. Free me from those chains and give me rest, peace, and hope in You alone.
Amen
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5. A Prayer to Stop Emotional Reasoning
Holy Lord, I’ve been putting more faith in my own faulty emotional reasoning lately than in Your truths. I feel fearful, so I conclude I must be weak. I feel lonely, so I conclude I must be unlikeable, unworthy, or unloved.
These are all lies from the enemy.
Help me to be like the psalmist of Psalm 56:3: “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.”
Stop my emotional reasoning, and give me the ability to rest in You, to “be still and know” (Psalm 46:10) that You are my God, and You are mighty and in control.
Amen
6. A Prayer to Stop Putting Myself Down
Dear God, when I’m scared, sad, or fearful, anxiety spins like a tornado, wreaking havoc in every crevice of my life. I begin to engage in down putting, tearing myself down as if I am bad or worthless.
But I am not bad or worthless. You love me and You created me.
Enable me to cling to Your promises in the Bible. John 3:16 tells us that “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Ephesians 2:10 tells us that “God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
I am precious to God. When I put myself down, I’m insulting someone precious to Him, something He created. This is wrong and not pleasing to God.
Help me love myself knowing You loved me first and will love me no matter what.
Amen
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7. A Prayer to Stop Wrongful Blaming
Holy Lord, sometimes bad things happen in life, and instead of accepting them and trying to find You and Your grace and lessons and commands in them, I get caught up in why they happened in the first place. I unfairly blame myself for problems, or I blame others, and I get so focused on the blaming that I lose sight of what You are trying to do in the midst of it all.
Hep me to stop all these lies and distractions, which are from the enemy. Instead, help me heed the words of Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”
Amen
8. A Prayer to Stop the ‘I Shoulds’
Dear Lord God, sometimes I feel like a broken record: I should feel this way, do this thing, love that way. I hold onto beliefs that things “should” be a certain way.
But there is only one “should” I must utter: I should put all my trust and faith in You.
With all the clamors for attention in this world, it gets so overwhelming. But Jesus makes it all clear for us. As He says in Matthew 22:37-40 that we must do two things: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Help me get rid of those “I should” statements and focus on Your Word and Your glory. Help me love You and then love others in Your name.
I love You, God, and thank You for always hearing and helping me.
Amen
May you feel the comfort of God with You in your fear, doubt, and sorrow as you pray these prayers.
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