prayers

Words for when you have none

Each of these is a prayer you could say out loud, written for one situation rather than for prayer in general. Every one names what it is not asking for, because a prayer page that promises the outcome is selling something.

• 5 minA morning prayerA prayer to say before you have looked at anything, plus four passages on why the first minutes decide the shape of the rest of the day.
• 5 minA prayer before an examA prayer for the hour before a test, four passages on wisdom and nerve, and the one thing prayer will not do for an exam.
• 5 minA prayer before bedAn evening prayer for the hour you meant to be asleep, with four passages on rest, and an honest word about what praying will not fix at midnight.
• 5 minA prayer before workA prayer for the start of a working day, four passages on labour, and what work being worship does and does not mean.
• 5 minA prayer before you open your phoneTen seconds before the unlock: a prayer for the gap between wanting and opening, with four passages on attention and appetite.
• 5 minA prayer for a friendA prayer for somebody else's hard week, four passages on carrying each other, and what to do instead of saying you will pray for them.
• 5 minA prayer for a new startA prayer for beginning again after the last attempt failed, four passages on new things, and why the date you start does not matter as much as it feels.
• 5 minA prayer for angerA prayer for the ten minutes before you say the thing, four passages that do not tell you anger is a sin, and what to do with the message you drafted.
• 5 minA prayer for anxietyA short prayer to say when anxiety has already started, plus four passages that do not tell you to calm down, and what prayer is not for.
• 4 minA prayer for comparison and envyA prayer for the twenty minutes after somebody else's good news, four passages on envy, and why the feed makes an ancient problem worse.
• 5 minA prayer for focusA prayer for work you cannot start, with four passages on attention and a straight answer about what prayer will not do to a fragmented afternoon.
• 5 minA prayer for forgivenessTwo prayers: one for what you did, one for what was done to you. Four passages, and an honest word about the forgiveness that has not taken yet.
• 4 minA prayer of gratitudeA thanksgiving prayer for a day that was fine rather than remarkable, four passages, and why in everything does not mean for everything.
• 4 minA prayer for griefA prayer for the long middle of grief, four passages that do not hurry you, and why the Bible's shortest verse is the most useful one here.
• 5 minA prayer for guidanceA prayer for a decision you cannot see the end of, four passages on how guidance actually arrives, and what it almost never looks like.
• 5 minA prayer for hopeA prayer for the flat stretch after hoping stopped working, four passages, and why biblical hope is nothing like optimism.
• 5 minA prayer for lonelinessA prayer for an evening with nobody in it, four passages that take being alone seriously, and why the phone makes it worse rather than better.
• 5 minA prayer for my familyA prayer for the people you live with, four passages on households, and an honest word about praying for someone who is not changing.
• 5 minA prayer for patienceA prayer for the wait that has outlasted your patience, four passages on what the word actually means, and the joke about praying for it.
• 5 minA prayer for self-controlA prayer for the moment you are about to do the thing again, four passages on restraint, and why self-control is listed as fruit rather than effort.
• 5 minA prayer for strengthA prayer for the middle of something long, four passages on where strength is said to come from, and why waiting is the verb in most of them.
• 6 minA prayer for when you cannot prayFor the weeks when prayer has gone silent or empty: a short prayer that does not require you to feel anything, and what Romans 8 says is happening meanwhile.