For the what-ifs you keep carrying

Prayers for Worry

Worry is usually love with nowhere to put itself: about people, money, health, the future. Jesus talked about worry more directly than almost any other struggle, and His answer was always the same: your Father knows what you need. These prayers hand the what-ifs to Him, one at a time.

A prayer to release what I cannot control

Father, I have been holding things that were never mine to carry: outcomes I cannot steer, people I cannot change, days that have not arrived. You feed the birds who cannot sow or reap, and You have said I matter more than they do. So I open my hands. What I cannot control, I place in Yours, and I will leave it there as many times as I have to today. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

A prayer for worry about the future

Lord, my mind keeps running ahead to next month and next year, building futures out of fear. But You are already in every one of those days, and none of them will take You by surprise. Teach me to stop borrowing trouble from tomorrow. Give me what I need for today, and the trust that when tomorrow comes, You will be in it too. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

A prayer when I worry about someone I love

Father, You know who I am praying for before I say the name. I worry because I love them and I cannot protect them from everything, but You can be with them everywhere I cannot. So I put them in Your hands, the safest place I know. Watch over them today, and quiet the part of my heart that keeps taking them back from You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

A short prayer to stop the spiral

Lord, one worry has become ten, and I am spiraling. Interrupt me. In the multitude of my thoughts within me, let Your comforts delight my soul. Give me one true thing to stand on right now: You are good, You are here, and You have never once let go of me. That is enough for this moment, and this moment is all I need to live in. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

From Scripture

Verses for this prayer

“Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?”

Matthew 6:25-26

Jesus points worried people to the birds: creatures with no storehouses and no plans, fed every day by a Father who values you far more.

“Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.”

Matthew 6:34

Jesus limits worry to a territory it cannot survive in: today. Tomorrow’s troubles will be met with tomorrow’s grace.

“In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul.”

Psalm 94:19

The psalmist knew what a crowded, anxious mind feels like, and testifies that God’s comfort can outnumber the thoughts.

“Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop: but a good word maketh it glad.”

Proverbs 12:25

Worry physically weighs a person down, and Scripture’s remedy is a good word. God’s promises are exactly that.

Scripture quotations are from the King James Version (KJV), public domain.

Common questions

Questions about this prayer

Jesus said not to worry. Does that mean worrying is a sin? +

When Jesus said “take no thought,” He was freeing people, not condemning them. Worry that you bring to God becomes prayer. The danger is not feeling worried; it is carrying worry alone as if you had no Father who knows what you need.

How do I stop worrying about the same thing over and over? +

Hand it back as many times as it returns. Repeatedly releasing the same worry is not failed prayer; it is practiced trust. Some people find it helps to write the worry down, pray over it once, and then say briefly each time it resurfaces: “Lord, I already gave You this.”

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