By Hal Pickus · · 4 min read
Morning prayers to start your day with God
Most of us start the day by reaching for a screen. Before our feet hit the floor we've already scrolled the news, the email, the group chat — and then we wonder why we feel behind by 7 a.m. There's an older habit, and it's better: you start the day by saying something to God before you say anything to anyone else.
Jesus did this. Of all the things Mark could tell us about how Jesus lived, here's one he made sure to include:
And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.
Mark 1:35
Early. Before the day got loud. A solitary place. If the Son of God needed a quiet morning word with his Father, you and I are not above it.
Why mornings
There's something about handing the day over before it starts — before you've been hurt or hurried or let down. David built his whole morning around it:
My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.
Psalm 5:3
"Direct my prayer... and will look up." That's the posture. Aim your first thoughts upward, then look up and expect God to be in the day.
A short morning prayer
You don't need twenty minutes. You need honesty and about sixty seconds. Try this before you pick up your phone:
A prayer
Father, before today gets loud, I'm giving it to you. Thank you for waking me up to it. Go with me into ______ — the part I'm dreading and the part I'm looking forward to. Make me kind. Keep me steady. And when I forget you today, bring me back. Amen.
When you wake up already worried
Some mornings you open your eyes and the worry is already there, waiting. On those days, this verse is a lifeline — it says God's mercy resets overnight:
It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.
Lamentations 3:22–23
New every morning. Whatever you ran low on yesterday — patience, faith, hope — there's a fresh supply today. Ask for it:
A prayer
Lord, I woke up tired before the day even started. Your mercies are new this morning, so I'm asking for a new batch — new patience, new strength, new hope. Just enough for today. Amen.
And ask which way to go
A good morning prayer doesn't just ask for help getting through the day — it asks for direction in it:
Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in thee do I trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee.
Psalm 143:8
If you want to make this stick, attach it to something you already do every morning — the coffee maker, the first stoplight, the shower. And if there's something heavy on your heart as the day starts, you don't have to carry it alone; write it down and let others pray it with you.