What Do You Pray First Thing in the Morning?

When you wake up in the morning, your body undergoes complex changes as it prepares you to start your activities. Some people start their day by doing physical exercises like jogging, while others immediately take a bath, eat their breakfast, brush their teeth, and go about their personal daily lives. For Christians, talking to our God and Savior should be the first step in our daily routine.

If you want to make it a habit but don’t know how to start yet, remember that there are no exact words to say first in prayer. However, one way you can begin your prayer is to acknowledge His presence in your life and recognize Him as your God, Lord, Master, and Savior.

While others may have their own priorities, saying a prayer in the morning immediately after waking up is the best thing a person can do to start the day. When you pray before doing anything else, you give yourself the chance to communicate with the Lord, your Maker and Savior, and this prayer also gives you joy and peace. Lastly, you show Him that He is your first priority.

True prayer is not based on the correctness of your grammar or how many sentences you speak. What matters the most is that the prayer comes from your heart. Therefore, there are many correct approaches you can take. A morning prayer in particular can incorporate your current feelings, gratitude, and desires.

What do you say first in a prayer?

As human beings who believe in Christ, it is our responsibility to communicate with God always, as it is stressed in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 that we should pray without ceasing. Before preparing yourself to take on your duties in your secular work or at school, the best thing you should do is pray and talk with God.

Starting a prayer can be a little bit confusing as there are times when you just want to pray without having anything in mind. Maybe you want to focus on speaking with God rather than the things you want to pray for. There are also times when many things you want to pray for come to mind, but you don’t know how to start or what prayer item to begin with.

Remember that there is no wrong way to say your prayers. So no matter how you start, as long as it’s from your heart, God will listen to you.

If you’re not sure how to start and are still hesitant to practice on your own, here are three ways to approach your morning prayer:

1. Thank God for your life.

When you don’t know what to say first in prayer, you can start by thanking God for everything He has done in your life. As what is stressed in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, you have to pray every day, morning and evening. Whatever circumstances you have encountered in your life, you should thank Him for giving you another day to live and to fulfil His purpose in your life.

Thank Him for being your Savior and Maker. As John 3:16 says, our God’s love for us cannot be defined by words. He sacrificed His life for us, knowing the difficulties He would face and the pain He would feel when He was nailed to the cross. No love can surmount that. You should be thankful to Him, as you don’t know what will happen to you if He doesn’t do anything for your sake.

You can also start by giving thanks to Him for protecting your life every day. As stated in Psalms 138:7, God will always protect you even if you are walking in a dangerous situation. He will preserve your life and guard you when your enemy strikes against you. Imagine if God didn’t protect you; how could you be sure that everything is still alright? Keep this always in your mind, and thank Him daily.

Another thing you can say first in your prayer is, “Thank You God for all the blessings You have given me in my life.” Start by thanking God for providing for all your needs, which is stressed in Philippians 4:19. You thank God for giving the blessings you asked from Him, whether it be food, money, or other conveniences. Matthew 7:7 stresses that you should ask God before it will be given to you.

If it resonates in your heart to gives thanks to God as you start your prayer, here is an example you may use as a model:

Lord, thank You for everything You have done in my life. Thank You for being my Savior and Maker. Thank You for the new day and the free air I breathe. Thank You for protecting my life from evil doings. Thank You for the blessings You have given to me.

2. Ask God for what you need and desire.

Something else you can say first in your morning prayer is what you need for the day. Simply ask God to provide for you. Matthew 6:11 stresses that every day, we have to ask God for our provisions. When it comes to provisions for food, ask God to give you the daily bread. There is also no reason to worry about tomorrow, as this is what Matthew 6:25-26 tells us.

Matthew 6:33 explains that we must seek the Kingdom of God before everything else. This is why we have to pray before doing anything after waking up, as it is important that we seek God before we can ask anything from Him. Psalms 37:4 tells us that we should delight ourselves in the Lord before He gives us the desires of our heart.

You can also start by asking God to protect you as you go to your work or class. When we go into our daily lives, we never know what possible situations we are going to encounter or what will happen to us when we go out of our respective homes. Therefore, it is important that you ask God to protect you, which is what He has promised to us.

Here are some bible verses that show how God promises to protect us always:

Isaiah 41:10

Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

2 Thessalonians 3:3

But the Lord is faithful, who shall establish you, and keep you from evil.

Deuteronomy 3:16

And unto the Reubenites and unto the Gadites I gave from Gilead even unto the river Arnon half the valley, and the border even unto the river Jabbok, which is the border of the children of Ammon;

If you are a student, you can ask first for wisdom and intelligence from God. As James 1:5 says, if you do lack wisdom, God will not hesitate to give it to you only if you ask for it. Our God is the only source of wisdom and intelligence, so there is no other way to ask than to talk and pray to Him.

If you are an employee, you can start by asking God to guide you in your work and all the decisions you will make. You can ask Him to give you the promotion you desire. If you are a parent who is staying at home and taking care of the kids, you can start your prayer by asking God to give you the strength to do what you need for the improvement of your house, whether taking care of your children or cleaning the house.

If you want to start your prayer by asking God about what you need in your life, you can do it in this manner:

Lord, as I am here talking to You, I want to ask for Your guidance in everything I am going to do today. I ask for Your wisdom and intelligence to help me make my decisions. I ask for Your protection as I travel to my destination today. Lord, I pray that You will give me blessings today and provide all my needs.

3. Pray that God will give you the courage to become a light for other people.

Aside from giving thanks to God or asking for what you need, you can also start your prayer by expressing your desire to be a model for every person you know and are going to meet. As Titus 2:7 says, you have to be a good example for everyone, but you can only do that with God guiding you in everything you do.

It is our duty to imitate Christ, as Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 11:1. If you think that you cannot do it by yourself, then you are correct, as only God has the power to change you. That is why you need to communicate with God and ask Him to change your life for the best so you can become an inspiration to everyone you know.

If you prefer to start your prayer by asking God to change you for the best, you can pray in this manner:

Lord, I am here today, asking for Your presence to give me the courage and guidance to become a better person. By Your power, I pray that You will touch other people throughout my life. I pray that I will be a blessing in their lives and an inspiration to them.

Keep in mind that out of all the things you do in a day, prayer is the one action you cannot get wrong. It’s just like talking to your Father; no matter how you start your conversation with Him, you can’t go wrong as long as the words you say come from your heart. The three approaches discussed above are only examples of how you can start your prayer in the morning, but there are still other ways to do it. Your conversation with God should feel right to you, so take your time exploring the best way to talk to our Lord.