Prayers for Courage
Courage in Scripture almost never means the absence of fear. It means going ahead while afraid, because God is with you.
Pray one of these before the conversation, the appointment, or the door you have been standing outside of.
21 prayers
- A Prayer Before a Difficult Day
A contemporary pastoral prayer for anticipatory anxiety — the dread that arrives before an exam, a diagnosis, a court date, or a hard…
- A Prayer for Those in Harm's Way
A contemporary prayer for those in dangerous service, in the tradition of the Book of Common Prayer's prayers "For those in the Armed…
- A Prayer in Loneliness
A contemporary pastoral prayer rooted in Christ's abandonment in Gethsemane and in the long monastic tradition of naming solitude honestly.…
- Abraham's Intercession for Sodom
Abraham bargains with God for a city that deserves nothing, going down from fifty righteous men to ten. It is the Bible's first sustained…
- Alone with None but Thee (St. Columba)
Attributed to St. Columba of Iona (521–597), the Irish monk who evangelised western Scotland, and preserved in the Celtic tradition of caim…
- Binding Prayer (Short Form)
The short binding prayer is the best-known text in the lay deliverance tradition and circulates widely in Catholic prayer books. "Binding"…
- Disturb Us, Lord (Prayer of Sir Francis Drake)
A prayer of daring long associated with Sir Francis Drake and the voyage of 1577, though its present English form belongs to the…
- Elijah's Prayer on Mount Carmel
Two verses against four hundred and fifty prophets: 'Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the LORD God.' A…
- Jacob's Prayer at Peniel
On the night before meeting the brother he cheated, Jacob prays that he is 'not worthy of the least of all the mercies', then wrestles…
- Prayer Against Temptation
A prayer for the moment of trial, built around the pattern of Christ's own temptation in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11) and closing with…
- Prayer for Generosity (St. Ignatius of Loyola)
Attributed to St. Ignatius of Loyola and popularized by the Jesuits. Its five refusals of self-protection have made it a favorite prayer of…
- Prayer of Command
The classic lay "prayer of command," rooted in the Lord's own promise that His disciples would cast out demons in His name (Mark 16:17).…
- Prayer of St. Benedict Against Evil
The words inscribed on the Medal of St. Benedict, whose Latin initials — C S S M L, N D S M D, V R S N S M V, S M Q L I V B — encode this…
- Prayer to Mary, Help of Christians (St. John Bosco)
St. John Bosco (1815-1888), who spent his life among the poor boys of Turin, made Mary Help of Christians the patroness of his Salesian…
- Prayer to Overcome Our Spiritual Enemies
A prayer against the three traditional enemies of the soul — the world, the flesh and the devil — a formula found in the Church's…
- Prayer to St. Maximilian Kolbe
St. Maximilian Kolbe (1894-1941) was a Polish Franciscan who, imprisoned at Auschwitz, stepped forward to take the place of a condemned man…
- Psalm 27 — The Lord Is My Light and My Salvation
A psalm of David that moves from confident praise to urgent petition and back to trust — a pattern that has made it a favorite of…
- Psalm 91 — He Shall Cover Thee
Psalm 91 is the Church's great prayer of protection. Ancient Jewish tradition called it the "song of plagues," and Christians have prayed…
- St. Patrick's Breastplate
Known as the Lorica, or breastplate, this prayer is traditionally attributed to St. Patrick in the fifth century, though the text as we…
- Stephen's Dying Prayer
The first martyr dies asking that the sin not be laid to the charge of the men stoning him — with Saul of Tarsus standing by. Prayed in…
- The Armor of God Prayer (Ephesians 6)
A prayer built line by line on Ephesians 6:10-18, the fullest description of spiritual warfare in the New Testament. St. Paul wrote it, by…