5 Simple Prayers For When You’re Running on Empty

Some seasons are simply depleting despite moments of enjoyment. As parents, we tend to keep going on autopilot without asking for help. But it’s beneficial to remember God’s grace is sufficient for us when we feel needy, weary, empty, or plain exhausted.

If you feel like you’re running on fumes as you enter a new month, allow these words to help guide your prayer and fix your gaze. God is gracious to hear his children as we seek rest and renewal along this journey.

1. A Prayer For Rest

Lord, I confess I am tired of to-do lists and demands. I recognize that I strive endlessly to keep control of things, some of which you never asked me to handle. Help me cast my burdens on you today rather than carry around my worries and anxieties as if I know best how to fix them. Help my mind rest as I focus on you. Help me believe your promises to save, help, rescue, deliver, and redeem.

I am tired from working so hard, but also from grieving failed expectations and disappointments. By the power of your Holy Spirit, help me surrender my plans to yours so that I can better trust in your timeline. Help me stop striving long enough to receive Your rest.

Open my eyes to times when I can pause from the hurry and say no. I desire to work for your pleasure and approval rather than for others’. Quiet my mind with your love, God, and grant me sleep in the evening. Help me leave the unfinished business of the day to you because you are a good Father who never sleeps and never stops working. Thank you for loving me fully and completely. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

2. A Prayer For Peace

Lord, my mind races with thoughts and possible solutions to the challenges in my life. I want answers, but recognize that you only know best. Thank you for being a God who knows my every need. You promise to provide for each one, so help me trust you more. Thank you for promising to give me peace as my mind stays on you. Thank you for never lying and always keeping your promises.

Grant me discernment to know what is for me in this season and what I need to release. I pray for the troubles and suffering around me and in me. For those I love who are walking through difficult seasons, draw near to them and be their Savior.

Thank you for being the Prince of Peace, and for your presence, which is my good, not better, life circumstances or more money. As I breathe in and out today, help me remember that because of Jesus, I breathe in grace and breathe out peace. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

3. A Prayer For Help

Lord, you are a mighty God. I confess that I often trust in the things of this world more than I do in running to you. I try so hard to hold everything together, but you are the one who holds all things together. Let this truth wash over me and release the pressure I feel to stay strong. Help me embrace my weaknesses and failures because you are my strength, and your strength is perfect.

I want to depend on you in greater measure, so help me, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to call on you first. On the days when I feel stretched thin, fortify my spirit from the inside out so that I can continue to love and serve those around me.

Thank you for the reminder in Psalm 46:10 that you are my “refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.” Protect me from those who seek to hurt me. For the deep wounds in my life, grant healing and restoration that only come from you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

4. A Prayer For Renewal

God, renew my mind, body, and spirit so that I’m better equipped for your service. Thank you for being a deep well of grace and love; please fill the empty places in my heart that feel most depleted. Help me receive what gifts you want to give me for the things you’ve called me to do.

Renew my mind and my thoughts; help me recognize the enemy’s lies that cause me to doubt your goodness or warp what I believe about you. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing to you, God. Father, help me realize you’ve given me enough for today. You are my daily bread. You satisfy my deepest longing when the things of this world leave me longing. Even when I am not sure how I will make it through another day, you promise that you will meet me tomorrow.

Lord, when I feel unseen, weary, or discouraged, remind me You are near to the brokenhearted, and You see my exhaustion. As I fix my eyes on you, thank you for giving me endurance for the road ahead. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

5. A Prayer For Joy

God, if I’m honest, the pace of my life has lessened my ability to delight in you and in the good gifts of my life. The hard things feel harder, and I long to live with deep joy once again.

Use this season of my life to increase my joy in your presence. For it’s in your presence, you tell us, that there is fullness of joy. Help me see where and what I’m turning to for fleeting happiness. Turn my eyes away from worthless things that offer temporary comfort. Thank you for being everlasting and empowering me to live for the unseen kingdom over the seen.

Restore joy to me, the kind of joy that is deeply rooted and surpasses any circumstance. When it feels like a dark cloud hovers over my days, you are the light of the world that shines in the darkness. Thank you for not making it too much or too hard for you. Embolden and equip me to carry that joy to others around me as a testament to your goodness in my life. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 6:11).