Inspiring Prayers for Positive Thinking

If you are looking for positive thinking prayers, take time to give yourself grace for desiring to go to God first with this problem. 

We may know that a cheerful heart is good medicine (Proverbs 17:22), but it does not mean it is always easy to get out of a negative mindset. How do we create prayers for positive thinking when being positive is the last thing on our minds? 

If you struggle with a joyful heart, especially when it comes to praying and honoring God, try the tip below (straight from Scripture) on how to take your thoughts captive and give them to God. And then because we know that good things come from God (James 1:17), we will be able to replace any bad thoughts with God’s truth and wisdom.

Prayers for Positive Thinking

In order to pray prayers that are more positive in nature, it is crucial to first acknowledge where positive thoughts come from in the first place.

How do you create positive thoughts in the first place? 

One time I asked a friend about having a positive mindset in regard to the will of God. She provided me with a beautiful way of controlling negative thoughts and truly handing them over to Him. I will never forget it. In my opinion, this is the best way to create positive thoughts since it comes straight from Scripture.

2 Corinthians 10:5 tells us to take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ. However, that can happen easier than we may think if we use this method:

This friend asked me where my next thought came from. “I have no idea,” I responded, thinking it was a trick question. 

But it wasn’t. The fact is, as we are thinking quickly, sometimes drowning in a negative mindset, we do not know where our next thought is coming from. However, simply asking that gives us a second to be able to pause, reset, and then control our next thought.

Now that we have control, we need to give it to God, right? Because we have taken the next thought captive, so now we need to make it obedient to Christ. So how do we do that? 

Philippians 4:8 (NIV) says: “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” (Italicized added). 

So now we need to do the next step, which is to make the next thought obedient to Christ by making sure it is one of the things above in such moments. Is the next thought going to be:

• True
• Noble
• Right
• Pure
• Lovely
• Admirable

If it wasn’t, replace it quickly! The best way to do that is by memorizing Scripture. If you replace your next thought with Scripture, you know it is definitely one of the above things.

Prayers for positive thinking 

Not every prayer has to be a positive prayer. We can still choose joy even when we have sorrow. We know that godly sorrow brings repentance and leads to salvation, but earthly sorrow brings death (2 Corinthians 7:10). So we know that feeling any emotions are okay, because God created us in His image. Nowhere in the Bible does it say you need to put on a fake “brave face” for God.

For example, there is a whole type of Psalms (imprecatory Psalms) which calls for judgment from God and disastrous consequences for people’s sins. Does it mean we should pray that way? That may depend on your theological view of imprecatory Psalms, but we cannot disregard what is in the Bible.

However, we can always incorporate positive thinking prayers as we pray to God. Here are a few below to try that come from Scripture.

#1 Positive morning prayer 

Instead of having to pray throughout the day for a different perspective, try starting the morning by dedicating it as a day of Christ and trying to live in His image as much as possible. 

Sometimes if we create a one-to-two sentence prayer that we can memorize and rely on, we can train our brain to start with a positive mindset the minute our feet hit the ground.

Here is a great one to start out with. I try my best to start with this prayer every morning:

In the morning Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly. (Psalm 5:3)

#2 A great way to end a prayer to make it positive

There is something powerful about praying scripture like the one above. It is almost a way of surrendering our own understanding and instead putting everything into God’s hands. It is a way of simplifying a world that we make complicated.

For example, this is a great verse to memorize to incorporate at the end of a prayer. 

May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)

#3 A 1 Peter 2:9 Prayer

However, sometimes I cannot pray the exact verse word for word and may have to shift some of the words to make it make sense as a prayer. This is not changing scripture; it is praying with truth!

Here is an example. The Bible verse of 1 Peter 2:9 NIV reads: “But you are a chosen people; a royal priesthood, a holy nation, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”

So the prayer could be turned into:

Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for choosing me when you never had to! Thank you for welcoming me into the royal priesthood and interweaving me into your holy nation. May I find and declare the praises of You who called me out of the darkness into your wonderful light. In the name of Christ Jesus, Amen!

#4 Romans 12:2 prayer

The same as above could go for Romans 12:2. Here is an example of a praise of God prayer to help the renewing of your mind.

Lord God, help me not conform to the pattern of this world, but instead transform me with the renewing of my mind. Then I will be able to test and see what your will is, your good and perfect will. In the name of Jesus, Amen.

#5 A prayer of unfailing love

When we do not feel like being positive due to life circumstances, may we remember one thing that is constant: our Father in Heaven. He is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8) which means we can always rely on his unfailing love. 

Because of that, when we feel defeated, we can pray about His love, one of His attributes, to re-align our heart.

O Lord, How priceless is your unfailing love, O God! People take refuge in the shadow of your wings. (Psalm 36:7). As you protect me, I just ask that you create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me (Psalm 51:10). I trust in your unfailing love, my heart rejoices in your salvation (Psalm 13:5). In the name of Christ Jesus, Amen.

#6 An Isaiah 41:10 Prayer

Dear God, in moments of peace, we turn to You. When life is turbulent, we turn to You. We will not fear or be dismayed because we know that You are our God. Please strengthen us and help us, and uphold us with your righteous right hand. In Jesus’ name, Amen (Isaiah 41:10)

#7 A prayer against “positive energy”

Father God, We live in a world where people try to convince us ways to fill voids with “positive energy” and other New Age lingo. However, may we always turn to You and ask for wisdom to make sure we are only filling ourselves with You and Your truth. May we seek Your truth over any false idol, whether a known or unknown idol. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Final Thoughts

If you can tell by the prayer above, it is the knowledge of God, Lord Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, and who He is that changes things, not getting prayers answered. We are joyful when we draw closer to God because He draws near to us (James 4:8), not when we get bigger answers to prayer. It is us shining God’s light that changes people’s lives.

He is worthy of praise simply because He is above all else. God’s presence filling the room can be enough. So the more we can attach positive thinking to the words of the Living Word as opposed to words of the world, the more positive thinking and joy we will find in God. May God show every crushed spirit not just the power of positive thinking, but the positive ways in which we can use God’s truth.