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The Thirty-Day Prayer Challenge

  • Dr. Ray Pritchard
    Dr. Ray Pritchard is the president of Keep Believing Ministries, an Internet-based ministry serving Christians in 225 countries. He is the author of 29 books, including Stealth Attack, Fire and Rain,… More
  • Published Jul 13, 2012

Last night I happened to see this note on the kitchen windowsill at a friend’s house. I still remember the first time I heard about this prayer. Many years ago I had lunch with a man in Chicago who told me his life had been changed by this simple prayer:

“As soon as I wake up in the morning, I say this prayer, and it has changed my attitude toward life. I don’t complain as much, I’m a lot more positive, and I don’t let little things get me down the way they used to.”

The man was so earnest as he said it that I could not doubt his words. But what prayer could produce such glowing results? It goes like this:

Heavenly Father, you are in charge of everything that will happen to me today:

The good and the bad,
The happy and the sad,
The positive and the negative.

Please make me thankful for everything that happens today. In Jesus’ name, Amen. 

That prayer “works” because it focuses first on God’s sovereignty over all of life. Nothing can happen to us that does not first pass through his hands of love. It also “works” because the change we seek starts in us. It’s a prayer for a thankful heart. And we could all use more of that.

I encourage you to do what my friend has done. Write out the prayer, put it where you can see it, and pray this prayer early in the morning for 30 days. If you started today, you would end the 30 days on Saturday, August 11. 

I can’t think of a better day than Friday the 13th to start praying for a thankful heart. On this day so dedicated to bad luck, let’s reaffirm our confidence in God whose eyes are ever on us and whose love never leaves us. 

Thirty days to a changed life. Would you like to take the challenge? You can start by praying that prayer right now.

You can reach the author at ray@keepbelieving.com. Click here to sign up for the free email sermon.


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