Lent is forty days of making room, and prayer is how most of that room gets used. These Lent prayers are written for the actual days of the season: the smudge of ash on Wednesday morning, the hungry afternoon of a fast, the quiet of Good Friday. Below: 25+ Lent prayers for Ash Wednesday, daily prayer, fasting, repentance, families, and every day of Holy Week, plus the ancient prayers Christians have prayed through this season for centuries.
Christians have kept a forty-day season before Easter for a very long time. By the Council of Nicaea in 325, church leaders were already referring to it by name. The number comes straight from scripture: Moses spent forty days on the mountain, Elijah walked forty days to Horeb, and Jesus fasted forty days in the wilderness before his ministry began (Matthew 4:1-2).
The words read on Ash Wednesday in many churches set the tone for the whole season:
Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness.
Joel 2:12-13
Rend your heart, not your garments. Lent was never meant to be a performance. It’s an invitation to turn around and come home.
This guide gathers Lent prayers for each part of the season: beginning it, praying through ordinary days, fasting, confessing, giving, praying with your family, and walking through Holy Week one day at a time. There’s also a section of ancient prayers and a set of prayers built straight from scripture. For prayers for every other season of life, see our complete collection of prayers for every need. Pray these word for word, shorten them, or let them get you started in your own words. They’re meant to be used.
An honest note on fasting before you begin. If you have diabetes, are pregnant or nursing, take medication that requires food, or have a history of an eating disorder, please don’t fast from food this Lent. Talk to your doctor first, and choose a different fast, like social media, streaming, or a daily habit that crowds out God. Churches that ask for food fasts exempt the sick for good reason. A fast that harms your body isn’t a better offering.
Scripture quotations are from the King James Version.
Lent Prayers to Begin the Season
Ash Wednesday opens Lent with a hard sentence. In many churches, ashes are traced on the forehead with words drawn from Genesis 3:19: “for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” It’s not meant to frighten you. It’s meant to wake you up.
A prayer for the morning of Ash Wednesday:
Lord, I am dust, and you have loved me anyway. As I begin these forty days, I don’t want to just give something up. I want to give something over. Take the distractions I hide behind and the habits that keep me from you. Turn my heart toward you again, not because I’ve earned it, but because you’re gracious and merciful and slow to anger. Walk with me to Easter.
Amen.
A prayer for when you receive the ashes, or see them on someone else:
Father, let this mark remind me that my life is short and your love is long. I don’t want to waste this season. Make me honest about my sin, quick to repent, and quicker to believe that you forgive.
Amen.
A prayer for choosing your Lenten practice:
Lord, show me what to set down this Lent and what to pick up. I don’t want a fast that proves something to other people or to myself. I want one that makes room for you. If I’m choosing something too easy, stretch me. If I’m choosing something too hard, show me mercy and a better way. Guide my yes and my no.
Amen.
Daily Lent Prayers
Most of Lent is ordinary days. The drama of Ash Wednesday fades by the second week, and what’s left is the slow work of showing up. These daily Lent prayers are short enough to pray every morning and evening for forty days. For more ways to start the day with God, see our morning prayers.
A morning prayer for Lent:
Good morning, Lord. This is one more day of Lent, one more day closer to Easter. Meet me in the ordinary parts of it: the commute, the dishes, the conversation I’m dreading. When I’m tempted to reach for the thing I gave up, let me reach for you instead. Keep me turned toward you today.
Amen.
An evening prayer for Lent:
Lord, the day is done. Thank you for the moments I noticed you, and forgive me for the moments I didn’t. Where I kept my Lenten promise, thank you for the strength. Where I broke it, thank you for the grace. Let me sleep in your peace and wake ready to try again.
Amen.
A midday prayer for a long Lenten week:
Jesus, it’s only Tuesday and I’m already tired. You walked forty days in the wilderness with nothing, and you didn’t give up. I’m not asking for your strength so I can look strong. I’m asking because I don’t have much of my own. Carry me through the rest of this week.
Amen.
A prayer for a quiet Lenten Sunday:
Lord, the Sundays of Lent are little Easters, reminders that the resurrection is coming. Let me rest today. Let me worship with my whole heart. And let me carry a little of Sunday’s joy into the harder days of the week ahead.
Amen.
Lent Prayers for Fasting
Jesus assumed his followers would fast. He said “when ye fast,” not “if” (Matthew 6:16). He also said to do it quietly, without a sad face or an announcement. These prayers are for the moments a fast actually gets hard. For a longer set of scripture-anchored prayers for fasting seasons, see our prayer points during fasting.
A prayer for the first hungry moment:
Lord, I feel the empty place this fast has made. Fill it with you. Jesus answered the tempter, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). Let every craving today turn into a small prayer. Let my hunger remind me how much I need you.
Amen.
A prayer for keeping your fast humble:
Father, keep this fast between you and me. Guard me from wanting credit, from mentioning it to prove my devotion, and from judging people who fast differently or not at all. You see in secret. That’s enough for me.
Amen.
A prayer when your fast isn’t from food:
Lord, I gave up something that fills my time more than my stomach. When I reach for my phone, the remote, or the easy distraction, let the empty space be yours. Teach me that silence isn’t empty when you’re in it.
Amen.
Lent Prayers for Repentance and a Clean Heart
Psalm 51 is the Lenten psalm. David wrote it after his worst failure, and many churches read it on Ash Wednesday. It doesn’t make excuses, and it doesn’t despair. It simply asks: “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10).
A prayer of confession:
God, I’ve done things this year I’m not proud of, and I’ve left undone things I should have done. I won’t pretend otherwise. You already know. Create in me a clean heart. Renew a right spirit within me. Don’t let me carry guilt you’ve already taken away, and don’t let me excuse what still needs to change.
Amen.
A prayer for searching your heart:
Search me, O God, and know my heart. Show me the resentment I’m holding, the habit I keep defending, and the person I owe an apology. Give me courage to make things right where I can. Lead me in the way everlasting.
Amen.
A prayer for receiving forgiveness:
Lord, you promised that if we confess our sins, you are faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). I’ve confessed. Now help me believe it. Lent isn’t forty days of feeling bad. It’s forty days of coming home to someone who already opened the door.
Amen.
For more scripture on mercy and letting go, see our Bible verses for forgiveness.
Lent Prayers for Giving and Serving
Lent has always had three practices: prayer, fasting, and giving. Jesus names all three in the same sermon (Matthew 6:1-18). Isaiah goes further and says the fast God wants is “to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house” (Isaiah 58:7). A fast that never turns outward misses the point.
A prayer before giving:
Lord, everything I have came from you. This Lent, loosen my grip on it. Show me where my money, time, and attention can meet a real need. Let me give quietly, cheerfully, and without keeping score, the way you’ve given to me.
Amen.
A prayer to see the people around you:
Jesus, you noticed the ones everybody else walked past. Give me your eyes this Lent. Let me notice the lonely coworker, the tired cashier, the neighbor who hasn’t had a visitor in weeks. Turn my fast into someone else’s feast.
Amen.
Lent Prayers for Families and Children
Kids understand Lent better than we expect when it’s made concrete: a jar for coins to give away, a candle lit at dinner, a short prayer before bed. Keep family Lent prayers brief and repeat them often. For more prayers to pray around your table, see our family prayers, and for your kids specifically, our prayers for my children.
A family prayer for dinner during Lent:
Lord, thank you for this food and for each other. As we walk toward Easter together, help us be kinder at home, quicker to forgive, and more generous with what we have. Make our family a little more like Jesus every week.
Amen.
A simple bedtime Lent prayer for children:
Dear Jesus, thank you for loving me. Help me be brave and kind tomorrow. Help me share with someone who needs it. I’m glad Easter is coming. Goodnight, Jesus.
Amen.
A parent’s prayer for Lent:
Father, I want my children to know you, not just know about you. Let them see me pray this Lent. Let them see me say sorry when I’m wrong. Give me patience in the tired evenings and wisdom in the hard questions. Plant something in their hearts this season that lasts long after the chocolate is gone.
Amen.
Holy Week Prayers
The last week of Lent carries the most weight. These Holy Week prayers follow the story day by day, from the crowds on Palm Sunday to the silence of the tomb.
Palm Sunday
Lord Jesus, the crowd shouted Hosanna and waved palms, and within days many of them had turned away. I don’t want my praise to be that thin. Ride into my heart this week and stay, even when following you gets costly.
Amen.
Maundy Thursday
Jesus, on the night before you died, you washed your friends’ feet and broke bread with the one who would betray you. Teach me to serve like that, without keeping score. In the garden you prayed, “not what I will, but what thou wilt” (Mark 14:36). Give me the grace to pray it too.
Amen.
Good Friday
Jesus, you were wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities (Isaiah 53:5). From the cross you said, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). I stand here quietly today. I don’t fully understand this kind of love, but I receive it. Thank you.
Amen.
Holy Saturday
Lord, today the tomb is sealed and the world is quiet. Your friends didn’t know Sunday was coming. Some days I don’t either. Meet me in the waiting. Teach me to trust you in the silence between the cross and the empty grave.
Amen.
Ancient Lent Prayers
Some Lent prayers have been prayed for well over a thousand years. Worth knowing: these come from the Eastern church, but Christians of every tradition use them today.
The Jesus Prayer is one sentence, drawn from the tax collector’s prayer in Luke 18:13 and repeated slowly, often in rhythm with the breath:
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
It’s short enough to pray while you wait in line, drive, or lie awake. Across a forty-day season, it wears a groove of mercy into the mind.
The Prayer of St. Ephrem, a fourth-century Syrian deacon and hymn writer, is prayed through Lent in Orthodox churches. Here it is in a simple adaptation:
Lord and Master of my life, take from me the spirit of laziness, discouragement, the love of power, and careless words. Give me instead a spirit of purity, humility, patience, and love. Yes, Lord and King, let me see my own faults and not judge my brother or sister, for you are blessed forever.
Amen.
Scripture-Based Lent Prayers
These Lent prayers are built directly from Bible verses, so you’re praying God’s own words back to him. For verses to carry through the season, see our February Bible verses and March Bible verses.
Built from Psalm 51:17:
God, you said the sacrifice you want is a broken spirit, and a broken and contrite heart you will not despise. I don’t have much to offer this Lent except an honest heart. Take it. Don’t despise it. Make something whole of it.
Amen.
Built from Matthew 11:28:
Jesus, you said, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” I’m tired, Lord, and some of what I’m carrying I picked up myself. I’m coming to you this Lent. Give me the rest you promised.
Amen.
Built from John 12:24:
Lord, you said a grain of wheat has to fall into the ground and die before it bears much fruit. Let something in me die this Lent: my pride, my hurry, my need to control. Let whatever comes up in its place be yours.
Amen.
Built from Philippians 2:8:
Jesus, you humbled yourself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. When I want to be first, remind me of the one who chose last. Let this season make me a little more like you.
Amen.
How to Pray Through Lent
Forty days is long enough to change a habit and long enough to give up on one. A few simple choices make the difference.
Pick one time and one place. Lent prayer sticks when it’s attached to something you already do, like your first coffee or the drive to work. If you’re building a habit from scratch, our 5-minute daily prayer routine fits neatly into a Lenten morning.
Use a structure when words run out. Many people use the ACTS pattern: adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication. Lent leans hard on the C. Our guide to the ACTS prayer method walks through it step by step.
Write it down. A Lent prayer journal lets you look back on Easter morning and see what God did across forty days. Our prayer journaling guide shows how to start with just a notebook and a pen.
Pray for someone else every day. Lent can turn inward fast. Choose one person each week to pray for by name. Our intercessory prayers give you words for friends, strangers, and the world.
Let Sundays breathe. Sundays aren’t counted in the forty days. Many Christians treat them as small celebrations of the resurrection. Rest is part of the practice, not a break from it.
What Lent Actually Is (and Isn’t)
The honest answer is that Lent isn’t a spiritual diet plan, and it isn’t a way to earn God’s approval.
Three things worth knowing:
Lent isn’t required for salvation. Catholics, Orthodox, Anglicans, Lutherans, and Methodists observe it, and many other Protestant churches don’t. Christians have kept it in good faith, and Christians have skipped it in good faith. Nobody is saved by giving up chocolate.
The point is turning, not suffering. Fasting matters because it makes room. Joel says “rend your heart, and not your garments.” If your Lent is all about white-knuckling a rule and none of it is about drawing near to God, it’s worth adjusting.
It’s meant to be done quietly. Jesus warned against disfiguring your face so others would notice you fasting (Matthew 6:16-18). Anyone who uses Lent to rank Christians, or suggests God loves you less because you broke your fast on day nine, is misusing scripture in a way that hurts people who are genuinely trying.
When Lent Doesn’t Go the Way You Planned
Almost everyone breaks their Lenten promise at some point. You’ll forget, give in, or realize by week three that you chose something unrealistic. That’s normal.
Breaking a fast doesn’t cancel Lent. Peter denied Jesus three times during the very first Holy Week, and Jesus came looking for him after the resurrection anyway (John 21:15-17). If Peter’s failure didn’t end his story, yours won’t end Lent.
When you slip, try this: confess it simply, receive the grace, and start again the next morning. No makeup days, no punishment. The mercies of God are new every morning, even on day twenty-three.
It’s also true that some Lents land in hard seasons: grief, illness, a marriage in trouble, or a heavy depression. If that’s you, you don’t need to add a hard fast on top of a hard life. Let your Lent be small. One sentence of prayer a day is enough. If you’re in a dark place, please reach out:
- In the U.S., call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, any time, day or night.
- Outside the U.S., visit findahelpline.com to find free, confidential support in your country.
- Talk to a doctor or licensed counselor if low mood or anxiety has lasted more than a couple of weeks.
Prayer is real help, and it isn’t a replacement for medical or mental health care. God works through both.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a good prayer for Lent?
Psalm 51:10 is one of the best Lent prayers there is: “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.” It’s short, honest, and exactly what the season is about. The Jesus Prayer, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner,” is another favorite because you can repeat it all day, in any setting, for forty days.
What do you pray on Ash Wednesday?
Ash Wednesday prayers usually focus on mortality, repentance, and returning to God. Many people pray Psalm 51 or Joel 2:12-13, which is read in many churches that day. A simple personal prayer works too: ask God to show you what to set down this Lent, confess what’s weighing on you, and thank him that he is gracious, merciful, and slow to anger.
When does Lent start in 2027?
Lent 2027 begins on Ash Wednesday, February 10, and Easter falls on March 28. The season lasts forty days, not counting Sundays, which are treated as small celebrations of the resurrection. Eastern Orthodox churches follow a different calendar, so their Great Lent usually starts on a different date. Check with your local church for exact service times.
Why is Lent 40 days?
The forty days mirror Jesus’s forty days of fasting in the wilderness before his ministry began (Matthew 4:1-2). The number also echoes Moses’s forty days on Mount Sinai and Elijah’s forty-day journey to Horeb. In scripture, forty often marks a season of testing and preparation, which is exactly what Lent is meant to be before Easter.
Can Protestants observe Lent?
Yes. Many Protestant churches, including Lutheran, Anglican, Episcopal, Methodist, and Presbyterian congregations, observe Lent and hold Ash Wednesday services. Some evangelical and nondenominational churches don’t, and that’s a matter of tradition rather than doctrine. Any Christian can use the season for prayer, fasting, and giving, whether or not their church marks it formally.
What should I give up for Lent?
Choose something that regularly crowds out God or that you reach for instead of him. Common choices include social media, streaming, sweets, alcohol, or complaining. Many people also add something, like daily scripture reading, a weekly act of service, or giving money away. If you have a medical condition or history of an eating disorder, choose a non-food fast.
What if I break my Lenten fast?
Confess it, receive God’s grace, and start again the next day. Breaking a Lenten promise doesn’t cancel the season or make God love you less. Peter denied Jesus three times during the first Holy Week and was restored anyway (John 21:15-17). Lent is practice in returning to God, and every restart is part of that practice.
Do you pray on Sundays during Lent?
Yes, but Sundays feel different. They aren’t counted in the forty days because every Sunday celebrates the resurrection. Many Christians relax their fast on Sundays and focus on worship, rest, and gratitude. Keep praying, but let Sunday prayers lean toward thanksgiving and joy, like small previews of Easter morning.
What is the Prayer of St. Ephrem?
The Prayer of St. Ephrem is a short Lenten prayer from the fourth-century Syrian deacon Ephrem. It asks God to remove laziness, discouragement, the love of power, and careless speech, and to give purity, humility, patience, and love. Orthodox Christians pray it throughout Lent, often with bows, and it has spread to believers in many other traditions.
Lent doesn’t make God love you more. It makes room for you to notice how much he already does. If one of these prayers met you today, pray it again tomorrow, and the day after that. Forty days of small, honest prayers will carry you farther than one grand resolution. And at the end of every Lent, no matter how it went, the tomb is empty.
For more, explore our full prayers collection, our Advent prayers, our scripture on forgiveness, and our Daily Blessings collection.
