Christian Lent Prayers
Lent is the forty-day season leading up to Easter, running from Ash Wednesday through Holy Saturday. It is the oldest season of the Christian year and its purpose is simple: to make room. Room for repentance, for prayer, for the parts of life we've let get loud, and above all for what Easter will mean at the end of it.
On this page you'll find original Christian Lent prayers for Ash Wednesday, the ordinary Lenten weekdays, mid-Lent when the discipline gets hard, Holy Week, and Good Friday. You'll also find guidance on Lenten fasting — what to give up, how to do it in a way that keeps the point in view, and what to do when you break your fast.
A Prayer for Ash Wednesday
Father, on this first day of Lent, I face the truth Ash Wednesday tells: I am dust, and to dust I shall return. Set my house in order. Show me what needs repenting and give me courage to name it. Show me what needs putting down and give me strength to let it go. Where I have been living for smaller things than You, forgive me. Walk with me into these forty days. Amen.
A Daily Lenten Prayer
Lord Jesus, on this ordinary Lenten day I do not feel especially holy or especially far from You — I feel like myself. Meet me here anyway. Keep my fast, my prayer, and my giving from becoming a performance, and turn each of them a little more toward You today. Amen.
A Prayer for the Middle of Lent
God, halfway through this season the discipline has stopped feeling meaningful and started feeling like a chore. Steady me. Remind me why I began, and what Easter is on the other side of this. Give me the humility to keep going and the honesty to notice what I am learning about my own hunger for You. Amen.
A Prayer for Holy Week
Lord Jesus, as this week begins, walk me slowly through it. Palms today; a table on Thursday; a cross on Friday; a quiet Saturday; a resurrection morning. Do not let me hurry to the good part. Let each day do its work on me. Amen.
A Prayer for Good Friday
Lord Jesus Christ, on this Friday I stand at the foot of the cross with everyone who has stood there before me. You took the wound of every sin, mine among them. Where the ache of this day would be turned to sentiment, keep me honest; where it would harden, soften me. Thank You for what love did on this day. Amen.
A Prayer for Breaking a Fast
Father, I broke the fast I set for myself. Forgive the failure, and forgive too the pride that made it about me in the first place. Show me what the failure has to teach, and let me pick the discipline back up without shame. You have not left me because I stumbled. Amen.
Scripture to pray
"Even now," declares the Lord, "return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning." Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.— Joel 2:12–13 (NIV)
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.— Matthew 4:1–2 (ESV)
Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?— Isaiah 58:6 (NIV)
Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.— Psalm 51:10–12 (NIV)
Frequently asked questions
What is a good Christian Lent prayer?
A good Christian Lent prayer names what the season is — a forty-day return to God — and asks Him to do the returning He calls for. "Father, walk with me into these forty days. Show me what needs repenting, and give me courage to name it," is one form. The prayers above cover Ash Wednesday through Good Friday.
How do I fast for Lent?
Lenten fasting takes many forms, and the point is always the same — to trade a small comfort for time with God. Common practices are: giving up one food (meat, sweets, alcohol, coffee) for the whole season, giving up something non-food (social media, one habit), fasting on Fridays (Catholic practice), or Ash Wednesday and Good Friday fully (one small meal). Whatever you choose, use the time or the ache to pray. Sundays are traditionally not fast days in Lent, since every Sunday is a small Easter.
What can I give up for Lent?
Common Lenten sacrifices are: chocolate, sweets, alcohol, meat on Fridays, coffee, social media, streaming, complaining, and one specific habit you want to break. A better Lenten frame is often to add something as well as give something up — a daily Scripture reading, a nightly prayer, a weekly act of service. The point is not the size of the sacrifice but that it turns you toward God.
When does Lent start and end?
Lent begins on Ash Wednesday (46 calendar days before Easter, because Sundays are not counted) and ends on Holy Saturday, the evening before Easter Sunday. The core of Lent is forty days plus six Sundays. In Western Christianity, Ash Wednesday and Holy Week both fall inside Lent; Easter Sunday is the first day after Lent ends.
Do Protestants pray during Lent?
Yes, and the practice has grown in recent decades among Protestants who did not grow up observing it. Many mainline Protestants (Anglican, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian) have kept Lenten prayer traditions all along; many Evangelicals now add Lenten Scripture readings, a daily prayer discipline, or a personal fast. The prayers above are written to be prayed by Christians of any tradition.
What is a good short Lenten prayer to pray every day?
A short daily Lenten prayer names two things: the season we're in and the returning it calls for. Try: "Lord Jesus, on this Lenten day, walk with me. Show me one thing to lay down and one thing to take up. Keep my eyes on the cross and on the empty tomb that follows it. Amen." Praying the same short prayer at the start of every day is often more formative than a longer prayer prayed only once a week.
What are the three pillars of Lent?
The three traditional Lenten disciplines — sometimes called the three pillars of Lent — are prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Prayer draws you nearer to God. Fasting empties you of what usually fills you so God can. Almsgiving loosens your grip on money and gives it to those who need it more than you do. Together they train the heart in the direction Easter is pulling: away from self and toward God and neighbor.
Is Lent 40 days or 46 days?
Both, in a way. Lent runs 46 calendar days from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday, but the six Sundays inside Lent are not counted as fast days — each Sunday is a small Easter, a weekly celebration of the resurrection even in the middle of the penitential season. Subtract the Sundays and you get 40 fast days, echoing Jesus's 40 days of fasting in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1–2) and Moses's 40 days on the mountain. So the season is 46 days long, but the fast is 40.
What is a prayer for the end of Lent (Holy Saturday)?
Try this Holy Saturday prayer: "Lord Jesus, on this quiet Saturday between the cross and the empty tomb, I wait with the whole Church. Meet me in the silence. Prepare my heart for tomorrow's news. Thank You that the story does not end where it looked like it would. Amen." Holy Saturday is often the most-forgotten day of Holy Week and one of the most meaningful — the day of waiting between death and resurrection.