7 Prayers for Your Sound Mind

Are you struggling with fear, anxiety, worry, depression, or discouragement today? If so, these seven prayers for your sound mind will help you pray protection over your mind and heart today.

Friend, before we begin with the seven prayers, I want to encourage you today with this:

No matter what is going on in your life, Jesus is with you–and He will take care of you.

Look at what Isaiah 43:1-2 says about this:

“But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel:

‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you’” (Isaiah 43:1-2 NKJV).

This is only one passage of literally thousands of verses in the Bible that talk about how God will be with you in trouble—and how He will take care of you. Here is one more passage I love a lot–Psalm 121:

“I will lift up my eyes to the hills—from whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade at your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul. The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in from this time forth, and even forevermore” (Psalm 121:1-8 NKJV).

Beloved, the promises of God’s protection apply to you. The promises of His provision apply to you. The promises of His help, comfort, and peace apply to you. So even when things feel like you’re having the worst day ever …

… even if you have literally no idea how you’re going to make it through your trial unscathed, or at all …

Beloved, God is FOR you.

If you have given your life to Jesus Christ, making Him your personal Lord and Savior, then God is for you; He’s in you; He’s fighting on your side; and He’s working on your behalf right now.

All you have to do is cling to Him and make it through the time of trial and testing that you are going through.

To help you with this, I wrote the prayer guide below with encouragement surrounding seven short, specific prayers you can pray over the soundness of your mind.

If you will pray these prayers as often as you can–every day, even–you will notice a big difference in your thought life, attitude, and level of courage.

But, don’t just pray the prayers by themselves. Learn the Scriptures to back them up, because the truths in those Scriptures will change your life forever–and will build your faith that God will answer these seven prayers over your sound mind.

Are you ready to begin? Let’s go!

Here are seven short prayers you can pray over your mind every day:

Prayer 1: “Father, thank You that You have not given me a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind.”

As we each pray about having a sound mind, it’s good to begin by thanking God for a sound mind—even if we do not feel like our mind is very sound. Why? Because the Bible says that God has already, past tense, given us power, love, AND a sound mind!

Check out what the apostle Paul wrote to his spiritual son, Timothy, when Timothy needed some encouragement:

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7 NKJV).

And friend, God never takes back the gifts that He gives. Look at Romans 11:29:

“For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable” (Romans 11:29 NKJV).

So, beloved, no matter how you feel, you are in fact the blessed owner of POWER, LOVE, and a sound mind.

And the best way to walk in the manifestation of that power, love, and sound mind that God has given you is to acknowledge the things you have (acknowledging your power, love, and sound mind), and practice using them.

Here is a key principle that will help you pray powerful prayers, no matter what you are praying about:

It’s important not to beg God for things that His Word says He has already given you. Begging for what He has already given you is truly a waste of your prayer time.

Instead, in our prayers, we should acknowledge what His Word says. Then, we should thank Him for what His Word says He has already given us. And thirdly, as we pray, we should ask Him to help us use the gifts He has given us, instead of letting them lie dormant or untouched.

In this case, the thought process as you move through your prayer would look like this:

• Begin praying about your mind by acknowledging that God has already given you power, love, and a sound mind.
• Secondly, thank Him for the power, love, and sound mind that are positionally yours—even if you haven’t yet learned how to appropriate those things for yourself, or how to walk in them.
• And thirdly, ask Him to help you to be not conformed to this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of your mind, always choosing to focus on Jesus, rather than on any other thoughts.

As we read in Colossians 3:1-3:

“If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:1-3 NKJV).

And also in Romans 12:1-2:

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:1-2 NKJV).

That said, let’s look at another great thing that the Word says we already have:

Prayer 2: “Thank You that I do have the mind of Christ.”

Following the same line of thinking as we detailed above, it’s good to also thank God for the mind of Christ. Why? Because the Bible says that the mind of Christ is already yours.

Check out what it says in 1 Corinthians 2:16:

“For “who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16 NKJV).

If you have made Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior, then God already gave you the mind of Christ. He gave you the mind of Christ when you gave your life to Jesus and received forgiveness of sins from Him. And God never takes His gifts back, so the mind of Christ is still yours.

However, I can imagine that some people might wonder:

“If the mind of Christ is mine, why am I so dysfunctional in my thought life?”

If a similar question has crossed your mind, compare your situation to what would happen if someone gives a small child a bicycle. The bicycle would belong to that child from the moment it was bestowed upon them as a gift! However, in actual reality, it would do them no good at all unless and until that child learns how to ride said bicycle.

The journey of following Jesus and learning to act like He acts—including thinking like He thinks—works in a similar way. This is why Romans 12:1-2 (which is quoted above, under Prayer #1), says we have to be transformed in the renewing of our mind.

Renewing the mind is a daily process by which we learn to set our minds and keep them set on things above, where Christ is. We have to practice acting like God wants us to act in order for holy actions to become habit for us.

This is why the Bible says we have to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling:

“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12-13 NKJV).

The salvation is on the inside of us from the moment we give our lives to Jesus. However, for the rest of our lives, we have to practice (with the Lord’s help, of course) actually drawing on what is inside us—namely, salvation and the righteousness of God in Christ—and making those things visible on the outside through our actions.

The gradual change to become like Jesus is a process that, in theological terms, is called “sanctification.”

That word “sanctification” refers to how God the Holy Spirit disciples us and works in our hearts over time, gradually conforming us to the image of Jesus. His work begins at the moment of salvation, and it will continue all the way until Jesus returns to take us home to Heaven.

Yes; from that first moment until the trumpet blows, Holy Spirit is going to be transforming us from glory to glory, from faith to faith, and strength to strength. (Meaning, from one level of glory, faith, and strength to the next level of glory, faith, and strength, continually in a never-ending process.)

From glory to glory:

“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18 NKJV).

And from faith to faith:

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith’” (Romans 1:16-17 NKJV).

And from strength to strength:

“Blessed is the man whose strength is in You, whose heart is set on pilgrimage. As they pass through the Valley of Baca, they make it a spring; the rain also covers it with pools. They go from strength to strength; each one appears before God in Zion” (Psalm 84:5-7 NKJV).

So, even though you HAVE the mind of Christ, it is a journey to begin utilizing it at all times. This is why we should acknowledge to the Lord that we do HAVE His mind; thank Him for it; and then, again, ask Him for His help to use it.

As you see in prayer #3 …

Prayer 3: “Please help me to think only from the mind of Christ.”

With this prayer, we are both acknowledging that the mind of Christ is ours and also asking for help to utilize it. In other words, we are praying, “Father, don’t let any other thoughts other than Christ’s thoughts even enter my head. Since the mind of Christ is mine, let me use His mind and only His mind.”

This prayer will be a big help as you fight off temptations of the enemy.

Friend, SO many of the thoughts that pass in front of your mind from day to day were never your thoughts at all.

They are thoughts the enemy spoke into your spiritual ears, presenting them to you as if on a demonic platter. That enemy force (whether a demon or the enemy himself) is just hoping you will take those thoughts up, agree with them, and believe they are your own.

But you know what? You don’t have to give in to ANY of the thoughts the enemy presents to you. You have the power through Jesus to say “NO” to every temptation the enemy puts before you—even the temptation to think and entertain thoughts that are not from the Lord.

As the apostle Paul wrote under the inspiration of God’s Holy Spirit Himself:

“No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it” (1 Corinthians 10:13 NKJV).

Additionally, we read in Hebrews 4:15-16 that Jesus Himself was tempted in every way like we are, but He did not sin—and He will give us grace and help to also refrain from sinning:

“For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:15-16 NKJV).

Therefore, beloved, ask the Lord to help you only think the thoughts of Christ, since you have both the mind of Christ AND the grace and help of Christ to keep you from sinning at all times … even in your thought life. 😊

Prayer 4: “I plead the blood of Jesus over my sanity.”

I can recall some days in my life when my level of stress, grief, worry, anxiety, or depression was so great that I felt that I literally needed Jesus to keep me sane, in order to not descend into outright and literal madness. If you’ve ever been burdened at that level, then you know how awful it feels to be in such darkness.

But friend, even if you feel like your mind is so messed up that you’re losing your grip on sanity, I have good news for you today:

Jesus Christ died on the cross and shed His blood so that ALL the perfect will of God could be realized, achieved, and accomplished in your life. The blood of Jesus is the legal tender—or payment—that paid the way for every obstacle of the enemy to be obliterated in your life, and for you to walk in the path of the shining sun—that highest, best, and most perfect will of God for you.

We read about how God reconciled all things back to Himself with Jesus’ blood in Colossians 1:19-20:

“For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross” (Colossians 1:19-20 NKJV).

And we read more about how God reconciled all things to Himself, and to His perfect will, in Ephesians 1:7-12:

“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will,

according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him.

In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory” (Ephesians 1:7-12 NKJV).

Jesus made a way for everything to be reconciled back to the Father, and to the Father’s perfect will, by His blood. Therefore, when you plead the blood of Jesus over your mind and sanity, you are saying:

“Abba Father, I present the blood of Jesus to You as my legal evidence for why Your will, Your healing, and Your protection MUST be enforced in my mind right now.”

And every time you pray this in faith, you will find yourself stabilizing. It’s not because of anything we did, but because of the power of the blood of Jesus.

Prayer 5: “Lord, please keep me in perfect peace as my mind is stayed on You.”

Isaiah 26:3 contains this wonderful promise:

“You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You” (Isaiah 26:3 NKJV).

In this verse, the word “stayed” (in the original Hebrew, and according to Strong’s Concordance) speaks of:

• having your mind propped up on Jesus;
• having your mind lean upon Him and take hold of Him;
• and even resting your mind and your whole self on Him, which allows you to stand fast and be sustained.

Those are some great word pictures of what we can and should do every day in order to stay at peace. And if you will keep your mind fastened to Jesus, leaning wholly on Him and gluing your thoughts to Him, He will keep you in perfect peace.

It’s easy for the Prince of Peace to keep you in perfect peace, beloved.

PEACE is Who Jesus is, and He has a passion for bestowing His peace upon you. Look at Isaiah 9:6-7, for example:

“For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this” (Isaiah 9:6-7 NKJV, emphases mine).

Additionally, everywhere that Holy Spirit is (which is everywhere indeed, for He is omnipresent), He produces His fruit—and one of the fruit He produces is PEACE:

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law” (Galatians 5:22-23 NKJV, emphasis mine).

Therefore, if you will do your part by setting your mind on Jesus, JESUS will do His part and give you peace.

He won’t just give you a little bit of peace, either. He will give you peace in abundance.

As He Himself promised His people in Isaiah 66:12-13—a promise which includes us, since we are grafted through Christ into the covenant God gave Abraham—He will give you peace like a river:

“For thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream. Then you shall feed; on her sides shall you be carried, and be dandled on her knees. As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you; and you shall be comforted in Jerusalem’” (Isaiah 66:12-13 NKJV).

And when peace like a river floods your soul, life suddenly gets a lot better, beloved. 😊

Prayer 6: “Help me not to fear or be dismayed.”

This prayer comes from Isaiah 41:10, which says:

“‘Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand’” (Isaiah 41:10 NKJV).

Notice that this passage commands us not to 1) fear or 2) be dismayed, for the Lord is with us. These are two separate issues, but both are important.

First, fear is a spirit (see prayer #1—God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind). The solution to fear is to be made perfect in God’s love. As we read in 1 John 4:17-19:

“Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us” (1 John 4:17-19 NKJV).

If you want to know a concrete process for how to be made perfect in love, get my book Victory In the Camp of the Lord Volume 1: Healing from Fear. That book will teach you, step by step, how to focus on God’s love so much that you internalize it at the gut level, so that His perfect love casts out fear.

But my point with this Prayer #6 is not to focus on fear, but rather to focus on God’s command not to be dismayed.

What does it mean to be dismayed?

According to Strong’s Concordance, being dismayed is when you look at something …

… when you inspect and consider a thing …

… and you become anxious, bewildered, or nonplussed by what you see.

Basically, being dismayed means you’re looking at some problem you have, and you become intimidated or overawed by the size of the problem …

… instead of looking at God and seeing how much BIGGER He is than that same problem.

Even David had something to say about this in Psalm 34:3:

“Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together” (Psalm 34:3 NKJV).

What does this passage from Psalm 34 have to do with being dismayed?

Well, “magnifying” anything means you make it bigger in your viewpoint. If I magnify Jesus like I am supposed to, then I will narrow the focus of my mind, thoughts, and words so much that I “zoom in” on Jesus, to the point where He and only He fills my entire horizon of vision.

Well, we humans tend to get dismayed because we do the OPPOSITE of that. We tend to “zoom in” our field of vision to look very closely at the problem we’re facing on any given day.

But then, our field of vision is distorted. We find ourselves zoomed in so closely upon the problem that we can only see the problem, and Jesus (Who is completely eclipsed by the tiny problem that we have zoomed in on) looks like He’s very small in the distance.

If, however, we would magnify the Lord at all times, the following would happen:

• We would only have room in our field of vision for Him. Jesus would take up our entire horizon.
• We would know that we know that we know that we know that we have a Great Big God and little tiny problems.
• And then, we would never be dismayed, because we would never look at any problem and think it’s too big to be overcome.
• We would just constantly be obsessed by the omnipresent, limitless size of Jesus.

So, when ask the Lord to help you not to fear or be dismayed, you are asking Him, “Lord, make me perfect in love, which casts out fear. And help me to remember that You are bigger than any challenge I could ever face.”

Let’s read Isaiah 41:10 again:

“’Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand’” (Isaiah 41:10 NKJV).

We are not to be dismayed because we are to remember that the Lord is our God, and He is bigger than anything in the world.

There is great and profound comfort in that. As we read in Romans 8:35-39:

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:35-39 NKJV).

Nothing can separate you from God’s love.

Also, no weapon formed against you can prosper:

“‘No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is from Me,’ says the Lord” (Isaiah 54:17 NKJV).

So you can rest when you look at your problems, beloved—knowing that greater is He (JESUS!) who is in YOU than he who is in the world. 😊

Prayer 7: “Help me take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.”

This prayer comes from 2 Corinthians 10:4-5, which says:

“For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ ….” (2 Corinthians 10:4-5 NKJV).

Beloved, the Word of God is extremely practical.

Jesus died so you could be redeemed back to God in every area of your life. And He wants every aspect of your life to look on earth like things look in Heaven.

So, He gives us very practical instructions in His Word to help us achieve that. God is not hiding His pathways to victory; He puts them out in full view. We have only to obey them.

Well, the passage above from 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 contains one of God’s very clear pathways to victory in our thought lives.

And that pathway, or method, is that you and I are to be aggressive—even militaristic—about our thoughts. This means:

• If a thought crops up that isn’t pleasing to the Lord, we are to go out …
• … find that thought …
• … round it up as with a rope …
• … tie it up like a prisoner of war …
• … and throw it at the feet of Jesus like the cold, dead fish that it is.

We have to be aggressively militaristic about patrolling our thought life, being on guard against any thought at all that is in disobedience to Christ.

How can you tell if a thought disobeys Christ?

Just look at Isaiah 8:20:

“To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them” (Isaiah 8:20 NKJV).

If a thought does not align with the entire, written Word of God—the Bible—taken in context, then it is not from the Lord. That’s all there is to it.

This is why we should ask God to help us take every thought captive to the obedience of Jesus.

There is zero room for error here. Every thought is either holy or profane; there is no middle ground. Either it lines up with God’s Word or it doesn’t. And we need His wisdom and discernment to help us always search the Scriptures and discern the difference between what the Bible says versus what random thought just ran through our head.

Beloved, these seven prayers can change your life—especially if you are struggling in your mind.

To recap, the seven prayers for your sound mind are as follows:

• Prayer 1: “Father, thank You that You have not given me a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind.”
• Prayer 2: “Thank You that I do have the mind of Christ.”
• Prayer 3: “Please help me to think only from the mind of Christ.”
• Prayer 4: “I plead the blood of Jesus over my sanity.”
• Prayer 5: “Lord, please keep me in perfect peace as my mind is stayed on You.”
• Prayer 6: “Help me not to fear or be dismayed.”
• Prayer 7: “Help me take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.”

Tests and trials are a fact of life. Jesus told us so point-blank when He said:

“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33 NKJV).

Nevertheless, JESUS has made you more than a conqueror through His own blood.

And no matter what you are going through today, if you belong to Jesus, you DO have God’s power, love, and a sound mind. You do have the mind of Christ.

And He will hear and answer as you call to Him in truth, asking Him to help you walk in the soundness of thought, wellness, wholeness, perfect sanity, and PEACE that He shed His blood to give you.

Do these Scriptural keys and prayers for your sound mind help you today? If so, please share this article with a friend–and leave a comment below!