Prayers for facing death and eternity
Prayer for fear of death
Some nights the thought of dying will not leave you alone, and this prayer is for those nights.
Updated
Also for afraid of death · fear of dying · scared to die · what happens when i die · mortality
A prayer
Original writing, not a quotation of Scripture.
Jesus, I'm afraid of dying. Of the pain, of the unknown, of leaving the people I love. You went through death yourself and came out the other side, so you know the way.
You said whoever believes in you will live, even though they die. Free me from the fear that keeps me in its grip. Help me live today with my whole heart, and trust you with the day I don't know.
In Jesus' name, Amen.
More prayers for fear of death
At night
It's dark and the thought is back. I won't argue with it tonight, Jesus. I'm handing it to you. You were afraid in a garden once, so you understand. Stay until I fall asleep.
For the unknown
Father, I don't know what dying will feel like, and the not knowing is the hard part. Give me enough courage for this week, and send me one person who has sat with this fear and will talk with me about it.
For the people I would leave
I think about who would be left behind. Look after them in the ways I can't, God. Help me use the time I have to tell them what I want them to know, and let the fear shrink each time I do.
After a scare
Thank you for another day, and for what the scare showed me about wanting to live well. Teach me to hold my life gently and to stop saving the good things for later. Amen.
Bible verses for fear of death
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will still live, even if he dies. Whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
Since then the children have shared in flesh and blood, he also himself in the same way partook of the same, that through death he might bring to nothing him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might deliver all of them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
But when this perishable body will have become imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then what is written will happen: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “Death, where is your sting? Hades, where is your victory?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
“Don’t let your heart be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many homes. If it weren’t so, I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and will receive you to myself; that where I am, you may be there also. You know where I go, and you know the way.”
For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from God’s love which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.