Not all wounds are visible. Some of the deepest injuries a person can suffer are the ones that no X-ray can detect — the grief of loss, the ache of betrayal, the weight of depression, the lasting scars of trauma. God heals these wounds too. This page is devoted to prayers for the broken heart.
You can have a perfectly healthy body and still be in agony. Emotional wounds — grief, betrayal, heartbreak, trauma, depression — can incapacitate a person as surely as any physical illness. They rob sleep, cloud thought, drain energy, and leave a person hollow where joy used to live. If you are carrying wounds of this kind, this page is written for you.
The Bible takes emotional suffering seriously. The Psalms are saturated with it — with raw laments, desperate cries, and honest expressions of grief and confusion before God. Jesus wept at Lazarus's tomb (John 11:35). He was "a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief" (Isaiah 53:3). He knows what it is to feel the full weight of human pain. You are not alone in this.
This prayer for healing of the heart is a companion to our broader prayer for healing guide. While that page addresses all dimensions of healing, this one focuses specifically on the inner life — on what God does for those whose hearts are broken.
"He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds."
Psalm 147:3 (NIV)
The Hebrew word shabar — translated "brokenhearted" — literally means to be broken in pieces. And chabad, "bind up," means to wrap carefully as a physician wraps a wound. This is not metaphorical vagueness. It is a specific, concrete promise: God takes the person who is broken in pieces and carefully, tenderly wraps those broken pieces back together. He is the God who puts shattered hearts back together.
"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free... to bind up the brokenhearted."
Isaiah 61:1 / Luke 4:18 (NIV)
At the very beginning of His public ministry, Jesus read this passage from Isaiah in the synagogue in Nazareth and announced: "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." Healing broken hearts is not an afterthought in Jesus's mission — it is one of the first things He declared He came to do.
Heavenly Father, You see me right now — not just the surface of me, but the deep inner places where I am hurting. You see the grief I carry. You see the wound that was inflicted on me — whether by illness, by loss, by betrayal, by my own failures, or by circumstances that simply broke something inside me. You see it all, and I am so grateful that You do not look away.
Lord, I bring my broken heart to You. I cannot fix it myself. I have tried to reason my way out of this pain, to busy myself past it, to sleep enough and eat right and push through — and none of it reaches the depth of this wound. Only You can reach here. Only You can heal what is broken at this level.
I ask You, Father, to do what Your Word promises. Bind up my broken heart. Take the pieces — the shattered expectations, the grief over what was lost, the pain of the wound, the confusion of not knowing why this happened — and hold them in Your hands. You are the Creator. You made light out of nothing. Surely You can take what is broken in me and make something whole again.
Heal the grief, Lord. Let me mourn what is worth mourning — You never told us not to grieve — but lead me through the mourning to the morning. Psalm 30:5 says weeping may stay for the night but joy comes in the morning. I am in the night right now. I am asking You to bring the morning, in Your time, in Your mercy.
Heal the trauma. The events that wounded me have left imprints I carry everywhere. In certain sounds, certain smells, certain situations, the old wound reopens. I ask You to work in those deep places — perhaps through prayer, perhaps through a counselor You send, perhaps through the slow passage of time and Your gentle presence — and detach the pain from the memory. Let me remember what happened without being re-wounded every time I do.
Replace bitterness with forgiveness. I know that unforgiveness keeps me chained to the wound. I know it is the one who holds the grudge who suffers most. But Lord, I cannot manufacture forgiveness from within myself. It is too big an ask for my broken heart. So I ask You to forgive through me — to do in me what I cannot do in myself. Release that person from my inner judgment. Set me free from the chain that bitterness forges.
Fill the empty places, Father. When grief empties us, when loss leaves a void, You are the only One who can fill it adequately. Fill me with Your presence. Let me know You in a new and deeper way through this season of brokenness. Many people testify that they met God most profoundly not in times of blessing but in times of suffering. I open myself to that meeting now.
Thank You, Father, that You are acquainted with grief. Thank You that Jesus, in the Garden of Gethsemane, felt anguish so extreme that His sweat became like drops of blood. He was not removed from human suffering — He entered it. And He rose from it. So I hold on to resurrection hope: that this broken heart is not the final chapter. You are a God of new beginnings, of restoration, of beauty from ashes. In Jesus's name, Amen.
Lord, I am grieving. Someone or something I loved has been taken from me, and the absence is a wound I carry everywhere. I do not ask You to take the grief away too quickly — grief is the price of love, and I would not trade the love to escape the grief. But I ask You to sit with me in it. Be my Comforter, as Your Word says. And in Your time, lead me through this valley — not past it, but through it — to the meadow on the other side. In Jesus's name, Amen.
Father God, anxiety and depression are real illnesses that affect real people — including people of deep faith. I will not be ashamed of what I am experiencing. I bring it to You openly. Calm the storm in my mind. Lift the weight that sits on my chest. Lead me to the right help — whether that is counseling, medication, community, or Your direct intervention — and guide me through this season toward light. I believe that You have not given me a spirit of fear but of power, love, and a sound mind. I hold on to that. In Jesus's name, Amen.
Lord, someone I trusted hurt me deeply. The betrayal has made it hard to trust — You, others, even myself. I bring that wound to You. Heal it at the root. Show me that You are not like those who have hurt me — that Your love is consistent, Your Word is true, Your faithfulness is unending. Give me the courage to trust again in Your time and Your way. And help me to extend to those who wronged me the forgiveness You have extended to me — knowing that my forgiveness sets me free, not them. In Jesus's name, Amen.
These prayers connect to the broader theme of emotional restoration found throughout Scripture. See also our prayer for healing and strength for when the emotional toll of suffering has drained your spiritual reserves, and our prayer for healing and recovery for the long road back to wholeness.
Yes. Psalm 147:3 says: "He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds." Jesus quoted Isaiah 61 to declare He came "to bind up the brokenhearted." Healing broken hearts is central to God's mission, not a footnote.
Physical healing addresses the body. Emotional healing addresses the inner person — grief, trauma, anxiety, depression, heartbreak. God offers both, and prayers can seek both. Our prayer for physical healing addresses the body specifically.
There is no formula. Some wounds heal quickly; others require longer — prayer, community, professional counseling, and time. Keep bringing your wounded heart to God consistently. He works through all these channels. Our pillar page on healing covers this in depth.