Day 40—Pray for your boss/teacher/line manager/foreman, if you are working, that God will bless them today. If you don’t work, pray for someone you will meet today.

Day 39—Think of one person to pray for today and try to remember them throughout the day.

Day 38—Pray Samuel’s prayer in 1 Samuel 3.9, “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.” Throughout the day try to reflect on thoughts and ideas that come into your mind. They may well be God!

Day 37—Pray for St Thomas with St Stephen today by reading Colossians 1.9-12.

Day 36—Ask that the Holy Spirit will help you today, Joshua 1.9: “Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Day 35—Read Daniel’s prayer in Daniel 9.4-19. Reflect on how you would pray for our country in the same way.

Day 34—Using the fingers of your hand:
Thumb: strong things; like friends and family that support and help you
Index: pointing; people who help and guide, doctors, teachers, friends
Middle: tallest; governments and leaders
Ring: the weakest; the poor, hungry and ill
Little Finger: yourself.

Day 33—Practice fasting: skip one meal, or all food for the day, or eat simply, such as just bread at each meal time. Use the time to pray, use your hunger to express your hunger for God and to pray for those who really are hungry.

Day 32—Read someone else’s prayer, such as the ones at http://www.invitationtoprayer.org/prayers.html or ones in a book of prayers.

Day 31—Psalm 46.10 “Be still and know that I am God.” Take a moment out of the day and try to be still.

Day 30—Phone a friend and ask if there is anything you could pray for them.

Day 29—James 1.5 says ask for wisdom. Do so for all the situations and people you may come across today.

Day 28—Read Hannah’s prayer today in the Bible: 1 Samuel 1.1-20.

Day 27—Take a walk along your street and pray that God might bless everyone who lives in it.

Day 26—1 Peter 5.7 says cast all your anxieties on him, for he cares for you. Do it!

Day 25—Every time you have a minute of boring wait, in queues, for the bus, in lifts, etc, remember God is with you. This is called practicing the presence of God.

Day 24—Read Numbers 6.24-26. Pray the blessing over children you have or know.

Day 23—Learn a verse of scripture today, eg, Philippians 4.13.

Day 22—Pray for the leaders of our country and the government (1 Timothy 2.1-2).

Day 21—Read the Apostles’ prayer (Acts 4.23-31) and pray like them to be bold in your faith.

Day 20—Read the Lord’s prayer slowly thinking of what each phrase means (Matthew 6.9-13).

Day 19—Sit still in a chair. Focus on your breathing and the natural rhythm it has. After a few moments gently breath in the presence of God and breath out your concerns.

Day 18—Look out of the window and thank God for the splendour of his creation.

Day 17—Read Ephesians 3.14-21 and pray that prayer for your family and friends.

Day 16—Repeat a verse of scripture today, such as Psalm 23.1. Keep remembering it throughout the day.

Day 15—Say arrow prayers throughout the day today (God help me, may this meeting go well, bless my children) like Nehemiah in his book (v2.4). It would be good to read chapter 1 as well to get the background story!

Day 14—Pray along with the disciples, Luke 17.5: “Increase our faith.” Jesus’ response is to tell a story about obeying God. Think of one thing where you could obey him better and do it!

Day 13—If you have the internet and a little more time today go to the Church of England website and read/pray either morning or evening prayer: http://cofe.anglican.org/worship/dailyprayer/

Day 12—Listen to a worship song or a hymn on CD or from the internet, or Premier Radio.

Day 11—Reflect on your need for forgiveness. Jesus says we should love God, love our neighbour and ourselves (Matthew 12.29-31). How well have you done each?

Day 10—Celebrate something that God has done for you recently.

Day 9—Pray that God’s Holy Spirit will fill you today with his love. Look up Romans 5.5.

Day 8—Set your Outlook or mobile phone to beep every hour today and each time reflect God is with you and be thankful.

Day 7—Count your blessings and be thankful to God. Read Psalm 100.

Day 6—Remember God is your father and think throughout the day what this means to you.

Day 5—Say grace before each meal with your family if you can. Keep it simple: “Thank you God for this food. Amen.” Try to do this regularly from now on.

Day 4—Read a newspaper or watch the news. Pray for one thing that gets your attention. “May your Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.”

Day 3—Go outside and walk around for five minutes praising God for the beauty of his creation.

Day 2—Find a quiet spot and light a candle. As you focus on it remember that Jesus is the light of the world (John 8.12) and he is with you.

Day 1—Try repeating this traditional prayer throughout the day, whenever a quiet moment or space comes in your day: “Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner.”

Each day there will be a new suggestion for a way you can pray. Some may not work for you at all, but we are sure others will offer you a rich blessing. You can follow us through the 40 days by:

• Bookmarking this web page (http://stwss.org.uk/resources/40-days-of-prayer) and visiting every day
• Subscribing to the RSS feed
• Following us on Twitter @STwSS and the hashtag #40days
• Signing up for a daily e-mail.

Let us know how you get on and tell us about any particular blessing that comes your way. E-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or send us a tweet.