Serenity Prayer – Full Version, 7 Benefits and its History
The serenity prayer is perhaps the most popular today. Serenity. What a beautiful word. How peaceful and divine this word sounds. Take a deep breath, close your eyes, and think of what it would look like. I took a deep breath, I closed my eyes and I saw a quiet garden full of beautiful flowers: orchids, lilies, edelweiss, and a big oak in the middle of the garden.
The birds sing songs of happiness. The sun covers my face with its warmth and the soft air weaves comfortably through my hair. It looks and sounds like Heaven. Discover now the Serenity Prayer! Or maybe this is Heaven. God grant me serenity! Please, hear my serenity prayer and give me peace, courage, and wisdom.
What Does Serenity Mean?
Serenity means peace of mind, quietness, and calmness. When your mind is clear, your heart is full of love, and you can spread love all around you; it’s that moment when you know that you have touched the serenity state of being.
What is The Serenity Prayer?
I’m sure you have heard about the prayer for serenity many times. But do you really know what the serenity prayer can do for you? Take a look at what serenity means and then look inside your soul and mind.
Do you feel serenity? If not, let me help you because having peace in your life means more than a quiet, organized life and love. Serenity is proof that you have a strong connection with God and you need courage and wisdom to touch this level of divine connection.
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It’s obvious that for a strong connection with God you need to call on Him through prayer. Therefore, I will teach you the serenity prayer, and I will show you the benefits of asking God: “Lord grant me the serenity prayer!”.
You need to know that there are two versions of the original serenity prayer: the serenity prayer short version and the serenity prayer long version.
7 Benefits of the Serenity Prayer
1. Addiction
Some so many people face an inability to deal with the hard moments in their lives. Because of that, they find something to comfort themselves with. Some of them choose alcohol. They think that alcohol gives you the power to overcome the hard times, and then they become addicted to it.
And this is not a solution. God is the best solution and to call on Him you need a prayer of serenity. Don’t worry! I will show you how to do it. The serenity prayer is used by AA and the AA serenity prayer is stronger than any medicine.
2. Acceptance is the key to happiness
Many people think that if they accept a situation in their life it means that they aren’t trying their best to make it better. It’s not true, and I will tell you why. There are situations where you cannot do anything. Even if you want to, even if you look for a solution.
There are things you just have to accept the way they are. You have no power to change them. It’s not about you, it’s just about the nature of the situation. The serenity prayer will show you that I am right, hence you have to stop worrying so much.
3. Develop your faith in recovery
A serenity prayer will show you how beautiful and peaceful it is to think that if you do good, the goodwill comes back to you. The serenity prayer will strengthen the connection between you and God, then God will come close to you and will be there when someone hurts you.
He will show you that you don’t have to respond in kind, but to be good, and do good things even for the ones that treated you badly. Because that kind of attitude will come back to you and many very good things will happen in your life.
4. Gives you the courage to build a new life
The prayer of serenity not only helps you to find your peace but gives you the courage to build a new life. It gives you the courage to start again from nothing. I have heard about many simple people that wanted to get out of a toxic relationship but didn’t have the courage to do it.
I have heard about businessmen that failed in their first businesses and didn’t have the courage to start again in another business. I talked to them and I told them about the prayer of serenity. They prayed to God and they found the courage to start again. And they succeeded.
Only because they had faith. So this is my advice to you: have faith, pray to God, and let Him come into your life to guide your path to serenity. Only the original serenity prayer can help you.
5. The prayer for serenity empowers you
I had times when I thought that nothing would work out well for me. Yes, even me, I had these moments in my life. Every human being has these kinds of moments and it’s hard to overcome them if you don’t have a strong connection to God because He is the only one that can help you get through these.
So, I remembered what my grandmother said to me when I was young: “Pray to God because He will be happy to help you.” So I started to pray using the prayer for the serenity that my grandmother taught me:
6. The prayer of serenity increases contact with the spiritual world
Many people think that they are alone on this journey through life. But the truth is that God is always ready to come close to us, to help us find a solution to our problems. A prayer of serenity reminds you that you can rely on God and His help.
7. Positive thinking comes from the serenity prayer
Positive thinking is important if we want to succeed in life. There are some moments in our life when we can’t find the power to think positively. Therefore, the serenity prayer can come to our aid to make our life great and give us courage. If we have faith, good things will happen to us in a short time.
Courage only works if we exercise positive thinking and if we know that we will succeed.
The History of the Serenity Prayer
Who wrote the Serenity Prayer?
There are many stories behind the source of the serenity prayer, but I will tell you the truth about the one who gave us this beautiful prayer. His name was Reinhold Niebuhr. This great American theologian wrote this prayer for serenity. There have been many names attributed to the prayer of serenity, but Reinhold Niebuhr is the only writer according to Wikipedia.
The original serenity prayer was printed in 1950, but it was first written in 1934. It is composed of four lines that give us serenity, courage, and wisdom.
Many voices have said that this prayer is St. Francis’ prayer of serenity, but the real father of it is the American theologian. St. Francis’ prayer is different from the prayer of serenity, but you can use that too.
The serenity prayer by Reinhold Niebuhr comes in two versions: the short version of the prayer for serenity and the serenity prayer long version.
The Short Version of the Serenity Prayer
You can learn it by heart because it is short and simple. You can keep this in your mind and you can say it anytime you need and anywhere. If you feel that you need more power in a particular moment, or you need peace, call on God through this prayer, and God will come and will show you the power of the serenity prayer.
The Serenity Prayer Long Version
There is a serenity prayer long version for those times when you need to stay quiet, in your home, kneeled, and praying. Because in these hard moments you need to take your time and talk to God about what you feel and tell Him that something is not ok in your life.
God will listen to you and He will send you a sign because He loves us and wants to help us. Say full of faith: “God grant me serenity!” And God will give you courage and wisdom to find serenity.
Whatever you did, don’t be afraid to talk to God. As I said above, He is happy when we turn our faces to Him and ask Him for help. It means that we really understand His power and we want to receive His love in our souls and His saving light in our lives. Don’t be afraid to use the serenity prayer to get in touch with God.
Keep in your mind the fact that God will never give you something you ask Him without giving you the signs, the elements that will help you discover and find out alone what you need. Because God doesn’t want to give you something without a little effort from you.
Lord grant me serenity!
Why? Because He is our Great Father and as a parent, He must teach His child to learn how to get what he wants, not to just give him or her what he or she wants. God shows us how we can reach liberation, but He lets us use our wisdom to get there. He doesn’t simply give us liberation. We have to deserve it.
When I feel like nothing works, I just say these words: “Lord grant me serenity!” And our Lord and Savior give me the wisdom and the courage to find the solution.
What you should also know about the serenity prayer is that it was adopted by AA – Alcoholics Anonymous. This means that the serenity prayer is used by those who fight alcohol addiction. The Alcoholics Anonymous serenity prayer or AA serenity prayer is like a medicine in the recovery program.
This prayer has helped many people that have decided to stop drinking.
Former alcohol-addicted people told me that God helped them a lot. I asked them “How did God help you? Why do you say that?” and they replied to me: “In our recovery program we added this serenity prayer. At first, I thought it was a stupid thing. How can prayer help me in my recovery program?
But after months of medicine, I went into my room and I kneeled, I took the paper where I had the AA serenity prayer written and I prayed. Once, twice, then every morning and every night. It was my salvation. Now I’m free.”
Why is the prayer of St. Francis connected with the Serenity Prayer?
There is no connection between them. This is the truth. Their only thing in common is the fact that both of them speak about peace, but the serenity prayer full version is the only serenity prayer that has really helped a lot of people. I’m not saying that the prayer of St. Francis is not good. All prayers are good and help us in their own way. But the real serenity prayer is the one written by Reinhold Niebuhr.
The meaning of the serenity prayer
You read the short version and the serenity prayer full version, you understood that this prayer was written for you to find your peace. But what else should you know about the serenity prayer?
The first stanza of the serenity prayer:
Here you will find a fourfold request to God: SERENITY and PEACE, COURAGE, and WISDOM.
The first two lines talk about finding peace to accept the things that cannot be changed or altered. They talk about finding the power to be calm and peaceful when something doesn’t work the way you want it to.
Maybe it is not your fault, so you have to call on God through the serenity prayer to help you overcome the situation. The third line talks about the power of the serenity prayer to give you the courage to manage and to do everything you can to accomplish a goal.
You need the courage to accept the things that you cannot change. The fourth line is about wisdom. The serenity prayer, this connection with God, makes you find the wisdom to accept the situation, then to have the courage to believe in yourself, and then to have the serenity to overcome the hard situations.
The second stanza of the prayer tells you about the hard moments that Jesus Christ went through for us. The real examples for us are Jesus Christ and His Father. The second stanza of the serenity prayer talks about the wisdom you need to accept that the hard moments are, in fact, the pathway to peace and happiness.
How can we find the Serenity Prayer in the Bible?
1 – And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus – Philippians 4:7 and Be still and know that I am God! – Psalms 46:10
I am sure that all of us have had that time in life when peace and serenity felt out of our control. The great serenity prayer and your love for God can help you stay strong and control all these unhappy situations. Not knowing what to do, how to manage a situation like this, and giving up is the result of the absence of the serenity prayer.
Don’t forget these words:
They will help you more than you could ever imagine!
2 – Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. – Deuteronomy 31:6 and Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. – Proverbs 3:5-6
Deuteronomy and the Proverbs talk about the part of the serenity prayer where you ask God to give you courage because, as I said above, the third line of the prayer of serenity is a request for fortitude and courage to manage the hard times in your life.
You can find the serenity prayer in the Bible because some verses tell us about finding our serenity, our courage, and wisdom.
For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love, and self-discipline. – 2 Timothy 1:7 is another biblical truth that shows us how great the power of God is and how He can help us when we send Him our serenity prayer.
3 – If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. – James 1:5
James talks about wisdom and you can find the wisdom lesson in the fourth line of the serenity prayer.
Wisdom is a gift. When He created the world and then He created Adam and Eve, he told them that if they wanted wisdom, they would have to ask for it because wisdom is a gift.
It is the most precious gift for a human being and if you have moments in your life when you feel that you can’t find the right path, you don’t see the right choice to make, and you can’t manage a hard situation, ask God to give you wisdom and you will be helped.
Had you ever thought that a serenity prayer could help you so much? Had you ever thought that God is so great and powerful that He can come close to us to listen to our prayer and to send us serenity, courage, and wisdom to overcome our hard times?
The serenity prayer is the most wonderful thing we could receive. It is like a gift to all of us.
Let’s see once again how the serenity prayer can help us:
1 – Addiction;
2 – Acceptance as the key to happiness;
3 – Develop your faith in recovery;
4 – Gives you the courage to build a new life;
5 – Empowers you;
6 – Increases contact with the spiritual world;
7 – Positive thinking.
Keep in mind these words and when you face hard times, call on God through the serenity prayer.