Backwardness can manifest as stagnation in life, missed opportunities, or a sense of being held back. It’s a spiritual battle that requires focused prayer, and one effective way to wage this battle is through the Word of God. Using scriptures as the foundation for prayer gives you authority to break free from every chain of regression. Here are 40 powerful scriptures to pray against backwardness and release the flow of divine progress in your life.
What is Backwardness in a Spiritual Context?
Backwardness refers to any spiritual, emotional, or physical hindrance that keeps you from moving forward in life. It could show up as repeated failures, inability to achieve personal goals, or constant setbacks despite hard work. It often feels like you’re taking two steps forward and three steps back.
Praying with scriptures to pray against backwardness helps realign your life with God’s promises of success and growth. Let these verses guide you in confronting every area of regression and usher in divine acceleration.
How Can Scriptures Help Overcome Backwardness?
God’s Word is a powerful weapon against any form of stagnation or delay. The Bible encourages us to speak and declare His promises over our lives. Scriptures are not only for encouragement but also for warfare, giving us the authority to confront forces of backwardness. By praying these Scriptures, we invite God’s intervention to reverse any retrogression and push us toward His divine purpose.
Let’s look at 40 Scriptures to pray against backwardness that will empower you to break free from the chains of stagnation and experience God’s plan for your life.
How to Use These Scriptures to Pray Against Backwardness
To effectively combat backwardness, take these scriptures and turn them into prayers. Speak them with authority, believing in the power of God’s Word to transform your situation. Meditate on the verses daily, and ask God for the grace to move forward, leaving behind every spirit of regression.
Use these scriptures to pray against backwardness regularly in your prayer routine to see visible progress in every area of your life.
40 Scriptures to Pray Against Backwardness
1. Isaiah 43:18-19 (NIV)
“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?”
- Declare a new beginning in your life and forget the past failures.
2. Philippians 3:13-14 (KJV)
“Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
- Pray for the grace to focus on your future and not the setbacks of your past.
3. Deuteronomy 1:6-7 (NIV)
“The Lord our God said to us at Horeb, ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain. Break camp and advance…'”
- Ask God to help you move forward and not be stuck in one place for too long.
4. Isaiah 54:17 (KJV)
“No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn.”
- Declare that every weapon of backwardness formed against you will fail.
5. Psalm 18:29 (NIV)
“With your help I can advance against a troop; with my God I can scale a wall.”
- Pray for strength to overcome obstacles and leap over any barrier holding you back.
6. Proverbs 4:25-27 (ESV)
“Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you. Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure. Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your foot away from evil.”
- Ask for divine focus, clarity, and direction to avoid distractions that cause regression.
7. Exodus 14:15 (KJV)
“And the Lord said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward:”
- Pray for God’s command to move forward and break the chains of stagnation.
8. Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
- Pray for the fulfillment of God’s positive plan for your life.
9. Psalm 138:8 (KJV)
“The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O Lord, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands.”
- Declare that God will complete and perfect every aspect of your life.
10. Isaiah 40:31 (ESV)
“But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”
- Pray for renewed strength to outrun the forces of delay and backwardness.
11. 2 Corinthians 3:18 (NIV)
“And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”
- Pray for continuous progress and transformation in your life.
12. Psalm 23:6 (KJV)
“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.”
- Declare that goodness and mercy will replace every setback in your life.
13. Joel 2:25 (NIV)
“I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten…”
- Ask for divine restoration of everything lost due to backwardness.
14. Proverbs 24:16 (NIV)
“For though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again, but the wicked stumble when calamity strikes.”
- Pray for resilience to rise again no matter how many times you’ve been set back.
15. 1 Samuel 30:8 (NIV)
“And David inquired of the Lord, ‘Shall I pursue this raiding party? Will I overtake them?’ ‘Pursue them,’ he answered. ‘You will certainly overtake them and succeed in the rescue.'”
- Pray for the grace to pursue and recover all lost due to regression.
16. Isaiah 58:8 (NIV)
“Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.”
- Pray for God’s light to break through the darkness of backwardness in your life.
17. Romans 8:28 (KJV)
“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
- Declare that every negative experience will turn into an advantage for you.
18. Ephesians 3:20 (NIV)
“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us…”
- Pray for God to do exceedingly beyond your expectations.
19. Job 8:7 (KJV)
“Though thy beginning was small, yet thy latter end should greatly increase.”
- Ask for an increase in all areas of your life, no matter how small your beginnings.
20. Micah 7:8 (NIV)
“Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light.”
- Declare that even in moments of failure, you will rise again through God’s light.
21. Psalm 30:5 (KJV)
“For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.”
- Pray for the joy of the Lord to replace every night of backwardness in your life.
22. Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV)
“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.”
- Ask for guidance on how to move forward without relying on personal limitations.
23. Psalm 126:1-3 (NIV)
“When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dreamed. Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, ‘The Lord has done great things for them.'”
- Pray for divine restoration of your lost fortunes and the joy that comes with forward progress.
24. Isaiah 45:2-3 (KJV)
“I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron: And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the Lord, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel.”
- Pray for God to go ahead of you, breaking down every barrier to your progress.
25. Psalm 84:11 (NIV)
“For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.”
- Declare that nothing good will be withheld from you as you move forward in life.
26. Isaiah 55:12 (KJV)
“For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.”
- Ask for divine joy and peace to accompany your journey of progress.
27. Zechariah 4:6 (NIV)
“So he said to me, ‘This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.”
- Pray that the Holy Spirit will empower you to overcome backwardness.
28. Joshua 1:9 (KJV)
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”
- Declare boldness and courage to move forward, trusting that God is with you.
29. Luke 9:62 (NIV)
“Jesus replied, ‘No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.'”
- Ask for focus and the ability to press forward without looking back at past mistakes.
30. Philippians 4:13 (KJV)
“I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”
- Pray for strength in Christ to break the chains of backwardness.
31. Psalm 121:1-2 (NIV)
“I lift up my eyes to the mountains—where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.”
- Ask for God’s divine help to move beyond obstacles and stagnation.
32. Romans 12:2 (NIV)
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
- Pray for the renewal of your mind and the breaking of every mental stronghold of backwardness.
33. Psalm 40:2 (KJV)
“He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.”
- Declare that God will lift you from every pit of regression and set you on a firm foundation.
34. Hebrews 12:1 (NIV)
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”
- Ask for the removal of every hindrance to your spiritual and physical progress.
35. Proverbs 16:3 (KJV)
“Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established.”
- Pray for divine establishment of your plans and efforts as you move forward.
36. Isaiah 60:1 (NIV)
“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.”
- Declare that you will rise and shine, breaking free from the shadows of backwardness.
37. 2 Chronicles 20:17 (KJV)
“Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the Lord will be with you.”
- Pray for divine intervention in every battle of stagnation and backwardness.
38. Psalm 91:11 (NIV)
“For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.”
- Ask for angelic protection to prevent any force of backwardness from touching your life.
39. Romans 8:31 (KJV)
“What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?”
- Declare that no power of backwardness can succeed against you when God is on your side.
40. Psalm 92:12-14 (NIV)
“The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green.”
- Pray for flourishing and continued growth in every area of your life.