There are moments in life when the past will not let go. You’ve repented, you’ve wept, you’ve turned a new leaf, and yet — the memories remain. The images return. The shame lingers. Many who are walking the road to recovery from sin, addiction, or trauma find themselves haunted by what they’ve done or what they’ve seen.

This is where the Prayer of Divine Remembrance comes in.

“God, grant me Your divine remembrance.
As You remember not my sins and transgressions,
may I not remember the sins I have committed
and the images I have seen. Amen.”

A Simple Prayer, A Powerful Hope

This prayer is intentionally brief and easy to memorize. Much like the beloved Serenity Prayer, it is designed to be a practical spiritual tool for those who are in a daily fight for peace. It is especially helpful for those involved in 12-step programs, recovery ministries, or personal healing journeys.

The prayer is not about denying the past but about surrendering it — not to forget like humans forget, but to receive the divine grace to remember like God remembers.

Rooted in Scripture

• “For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” – Jeremiah 31:34
• “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions, for My own sake, and I will not remember your sins.” – Isaiah 43:25
• “I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.” – Hebrews 8:12
• “As far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove our transgressions from us.” – Psalm 103:12
• “You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.” – Micah 7:18–19

Not the Prayer of Divine Forgetfulness

Forgetfulness implies a flaw or a lapse in attention. But God does not forget. He forgives. He remembers perfectly — with justice, love, and mercy intertwined. Divine remembrance is an invitation to receive the nature of God into our own minds and memories, allowing us to release the burdens that God has already removed from our account.

For Recovering Sinners

This prayer is especially for those who carry guilt, shame, or haunting images from their past sins. Even after repentance, many find their minds trapped by flashbacks, intrusive thoughts, or images that seem impossible to erase.

This prayer is for you if you are:

• A person who has unwanted memories, images, and sins that tend to resurface in your mind and distract you.
• A porn or sex addict who cannot unsee what was seen.
• A murderer who relives the image of a victim.
• A drug addict who witnessed horrors in a drug den.
• A former gang member who remembers violent acts.
• A sexworker who carries the imprint of exploitation.

For all of you: your repentance is not the end of your healing. This prayer is a daily request for God to share His divine mercy with your memory. It is a surrender of every image and regret that still cries out for attention. It’s asking God to renew your mind (Romans 12:2) with the same mercy that renews your spirit.

For Trauma Victims

There is a second version of the prayer, written for those who suffer not from what they’ve done, but from what has been done to them — or what they have witnessed.

“God, grant me Your divine remembrance.
As You remember not my sins and transgressions,
may I not remember the trauma I have experienced
and the images I have seen. Amen.”

This prayer is a lifeline for those whose innocence was stolen by the horrors of this world. This version is for you if you are:

• A veteran who has seen the violence of war.
• A first-responder who was first on scene to terrible accidents.
• Any witness to a violent act or accident or the aftermath of an event.
• A child who witnessed something their innocent eyes should never have seen.
• An abuse survivor who relives the trauma through memory.

God does not only forgive sins — He also heals wounds. This prayer is a request for divine mercy to cleanse the mind, to wash away the lingering shadows that trauma leaves behind. It is not a denial of the past but a holy reordering of it — inviting God to replace memory with peace.

Using the Prayer Daily

You don’t need a ceremony. You don’t need a crowd. You can pray this in the morning, in the evening, when temptation hits, or when old memories surface. Say it out loud. Whisper it. Hold it in your heart. Let it bring peace to your soul, 24 hours at a time.

You can write it on a note, keep it in your wallet, tape it to your mirror, or memorize it as a spiritual defense against the replaying of past sins and traumas.

Let it be a doorway to healing — not by your own effort, but by the gift of God’s nature flowing into your soul.

Closing Words

The Prayer of Divine Remembrance is not magic. It does not guarantee instant forgetting or erasure. But it is a conversation in your growing relationship with your Higher Power — a way to join your wounded memory to the merciful heart of God.

As you pray, you are not pretending your past didn’t happen. You are declaring that your past is no longer your master. You are saying, “If God, in all His justice, remembers my sin no more — then I, by His mercy, will no longer be bound by it.”

This is not forgetfulness. This is freedom. This is divine remembrance.

Ephraim Judah © 2025