Published April 1, 2022
According to a famous saying, the family that prays together, stays together. That we couldn’t agree more.
More than just an opportunity to get together, prayer also helps bring the family closer to God. When we pray as a family, we’re more than just talking to God. We’re opening our home and hearts to Him. It’s a demonstration of faith and a testament to our willingness to put Him at the center of our family life. That’s why when a family prays, God’s grace flows through them and into the family home.
Praying together also grows the bond between parents and children as well as couples and siblings. When we pray for each other, our love for each other also grows. It fosters respect, care, and forgiveness. All these help ease family tensions leading to happier family life.
If you’re looking to start a culture of prayer at home, here are some night prayers for family to cap the day off.
Night Prayer For Protection
Good Night, Lord,
thank you for the hours that have past,
you’ve been with us.
Tonight, give us your light and your peace,
light that shines around us
and peace to remove anxiety
and the whole burden of our inner life.
Lord, as a family, bless us,
please, cover us with your protection,
that nothing disturbs in this night,
that we have a peaceful sleep,
secure and without fear,
because we are committed
to have you by our side.
God, you are the refuge of this family,
you are our helper and the one who fills us with love,
we slept in the silence of the night protected by you.
– Mery Bracho
Prayer of Gratitude Before Bed
Dear God, we thank you tonight for the good day and for the special way you take care of us all the time. Thank you for the fun times outside and the quiet times inside, and for helping us learn new things every day.
Thank you for creating us special, exactly the way you wanted. Thank you for protecting us throughout the day. Forgive us for the wrong things we do. Thank you for loving us even when we disobey or try to do things our way. Help us to always choose your way, God, because it’s always best. We pray for all the people who don’t know you, and that they will come to understand your love for them, too.
Bless our family and thank you for good times together and apart. Bless our friends and those we love, including our grandparents, our aunts and uncles and cousins. Thank you for our home and a place to sleep and good food to eat. Help us rest well, give us peaceful dreams, and send your angels around our home to protect us throughout the night. Teach us to trust you and to love you more and more. You are good; you are great; and you are faithful, God. And we love you. Good night. In Jesus’s precious name, Amen.
– Rebecca Barlow Jordan
Nightly Prayer for Family
Dear God, Thank you for your great love and blessing over our lives. Thank you that your favor has no end, but it lasts for our entire lifetime. Forgive us for sometimes forgetting that you are intimately acquainted with all of our ways, that you know what concerns us, and you cover us, as with a shield. We ask for your guidance so that we might walk fully in your blessing and goodness today. We ask that your face would shine on us. That you would open the right doors for our lives and for our loved ones, that you would close the wrong doors and protect us from those we need to walk away from. Establish the work of our hands and bring to fulfillment all that you have given us to do in these days. We pray that you would make our way purposeful and our footsteps firm out of your goodness and love. Give us a heart of wisdom to hear your voice, and make us strong by your huge favor and grace. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
– Debbie McDaniel
Father, We Thank Thee
Father, we thank thee for the night,
And for the pleasant morning light;
For rest and food and loving care,
And all that makes the day so fair.
Help us to do the things we should,
To be to others kind and good;
In all we do, in work or play,
To grow more loving every day.
– Rebecca Weston (1890)
Short Night Prayer for Family
God, teach us what it means to have faith in silence.
When we face trials that are beyond our understanding,
help us to find peace. Help me be joyful in hope,
patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer.
You set all things in accordance to your time.
Remind us to wait patiently, and find peace in your plan.
– Dick Woodward
Family Prayer Before Bed
Lord,
You bless us as we rest
Restore us as we sleep
You care for us as we drift off
And make our dreaming sweet.
You are the safest place
You are the God of Grace
Forgiven, loved and held by you
Is each small seed of faith.
You know our thoughts and feelings
You see our deep desires
You understand our weariness
And catch each tear we cry.
You walk beside us every day
You are a constant friend
You stay with us all through the night
On you we can depend.
– Unknown
Children’s Prayer Before Bed
Jesus, tender shepherd, hear me.
Bless this little lamb tonight.
Through the darkness be down near me,
Keep me safe till morning light.
– Mary Duncan
Children’s Evening Prayer for Blessings
God, my friend, it is time for bed.
Time to rest my sleepy head.
I pray to you before I do.
Please guide me down the path that’s true.
God, my friend, please bless my mother,
All your children — sisters, brothers.
Oh! And then there’s daddy, too —
He says I am his gift from you.
God, my friend, it is time to sleep.
I thank you for a soul unique,
And thank you for another day,
To run and jump and laugh and play!
God, my friend, it is time to go,
But before I do I hope you know,
I am thankful for my blessing, too,
And God, my friend, I love you.
– Michael J. Edger III MS
Prayer For a Restful Sleep
Oh Lord,
Go with each of us to rest; if any awake, temper to them the dark hours of watching; and when the day returns, return to us, our sun and comforter, and call us up with morning faces and with morning hearts, eager to labor, eager to be happy, and if the day be marked for sorrow, strong to endure it.
– Robert Louis Stevenson
Short and Simple Family Bedtime Prayer
Father, we thank thee for the night,
and for the pleasant morning light.
For rest and food and loving care,
and all that makes the day so fair.
Help us to do the things we should,
to be to others kind and good.
In all we do, in work or play,
to grow more loving every day.
– Rebecca Weston
Prayer for Family Blessings
Bless this house and those within.
Bless our giving and receiving.
Bless our words and conversation.
Bless our hands and recreation.
Bless our sowing and our growing.
Bless our coming and our going.
Bless all who enter and depart.
Bless this house, your peace impart.
– Unknown
Prayer to Give Thanks For God’s Grace
Lord, thank you for your abundant, abounding grace. Thank you that we don’t have to earn a drop of the mighty river of grace that flows freely for us today. Thank you for the unexpected, unmerited favor you’ve showered on my life. Help me put myself in the path of your love and grace. Help me not neglect the disciplines I need to meet with you regularly and to drink from the water of life. Thank you for your rich love. Amen.
– David Mathis
Prayer for God’s Light
O Lord God Almighty, as You have taught us to call the evening, the morning, and the noonday one day; and have made the sun to know its going down: Dispel the darkness of our hearts, that by Your brightness we may know You to be the true God and eternal light, living and reigning for ever and ever. Amen.
– Unknown
Family Prayer for God’s Guidance
Lord, we can’t sleep because we just don’t know what to do. These big decisions are pressing hard. We can’t see all the answers but we believe that you are leading us. Help us to hear your voice, help us to see your hand guiding us at every turn. Make the way clear before us and we ask that you would open the right doors and close the ones that aren’t meant for us to walk through. We give it to you again right now, and believe that you are helping us and working on our behalf, even as we sleep.
– Debbie McDaniel
(Related: 14 Short Prayers for Everyday Positivity)
