Family & home · Prayers
Five prayers for your home
These are written to be read aloud, not studied. Pick one, say it slowly, and let people add a name or a word of their own at the end. They fit the NobNob morning: the first belongs at Center, the second at Thank, the fourth at Ask, and the last at Begin, on the way out the door. If you are the only one in your house who prays, they still work in the singular — you are not praying a lesser prayer because you are praying alone.
1. To open the morning
Say this first, before the reading, while everyone is still settling and someone is still chewing.
God, before we start building this day, we admit we cannot hold it up on our own. You build the house; we live in it. Quiet us for the next few minutes. Take the noise down enough that we can hear what you are saying. Whatever this day brings — the exam, the shift, the appointment, the argument we are dreading — we want to walk into it already having heard from you. Amen.
Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain; unless the LORD protects the city, its watchmen stand guard in vain.
Salmo 127:1, BSB
2. Thanks at the table
This one goes with the Thank step. Say the prayer, then go around and let each person name one good thing, however small.
Father, thank you for this food and for the hands that got it here. Thank you for this table, for the people at it, and for the people who used to sit here. Let your peace rule in us today — not just around us, but between us. Make us a household that says thank you out loud. We are grateful, and we do not want to be quiet about it. Amen.
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, for to this you were called as members of one body. And be thankful.
Colossians 3:15, BSB
3. When the house is tense
Some mornings begin badly. Pray this one anyway, out loud, in front of the people you were just short with. It does more than an apology delivered later.
Lord, our house is tight this morning. There is something unsaid in this room and we can all feel it. You call it good and pleasant when a family lives together in peace, and we are not there today. Soften whoever is willing to be softened first. Give us the courage to say sorry before we leave, and keep this from becoming the way we always are. Amen.
Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony!
Salmo 133:1, BSB
4. For the ones who are not here
For the child at their other parent's house this week, the one who has moved out, the one who no longer joins in, the one you are not speaking to. Name them out loud.
God, we are missing people this morning. Be with them where they actually are, at the table they are actually sitting at. Strengthen them on the inside, in the part of them nobody can see. Let Christ be at home in their hearts, whether or not they would use those words. Keep loving them in ways that have nothing to do with us. And keep the door here open. Amen.
I ask that out of the riches of His glory He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. Then you, being rooted and grounded in love,
Ephesians 3:16-17, BSB
5. A blessing at the door
The oldest blessing in Scripture was given to be spoken over people by name. Say it as everyone grabs their bags — it takes fifteen seconds and children remember it for decades.
May the Lord bless you and keep you today. May his face shine on you, and may he be kind to you. May he look at you and give you peace. Go on — he goes with you. Amen.
‘May the LORD bless you and keep you; may the LORD cause His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; may the LORD lift up His countenance toward you and give you peace.’
Numbers 6:24-26, BSB
You do not have to use all five. One prayer, said honestly, on a morning that was going badly, is enough to make a house feel different by lunchtime.
Scripture quoted from the Berean Standard Bible. Public domain (CC0)
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