In Psalm 68:6, we read that, “God sets the lonely in families.” This is a fitting reminder that we have each been blessed with people to keep us company throughout life. Families may not always be in agreement so it is important that we pray for one another. God can change our heart towards a difficult family member as we pray about our relationship. Children can also learn to trust the Lord for daily provision and protection when they hear the adults praying about these. It is never too late to develop the habit of praying for and with our families. Let us put God in the center of this often challenged basic unit of society and reclaim the blessing of being a part of one.

Thanking God for Family

We are very thankful, God, for the good times we have with our families. Thank You for allowing us to enjoy each other’s company. Thank You for giving us time to spend with them each day. 

Preserve our good relationships, Father, whenever we are with our beloved families. Let peace reign in our homes and let compassion fill each of our hearts. Teach us what it is to experience real joy and enable us to show each other what this means. 

Lord, You are our Prince of Peace and the One that guards our hearts. May You always remind us to be peacemakers, especially within our families. Protect us from hateful thoughts, and let us not be the reason for causing chaos in our homes. Guide us each day as we walk through life with our families, wherever each of us may be. All these we ask in Your Name, Amen.

“We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers.” 1 Thessalonians 1:2

Lord, help us to be thankful for one another. Help my children to be thankful for each other, for our family to be grateful for each member and to pray one another continually. Our gratitude for one another will bind us together as a family, and our prayers for each other will further unify us in gratitude and love.

Prayer for Family Guidance

Guide our way, Lord, as we go on with our lives today. Also, be our shield as we go back home later. May you always preserve the bond that we have as a family, and may we look forward to seeing each other once again at home. 

Guard our home as well, God, that no harm will fall on it as we are away. May it continue to be a sanctuary of blessing, comfort, and love for each one of us. Let it always be a restful place for our tired bodies at the end of the day. 

Continue to protect us, Lord, as we rest at night. Allow no intruders or calamities to disturb my home tonight. I trust in your mighty power to keep me and my family safe from any form of evil. In Your Name, I ask all these things, Amen.

Prayer for Family Peace

Heavenly Father, thank You for renewing our hearts and minds. Thank You for sending Your Spirit to us that we may express Your love to our families. We are also grateful to You for giving us our loved ones. 

But we also admit, God, that we are not always the lovers of peace that You want us to be. There are times in our families when we fight and bicker with each other. There are times when we let anger, strife, and bitterness rule over our hearts and because of this, we end up hurting our families. We ask for You to forgive us, loving Father, for these sins against our own families. Change our hearts and make them truly loving.

Also enable us, Father God, to extend the same forgiveness to the members of our families whom we have hurt. Humble us, Lord, so that we may seek forgiveness without pride. We ask You to heal the wounds in their hearts as well. Touch their hearts that they may accept our pleas for forgiveness. Amen.

A Prayer of Blessing for Your Family

Dear Father, in Your beautiful book of Psalms, chapter 103 and verse 17, You give us this wonderful promise, “From everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children.” What better promise could we receive from You in our lives than to see our children and children’s children blessed with Your love and righteousness? We ask for Your hand of blessing on us as well. Bless us with strength to be there for those we love, and wisdom to know what to say to bring comfort, encouragement, and sometimes difficult truth. We will need Your patience as we wait for Your perfect will and way in each of our loved one’s lives. We are so grateful, Lord God. Amen.

Kids’ Bedtime Prayer

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.

Prayer of Protection for Your Family

Lord, I pray Your emotional, physical, and spiritual protection over my family. Keep evil far from them, and help them to trust You as their refuge and strength. I pray You will guard their minds from harmful instruction, and grant them discernment to recognise truth. I pray You will make them strong and courageous in the presence of danger, recognising that You have overcome and will set right all injustice and wrong one day. Help them to find rest in Your shadow, as they live in the spiritual shelter You provide for them. Let them know that the only safe place is in Jesus, and that their home on earth is only temporary. – Rebecca Barlow Jordan

For Compassion

Dear Heavenly Father we thank you for your everlasting love. We thank you that because of your love we are able to love others. We pray that you would help us to be kind to one another, showing each other mercy, forgiveness and understanding. Help us to share the love you’ve so generously shared with us. As a family may we treat each other with compassion. Show us any areas where our hearts need to change or repent. May we so freely offer forgiveness to our family and friends as you so freely forgive us. Amen.

For Encouragement

My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Psalm 73:26 (NKJV)

Lord we thank you for your steadfastness. You never fail. You are our strength in our time of need. God we give you our worries, burdens and cares this day. Thank you that we do not have to fear for you are always right beside us. Encourage our hearts today. Remind us of your lovingkindness. In. Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

A Prayer for Family Unity

Dear Jesus, my loved ones are struggling to come together as a family. We all seem torn in so many directions. I’m asking that you bring us together again as we should be. Give us the strength to rely on each other, and most importantly, to rely on you. I pray for each member of our family. Help each of us individually and as a family. In your name, Lord, amen.

A Prayer for a Struggling Family

Heavenly Father, our family seems to face one struggle after another. There are so many things we are dealing with at once. We need your strength and guidance during these trying times. Surround us with your comfort, pour your Spirit on us, and give us the power to keep going. We not only pray for you to lift each of us up, but help us to support each other. Help us to have genuine empathy for what each one of us is currently facing. We thank you and love you. Amen.

Prayer for the Children

Dear Lord, I’m calling on you to help my children. They’re young and afraid and fearful of what they see happening in the world around them. May your strength and power rest on my children. Comfort them during this time of fear and confusion. Give them the strength to live each day with peace and confidence. In 1 Peter 5:7 you tell us, Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. We are trusting in the power of your words and resting in the fact that you truly care for us. Amen

Prayer for Family Protection

Father God, we come before You today to ask for your protection over our families. Let no trouble fall on them today. Keep them away from accidents. Allow no evil to influence their hearts. Cover them with the precious blood of Christ. Take charge over them so that they do not strike their foot against a stone.

We may not be with our families all the time today, but I trust that You, Lord, are always with them. Keep them safe today and allow them to give glory to You further. Give them peace of mind so that they may not worry about anything. Guard their hearts so that they may only display love instead of hate, anger, or bitterness. In Jesus name, amen.

Prayer for Family Healing

Dear God, we commit to you those in our families who have fallen sick. We believe that you are our Healer, our Great Physician. May You be the comfort of our family members who are physically in pain right now. Touch them with Your Healing Hands, Lord. Send forth your Word and heal their diseases. Let Your healing power flow through every cell of their bodies.

Loving Father, we also ask that you heal the members of our families who are hurting emotionally. Their affliction is not physical, but we know that they are also in pain. Give them comfort as well, God. Give them the peace that transcends understanding. Heal their hearts, Lord, which may be full of anger, hatred, strife, bitterness, and unforgiveness. Clear their minds of any doubt, anxiety or depression. Renew in them a peaceful spirit, Lord. In Jesus name, amen.

A Prayer for Your Family

Dear Jesus Christ, I want to live an awesome life. And I want to have an awesome family. I know I won’t have either if I just live for myself. So today I give myself to you. As for me and my house, we’re going to serve the Lord. I want my family to be a place of play and fun, not just work and negativity. I want my family to be a place where we encourage each other to grow constantly. I want to be a family that is a shelter in the storm, a safe haven, a refuge.

Help me to protect my family — not just their bodies but also their minds. I want my family to serve you by serving others. Help us to find our family mission, our purpose, what you shaped our family to do. Help me to teach my kids to be generous by modeling generosity to God and to others. Help me to have a bifocal vision to not just care about my family but to teach them to care about the whole world. May we model dedication and service and generosity and prayer. I can’t do this on my own, Lord. So I ask you to come into my life and take complete control of every area and give me the power to do the right thing. In your name I pray. Amen. – Rick Warren

Prayer for Aging Parents

Father God, I pray for your continuing providence in my parent’s life.

Lord God, I know Your care for my parent is beyond anything I can offer, for every good gift comes from You. I pray my parent will keep on leaning on You, the Rock of strength and righteousness. Spread your protection over my parent, because You are the ultimate Refuge.

Show me how to meet my parent’s needs in ways that will please You, Lord. Equip me to be a good steward in my loved one’s care. There is much I can do, but You are the Great Provider. Thank you for your willingness to supply my parent’s needs for Your glory and my loved one’s joy. I pray my parent will be made holy through Your grace and receive Your good favor.

As strength declines, I pray for a greater sense of Your presence and power. You are mighty, Father, and our strength is in You alone. In times of need, help my parent lean on your sufficiency and everlasting and when life feels so impossible, remind my loved one that nothing is impossible with You.

I ask You to give my parent a trusting and thankful heart, especially as days grow more difficult. Help my aging parent take every disappointment to You. Preserve from any bitterness or spirit of discontent. I pray the Holy Spirit will teach and comfort, guide, and calm and that my parent will not become discouraged in aging.

Father, I thank you for Jesus, who makes possible our God-honoring transition from this world to everlasting glory. As I pray these things for my parent, I pray them for myself as well. I pray we all will someday hear Your “well done.” Amen! – Dawn Wilson

Prayer for Aging Parents

You are Immanuel, God with me. Thank You for being with me now as I mourn this loss. You are the God of all Comfort and I willingly receive Your comfort now. I do not know what Your comfort will look like or feel like, but I trust it even so.

My heart is broken but You are near. My spirit is crushed, but You are my rescuer. Your Word is my hope. It revives me and comforts me in especially now. My soul faints, but you are the breath of life within me. You are my help, the One who sustains me. I am weak but You are strong. You bless those who mourn, and I trust You to bless me and my family with all that we need. You will rescue me from this dark cloud of despair because You delight in me. In Jesus’ Name, Amen. – Jennifer O. White

For the Grieving Family

You are Immanuel, God with me. Thank You for being with me now as I mourn this loss. You are the God of all Comfort and I willingly receive Your comfort now. I do not know what Your comfort will look like or feel like, but I trust it even so.

My heart is broken but You are near. My spirit is crushed, but You are my rescuer. Your Word is my hope. It revives me and comforts me in especially now. My soul faints, but you are the breath of life within me. You are my help, the One who sustains me. I am weak but You are strong. You bless those who mourn, and I trust You to bless me and my family with all that we need. You will rescue me from this dark cloud of despair because You delight in me. In Jesus’ Name, Amen. – Jennifer O. White