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Japanese To bless your home, gather everyone who lives there at the front door, read a few words of Scripture, and ask God’s peace on the house and on each person in it. Some households then walk from room to room, praying in each. A parent can lead it, or a priest or pastor can be asked to come.
How can a family bless its own home?
Jesus gave his disciples words for entering a house. Sending out the seventy, he told them, “And into whatsoever house ye enter, first say, Peace be to this house” (Luke 10:5). For a short blessing, the household stands in the doorway, one person says that greeting, and all pray together, perhaps with this newly written prayer:
Lord Jesus, you went into the house of Zacchaeus, and salvation came in with you. Come into this house as well. Make our table a place of thanks and our door a place of welcome. When we hurt one another, teach us to forgive quickly. Keep us as we go out and as we come in. Amen.
A longer blessing goes room by room: thanks for food in the kitchen, rest in the bedrooms, patience wherever the family tends to argue. Some families sprinkle each room with holy water, a sign that the Catechism says “recalls Baptism.” End together with the Lord’s Prayer, which the Catholic, Orthodox and Methodist services for blessing a home all include.
If you are moving into a new house, the prayers for finding, buying and moving into one are in prayers for a new home.
In the Orthodox Church the house blessings belong to the feast of Theophany on January 6 (January 19 in churches that keep the old calendar), and “during this time, the parish priest visits each household to bless it with holy water.” The Catholic Catechism teaches that “lay people may preside at certain blessings” and that “Every blessing praises God and prays for his gifts” (paragraphs 1669 and 1671). The United Methodist service for the blessing of a home suggests a household Communion “with the pastor presiding.”
If you will lead the blessing aloud, Praying Out Loud is a paid course of ten short lessons for people asked to pray in front of others; its first lesson, free to read, gives a four-line shape for any prayer.
Ten prayers for your home, and when to pray them
The ten prayers below suit these moments:
- At the front door: Prayer for Your Coming and Going.
- Walking through the rooms: Prayer for the Lord’s Presence.
- For the family: Prayer for Family.
- After a frightening night: Prayer for Safety and Prayer for Protection.
- Before visitors arrive: Prayer for Guests.
- The first days in a new house: Prayer For The Lord’s Presence To Be In Our New Home.
- A whole household praying together: A Prayer for House Blessing and Protection, or the Traditional House Blessing Prayer.
- Meeting the people next door: Prayer For A Positive Relationship With New Neighbors.
Prayer for Protection
For a house that has felt unsafe, or for any night you want to ask God to guard it.
O Lord, thank you for our home. Shield us from the enemy’s advances and stand against any wickedness. Let us not allow the devil a foothold but dwell among us with Your divine Presence. May our family be strengthened in You through Christ our Savior, Amen.
The prayer’s line about the devil’s foothold comes from Paul, who wrote it about anger: “Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the devil” (Ephesians 4:26–27).
Prayer for Safety
For the building as well as the people in it: against fire, flood and accident, and for courage when trouble comes anyway.
Lord, I ask You to protect this house and all its occupants. Please, guard and preserve it in spiritual and material ways. Ensure the safety of this house against destruction and keep us all healthy in body, mind, and soul. I ask that when afflictions come to this dwelling, you would furnish us with the courage to have faith in You, that Your wishes will be accomplished, in Christ’s name, Amen.
Prayer for Your Coming and Going
For the front door, prayed as the household goes out in the morning and comes home again.
O Lord, I implore that while the inhabitants of this home come and go, you would keep them secure and help them reflect your image. I pray that we experience your nearness even when we are beyond the abode. Let us feel your presence as we enter the dwelling so only words of vitality will be spoken in times of hardship. Gratitude for being ever with us, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
It rests on the last verse of Psalm 121: “The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore” (Psalm 121:8).
Prayer for Family
For everyone who lives in the house, including anyone who does not share your faith.
Dear God, I thank you for my beautiful family. I pray that throughout this home, we will be able to feel your presence. I pray for each of my family members that you would bless them and keep my family safe as they go about their day and help point their eyes towards you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Joshua told the people of Israel where his own household stood: “as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD” (Joshua 24:15).
Prayer for the Lord’s Presence
For walking through the rooms, from the front door to the last bedroom.
Dear Lord, I pray you to encompass and occupy every corner of this home. I express my gratitude that you continuously accompany us and look after us. I implore that we would encounter that in our homes. I pray our home will be a space of ease and tranquillity due to your presence and that we will long for an increase closer to you, in Christ Jesus’ name, Amen.
Prayer for Guests
Before visitors arrive, or when someone comes to stay.
Lord, I ask that when we share our home with our guests, we make the most of it by displaying your love. I am thankful for You joining us in our abode and pray that they will experience the serenity in You, Amen.
Peter put hospitality simply: “Use hospitality one to another without grudging” (1 Peter 4:9).
Prayer For The Lord’s Presence To Be In Our New Home
For the first days in a new house.
Gracious God, we give thanks for this new home. Please rest with us, filling the space with Your presence and peace. May our home be a place of celebration that radiates Your love.
We pray that You would protect us from all harm and danger, both physical and spiritual. May no evil enter here, but only Your goodness and grace be found in this place.
We ask that You bless our home with Your presence so that we may serve You and love one another in the comfort of Your love. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
A Prayer for House Blessing and Protection
A full blessing for a household praying together, in a new house or one you have lived in for years.
O God, we lift our prayers to you. May this new home be blessed with your presence and held securely in your care. Even if difficult times come, grant us the faith to know that our true home is always in your heavenly kingdom.
We thank You for this home and the blessing of being able to live here. We ask that You fill this house with Your presence and peace. May our home be a place of joy and safety, where Your love is felt in every corner.
We pray that You would protect us from all harm and danger, both physical and spiritual. May no evil enter here, but only Your goodness and grace be found in this place.
We ask that You bless our home with Your presence so that we may serve You and love one another in the comfort of Your love. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Traditional House Blessing Prayer
This prayer joins old and new words. It opens with the Lord’s Prayer. Its closing words name the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, as the Lord’s Prayer does in an Orthodox reader’s service for blessing a home. The next paragraph follows that service’s prayer to Christ, who entered the house of Zacchaeus. That prayer asks him to “keep safe also from harm those who dwell herein.” The last two paragraphs are modern. The paragraph with (Names) loosely follows the service’s closing prayer for the household; say the names of the people who live in the house. The final paragraph repeats the ending of the two prayers above. If you pray it aloud, the service’s own wording is “Thy kingdom come” in the Lord’s Prayer and “Thine All-Holy, Good and Life-Giving Spirit” in the prayer to Christ.
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom comes, thy will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and to the ages of ages.
O God our Savior, the True Light, Who was baptized in the Jordan by the Prophet John, and Who did deign to enter under the roof-tree of Zacchaeus, bringing salvation unto him and his house: do You, the same Lord, keep safe also from harm those who dwell herein; grant to them Your blessing, purification and bodily health, and all their petitions that are unto salvation and Life everlasting; for blessed are You, as also Your Father Who is from everlasting, and Your All; Holy, Good and Life; creating Spirit, both now and ever, and to the ages of ages.
O Lord, we humbly ask that you bless (Names) with a safe and prosperous life, good health, and well-being, as well as success in all their endeavors. Keep them safe for many years to come.
We ask that You bless our home with Your presence so that we may serve You and love one another in the comfort of Your love. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Prayer For A Positive Relationship With New Neighbors
For the people next door, whether you have just moved in or they have.
Heavenly Father,
We thank You for the blessing of our new home. We ask that You bless us with a good relationship with our new neighbors. Help us to be friendly and welcoming and to show them Your love through our actions.
While living in this home, I ask for a new house through these prayers. Please bless us with the right people who will help us grow spiritually. Enable us to accept our new neighbors and look upon them as friends, not adversaries.
Oh Lord, I pray that You reach the depths of their hearts. May we be used as tools of Your to help them live in Your divine presence.
Give us the wisdom to best interact with them in a way that honors You and brings glory to Your name. May our home be a place of peace and joy, where Your presence is felt in every corner. This prayer we dedicate through your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.
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