A Prayer of Protection Over My Home

Lord, this house is Yours before it is mine. Every wall, every window, every worn place on the floor — I hand it all back to You and ask You to guard it.

Stand at our front door. Let nothing enter here that means us harm, and let nothing leave here that would harm another. Keep out what would steal our peace: danger, yes, but also bitterness, contempt, and fear, which slip in more quietly than any thief.

Bless the kitchen, where we are fed. Bless the table, where we tell the truth about our days. Bless the beds, where the tired and the worried lie down, and give each sleeper rest.

When storms come — the kind with wind and the kind that shake a family from inside — hold this house steady. Where the roof is thin, be our covering. Where the foundation is cracked, be our rock.

Make this a home where the lonely feel welcome, where children are safe to be small, where the old are honored and the tired are restored. Let the people who walk in feel something they can't name, and let it be You.

I cannot lock every door or foresee every trouble, Lord. I cannot stand guard all night, and I was never meant to. So I do the one thing I can do: I set this home and everyone in it into Your hands, the safest place I know.

Watch over our going out and our coming in, today, tonight, and all the years You give us here.

In Jesus' name, Amen.

When to Pray This

Pray this when you move into a new place, after a hard season under your roof, or on an ordinary evening walking from room to room. Some families pray it together once a year, with everyone home.

A Verse to Hold On To

"Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain." — Psalm 127:1 (KJV)