Bedtime prayers are very important for families across the world. Growing up, my family would say a prayer every night before bedtime. While prayer time is not limited to only bedtime, it is a great time to pray as a family.
Most of us are familiar with the traditional prayer of “Now I lay me down to sleep,” but our prayers do not have to be restricted to only this type of prayer. You can use this prayer if you want, but know that you can pray anything you want before you go to sleep.
Your entire family should be involved in bedtime prayer time because it helps everyone get more connected to God. The goal should be to grow closer to God rather than to just recite words.
As someone who has obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), I cannot stress enough how repetitive words should not be used for prayers. Ritualistic routines can cause many people to struggle, including those with OCD as well as those who do not.
Rather than reciting the same prayers every night, try to allow your family to be creative in their prayers or pose some ideas for sample prayers.
Allow your children, as well as your spouse, to go to God personally and talk with Him about their feelings, thoughts, and concerns.
Help them to build their relationship with Christ by fostering a good communication system with God. Ensure they know that they can go to God whenever they want, all by themselves.
Nobody has to go through a parent or a sibling to speak to God. Rather, make sure your children know that they can talk to God any time of day, by themselves or with others.
Sometimes, children can get confused about these things, which is why it is important to make sure they understand. If they still seem unsure, keep telling them each day to help the information become more concrete in their hearts.
If you are in need of some inspiration for bedtime prayers for the whole family, you have come to the right place. It can be hard to get inspired at times, especially if you are busy throughout the day.
However, know that inspiration can hit you at any time and help you craft a few ideas for guided prayers with your family. If you need some help for tonight’s bedtime prayer, here are five bedtime prayers for the whole family.
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1. A Prayer for Safety
One bedtime prayer for the whole family is a prayer for safety. For many children and adults, it can be scary to think about falling asleep. Children are scared of the idea at times because they are afraid a monster is going to “get them” while they are asleep.
Adults can be scared for the safety of their families while they are asleep, especially if they are worried about robbers or intruders. All of these reasons are valid and deserve to be validated. There is nothing “weak” about being concerned for safety.
Whenever your family is in need of safety, have your entire family come together to pray to God. Each member of your family can say their own words concerning what they need safety for. This could be safety from a scary monster, a bad dream, or a bully at school.
Even if the prayer might sound a bit odd to you, allow your children to express what they are concerned about. If you are a family member who would prefer keeping prayers to oneself, this is perfectly fine, too.
Dear Lord, please bless my family and me with safety as we sleep. There are many things that we are concerned about, but we know we are kept safely in the palm of Your hand. Please, Lord, give us peace as we sleep, knowing that you are watching over us. Remind us that there is nothing to be scared about because you are bigger, stronger, and more powerful than anything else. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
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2. A Prayer for A Good Night's Sleep
A second bedtime prayer for the whole family is a prayer for a good night’s sleep. Adults and children alike can suffer the effects of not getting a good night’s sleep. Just having one bad night can cause many of us to go into a downward spiral of multiple bad nights of sleep.
This can cause us to face the effects of feeling anxious, overwhelmed, and stressed about the next night’s sleep. We often think children don’t feel these same feelings, but they do. Children can feel anxious, overwhelmed, and stressed just as much as adults do.
Allowing your children and spouse a safe place to talk about these feelings before God will truly help your family bond together with God as well as with each other.
It will help you hear genuine feelings from your kids and spouse about how they are doing, the areas they need help in, and possible ways you can pray for them in your own private prayer time.
If your family would rather say their prayers to themselves, try to talk with them at another time about their worries and concerns because it could be you might be the answer to their prayer.
Dear God, please give my family and I a good night’s sleep tonight. Each of us has our own worries, concerns, and stressors. Please help us to sleep despite these anxieties and help us to feel more rested in the morning. We all need our sleep and rest, Lord. Please help us to do this and be ready for tomorrow. We trust you Lord and we love you. Amen.
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3. A Prayer for Happy Dreams
A third bedtime prayer for the whole family is a prayer for happy dreams. When I was a child, I was constantly afraid of nightmares. I would have nightmares often and it got to the point that I was too afraid to fall asleep at night out of fear that I would have another nightmare.
Despite being an adult, I still struggle with nightmares as do many other adults across the world. If you struggle with nightmares, your spouse does, or your children do, a prayer for happy dreams could help greatly.
Many people think prayer is not effective, but this is not true. Each time we pray, we are going directly to God. Whether we go to God as a community of believers, a family, or by ourselves, we are talking to the Creator of our souls.
This is something that we should not undermine or play down. By going to God in prayer, we know that He hears us, and He will answer prayers in accordance with His will.
This being true will help give you as well as your children extra comfort to know that God is hearing every prayer, including the prayers asking for happy dreams.
Dear Jesus, we have been struggling with nightmares for many nights. It causes us to be so scared that we cannot fall back to sleep. We know you can do all things and that no prayer is too small for you. Many people might find it silly to pray for happy dreams, but we know it’s not silly at all. We know you care about us having happy dreams. Please, Lord, bless us with happy dreams tonight. In Jesus’ Name, I pray, Amen.
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4. A Prayer for Courage
A fourth bedtime for the whole family could be a prayer for courage. As an adult, you might need courage for an upcoming job interview, a task at work, or a difficult conversation with a friend.
Your children might need courage for a test at school, to make new friends, or to stand up for themselves. All of these things call for courage and we cannot have courage apart from the Lord. While many people have confidence in themselves, we have confidence in God.
No matter how scary a situation may seem, nothing is bigger than the Lord. If we have confidence in Him, we can have courage. This is not just a teaching for children or teens, but it is also a teaching for us as adults.
Even as adults, we need courage and we need help from God. Most of the time courage doesn’t spring out of nowhere. Instead, we have to go to God in prayer and ask for His help.
Dear God, we are struggling to have courage. Please help give my children, my husband/wife, and myself the courage to face the tasks we need to do. I have a scary work meeting tomorrow, my child has a test to take tomorrow, and my wife/husband has to start a new job. Please give us all the courage to face these things. We cannot face these things by ourselves—we need you, Lord. In all things, please give us the courage to do the things you need us to do to bring your Name glory. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
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5. A Prayer for Love
A fifth bedtime prayer for the whole family is a prayer for love. While not many of us pray for love, it is important to pray for it, especially as a family. There are disagreements and problems that happen within families, which is why it is important to pray for love.
A family without love is not a family at all. Over time, there can be many damaged relationships with family members and these types of families would most benefit from this bedtime prayer. You can say this prayer with your family present, or you can talk with God alone.
Even though we all want to have happy families, it does not always work out this way. Especially as we become adults and move away from our families, we can see the tension that we have with them. It is at these times that we need to pray for love.
Loving someone does not mean you approve of everything they do, and it is not a feeling. Rather, love means you freely choose to love someone despite the things they have done. This can be hard, but the opposite of love is hate and the Lord does not want us to hate anyone.
Dear God, please help my family love each other. We have had many arguments and fights in the past. These arguments and fights have led us far away from each other. I don’t want to have hatred or unforgiveness in my heart toward my family nor do I want them to hold negative feelings toward me. Please, Lord, cover us with your love and help it extend to each other. You are love, Lord. Please help us to love each other as you want. Thank you, Lord. Amen.
A few ideas for bedtime prayers for the whole family are a prayer for safety, a prayer for a good night’s sleep, a prayer for happy dreams, a prayer for courage, and a prayer for love. All of these prayers can help your family draw closer to each other and closer to God.
For further reading:
7 Bedtime Prayers for Your Kids
5 Inspiring Bedtime Prayers for Children
10 Bedtime Prayers for Your New Baby
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Originally published Tuesday, 02 January 2024.