How can I pray for my home? Perhaps you have just moved into a new property and want to give this new chapter of your life to God, or home life is currently very stressful and you would appreciate some ideas on how to pray into this.
Our homes are significant places of sanctuary and shelter, growth and provision! Praying for our homes is not just about the physical bricks, mortar, clay or wood, but about the relationships, peace, comfort, adventure and community that happen within them. I thought I would give you three creative ideas of ways in which I have prayed for the homes I have lived in. Hopefully these might inspire your own prayers:-
- Gathering together with friends, family or church community to pray around your new home is a great idea! This is the first and most obvious thing to do – try to do this soon after you have moved in. It might be it’s your first home adventure, a new home brought about by growth or change, or a new season that sparks a change of location or downsizing in later years. You can download a resource sheet on how to hold a house gathering blessing by clicking here. To begin with, ask those who are living in the new home to share their vision for this place. Ask them about their hopes and dreams for it and any concerns or anxieties they or their family may have about the move. The top priority is always to be real and vulnerable. I suggest if there are number of you then lay a sheet of paper in each room, split into two or three groups and move around the house praying in God’s provision and presence into each room you encounter. The paper can be used to write specific blessings and to note scriptures or pictures that God gives you. It is always lovely to have prayers written down to look back on at later times. Then gather together at the end, share the prayer sheets with the group and pray into anything that has come out of this as you feel led.
- The second way of praying is by using oil or water to anoint various parts of the new home. This way of praying is often used when the homeowners are going through a hard situation or time. It could be a neighbourly dispute, trauma in the home, the homeowner experiencing fear or nightmares, or family conflict. A suggestion for this type of prayer is to take some oil and then move around the house praying and making the sign of the cross on the doorways and windows and the entrances and exits. As you enter each room ask the Holy Spirit how you should pray. You could place a visual blessing. For example, stand a picture in the room, or a vase of flowers or a blessing that is written up on the wall, or even written down and stored like a treasure in a secret place. A lovely idea if you are renovating a home is to tuck written blessings and messages of blessing into little places like under floorboards, or to write blessings on the walls beneath wallpaper. You are blessing the fabric of the building and leaving blessings for others to discover in future generations! The truth is that we stand on holy ground as children of the living God. Our homes will be blessed and our boundaries will be protected as we welcome the reign and love of God into these places.
- The third way of praying is helpful if your life is quite transient due to studies, jobs, family or finances. Sometimes “home” is in multiple places and we need to carry God’s blessing freely from place to place. I went through times like this as a student. Here it can help to have a “house blessing prayer” that is spoken out, and then placed within each residence, be it a hotel room, digs, lodgings, guest homes or in different countries or locations. Try to develop a routine of carrying this prayer with you and laying it faithfully out as a blessing every time you lay your head down.
So that’s it! There are three ways that you can bless the place that you live – invite others round to share and pray for your new home, take some oil and bless the room and have a prayer written out in a visible place.
It’s great to share these thoughts with you – maybe you have some creative ways of praying for your dwelling? If so, please do leave them in the comments below and share them with the world. If you haven’t already, do take a moment to subscribe to Prayerscapes, and until next time, may God hold you in the palm of His hand.
