Ending your day with prayer is a wonderful way to let go of stress and find peace before falling asleep. No matter what you faced today, talking to God through goodnight prayers will renew your faith. Evening prayer also helps you see all the good things that happened in your day that you have to be thankful for!
Share these nine bedtime and evening prayers with your children, spouse and friends so they too can fall asleep feeling blessed and thankful!
Table of contents
- 1 Goodnight Prayer for Blessings
- 2 A Bedtime Prayer to Stop an Anxious Heart
- 3 Giving Thanks Evening Prayer
- 4 A Short Night-time Prayer (2 Timothy 1:7)
- 5 Popular Child’s Bedtime Prayer, 18th Century
- 6 A Beautiful Prayer to End the Day
- 7 Father, We Thank Thee
- 8 Bedtime Prayer (song by Twila Paris)
- 9 The Examen (Evening Reflection)
- 10 Examples of short family prayer
Goodnight Prayer for Blessings
Bless us with rest tonight, Jesus, and a good night’s sleep. Forgive us for the things we did today that did not honor you. Thank you for loving us so much and that you know us through and through. We need your help every day, and we thank you for the strength you give and for helping us know that with you, even hard things are possible. Bless our family and our home, and keep us safe through the night. May your angels guard us and watch over us, just like you promised.
You’ve told us we are just like sheep. And that you lead us and guard us like a shepherd. You know our names, and you make us feel special and loved. When we hurt, you help us feel better. Thank you, Jesus, for your good care and for giving us to help. Thank you for the Bible, and for teaching us stuff in life that helps us grow. Bless the people in our world, and help them to know you love them, too. Thank you for all the people who help us so much: teachers, doctors, policeman, and fireman—and so many more.
Thank you for your good plan for our lives. Help us to obey you and love you more and more. When we awake in the morning, put a smile on our face and your purpose in our hearts, ready to start a new day. We love you, Jesus. Good night. In Jesus’s precious name, Amen. ~ ~ Rebecca Barlow Jordan
A Bedtime Prayer to Stop an Anxious Heart
Dear Lord, please help me trust You and empower me through Your Spirit to stop my emotions from bossing me around. I want to quit worrying about what might happen and focus on what has already happened by remembering and praising You for Your faithfulness in my life. In Jesus’ Name, Amen. ~ Renee Swoop
Giving Thanks Evening 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. In Jesus’s precious name, Amen. ~ Rebecca Barlow Jordan
A Short Night-time Prayer (2 Timothy 1:7)
For God’s not given me a spirit of fear,
But a spirit of love,
and of power, and a sound mind,
To live each day and glorify his name.
Popular Child’s Bedtime Prayer, 18th Century
Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
If I should die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my soul to take.
Alternative Version for Children:
Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep,
Watch and guard me through the night,
and wake me with the morning light.
Amen.
A Beautiful Prayer to End the Day
Heavenly Father, my day is drawing to an end, and I’m ready to turn in. But before I do, I have to thank you for your faithfulness today. It’s always a good day, even when things may not go the way I plan, or when the world seems in chaos, because you are in control.
For all the times when I was aware of your help today, all the times when your unseen presence seemed so near, thank you, God. But for all the ways you worked behind the scenes, unknown to me, moments when heaven-sent angels moved on my behalf in ways I’ll never know, thank you for those also, Lord.
Forgive me for any foolish actions on my part today or things I did without first asking your blessing or wisdom. Those are moments I’d rather forget, but I’m so grateful for your forgiveness when I ask. I never want to go to bed without clearing the air between us, Lord. Our friendship means too much, and your holiness deserves that. Thank you for loving me just as I am. Your love compels me to give you my all and fills my heart with praise for the relationship we share because of Jesus.
As I close my eyes tonight, I’m praying for loved ones around me, for friends and those who need to know you, Lord. I’m praying that your love, like the billions of stars in the night sky outside, will touch them and help them see who you really are. I pray for our world and those in it. I pray for their needs as well as my own.
Grant me a good night’s sleep tonight, God, so that I can awake refreshed and ready to begin another day loving you. Thank you again for blessings so undeserved and too numerous to count. I love being your child, and I long for the word “faithful” to describe my service to you, each day of every year. When I awake in the morning, may it be with a joyful smile, not a grumpy spirit. May your protection and your presence bathe this place with peace and safety against the enemy. Good night, Lord. In Jesus’s name, Amen. ~ Rebecca Barlow Jordan
Father, We Thank Thee
Father, we thank thee for the night,
And for the pleasant morning light;
For rest and food and loving care,
And all that makes the day so fair.
Help us to do the things we should,
To be to others kind and good;
In all we do, in work or play,
To grow more loving every day.
— Rebecca Weston – 1890
Bedtime Prayer (song by Twila Paris)
Now I lay me down to sleep
I pray dear Lord that you will keep
Your eyes upon this sleeping world
Every little boy and girl
Bless the children far away
The ones who don’t know how to pray
Those who are not feeling well
The little one the slipped and fell
Bless the puppy down the street
The neighbors I have yet to meet
Bless my mom and dad especially
Just one more thing I’d like to say
Before I close another day
I’d like to thank you Lord for all the ways
That You bless me
Bless the child whose home is torn
The babies who are not yet born
Bless the ones who take your word
To all the hearts that have not heard
Bless all your children everywhere
I hope they know how much you care
Maybe someday I can go
And tell them that You love them so
Bless Grandma and my Grandpa too
And all my friend and all they do
Bless every twig upon my family tree
Just one more thing I’ll say to you
I’m so amazed by all you do
I’ll thank you once again because it’s true
That you bless me
The Examen (Evening Reflection)
Written by St. Ignatius Loyola, the Examen is a daily process for prayerfully reflecting on your day.
1. Remember God’s presence.
Even after a trying day, God will quiet your soul as you remember His presence and intentionally seek to enter into it. Remember He’s with you. Invite Him to make Himself present to you.
2. Respond to Him with thanks.
Giving thanks gives God glory and helps us look on the bright side of a bad day. What small blessings can you thank God for?
3. Reflect on how God showed Himself to you.
God reveals himself through scripture, but we also see glimpses of him in nature, events, and people. Sometimes He shows up loudly through miraculous, divine intervention. Other times He shows Himself quietly through the beauty of a flower or an earnest conversation. As you look back over your day, can you identify moments where you sensed God’s revelation or intervention?
4. Repent of your failings.
I don’t like recognizing my own sin, but repentance is key to continual renewal in our relationship with God.As you reflect on your day, remember specific points where you failed. Bring your shortcomings before God and ask Him to forgive you.
5. Resolve to grow.
God is in the business of changing us, so don’t let your failings discourage or define you. His mercies are always new. Accept His forgiveness. Ask Him for grace to change. Is there anything you need to make right or anyone you need to apologize to? What can you do differently tomorrow?
Do you have a favorite goodnight prayer you use at bedtime? One that your parents taught you or that you are teaching your children? Share it with our community in the comments below!
This article is part of our larger Prayers resource meant to inspire and encourage your prayer life when you face uncertain times. Visit our most popular prayers if you are wondering how to pray or what to pray. Remember, the Holy Spirit intercedes for us and God knows your heart even if you can’t find the words to pray.
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You may have seen the hall hanging that says, “A family that prays together stays together”. Even though this is not a verse from the Bible, it actually reflects the truth of scripture. Praying together as a family yields tremendous results. And the best part is, you don’t need to pray for hours – you can easily make a short family prayer every now and then. See, God is more interested in the heart of the Christian than in the volume of the prayers offered. When done right, a short family prayer might be more effective than most people think. Here some short evening, morning prayers for family, food blessing, short family thanksgiving prayer.
Examples of short family prayer
1. Short morning prayer for family
Lord, we thank you for watching over us through the night. We are grateful for the blessing of a brand new day. As the Psalmist said, this is the day that you have made. We shall rejoice and be glad in it. Lord, we thank you in advance for the many opportunities to rejoice and be glad today. Guide us as a family throughout the day, in Jesus name, we believe and pray. Amen.
2. Evening prayer
Father in heaven, we come to you with hearts that are full of thanksgiving. You have watched over us all day. God, you have ordered our steps. You have blessed the work of our hands. God, you have protected us from the pestilence that wastes at noonday. And now as we retire to bed, we pray that you will keep us from the arrow that flies at night. We thank you, Lord, because you never sleep nor slumber. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
3. Prayer for food blessing
Lord, thank you for providing us with our daily bread. Your word says that you shall bless our bread and water and take sickness away from us. We believe and we confess that our food is blessed and sickness has been taken away. We receive this food with thanksgiving. Amen.
Scripture places a lot of advantages to corporate prayer. Jesus taught that when two or three people pray together, an answer is almost guaranteed.
“Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them” (Mathew 18:19-20).
If two or three family members bow their knee to say a short family prayer, tremendous power is made available immediately. Because whenever we gather in the name of the Lord, He comes to grace the occasion. Notice the scripture above did not say wherever we gather but whenever we gather. The emphasis is not on the venue but on the people meeting. So you don’t have to wait for Sunday morning in order to say a prayer – you can pray together as a family and the good Lord will be right there with you.
In conclusion, the secret of making an effective short family prayer is to pray in line with scripture. It also helps when you are in one spirit as a family before you pray. Try to solve any disagreements before you approach the throne of grace. Then your short prayers will be powerful and effective.
Also read: PRAYER POINTS FOR THE FAMILY
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For the Night
O Lord, I pray for your support all the day long, until the shadows lengthen and the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over, and my work is done. Then in your mercy, grant me and my family a safe lodging, and a holy rest, and peace at the last.
Amen.
O God, who is the life of mortal men, the light of the faithful, the strength of those who labor, and the repose of the dead; I thank you for the timely blessings of the day, and humbly beg for your merciful protection all this night. Bring me and my loved ones, I beseech you, in safety to the morning hours; through him who died for us and rose again, your Son, our Jesus Christ.
Amen.
A Short Evening Prayer Devotion
Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. 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 evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever.
Amen.
Lighten our darkness, we beseech thee, O Lord; and by thy great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night; for the love of thy only Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Amen.
¶ Here may be added any special Prayers.
The Lord bless us and keep us. The Lord make his face to shine upon us, and be gracious unto us. The Lord lift up his countenance upon us, and give us peace, this night and evermore.
Amen.
Prayer of a Weary Apostle
Thanks I give to you, my God, for the day that is ending, and thanks for the coming night. Bring sleep to the weary, bring repose to those I love, and give me rest until tomorrow. Be present, O Lord, and protect your children through the silent hours of this night, that we who are wearied with the work and changes of this fleeting world, may rest upon your eternal changelessness.
In this day that is ending I have not been all that I should have been. Help me, my God, to be less harsh towards others, more gentle, more patient. Make me too, more determined, more demanding of myself, more truthful in speaking, more faithful in my promises, more active in my work, more obedient and more submissive to your will; let me be cheerful, too, and may tomorrow be a finer, fuller day than this.
Amen.
Prayer at the End of Day
Jesus Christ, my God, I adore You and thank you for all the graces You have given me this day. I offer You my sleep and all the moments of this night, and I beg of you to keep me without sin. Therefore, I put myself within your sacred care and under the mantle of your Holy Spirit. Let Your holy angels stand about me and keep me in peace; and let your blessing be upon me.
Amen.
Prayer for a Day Lived
Lord, You have always given bread for the coming day; and though I am poor, today I believe.
Lord, You have always given strength for the coming day; and though I am weak, today I believe.
Lord, You have always given peace for the coming day; and though of anxious heart, today I believe.
Lord, You have always kept me safe in trials; and now, tried as I am, today I believe.
Lord, You have always marked he road for the coming day; and though it may be hidden, today I believe.
Lord, You have always lightened this darkness of mine; and though the night is here, today I believe.
Lord, You have always spoken when time was ripe; and though you be silent now, today I believe.
Amen.
Prayer at the End of the Day
My Lord, I thank you for having given me life, and for having made me to know, love, and serve you all the days of my life and for eternity. I thank you for my faith and for the work and pleasure in the day that I am completing. I beg your pardon for my offenses and omissions of the day, and resolve to make tomorrow a better day. Be with me as I live out the rest of my day. May I do so in your holy grace and good favor.
Amen.
Prayer at the End of the Day
Heavenly Father, to your goodness I commend myself this night, humbly asking for your protection through its darkness and dangers. I am helpless and dependent; graciously preserve me. For all whom I love and value, for every friend and connection, I equally pray; however divided and far asunder, I know that we are alike before you, and under your eye. May we be equally united in faith and fear, in fervent devotion towards you, and in your merciful protection this night. Pardon oh Lord! the imperfections of these my prayers, and accept them through the mediation of our blessed savior, Jesus Christ.
Amen.
A Bedtime Prayer
Give me light in the season of night, I beseech you, O Lord, and grant that my rest may be without sin, and my waking to your service; that I may come in peace and safety to the waking of the great day; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Amen.
Prayer for God’s Protection through this Night.
I beseech you to continue your gracious protection to me and my family this night. Defend us from all dangers, and from the fear of them; that we may enjoy such refreshing sleep as may fit us for the duties of the coming day. And grant me grace always to live in such a state that I may never be afraid to die; so that, living and dying, I may be yours, through the merits and satisfaction of your Son Christ Jesus, in whose name I offer up these my imperfect prayers.
Amen.
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Short Evening Prayer Poems. Below are examples of the most popular short poems about Evening Prayer by PoetrySoup poets. Search short poems about Evening Prayer by length and keyword.
How Fast
How fast our hair grows gray! Before we pray Our evening prayer, the night falls. Death calls Our name Before coming success and fame....Read More
Categories: evening prayer, sorrow,
An Evening Prayer
My day is done, I’ve nowhere to run I come to lay down at thy feet Sing to me thy sweet song of love Speak to me of the heavens above Watch over me with thy unsleeping eye Till my heart , my mind and soul are thine. ...Read More
Categories: evening prayer, devotion, me, me,
Evening prayer
I am a tree today to roots, to heaven. The mower passed the sickle like a moon. What was unnecessary – cut off. The remains were burnt, to be clean as in a picture of Chagall. Pray for the dead innocent and for children. Evening....Read More
Categories: evening prayer, child, heaven, prayer,
every
every minute of every hour every heartbeat, every thought every dawn that reaches across every quarter of every moon every tide that ebbs then flows every whisper, every song every feeling ever known every single evening prayer every dream is always you...Read More
Categories: evening prayer, love
An Evening Short Prayer
A-n evening short prayer I-s good to the tired mind; L-etting you totally leave E-ach and every stress behind. E-vening short prayer is truly great to the soul; N-ight won't disappoint you to sleep safe and beautiful. F-rom the break of dawn, R-ise up from sweet slumber; I-n starry sixth December, O-pen your heart to evening prayer....Read More
Categories: evening prayer, birthday,
NOT ONLY IN DREAMS
Moon and stars dazzles with their light With you in my dreams, a more delight Soft huge pillows secured on my arms With you in my dreams, I'm unharmed Smooth satiny sheets to give me comfort With you in my dreams, a sweet cheesy effort I whispered to God with you is my forever Not only in dreams is my evening prayer.. by olive_eloi 2:59 am 03/28/2014 ...Read More
Categories: evening prayer, feelings, imagery, inspiration, love,
Contrasting Worlds
“I dream of teaching more students while I continue exploring world throughout my life”, I answered. "...and what's yours?", i curiously asked. With dismayed eyes, assimilating all hope from the west, “I dream of not dying before time”, she whispered, Skeptic juvenile eyes turning bright and optimistic with the flow of evening prayer. (Allah reassures!)...Read More
Categories: evening prayer, life,
blessing
when you say your evening prayers blessing those that you love most does my name ever cross your lips blessing one you once held close when you pray for saving grace and blessings for less important things in your mind's eye can you see my face blessing me for what lays spent when you say your evening prayer blessing those that you love most does my name ever cross your lips blessing one you once held close...Read More
Categories: evening prayer, inspirationallove,
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