Praying Over Your Home

We take measures to protect our home. We lock windows and doors and install security systems and we buy insurance just in case something should happen. All are smart measures to protect your loved ones, and we can also take steps to protect our family and our home spiritually as well.

Years ago, our family felt like it was struggling in many ways. My younger son was having night terrors. My anxiety was keeping me up at night. My husband and I were stressed and arguing more than normal. Something just didn’t feel right and I wasn’t sure what it was.

But then I learned about the practice of praying through your home and anointing it with oil at a Bible study session I attended. When I got home I decided to try it.

The results were immediate. As I went through the house praying, I felt my anxiety lift and I felt joy in my heart. I felt God’s presence in a way I hadn’t in a while. I found joy in praying over my home, each family member, my marriage, and our sleep. Afterward, I felt closer to my husband than I had in a long time. That night, we all slept well. And my son never had a night terror again.

I’m sure you have walked into homes that felt full of peace and joy. And others that felt perhaps full of anxiety or anger or sorrow. There are places that can feel full of love and others that can feel evil–all because of the spirits that are present there. We want our homes to be homes that are full of the Holy Spirit and of each and every one of the Fruit of the Spirit. No matter how much you may clean and declutter your home, prayer is the power source that brings true joy and peace and love into our home.

Anointing Your Home with Oil

At Passover, the Israelites anointed their doorposts with lamb’s blood, marking their home as holy and belonging to God, while also protecting their family members inside. Thankfully we don’t need to anoint our homes with blood anymore, in fact after the temple and tabernacle were crafted, God commanded Moses to “Take the anointing oil and anoint the tabernacle and everything in it; consecrate it and all its furnishings, and it will be holy,” (Exodus 40:9, NIV).

To anoint means simply “to rub or smear with oil.”

I recommend you get some oil to anoint your home as you pray. You can buy anointing, essential oils, or any preferred cooking oil. It doesn’t need to be fancy or special, the point is that you have the power and the authority to pray over the oil and it will become consecrated anointing oil. Bless the oil in Jesus’ name and trust that God will do so.

Once you have your anointing oil, then you can place it over door frames and other places in your home you want to set apart as holy and pray aloud as you go. I love to anoint bed posts and/or pillows and pray any specific prayer requests that come to mind for the person who sleeps there.

As you go through your home, anointing door frames and other areas you feel led to anoint with oil, pray that God would reveal any darkness or evil in your home, and remove any evil items you come across and feel convicted to remove from your home, such as books or movies or objects with a connection to evil spirits. I have heard several testimonies of people whose rebellious or troubled children found peace, or marriages that were restored when certain objects were removed from their bedrooms and homes. As it says in Isaiah 10:27, “the yoke will be destroyed because of the anointing oil.”

I have a friend whose family often felt an evil presence in their basement and so they avoided going into it, using it only for storage, but then they decided to anoint and pray through the basement. They spiritually and physically cleaned up that space and the difference they felt in the atmosphere was extraordinary. She now has her office and a second family room area in the basement and they now find it a place of great joy and of purpose.

Prayers (and Scriptures) For Specific Areas of Your Home

Anoint your door frames, especially those leading into and outside the house and pray for protection over your home, just as the blood of the lamb protected the Israelites’ homes at Passover. After anointing both front and back doors I grab my Bible in hand and recite Psalm 91 aloud over my home.

Pray that all who enter your home will “go out in joy and be led forth in peace,” (Isaiah 55:12).

Pray that God would post angels to watch over your home. “The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him; and he delivers them,” (Psalm 34:7) and “he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone,” (Psalm 91:11-12).

Dedicate your home to the Lord, inviting Him into it and that He would make it holy. “…I have set this Temple apart to be holy—this place you have built where my name will be honored forever. I will always watch over it, for it is dear to my heart,” (1 Kings 9:3).

Pray that your home would be a safe and peaceful place for your family to thrive, “The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever. My people will live in peaceful dwelling places; in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest,” (Isaiah 32:17-18).

Invite the Holy Spirit into your home. The Holy Spirit is a person and He is the one who helps us interpret Scripture, helps us communicate more effectively in prayer, and who teaches and guides us. Saying that His presence is welcome in our home reminds of all the good things God longs for us to have. If we want more of God and God’s heart in our lives, than we should also want more of the Holy Spirit and His power in our lives and in our homes.

Plead the blood of Jesus over your home and over each room. There is great power in the name of Jesus and in His blood.

Pray for conversations your family will have, especially around the dining room table and the living room (or wherever your family has conversations), that “our conversations be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone,” (Colossians 4:6, NIV).

Pray in each bedroom for any specific requests for that family member. Anoint bedposts or pillowcases with oil and pray for the sleep of each person, “In peace I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, oh Lord, make me dwell in safety,” (Psalm 4:8).

In your bedroom, anoint your bed posts or pillowcases and pray for your marriage. Pray that you and your spouse will grow in unity, “I will give them singleness of heart and of action, so that they will always fear me for their own good and the good of their children after them,” (Jeremiah 32:39).

Pray that each member of the home would love the Lord and that the Lord would show you how to use your home to serve your family and those around you. “As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD,” (Joshua 24:15, NIV).

Pray over workspaces, desks, homeschooling spaces, etc, praying for the work that you do and that “God would bless all the work of your hands,” (Deuteronomy 28:12).

Pray boldly for anything else the Spirit brings to mind as you go through your home and as you pray for your loved ones, anointing door frames and beds and anything else God puts on your heart to anoint. This is a sacred and spiritual time, so stay sensitive to whatever the Spirit is guiding you to pray for or do or remove.

Additional Ideas for Praying for Your Home

Sometimes I’ll play worship music while I pray throughout our home, other times I light a candle. Both are invitations and personal reminders that the Spirit of God is welcome in my home.

I personally pray through my home in this way once or twice a year (usually at the beginning of the new year or in the spring as part of a spiritual spring cleaning, and again at the beginning of a new school year in the fall), or whenever I feel like there is something off around the home, such as when we’re feeling anxious or sad or sick.

Anoint your home whenever and however the Spirit leads you to. Prepare to feel His peace and guidance and joy in your heart and home as you do so. You may want to have your spouse join you in this practice.

For more prayer ideas and Scriptures, check out Scriptures to pray for your home.
For a list of Scriptures to pray for your family, subscribe below.