House of Prayer

Last night our family had a very special gathering. After supper we gathered at our front door to begin praying through our house. I don't often hear of other families doing this so I thought I would share what we do, and why we do it.

Let's start with why we pray through our house. I confess we have not done this on as regular a basis as we would like, but it is something we like to do. We want our home to be the Lord's home, filled with His presence, and His to use as He sees fit. We want our guests to be loved, nurtured and blessed by visiting our home. We truly want our home to be a sanctuary for our family. And honestly, once we have done it we just feel better in our home.

Now for some of the practicalities. After struggling to find a time to do this without people under 4 feet tall helping, and failing, we just decided to do it with them. While Baby gets a little distracted and more or less follows us around playing and dancing as she goes, Miss Pear joins us, exuberantly, asking to be the first one to pray in each area of our home, and I'm pretty sure that her prayers are a delight to God and probably have Him laughing out loud!

It is common to use oil to anoint door frames etc as they go along, but as we rent our home we decided to skip this step. To answer the inevitable question I always had about oil and until I finally got it, the oil itself is not powerful, any oil will do, even the cheapest of cooking oils, it is the act and intent that are important.

Some people begin outside and walk their property line as well, but with little helpers we just started inside our front door.

There is no wrong way to do this, except maybe to never do it, but it does help if you have a methodical plan to go through the house and an idea of what you are going to pray for in each room. Our practice is to scatter thanksgiving and praise in as we go along. Also, this does not take us a long time, 3 people prayed a relatively short prayer in each room and we moved on.

While this is not a thorough guide, and will certainly not work for all families, here is a rough idea of how I remember us praying, and odds are this is not how we will exactly pray the next time. I will put MP to mark the ways I remember Miss Pear praying because I was having a hard time keeping a straight face! In each room just focus on praying for what happens there and for it all to be pleasing to God and under His guidance.

Front door / entry way
That our home would be filled with God's presence, that it would be His home to use as He sees fit, and that all who enter here would be blessed and cared for. That all who enter would know that He lives here with us, He is not just an occasional guest.

Living Room
We prayed for fellowship, for growing in the Word.

Dining Room (Schooling Space)
MP - for fun stuff to do in school, and yummy meals
We prayed for our school time, that the girls would grow in their knowledge and love of God, for the guests who would join us at this table for meals, for God to bring those He wants around our table, for out family meals to be a blessing and time of close fellowship and sharing, that we would be encouraged as a family.

Kitchen
MP - Help mommy make yummy meals and desserts
We did pray for help in making nutritious and delicious meals, for provision, and for spiritual food as well.

Family Room
MP - fun toys to play with
We prayed for our time as a family as this is the room we most often end up in, for our family relationships to be loving and close, for help in caring for each other.

Laundry room - MP insisted - God to help mommy clean our clothes and make them smell good.

Stairs - safety

Office
We prayed for the managing of our household and finances, for the planning of school time, for the correspondence that goes out via various media, and for Bible study as this is where all our books are!

Guestroom/Sewing room
For the guests that God brings to be blessed, nurtured and loved in our home, and for creativity and time to sew.

Our Bedroom
We prayed for our marriage, for good sleep (often difficult for me), for our unity as a family.
This is also where we have family worship, we all pile onto our bed, so we prayed for that too.

Baby's Room
Her continued health and healing, her hip dysplasia check up in November, her spiritual growth and relationship with God.

Miss Pear's Room
Her continued health and healing, her cardiology appt in 2 weeks, her spiritual growth and relationship with God, and the girls' relationship as sisters.

Between the 2 rooms we also prayed for the girls to be good listeners and for God to help them behave (Miss Pear's request).

Now we did skip the hallways, bathrooms, closets, garage and would have skipped the laundry room had Miss Pear not insisted. Also, we almost skipped the stairs, but at the last minute we stopped and prayed for safety as the girls have had a number of near misses.

Do you pray through your house? What do you pray for?