50 Good Night Prayers for Sleep, Protection and Peace When Your Head Hits the Pillow

Each evening, it's normal to think back on what happened during the day, as well as mentally plan for the next day ahead. This time of reflection and preparation might trigger an array of responses like stress, gratitude, frustration, delight, unease, awe and more. Fortunately, we can bring all of this to God, who knows exactly what we're going through and has a purpose for it all. Not sure what to say to Him as you lie awake? We have 50 good night prayers for you!

Nighttime typically brings with it a quiet setting that can allow our thoughts to run wild. Fear, ambition and nervous excitement can be difficult to tone down to the point of feeling calm, especially without the distractions and busyness of daily activities. However, incorporating powerful bedtime prayers into our routines may help us decompress and gain a more peaceful, faith-filled perspective.

Quoting scripture, practicing silent meditation, reciting liturgies, and speaking to Jesus with personal concerns, thanks and evening prayers are all ways to become more centered on humbly worshiping the One who is in control and who cares for us, instead of letting the spiral of stress get the best of us.

Whether you are looking for rest, relief from worries, evening reflection from the day that has passed, or faith for the days ahead, these nightly prayers will be sure to provide peace and comfort for a good night's sleep!

50 Good Night Prayers

1. "In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, LORD, make me dwell in safety." — Psalm 4:8

2. "I pray for courage. No one ever told us how much courage it takes to live whole-heartedly, did they? No one told us how brave we would have to be. And yet here we are. I pray for courage to rise up in us so that we can get up out of our beds for another day and do what we need to do to carry on. I pray for an appetite to eat good food and I pray we’ll go to bed on time and sleep well." — Sarah Bessey

3. "Father God, I ask You to lead me when I’m blinded by ways I have not known, along unfamiliar paths please guide me; Lord, turn the darkness into light before me and make the rough places smooth. I pray these are the things You will do; I know You will not forsake me. (Isa. 42:16)." — Beth Moore

4. "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." — Unknown

5. "Lord, You are the Source of my strength, wisdom, joy and every good thing in my life. Please help me to make a habit of seeking You each and every day. Amen." — Joyce Meyer

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6. "O God, by whom the meek are guided in judgment, and
light riseth up in darkness for the godly: Grant us, in all
our doubts and uncertainties, the grace to ask what thou
wouldest have us to do, that the Spirit of wisdom may save
us from all false choices, and that in thy light we may see
light, and in thy straight path may not stumble; through
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen." — The Book of Common Prayer

7. "As I lay down in sleep to safely wake again only by Your grace, keep me in a joyful, lively remembrance that whatever happens, I will someday know my final rising–the resurrection–because Jesus Christ lay down in death for me, and rose for my justification. In His name I pray, Amen.” — Tim Keller

8. "God, I thank you for your grace. I thank you that you are a good shepherd. I thank you that you seek and save the lost. And everyday we find ourselves lost and wandering and resistant to the very good work that we know you want to do in us. I pray that by your Holy Spirit, you would kindle the embers in our soul. Kindle a desire for you, a desire to see your kingdom come, a desire to respond to your grace, and I pray that each day as we fall on our face and get up the next morning, that we will experience new mercies. Lord, give your people your power to follow you, to receive from you, and to be like you. In Jesus’ name, amen." — Jen Pollock Michel

9. "Loving Lord and heavenly Father, I offer up today all that I am, all that I have, all that I do, and all that I suffer, to be Yours today and Yours forever. Give me grace, Lord, to do all that I know of Your holy will. Purify my heart, sanctify my thinking, correct my desires." — Elisabeth Elliot

10. "God is my health, I can't be sick; God is my strength, unfailing, quick; God is my all, I know no fear, since God and Love and Truth are here." — Hannah More Kohaus

11. "Oh Lord, go with each of us to rest; if any awake, temper to them the dark hours of watching; and when the day returns, return to us, our sun and comforter, and call us up with morning faces and with morning hearts, eager to labor, eager to be happy, and if the day be marked for sorrow, strong to endure it." — Robert Louis Stevenson

12. "O Lord, defend us from all dangers and also from the fear of them tonight. Grant us grace, not only to rest our bodies, but to have spiritual repose, in soul and conscience, in your grace and love, so we might be comforted and eased in all ways. And since no day passes that I do not sin in so many ways, please bury all my offenses in your mercy, that I might not lose your presence. Forgive me for Jesus’s sake. Finally, grant us grace always to live in such a state that we may never be afraid to die; so that, living and dying, we may be yours, through the merits and satisfaction of your Son Christ Jesus, in whose name we offer up these our imperfect prayers. Amen.” — Tim Keller

13. "Who are you, O God, and who am I?" — Francis of Assisi

14. "God, hold us and renew us and show us our foolishness, the destructive ways we do not want to acknowledge, the clear-eyed freedom we’d know if we’d just relinquish whatever we hold with our iron grip. Teach us that we need not fear. Show us how to live whole and free and joyful. We’ve proven absolutely incapable of doing any of this on our own. I’m going to try to sleep now, again. I trust that the world will keep breathing, the stars keep twinkling, the crickets keep chirping, that the three I love in this house remain under your care, that this world I love, and all my sisters and brothers, rests under your care. Amen. Goodnight." — Winn Collier

15. "Give us grace to serve you, O God, and, if necessary, grace to suffer for what is right. Give us the peace and health and safety we do not deserve. Give us the reformation and revival we need. Lord have mercy." — Kevin DeYoung

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16. "Teach me, O God, to entrust all my cares to Thee and constantly remember Thy mercy, so that my soul may enjoy spiritual rest. Let not my sleep be excessive, but let it serve to renew my strength so that I may be more ready to serve Thee. May it please Thee also to keep me pure in body and in spirit, preserving me from all temptations and all danger, so that my very sleep may contribute to the glory of Thy name." — John Calvin

17. "Blessed are you, O God, who dwells even in darkness and who restores your creation with the gift of rest. Deliver your people from the troubles of the night, and let your peacefulness and grace be upon each place." — Jan L. Richardson

18. "I pray that everything we are sowing in grief, we will reap in joy. It will be a different sort of joy, we both know that. There is the uncomplicated joy of those who haven’t suffered and then there is the joy that is born of suffering, the joy that is deeper for the loss that preceded, the joy that is in seeing redemption and yet knowing the scars we bear from the wounds are beautiful to those with eyes to see." — Sarah Bessey

19. "I thank Thee, my Heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Thy dear Son, that Thou hast kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray Thee to keep me this day also from sin and all evil, that all my doings and life may please Thee. For into Thy hands I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Thy holy angel be with me, that the Wicked Foe may have no power over me. Amen." — Martin Luther

20. "Direct us, O Lord, in all our doings with thy most gracious
favor, and further us with thy continual help; that in all our
works begun, continued, and ended in thee, we may glorify
thy holy Name, and finally, by thy mercy, obtain everlasting
life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen." — The Book of Common Prayer

21. "Watch thou, dear Lord, with those who wake, or watch, or weep tonight, and give thine angels charge over those who sleep. Tend thy sick ones, Lord Christ. Rest thy weary ones. Bless thy dying ones. Soothe thy suffering ones. Pity thine afflicted ones. Shield thy joyous ones. And all, for thy love's sake. Amen." — Saint Augustine of Hippo

22. "Lord, You have extended such grace to me. You have forgiven my wickedness and remembered my sins no more. (Heb. 8:12) Help me to demonstrate my gratitude by forgiving others!” — Beth Moore

23. "We know that this world is filled with discordant notes, but help us, Father, to so unite our efforts that we may all join in one harmonious symphony for peace and brotherhood, justice, and equality of opportunity for all men. The tasks performed today with forgiveness for all our errors, we dedicate, dear Lord, to Thee. Grant us strength and courage and faith and humility sufficient for the tasks assigned to us. Amen." — Mary McLeod Bethune

24. "Lord, free us from our self-deception and attune our hearts to your Spirit, that we might remember how you humbled yourself, and learn to serve one another, whatever our disagreements. Amen." — Shane Claiborne, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove and Enuma Okoro

25. "God, like the Israelites, I know that I need to 'follow the ark.' My timing for the new opportunities doesn't matter...only Your will matters. As I follow You, I know that You will make a way to bring Your plan for me to pass." — Joyce Meyer

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26. "My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahed of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following Your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please You does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that, if I do this, You will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust You always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for You are ever with me, and You will never leave me to face my perils alone." — Thomas Merton

27. "O God,…we thank Thee for Thy Church, founded upon Thy Word, that challenges us to do more than sing and pray, but go out and work as though the very answer to our prayers depended on us and not upon Thee… Help us to realize that man was created to shine like the stars and live on through all eternity. Keep us, we pray, in perfect peace, help us to walk together, pray together, sing together, and live together until that day when all God’s children, Black, White, Red, and Yellow, will rejoice in one common band of humanity in the kingdom of our Lord and of our God, we pray. Amen." — Martin Luther King Jr.

28. "O Lord, defend us from all dangers and also from the fear of them tonight. Grant us grace, not only to rest our bodies, but to have spiritual repose, in soul and conscience, in your grace and love, so we might be comforted and eased in all ways. And since no day passes that I do not sin in so many ways, please bury all my offenses in your mercy, that I might not lose your presence. Forgive me for Jesus’s sake. Finally, grant us grace always to live in such a state that we may never be afraid to die; so that, living and dying, we may be yours, through the merits and satisfaction of your Son Christ Jesus, in whose name we offer up these our imperfect prayers. Amen." — Tim Keller

29. "Deliver us, deliver us
Oh Yahweh, hear our cry
And gather us beneath your wings tonight." — Andrew Peterson

30. "From all my lame defeats and oh! much more
From all the victories that I seemed to score;
From cleverness shot forth on Thy behalf
At which, while angels weep, the audience laugh;
From all my proofs of Thy divinity,
Thou, who wouldst give no sign, deliver me.

Thoughts are but coins. Let me not trust, instead
of Thee, their thin-worn image of Thy head.
From all my thoughts,
even from my thoughts of Thee,
O thou fair Silence, fall, and set me free.
Lord of the narrow gate and the needle’s eye,
Take from me all my trumpery lest I die." — C.S. Lewis

31. "Lord, you are trustworthy." — Katie Davis Majors

32. "Grant, Almighty God, that as thou shinest on us by thy word, we may not be blind at midnight, nor wilfully seek darkness, and thus lull our minds asleep: but may we be roused daily by thy words, and may we stir up ourselves more and more to fear thy name and thus present ourselves and all our pursuits, as a sacrifice to thee, that thou mayest peaceably rule, and perpetually dwell in us, until thou gatherest us to thy celestial habitation, where there is reserved for us eternal rest and glory through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen." — John Calvin

33. "Heavenly Father, who gives rest to His children – will You wash over me a peace that passes all understanding as I lay down to sleep tonight? I ask that You would ease the load of the burdens I am carrying. My desire is to be an effective mother, wife, and friend and I know my attitude, energy level, and spiritual life will not be sufficient to do this if I don’t have the deep spiritual rest You long to give me. Be merciful, O Lord, and give sweet sleep to Your child. In Jesus’ Name, Amen." — Lysa TerKeurst

34. "...Grant me
to live a life of gratitude to thee
for the innumerable benefits—
O Lord my God! instruct my ignorance
& enlighten my Darkness
Thou art my King..." — Phillis Wheatley

35. "Oh Lord, You’re beautiful
Your face is all I see
For when Your eyes are on this child
Your grace abounds to me
Oh Lord, please light the fire
That once burned bright and clean
Replace the lamp of my first love
That burns with holy fear
I want to take Your Word and shine it all around
But first help me just to live it, Lord
And when I’m doing well,
help me to never seek a crown
For my reward is giving glory to You." — Keith Green

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Evening Prayers

36. "In this scene set in shadows
Like the night is here to stay,
There is evil cast around us
But it's love that wrote the play." — David Wilcox

37. "Almighty God, who hast promised to hear the petitions of
those who ask in thy Son's Name: We beseech thee mercifully
to incline thine ear to us who have now made our prayers and
supplications unto thee; and grant that those things which we
have faithfully asked according to thy will, may effectually be
obtained, to the relief of our necessity, and to the setting forth
of thy glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen." — The Book of Common Prayer

38. "Praised are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, who brings sleep to my eyes, slumber to my eyelids. May it be Your will, Lord my God and God of my ancestors, that I lie down in peace and that I arise in peace. Let my sleep be undisturbed by troubling thoughts, bad dreams, and wicked schemes. May I have a night of tranquil slumber. May I awaken to the light of a new day, that my eyes may behold the splendor of Your light. Praised are You, Lord whose glory gives light to the entire world." — Bedtime Shema

39. "Dear Father, I admit that I often forget that you are with me. I often forget what you’re like. Would you please forgive me for that? I need to get to know you better. I need to get to know your Word and your promises better. Help me to put you first in every area of my life. Help me to live one day at a time. Help me to not worry about tomorrow but instead focus on what you’re doing in my life right now. I want to trust in your promise to take care of every one of my needs — financial, relational, physical, social, spiritual, and emotional. Help me to trust you more and worry less. I pray in Jesus’ name, Amen." — Rick Warren

40. "Pure Gift of God, Indwelling Presence, Promise of the Father, Life of Jesus, Pledge and Guarantee, Defense Attorney, Inner Anointing, Homing Device, Stable Witness, Peacemaker, Always Already Awareness, Compassionate Observer, God Compass, Inner Breath, Mutual Yearning, Hidden Love of God, Implanted Hope, Seething Desire, Fire of Life and Love, Truth Speaker, Flowing Stream, Wind of Change, Descending Dove, Cloud of Unknowing, Uncreated Grace, Filled Emptiness, Deepest Level of Our Longing, Sacred Wounding, Holy Healing, Will of God, Great Compassion, Inherent Victory, You who pray in us, through us, with us, for us, and in spite of us. Amen, Alleluia!" — Richard Rohr

41. "Dear Lord, break me of the need to be busy pursuing a sense of self-worth. Make me secure in who You are and who You’ve made me to be, and as a result, teach me what it means to truly rest. Help me catch my breath. In Jesus’ Name, Amen." — Max Lucado

42. "You alone are my rock and my salvation; You are my fortress, I will not be shaken. My salvation and my honor depend on You; You are my mighty rock, my refuge. (Ps. 62:6–7)." — Beth Moore

43. "O Lord God—who has given man the night for rest, as you have created the day in which he may employ himself in labor—grant, I pray, that my body may so rest during this night that my mind cease not to be awake to you, nor my heart faint or be overcome with torpor, preventing it from adhering steadfastly to the love of you." — John Calvin

44. "And shall I pray Thee change Thy will my Father,
Until it be according unto mine?
But no, Lord, no, that shall never be, rather
I pray Thee blend my human will with Thine." — Amy Carmichael

45. "Lord, send down your blessings, temporal and spiritual, on my family, friends, and neighbors. Bless those who have done us good today, and pardon all those who have done or wished us ill, and give them repentance and better minds. Be merciful to those who are in any trouble or suffering, and minister to them according to their needs. Do this for the sake of the One who went about doing good, the Man of Sorrows, your Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ. In his name." — Tim Keller

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46. "For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline." — 2 Timothy 1:7

47. "Father, thank You for the gift of prayer. Regardless of what my day looks like, I am so grateful that I can take a moment to pray in every situation, confident that You hear and answer me." — Joyce Meyer

48. "I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word." — Luke 1:38

49. "Help us, our Father, to lie down in peace; and awaken us to life again, our King. Spread over us Your shelter of peace, guide us with Your good counsel. Save us because of Your mercy. Shield us from enemies and pestilence, from starvation, sword and sorrow. Remove the evil forces that surround us, shelter us in the shadow of Your wings. You, O God, guard us and deliver us. You are a gracious and merciful King. Guard our coming and our going, grant us life and peace, now and always." — Bedtime Shema

50. "O Lord, support us 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 our work is done.
Then in thy mercy, grant us a safe lodging, and a holy rest,
and peace at the last. Amen." — The Book of Common Prayer

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