This evening prayer for love and unity is for the end of the day, when the house is quiet and the tensions, conversations and small failures of the day are still on your mind. Pray it before bed, at the table after supper, or in the car before you walk in the door. You can read it aloud exactly as written, or use it as a starting point and speak in your own words.
Evening Prayer for Love and Unity
Father, the day is closing and I bring it to you. I think of the people I live with, work beside, and worship with, and I confess the moments I was short with them, the words I wish I could take back, and the times I chose my own way over peace. Forgive me, and help me see where I still need to make things right before the sun comes up again. Where there is distance between me and someone I love, soften my heart first.
Lord, I also ask for the people who are hard to love tonight. Give them rest, and give me grace I did not earn. Bind up the quarrels in our family, our church, and our neighborhood, and let your patience be stronger than our pride. Teach me to listen more than I speak, and to look for what we share rather than what divides us. Let your love be the thread that holds us together through the night.
Keep watch over those I love while I sleep. Guard their hearts from bitterness, their minds from fear, and their homes from harm. Thank you for the gift of this day and for the people in it. Hold us all in your care, and wake us tomorrow with hearts a little more ready to love. Amen.
A Shorter Version to Pray in a Moment
Lord, I am tired and I have hurt someone today, and I need your help. Forgive me where I failed and give me the humility to say so. Bring unity where there has been division, and let your love be bigger than my irritation. Watch over the people I love tonight, and give us all rest. Amen.
Scriptures to Pray Alongside
Psalm 133:1
See how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to live together in unity!
(WEB)
Pray this verse as a simple wish for your household and your church. Ask God to make the goodness of living together in harmony a reality in your own home tonight.
Colossians 3:14
Above all these things, walk in love, which is the bond of perfection.
(WEB)
Use this verse to ask God to put love over every other quality in your heart. Let the word “bond” remind you that love is what holds the rest of your relationships together.
1 Corinthians 13:4-5
4 Love is patient and is kind; love doesn’t envy. Love doesn’t brag, is not proud, 5 doesn’t behave itself inappropriately, doesn’t seek its own way, is not provoked, takes no account of evil…
(WEB)
Read this passage slowly, pausing on each quality of love. Name the person who is hardest for you to be patient with, and ask God to shape that quality in you.
Ephesians 4:3
Being eager to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
(WEB)
Pray this verse with your hands open, as a request rather than a demand. Ask the Spirit to help you make every effort to keep the peace, especially where you feel most wronged.
Romans 12:18
If it is possible, as much as it is up to you, be at peace with all men.
(WEB)
Bring to God any relationship still strained from today. Ask for the wisdom to do your part toward peace, and for the release of the outcome into his hands.
How to Pray This Prayer
Pray this prayer at the end of the day, when the lights are low and the house is settling. Sit somewhere quiet, perhaps on the edge of your bed or in a chair by a window. Keeping a pen nearby helps: write down the name of anyone you need to reconcile with, and place the paper where you will see it in the morning.
If you share a home, invite someone to pray it with you, reading one paragraph each. A spouse, a child old enough to join in, or a close friend on the phone can make the prayer a shared act of unity instead of a private one. Even one other voice can soften the day’s edges and remind you that you are not carrying the peace of your home alone.
A Blessing to Close
May the Lord who keeps watch over Israel keep watch over your household tonight. May he give you rest that restores, and may his love settle in every room where there has been tension. May you wake to a day in which you are able to love well.
