50 Prayers For Migrants And Refugees For Protection And Guidance

Below are 50 prayers for migrants and refugees and all who support them. The prayers cover topics like safely traveling, adjusting to new surroundings, finding community and work, reuniting with family, healing from trauma, being welcomed and protected from harm.

Migrants and refugees often face immense challenges and hardships as they are forced to flee their homelands. As people of faith, we are called to welcome the stranger and love our neighbor. One of the most powerful ways we can support migrants and refugees is through prayer.

Prayers for Safety and Protection

1. Lord, protect all migrants and refugees fleeing violence, poverty and persecution. Guard them from danger as they travel long distances seeking safety and opportunity. Give them strength and resilience for the journey ahead.
2. God, no one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark. Watch over refugees and migrants undertaking perilous journeys and guide them to safe passage.
3. Merciful God, so many migrant children travel unaccompanied, vulnerable to abuse and trafficking. Protect them on their journey and lead them to caring people who will keep them safe.
4. Lord, shield migrants and refugees from exploitation by smugglers, traffickers and unscrupulous employers. Prevent them from being taken advantage of in their desperation.
5. Heavenly Father, protect migrant women and girls from sexual violence and trafficking as they travel. Cover them with your protection and empower communities to stand up against those who would prey on the vulnerable.
6. God, grant safe passage to migrants forced to take dangerous jungle and sea crossings, subject to drowning, harsh weather and pirate attacks. Protect lives and bring the lost safely to shore.

Prayers for Adjusting to a New Life

7. God, help migrants and refugees adjust to their new surroundings. Ease the transition as they are uprooted from the familiar and face the unknown in a new land.
8. Lord, for those forced to flee their homes quickly, provide what they had to leave behind – jobs to provide for their families, schools for their children, medical care, and stable housing.
9. Loving God, help those trying to learn a new language and adjust to a different culture. Give them the words they need day to day and help their new community be patient as communication is difficult.
10. Merciful Father, for those who have suffered trauma in their home countries or on their journey, bring healing and restoration. Protect them from fear and hopelessness, provide mental health care, and surround them with support.
11. Lord, give migrants and refugees hope and resilience to rebuild their lives. Help them find meaningful work, integrate into their new community, and discover joy and purpose once again.

Prayers for Finding Community

12. God, connect migrants and refugees with local communities that welcome them, share meals, and help meet practical needs like housing, healthcare, transportation and schooling for children.
13. Lord, we pray churches and faith communities will open their doors wide to migrants and refugees. Move believers to visit detention centers, provide food and shelter, offer legal aid, teach language skills, assist job searches and invite migrants into fellowship.
14. God, raise up leaders and organizations dedicated to helping new immigrants thrive. Provide advocates who will fight for policy changes to protect rights and give migrants and refugees a voice.
15. Lord, we pray that communities will be strengthened by the rich cultural diversity migrants and refugees bring. Help us celebrate our differences and our shared humanity.
16. Merciful God, soften hearts towards newcomers, replace fear and prejudice with compassion. Change skeptics’ perspectives as they get to know migrants and refugees personally.

Prayers for Children and Family

17. Loving God, bless migrant and refugee children with an abundance of joy and laughter even amidst hardship. Surround them with loving teachers and caretakers who speak their language and understand their trauma.
18. Lord, we pray for immigrant youth who face an uncertain future, discrimination and legal barriers as they come of age. Open doors for education, jobs, health care and safe communities.
19. Heavenly Father, provide parents separated from their children the means to be reunited. Comfort them as they long to hold their sons and daughters close once again.
20. God, strengthen familial bonds strained by dislocation, separation and the stresses of adapting to a new place. Heal misunderstandings and give families patience, understanding and grace.
21. Lord, bless grandparents, aunts, uncles and extended family who take in children whose parents have died or remain in home countries. Provide resources to care for additional little ones.

Prayers for Work and Finances

22. God, help new immigrants secure meaningful work and fair pay to provide for themselves and families back home who rely on remittances.
23. Lord, protect migrant workers from abuse – long hours without breaks, unsafe working conditions, withholding of wages and threats of deportation if they complain. Empower them to advocate for just treatment.
24. Heavenly Father, provide language and job training to help newcomers succeed in the workforce. Connect immigrants with strong mentorship and career guidance.
25. Merciful God, soften the hearts of employers towards refugees and asylum seekers who face legal barriers to working. Help companies recognize their skills and offer opportunities.
26. Lord, bless those who have left professional careers to take any available work in a new country. Open doors for re-certification in their fields of expertise. Help them rebuild fulfilling vocations.

Prayers for Healing and Mental Health

27. Compassionate God, bind up the wounds of migrants and refugees who have suffered violence and trauma. Restore hope where there is despair. Shelter and protect those most vulnerable.
28. Heavenly Father, surround those wrestling with depression, anxiety and post traumatic stress with patient caregivers and mental health support. Renew their sense of meaning and purpose.
29. Lord, we pray for migrant children forced to grow up too fast, losing the joy and innocence of childhood. Help caregivers identify and foster positive mental health.
30. God, give resilience and inner strength to those who have undertaken perilous journeys and endured unimaginable hardship. Renew courage to keep building a better life.
31. Merciful God, heal deep grief over all that has been lost – homes, loved ones, livelihoods and stability. Bring comfort and hope, helping migrants look forward as well as back.

Prayers for Justice and Advocacy

32. Lord, break down cultural barriers, government policies and unjust systems that discriminate against migrants and refugees. Cultivate empathy and equal treatment.
33. God, we pray that migrant detention centers would be places of refuge not confinement. Provide legal aid, speed up processing, and limit detention durations, especially for families and children.
34. Heavenly Father, protect refugees and displaced people in war-torn regions across the globe. Provide food, shelter and safety until they can return home again.
35. Lord, give government leaders wisdom in balancing security concerns, human rights, and compassion when making policies regarding migrants and refugees. Guide just and equitable decisions.
36. God, we pray for just immigration reforms – streamlining asylum cases, opening more resettlement spots, providing paths to legal work and residency, and reuniting more families.

Prayers for Being Welcomed and Supported

37. Lord, help us see each migrant and refugee as a precious child you love, made in your image. Soften hearts to welcome newcomers instead of rejecting them in fear.
38. Heavenly Father, protect migrants and refugees from discrimination, harassment and racism. Change societies to celebrate diversity and share resources more equitably.
39. God, strengthen organizations that provide food, clothing, medical care, legal services, language classes, housing and job assistance. Expand their capacity to serve more newcomers with dignity.
40. Lord, we pray that spiritual support will be available to migrants and refugees through native language worship services, Bible studies and prayer gatherings. Build diverse faith communities.
41. Merciful God, provide advocates to help new immigrants navigate complex legal and social service systems. Bless them with patience and compassion.

Prayers for Nations Providing Refuge

42. Lord, we pray for nations directly sheltering those displaced from nearby conflicts. As resources are strained, provide abundantly and inspire global solidarity.
43. God, bless countries and communities that welcome refugees, understanding the plight of those forced from homelands not by choice but necessity. Help us extend hospitality, not hostility.
44. Heavenly Father, remind wealthy nations of their responsibility to shelter the most vulnerable displaced by poverty, persecution and global climate crises.
45. Lord, we pray globally for societies overcoming fear of the foreigner and instead pursuing openness, empathy and human rights for all.
46. God, may the most vulnerable amongst us – the orphan, the widow, the foreigner – always find sanctuary in their hour of need. Make us instruments of refuge.

Prayers for the Future

47. Lord, come quickly to make all things right. Where there is weeping, bring joy. Where there is dislocation, bring home. Where there is injustice, bring righteousness, justice and reconciliation.
48. Heavenly Father, keep hope alive in the hearts of migrants and refugees crossing into the unknown. Remind them this is not their final home and the best is yet to come.
49. God, out of this mass movement of people across the earth, bring deeper connection between all your children. Teach us we belong to each other, we are one human family.
50. Great God who makes outsiders insiders, you embrace all people. Help us do the same. Inspire compassion, catalyze justice and build diverse communities that reflects your heart.

Amen

Frequently Asked Questions About Prayers for Migrants and Refugees:

Why is it important to pray for migrants and refugees? Migrants and refugees face incredible challenges and dangers as they are forced from their homelands. Praying for their protection, for just government policies, and for supportive communities upholds their dignity and values their lives and humanity. It also opens our own hearts to welcome the stranger as God desires.

What types of issues can I pray for specifically? You can pray about any issues migrants and refugees face such as safely traveling, adjusting to new cultures, finding jobs, reuniting with family, overcoming trauma, being welcomed, and much more. The sample prayers above cover a wide variety of topics to inspire your own prayers.

How can I pray for just and compassionate policies? Pray for government leaders to have wisdom in knowing how to balance security with human rights and compassion. Pray for specific policy reforms such as speeding up asylum cases, increasing refugee resettlement quotas, providing paths to legal work and residency, limiting immigrant detention, and reforming the systems overall.

Why pray for welcoming communities? Cultural fear of immigrants and bureaucratic systems make it very difficult for newcomers to integrate and thrive in new societies. Pray for communities and individuals to overcome fear and embrace newcomers. And for local organizations to provide practical care and support.

Should I only pray for fellow believers? No, pray for all migrants, refugees and displaced people in need of support and protection – regardless of their faith, ethnicity, nationality or any other identifier. We are called to love our neighbors as ourselves and honor the sacred worth of every human being.

How can I turn prayers into action? Along with praying consistently for migrants and refugees, also look for ways to tangibly support them through volunteering, advocacy, donating to organizations, contacting elected officials, and extending personal friendship. Let God’s heart of compassion flow through you in word and deed.