Family Worship

I recently read an article in Reformation21 Magazine that provides an easy to follow approach to family worship. Our family currently has prayer with meals and at bedtime as well as a Bible story right before bed, but I long to instill more Biblical values into my children.

We recently started attending a new church. During the time between churches (2 weeks), we had home church, including a time of worship and Bible study. It was a great time of bonding and learning for our children.

The following excerpt from the previously mentioned article that is very similar to what we did and I believe will help families incorporate family worship into their lives.

A man who is like a spiritual father to me began what he called a “family altar” with his wife before they were married, and has faithfully continued the practice through the arrival of children and grandchildren for more than fifty years. Sadly, it seems that few men among even the best evangelical churches today could speak of daily family worship in their home. In the minds of some, active church involvement eliminates the need for family worship. For others, Bible reading, prayer, and singing praises to God together as a family have been crowded out by the television, the Internet, and a non-stop schedule that makes even meals together a rarity.

But the father (and in his absence, the mother) of the family has the responsibility from God to provide spiritual leadership for his household. As He did with Abraham, the Lord wants every father to “command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord” (Genesis 18:19). Each one should raise his children “in the training and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4). Every husband should love his wife as Christ loves His bride—the church—and follow Christ’s example of washing his wife with “the washing of water by the word” of God (Ephesians 5:26).

While it isn’t the only way, the simplest method of applying all these texts in a steady, practical way is through daily family worship. This is how generations of Christians have understood them. For instance, both Baptists and Presbyterians in the 1600s saw this biblical teaching, and incorporated identical language about the expectation of family worship into the most influential confessional statements in their respective histories. To this day, many churches still maintain (at least officially) that, “God is to be worshipped everywhere in spirit and truth; as in private families daily.” (London Confession of Faith (Baptist) 22.6; Westminster Confession of Faith (Presbyterian) 21.6.)

Somehow, though, many men have gotten the idea that family worship is complicated, or that it requires time-consuming preparation. But it need not require any more preparation than your personal worship of God. And the entire experience can be reduced to three simple elements: read, pray, sing.

Read. The centerpiece of family worship is the Bible. Read a passage of appropriate length for your family, making any impromptu comments that come to mind. Those with younger children should emphasize the narrative portions of Scripture, and possibly the Proverbs. Eventually, most seem to work up to about a chapter a day, reading consecutively through a particular book of the Bible. I recommend that you ask a few questions to determine comprehension, or just ask the children to repeat what they remember.

Pray. Let the words of the passage you read suggest matter for prayer. The husband/father should pray, and perhaps one or all the rest of the family members. Most days this will be brief.

Sing. Use a hymnal and sing a cappella, or sing along to a recording, or let a family musician lead the way. Sing as little as one verse, or for as long as the family enjoys it.

Any order of “read, pray, sing” is fine. It doesn’t have to be long to be effective. Be patient with the interest and attention span of the younger ones. Remember that you’re not only fulfilling a responsibility to God by leading family worship, you’re also introducing your children to Him. In these moments together, your children can see your love for God and for His Word, and some of the most teachable moments of their childhood will occur.

So start family worship in your home today. It doesn’t matter when you have worship. For some, early morning is best. For others, it’s mealtime, and for still others, it’s bedtime. Just start. Whether you’ve been married fifty years or newly engaged, just start. Keep it simple, and keep it up.

Reflection and Growth

Verse: Romans 12:4-6

"Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us."


Thoughts: It's been said that the more that you serve, the more that you grow and the more that you grow, the more that you serve. Service which reflects our love for God and others, is an outward manifestation of our growth and development in Christ Jesus and can take several forms.

First of all, our love towards each other is a reflection of our love for Christ and the sacrifice that he made on the cross. If we are Christians, we are part of the church and are the body of Christ. By serving our brothers and sisters, we reflect a servant-type of love that is a form of praise and gives thanks to God for his love and mercy. This type of service is one way to help us have a Christ-like attitude and to help us to mature spiritually.

Also, it should not be overlooked that our service is also to our friends and neighbors; to those who are lost and without hope. Our self-sacrificing service is a testimony to the love of our savior in us by showing that we are being conformed to His image. By visiting a sick friend, sharing a meal with a neighbor or sharing the good news of the Gospel, we have opportunities to impact this world for the glory of God.

It's this type of humbling service and acts of selflessness that helps us to have an attitude of thanksgiving to our Father which helps with our spiritual maturity and growth in addition to being a witness to others.

We are all individuals, but share a very important part of service in the body of Christ. When we all work together, each in our area of service, we grow spiritually and reflect the love of God not only to ourselves, but to a lost and dying world.

Learning to Lean by Walking on Water

Verse: Matthew 14:25-33

"And in the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea. When the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, "It is a ghost!" And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, "Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid." Peter said to Him, "Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water." And He said, "Come!" And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, "Lord, save me!" Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and said to him, "You of little faith, why did you doubt?" When they got into the boat, the wind stopped. And those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, "You are certainly God's Son!""

Thoughts: Serving God promotes tremendous personal and spiritual growth in the life of the believer as well as strengthens their walk with God. Jesus teaches Peter the initial lessons on service by teaching him to trust God’s Word and to obey His will. When Jesus called Peter out of the boat, it was these initial steps that prepared him for a life of future service. Peter unknowingly was being prepared to be a witness to the world about God’s redemptive love and His grace.

One aspect of spiritual growth through service is that it always places you in a position where you can’t lean on your own understanding. The Lord stretches our limits to the place where one has to trust Him for the strength and power to accomplish the tasks that are set before you.

Some people may say, “Oh, I can’t sit in a room full of two year-olds for an hour and a half.” or “I can’t speak in front of people.” God will give you the ability and will help you see where he needs you to be. I know this because I was one of those people. During Bible study, I was one of those people who was afraid to pray out loud in a small circle of people. I thought, “No, I can’t. There are people with more education, even doctorate degrees in this class. I’ll sound silly or mispronounce a word,” but through the grace of God, He taught me that it wasn’t all about me. I learned to lean on, to trust and to act in obedience. I now teach that class. All that I had to do was be faithful and obedient to His call for service.

All of us Christians are called into the service of our Lord, but we are not all listening. Don’t pay attention to the sounds of the wind and the waves around you; simply listen for the Master’s call and keep your eyes on Jesus so He can accomplish His will and purpose for our lives and see us through the storms.

Thanksgiving Through Service

Verse: 2 Corinthians 9:12

"For the ministry of this service is not only fully supplying the needs of the saints, but is also overflowing through many thanksgivings to God."

Thoughts: The ministry of service is to all believers a form of thanksgiving and worship to our Lord. By serving others, we are obediently carrying out the will of our Father and are glorifying Him in the process. In looking at service, we should follow Christ’s example of service and giving. Through Jesus, God blessed us with His grace in that while we deserved hell for our sin, Christ willfully died as the ultimate act of love, sacrifice and service to us. What an incredible model of sacrificial love and obedience that is for us to follow.

Service is also a two way street. We should also not neglect to give thanks for acts of service that people perform for us, I remember that after the birth of my last child, people from our church had offered to help with childcare for the other three as well as provide meals for our family. Something inside me wanted to refuse and I tried, however, the lady that had made the offer melted away my reservations with this sentence. “Please don’t rob me of my opportunity to serve God by doing this for you.” I felt so humbled and convicted by the Holy Spirit that I relented. That lady is now a close friend of our family,

Matthew Henry once said about 2 Corinthians 9:12, “Can a man lose by doing that with which God is pleased?” If our hearts are turned towards God, He can use us to joyfully serve others as an offering of thanksgiving, love and glory to Him.

Blessed to Be a Blessing

I'd been asked in the past to write serveral devotionals for a church-wide devotional guide that was never published. In that I spent time before God regarding these, I didn't want them to go to waste, so I figured that I would post some.

Verse: 1 Corinthians 12:4–11

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons. But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, and to another the effecting of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills.

Thoughts: In thinking about service, I think about the wonderful blessings that the Lord has bestowed on me. God is ever gracious and wonderful. It’s such an incredible opportunity that we have to serve the King and pass along some of the blessings that we have received. The great thing is that serving can be done in a multitude of ways.

From a gracious smile as new people enter the building to rocking a baby so a mother can attend worship and hear God’s Word, everyone has a valuable gift to add to the service of God while connecting with others.

Every believer has received a gift from the Lord that should be used for His glory. His grace extends to us but never end with us. We are intended to be the channels through whom the blessings of God can flow to others. We are truly blessed to be a blessing.