Family Worship
by Donald S. Whitney
– Christian parents usually rely on the church to get their children the spiritual lessons they need, when in actuality it is the family’s job to teach them.
– God deserves to be worshiped in our homes daily.
– Deuteronomy 6:4-7
– Joshua 24:15
– Job 1:5 — Job got up and offered sacrifices for his children every day. He prayed for his children.
– Psalms 78:1-8 — teach it to your children so that they can teach it to their children.
– Ephesians 6:4 — it is our direct responsibility as a parent to teach our children about God. When are we supposed to teach and help them? Yes, it should happen at all times of the day, but there should also be planned and purposeful moments.
– 1 Timothy 3:4-5 — if a man cannot lead family worship, how can he lead church worship? This is a requirement for pastoral position.
– There is three basic elements to family devotions: read, pray and sing.
– No need to prepare a special lesson for family devotions, just read something from the Bible, pray together and sing to the Lord.
– Remember when you’re having family devotions:
1. Brevity – keep it brief, especially when you have children little children. Ten minutes is enough.
2. Regularity – keep it at the same time every day. For some people it is morning and for others it is night. For some it is at a meal and for others it is right before they leave the house.
3. Flexibility – don’t be rigid. – If your children are young, you will need to use both discipline and patience. Discipline to teach them to sit still and listen. Patients since they are just children.
– You’ll have to ask age-appropriate questions to make sure your children are understanding.
– Start right now. Don’t wait. Don’t be ashamed of not starting before, go ahead and start now.
– Instead of grieving over how you wish you would have started years ago, just start family devotions today.