Devotional / Family Worship; December 3, 2025

What is family worship? (Click the arrow to the left)

As Christians, particularly Christian men, we are responsible to lead our households with strength and resolve in the ways of Christ. Leading our families in devotions and family worship is one way to lead our families, raising our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, Jesus Christ (cf. Deuteronomy 6:7; Ephesians 6:4).

In my house, we do morning and evenings. In the morning after we eat breakfast together, we all have our quiet times. We read our Bibles seperately and journal what we see. In the evenings before bed, we talk about what we saw in our morning Bible reading, I share my insight from my own devotional time, we ask questions from the New City Catechism, we sing a couple worship songs together, and then we pray as a family. Family worship doesn’t have to look like this. It may look different for every household, but I want to invite you to join me in leading our families well. Every weekday on this blog, I want to provide a guide for fathers to lead their families in some form of family worship. If your household doesn’t have a father, I believe the responsibility falls to the mother. Design a routine that works for your family, but be intentional about leading in the only way that matters instead of getting too caught up with the affairs of this world. Every Christian man is the pastor of his home. I believe the most important thing we can do for our children is (1) lead them in the home and (2) be faithful to the church as a family. As the family goes, so goes the nation. Our job as pastors to our family matters.

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Isaiah 11:1-9

1 Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, 

And a branch from his roots will bear fruit. 

2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him, 

The spirit of wisdom and understanding, 

The spirit of counsel and strength, 

The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. 

3 And He will delight in the fear of the Lord, 

And He will not judge by what His eyes see, 

Nor make a decision by what His ears hear; 

4 But with righteousness He will judge the poor, 

And decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth; 

And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, 

And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked. 

5 Also righteousness will be the belt about His loins, 

And faithfulness the belt about His waist. 

6 And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, 

And the leopard will lie down with the young goat, 

And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; 

And a little boy will lead them. 

7 Also the cow and the bear will graze, 

Their young will lie down together, 

And the lion will eat straw like the ox. 

8 The nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra, 

And the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den. 

9 They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, 

For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord 

As the waters cover the sea.

God didn’t merely provide words about a messiah before His birth. He provided prophecies about nations so we would know His words were true and trust them. For, no coming individual could possibly control the worldwide flow of nations in order to manipulate the fulfillment of prophecy and appear to be the messiah if he wasn’t. Isaiah predicted Israel’s exile into Assyria and Babylon. He predicted the destruction of both nations and the return of the Jews from exile—things that happened exactly according to Isaiah’s predictions, which is impossible unless he is truly receiving advanced knowledge from God. In my opinion, fulfilled prophecy is the strongest proof of the Bible’s veracity. 

Isaiah predicted Jesus’s birth 700 years before Advent. He predicted the messiah would be a descendant of Jesse, King David’s father. He predicted some things that would accompany the messiah at His advent:

1. The messiah would execute justice for the oppressed,
2. Strike the land with a scepter from His mouth, and
3. Kill the wicked with a command from His lips.
4. The wolf would dwell with the lamb,
5. Children would not fear wild beasts, and
6. The land would be full of the knowledge of the Yahweh.

Consider Jesus’s life. He defended the oppressed against religious leaders and politicians. He spoke with authority, striking the land and killing wickedness. He preached and promised peace, and the world became less violent. Yes, even affecting the wild animals. Children have less to fear today than in previous centuries. And, the knowledge of Yahweh has spread around the whole world just like Isaiah predicted. We don’t see the full affect yet, and we will see why when we look at another part of Isaiah’s prophecy, but we can see plainly that Isaiah was correct about the results of Jesus’s life and ministry.

There’s the proof. 700 years before Jesus was born, the prophets told people plainly about Christmas.

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Today’s question from the New City Catechism:

Q- What do we believe be true faith?

A- We believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from there he will come to judge the living and the dead. We believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy [universal] church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.

Jude 3 says,

3 Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints. 

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