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.
Malachi 3:1
1 “Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will cclear the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; and the dmessenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming,” says the Lord of hosts.
400 years before Jesus was born, Malachi spoke words from God. In Malachi 3, we learn that God planned to come personally to His Temple in Jerusalem. He was going to visit. Malachi provided a condition that would precede God’s physical appearance. God’s messenger would come first to prepare the way for Him.
In the Gospels, John the Baptizer would prepare the way before Jesus, who claimed to be one with the Father as God. Jesus would go to the Temple to refine the people, just like Malachi predicted 400 years prior. The sudden appearance of God in the flesh should not have been a surprise to the Jews, and it is difficult to deny considering the great prophetic witness we have seen so far. Christmas, according to Malachi, would be about purification—not worldly dominance.
Today’s question from the New City Catechism:
Q- What do we believe about the Holy Spirit?
A- That he is God, coeternal with the Father and the Son.
John 14:16-17 says,
16 “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another aHelper, that He may be with you forever;
17 that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.
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