When I think of what a home looks like, among many other things, I think of the homes I’ve stepped into that are centered around Christ. Family members sitting on the edge of each other’s beds, talking, and praying together. Homes that had praise and worship on in the background. Dad pops his head around the corner from putting the wash in and repeats a lyric from the song that is playing. Homes that when you walk in, you feel a sense of peace. It’s like God is living there. I want a home like that.
We can invite Christ into our homes by setting time aside for family worship and prayer. Most of us know the importance of corporate or secret worship, but what about doing this as a family in our own home?
These are a few reasons I think we should strive to have intentional times of worship and prayer in our homes:
- It glorifies and honors God!
- It builds a sense of family unity and binds our family together. There may be very few times we gather as a family in our homes; what if we gathered to worship and pray together?
- It encourages peace in the home. Living under the same roof with a bunch of sinners is bound to cause some tension. We know our family members well. Gathering for family prayer and worship can help alleviate tension in tough situations, encouraging us to talk and pray about these things.
- Helps our faith grow. It helps our faith grow in our homes, where this might be the hardest place to live out our faith! It helps our kid’s faith grow as they grow up and leave the house. It builds confidence as they begin to share the hard things happening in their lives. Which helps them get used to sharing with other people in hopes they share the gospel with others!
What can family worship and prayer in your home look like? Here are a few ideas and tips!
- Make a plan! Set up a time when you come together once a day or once a week; pick your frequency and write it on the calendar.
- What will your time look like? It could be sitting with your family and praying together, reading the Bible together, or maybe even singing a song together.
- On that topic, sing together! Singing together can be awkward, but why not try it? Maybe it’s putting on a worship set and just soaking with Jesus. This could look like closing your eyes, writing/drawing out what you hear from God, singing, just being still, and letting the lyrics wash over you. For the littles of your family, you could create a Listening to God sheet so they can draw during this time, or maybe it’s encouraging them to dance and praise!
- Have your family members help plan out your time. Maybe this means that you rotate who plans what the time looks like each time you gather. Have a family meeting to plan a couple of months out, or designate who will have what day, and they will come up with a plan that day.
- Our kids mimic us! They take note of what we do. Let them see you worshiping God. Let them see you reading your Bible. Let them see you stopping and praying for the neighbor who stopped into your house. Let them see you dancing around your living room to that worship song.
The groundwork starts at home. I pray we set the tone of what a Christian home looks like by incorporating family worship and prayer times into our rhythm of life. Let people talk about the joy that comes out of your home.
Becca Ebenhoch
Director of Soul Exercises
Photo by Jimmy Dean on Unsplash