Posted at Reformation Scotland:
Christians in general will acknowledge the essential need for every believer to spend time personally in prayer and Bible reading. The value of congregational prayer is also well understood. But do we invest as much in family prayer? When John Brown of Wamphray wrote a book on prayer, he devoted a complete chapter to “The Necessity and Usefulness of Family Prayer,” arguing that we should treat family prayer as a non-negotiable duty which we must not neglect.There are, as you know, various ways how the duty of prayer may and should be performed. Public prayers should be made in the church, while private and individual prayers should be done by each on their own. There are other ways too, either more formal (whether ordinary or occasional) or more exclamatory (whether mental or vocal). Nobody raises any doubts about either the lawfulness or the necessity of these kinds of prayer, even though they are all only too neglected by us all.
But when it comes to family prayer — that is, prayer performed by a family, as such, to God — not only is family prayer too much neglected, but many will actually argue that it is not necessary. They regard it as a piece of unnecessary devotion, if not something that God doesn’t even require. At the very least, they will satisfy themselves by reasoning that since it is not expressly required, it may safely be omitted, and treat it as indifferent, whether it is performed or not performed as they see fit.
I would like therefore to show that family prayer is a duty, required by the law of God, and consequently cannot ordinarily be omitted without sin.
All societies, as such, should be for God. They should intend His glory and honour, and exert themselves to celebrate His praises, so that He may be exalted in the world and His name made great. God has made man a sociable creature, and requires service of us as such. In that capacity — as sociable creatures — we are obliged to glorify our Creator, and worship Him, and serve Him, in all companies and societies we come into.
Families, as such, are societies, and therefore they should, as such, advance the glory of God by prayer and praises. The family is the first and most stated and fixed society that exists. If we are obliged to worship God in any society, then clearly we must do so in family-society. Indeed, the family is a society in which we have better reasons and opportunities to celebrate God’s praises, and have fellowship with Him by prayer and supplication, and indeed more frequently than in other societies, even daily.
If members of different families have a duty to praise and pray to God together as occasion requires, then certainly the members of one and the same family have this duty too. They always have easier opportunities to meet together, they share the same reasons and occasions to pray, and they have experienced the same mercies which obligate them to praise God and acknowledge their dependence on Him.
Families have a relationship with God
If we consider what relationship families have to God, we cannot help seeing what duty they have to worship together. The Lord is the supreme author and institutor of the family. He is their preserver, nourisher and protector. All are of Him (Romans 11:36). All blessings are from Him (James 1:17). He is the Father of all (Ephesians 4:6). Families should acknowledge this, and live in a way which witnesses and confesses that they acknowledge Him for their Lord, supreme governor, preserver, and indeed their Father, by worshiping Him and praying to Him (Malach 4:6).
Families were made by God for His honour
God has appointed families — family societies and family relationships — so that He would be glorified by them. Flocks of birds and herds of animals preach the glory of God’s wisdom and goodness, in their kind, and why should not flocks of humans? They are after all rational creatures, created to gather in the rent from all the world, and should they not sing and set forth the praises of the Lord in a more articulate and rational manner, after their kind? Families, as little flocks, are more constantly associated together, and have their hearts and affections more united, and should they not worship God by singing His praises together? They can learn from the birds, who sing more cheerfully when they are together than when they are scattered apart from each other.