Pray with Your Family

One of the best things you can do for your family is to pray with your family.

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Some folks will see the above statement and say—“It’s hard enough to pray consistently for my family—now you want me to pray with them too?”

The answer is yes.

In the book of Acts, the church—God’s family—prayed together.

And they prayed together often.

• They prayed with devotion. (Acts 1:14)

• They prayed daily.. (Acts 2:42)

• They prayed amid persecution. (Acts 4:24-30)

• They prayed for the impossible. (Acts 12:5, 12)

• They prayed for guidance. (Acts 13:2-3; 14:23)

• They prayed in prison. (Acts 16:25)

• They prayed through tearful goodbyes. (Acts 20:36-38)

• They prayed for God’s will. (Acts 21:4-6)

And the church flowered and flourished, blossomed and bloomed. They went from insignificant, irrelevance in the Near East to world-changers on history’s global stage.

And would not your family—a kind of microcosm of the church, that is, your little flock—also do well to pray together? What problems, what prisons, what impossibilities might be overcome through the privilege of persevering prayer as a family?

Do you pray for your family? Great! You should pray for them. Now pray with them. It doesn’t have to be fancy. It doesn’t have to be long. It doesn’t have to be particularly robust. Pick a time. Pick a place. Pick a pattern. And stick with it.

As for me, I pray with my family (my wife and two boys) immediately after breakfast/just before my workday begins. And I pray together with my wife before breakfast, just the two of us. That exact routine won’t work for everyone. Fine. So find your routine and roll with it. And don’t look back.

What's your routine for praying with your family?

This article is the third of a four-part series, A Happy Home in 4 Simple Steps.

• Part 1: Prize Your Family

• Part 2: Praise Your Family

• Next week: Part 4: Play with Your Family