Prayer and Promises

One generation will declare Your works to the next and will proclaim Your mighty acts. — Psalm 145:4, HCSB 

If ever there was a time when every house should be a house of prayer, it is now. Fathers and mothers should lift up their hearts in humble supplication for themselves and for their children. Let the father, as priest of the household, lay upon the altar of God the morning and evening sacrifice, while the wife and children unite in prayer and praise. In such a household Jesus will love to abide. 

In many homes, prayer is neglected. Parents feel that they have no time for morning and evening worship. They cannot spare a few moments to be spent in thanksgiving to God for his abundant mercies,—for the blessed sunshine and the showers of rain, and for the guardianship of holy angels. They have no time to offer prayer for divine help and guidance, and for the abiding presence of Jesus in the household… They have souls so precious that rather than permit them to be lost, the Son of God gave his life to ransom them. 

From every Christian home a holy light should shine forth. Love should be revealed in every act. It should flow out in all home intercourse, showing itself in thoughtful kindness, in gentle, unselfish courtesy. There are homes where this principle is carried out,—homes where God is worshiped, and truest love reigns. From these homes, morning and evening prayer ascends to God as sweet incense, and his mercies and blessings descend upon the suppliants like morning dew. 

A well-ordered Christian household is a powerful argument in favor of the reality of the Christian religion,—an argument that the infidel cannot gainsay. All can see that an influence is at work in the family that affects the children, and that God is with them. If the homes of professed Christians had a right religious mold, they would exert a mighty influence for good. They would indeed be “the light of the world.” The God of heaven speaks to every faithful parent in the words addressed to Abraham: “I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment…” 

— The Review and Herald, December 23, 1902 

Dear Father, I uplift my family to You in thanksgiving for Your abundant mercies. As we seek Your divine help and guidance today, our hearts give thanks for the guardianship of Your holy angels. May Your presence abide in our home, may Your love flow out that the light of Your love may shine forth in a mighty influence for good.