I just read this in Tim Keller’s Prayer: Experiencing Awe
and Intimacy with God.
As we have already noted several times, the “inner life with
God” here does not mean only our private, individual prayer life. Life with God
is cultivated by both public and private worship and prayer. John Calvin and
the other Reformers were clear that public prayer and devotion in the gathered
Christian assembly was to be the formative foundation that taught us how to
pray and behave toward God privately. Michael Horton, describing Calvin’s
understanding of the Christian life, writes: “The public ministry shapes
private devotion, not vice versa.”