Westminster and Means of Grace
Scripture is the revelation of God’s will to His people, and the supreme judge of all controversies is “the Holy Spirit speaking in the Scripture” (WCF 1.1, 10). Sacraments are “holy signs and seals of the covenant of grace, immediately instituted by God, to represent Christ, and his benefits” (WCF 27.1). These things are objectively true of the Word and sacraments regardless of whether God’s people acknowledge them as such or not. Prayer, on the other hand, “is an offering up of our desires unto God” (LC q. 178). There is a distinct difference between prayer and the Word and sacraments, though the divines place prayer in the context of worship (WCF 21.3–4), which indicates they have a broader goal in view than narrowly or technically defining the media gratiae.
John Fesko, Word, Water, and Spirit (Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage Books, 2021), 0.