The Way of Prayer

(Explanations and Instructions)

The Disciple’s Way of Prayer is built around three components: 1. The Our Father, 2. The Psalms, and 3. The Apostolic Creed.

A. The Prayers

Luke tells us that the first Christians “... continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.” (Acts 2:42). The phrase “and in prayers” is “kai tais proseuchais” in the New Testament Greek. This translates literally into English as “and the prayers.”  The definite article “the” indicates particular prayers. The Jews observed particular prayer times each day; 9:00 AM, 3:00 PM and at sunset. Here we see the first century Christians observing these prayer times. Apostolic example of observance to particular prayer hours of the day is seen in both Peter and John going to the temple to pray at “the hour of prayer” (Acts 3:1). Following the custom of “hours of prayer,” the Disciple will have five such hours of prayer throughout the day: 6:00 AM, 9:00 AM, Noon, 3:00 PM, and sunset (or, 6:00 PM).

B. Five Prayers, Five Parts Each

Each of the five appointed prayer times will consist of five separate components;

1. The Our Father: The complete Our Father is prayed;
2. A different segment of the Our Father free prayed each prayer time;
3. The Psalms; a different Psalm is prayed each prayer time;
4. Confession of Faith: there are five paragraphs to the Creed and five prayer times to the day - eace prayer time has its cor-responding paragraph of the Apostolic Creed;
5. The Our Father: Each time of prayer begins and ends with the praying of the complete Our Father as recorded in Matthew 6:9-13.

C. Divisions of Five

1. The Our Father

The second step of the Disciples prayer is to free pray a segment of the Our Father. Therefore, the Our Father is divided into five segments for the free praying throughout the day, respectively. (Free Praying is praying from the heart one’s own words and thoughts).

1. 6:00 AM prayer: “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven...” (Here the Disciple is to pray for the Kingdom of God to be manifest in the earth.)
2. 9:00 AM prayer: “Give us this day our daily bread.” (Here, the Disciple is to pray for the personal needs in his, or others’, life.)
3. Noon prayer: “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” (Here, the Disciple prays for forgiveness of personal sins and shortcomings, and prays for the strength to forgive others who have sinned against him/her.)
4. 3:00 PM prayer: “Lead us not into temptation.” (Here, the Disciple prays to be kept from personal temptation, but, more importantly from the hour of temptation that will try the whole world.)
5. 6:00 PM prayer: “Deliver us from evil (the evil one).” (Here, the Disciple prays to be kept safe from, not only evil, but, especially from the evil one, or Satan him-self.)

2. The Book of Psalms as a Prayer Book

Each prayer time of the day will include one Psalm. By praying 5 Psalms each day the entire book of Psalms will be prayed each month. The 119th Psalms is far too long to practically be prayed in one prayer time, so the following method will be observed: The 119th Psalms is divided by the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. so, each month, when the 119th Psalm is prayed the Disciple will pray a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet, until, over the period of 22 months the entire 119th Psalm will be prayed. Moreover, the thirty-first day of the month contains five particular readings from different parts of the Bible other than the Psalms.

3. The Apostolic Creed 

The Creed has 5 paragraphs. The Disciple will confess the designated  paragraph of the Creed in each prayer time of the day. The Creed will be confessed in the following manner:

1. 6:00 AM Prayer: the disciple will pray the first paragraph of the Apostolic Creed as a  confession of the Faith;
2. 9:00 AM Prayer: The Disciple will pray the second paragraph of the Apostolic Creed as a confession of the Faith;
3. Noon Prayer: The Disciple will pray the third paragraph of the Creed as a confession of the Faith;
4. 3:00 PM Prayer: The Disciple will pray the fourth paragraph of the Creed as a confession of the Faith;
5. 6:00 PM Prayer: The Disciple will pray the fifth paragraph of the Apostolic Creed as a confession of the Faith.

D. The Way of Prayer for the Disciple

1. Step one: Pray the complete Our Father; 
2. Step two: Free pray the prescribed segment of the Our Father (see F, a this section);
3. Step three Pray the prescribed Psalm (see F, b this section);
4. Step four: Confess the prescribed paragraph of the Apostolic Creed (see F, c this section);
5. Step five: Pray the complete Our Father.

Be sure to listen and subscribe to the Bishop's Podcast: Apostolic Bishop, at:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-apostolicbishops-podcast/id1472262392?fbclid=IwAR2FlRYnNsw5Vu_Bz4PjyEdiAxFMawhtD2BFr_S7WysrpFcYjuQYSHGAlZ