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Prayer Beads For Protestants

Introduction

For many Protestants, the prospect of using prayer beads can seem like a betrayal of all you are supposed to hold dear. Well have no fear and take time to learn the little word adiaphora.

Brief history

One of the earliest recorded use of prayer beads among Christians in by the Desert Fathers of the 3rd century. They acted as a mindful aid to keep track of prayers etc.

Why I use them

I personally started to use them as I found that I had a lifelong struggle to focus while praying. My mind would wander, and I ended up with prayers that started good but would soon plummet as my concentration would fluster around.

One day while I was praying, I happened to grab hold of a little Orthodox cross that I wore as a necklace. It was carved in such a way that a smaller Orthodox cross jutted out from. I found that if I pressed and rubbed my thumb across it while praying it helped wonderfully to focus my mind on praying.

By pressing my thumb and making my nerves fire up I found like it acted like a tuner on a radio to find the correct radio wave and clear out the static. Almost like clearing my mind of everything else. It was after this I realised that maybe prayer beads could be extremely helpful.

Also, it’s worth noting that prayer beads are something used by many different cultures and religions. It seems to be something that every people group has realised is an immensely helpful aid.

A quick word on a clear mind

Ever got lost while starting up in the sky? Ever focused on the hum of a fan to fall asleep? How about walking and getting caught up in all it’s beauty? Did it feel nice and soothing and peaceful?

It would be nice to be able to feel that way all the time. However very often our head is filled with lots of other things when we come to pray. We have worries, distractions and other things weighting heavy on and rushing through our minds. Wouldn’t it be great if we would do something about it? Well, there are things that you can do that will make a difference,  

For me, the best analogy is this. If you can imagine your mind as a computer, only it’s running loads of programmes and you have tons and tons of browsers and windows open. Your computer slows down, struggles to run while is trying to power all these different applications at once. Now imagine if you could press a button that closed all those windows and programmes and left you with a nice clean home screen. Wouldn’t that be great? Well you’ve stumbled on the big appeal of mindfulness for so many people. In a nutshell it helps you clear your mind and settle yourself.

One activity that is often done when teaching others mindfulness is by the participant taking one item in their hand and focusing their attention on it. They are told to examine it, feel it’s texture and study to see if you notice anything about it that you haven’t before. The trick is that by this time the participant is concentrating completely on the item in their hand, by using their senses totally on this one object all other things have been pushed out.

This technique is used in many different ways, all with the same goal. Whether it is focusing on your breathing or doing basic tasks ‘mindfully’ (drawing our attention completely to it) they all achieve the same thing. Clearing out the clutter and leaving you more clear headed.

Yet all these things are very basic and not in anyway needfully connected to any eastern mysticism or esoteric belief. They are simply nothing more that things we can use to bring our minds at ease and steady our focus.

Prayer beads are one thing that can help achieve this. Using prayer beads can do just this. The moving of the beads between your fingers, fixing your eyes on the beads as you move through them all help to keep your mind focused on prayer. They don’t overshadow your prayers, they steady them.  Like someone steading a ladder for someone else.  

How I use my Prayer Beads

The prayer beads I use are slightly customised. I buy a set of prayer beads from a shop in one of the nearby cities and then replace the crucifix with a small Orthodox cross.

The beads that I use are grouped as follows.

  • 5 groups of 10 beads
  • 1 group of 3 beads
  • 6 individual beads

The beads here are a good example of the ones that I use except the cross here is replaced with an Orthodox one.

As you can see the breakdown for the prayer beads are (starting from the cross) as follows

  • Cross
  • One bead
  • Group of three
  • One bead
  • Group of ten
  • One bead
  • Group of ten
  • One bead
  • Group of ten
  • One bead
  • Group of ten
  • One bead
  • Group of ten

From here it will have brought you back to the string that has the first group of three beads, two individual beads and the cross.

Some other prayer beads will have a different number of beads. However I always use a set of 59 and because of that I will be breaking down how I use them. One good thing to remember though is that once you get your set of prayer beads, how you use them is completely up to you! There’s nothing magical here, it’s all using a handy historical tool to benefit your devotional time with God.

The Breakdown

For me, the beads are used not just for prayer but to help me remember and recite certain things. I have benefitted greatly from Luther’s small catechism and from it’s layout of the Ten Commandments, the Apostles Creed and the Lord’s Prayer ingratiated those into the beads. I will sometimes swap the Apostles Creed for the Nicene Creed. As well as these I recite verses, Luther’s morning or evening prayer and the Glori Patri (Glory be to the Father and to the Son etc).  The Commandments, Creed and Lord’s prayer take up three of the five groups of ten beads, for the other two I give God thanks for ten things and then pray for then things (people, situations etc).

Now it’s important to remember as you read this, this is only how I use it. The goal is not to copy what I have here (but if that helps you go for it) but to make it your own and do what you find helps you best.

Cross and Intro Beads

  • Single bead : ‘From the rising of the sun till the setting of the same let the Lord’s name be praised’
  • Group of three beads : ‘Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever more shall be amen’
  • Single bead : Luther’s Morning prayer or Evening Prayer

Main body (Spanning first three groups of ten)

  • First group of ten : Recite the Ten Commandments
  • Single bead : ‘If You were to count iniquities O Lord who could stand? But with You there is forgiveness that You will be glorified
  • Second group of ten: Recite the Apostles / Nicene Creed
  • Single Bead : Verse that reminds you of the Gospel and the forgiveness of your sins. I alternate between John 3 vs 16 and ‘Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world’ and ‘If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.’
  • Third group of ten: Pray the Lord’s prayer

Main body (Spanning remainder beads)

  • Single bead: I thank you my heavenly Father for Your Law that shows me how You would have me live but most importantly shows me my sin and my need of a saviour. I thank you Lord for the Gospel which shows me my Saviour Jesus Christ. Who bore my sin on the cross and now lives and reigns ever to intercede on my behalf. I thank you that I can approach you as a dear child approaches a dear Father. Let me never forget these marvellous things that show and tell me how much You love me.
  • Fourth group of ten : Give thanks for ten things
  • Single bead: ‘Open up my lips O Lord and my mouth will sing forth Your praise’
  • Fifth group of ten: Pray for ten things/people

Back to Intro Beads  

  • Single bead : ‘Do not fear for I am with you, do not be afraid for I am Your God, I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand’
  • Group of three beads : ‘Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever more shall be amen’
  • Single bead: ‘When I rise in the morning Lord you are with me and no matter how I feel, your love is there for me. Help me on this road ahead as I grow weary of this world. Arising today is difficult and avoiding sin impossible but You are my Saviour and truest loving friend. Thank You my Lord’

OR

‘When I return to my bed Lord you are with me and no matter how I feel, your love is there for me. Help me on this road ahead as I grow weary of this world. My worries and strains are many, but You are my Saviour and truest loving friend. Thank You my Lord’

  • Cross : Jesus Prayer ‘Lord Jesus Christ Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner’

You can download a PDF version of this by clicking here https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kpaLhWdZFtPIaO1xi7Lo4ivBrgdXIK5y/view?usp=sharing