What is Affirmative Prayer?

When most people think of prayer, they think of asking God for something. Not so in Unity.

Unity uses “affirmative prayer.”  Rather than begging or beseeching God, this method involves connecting with the spirit of God within and asserting positive beliefs about the desired outcome. Affirmative prayer is the same method Jesus taught when he said, “So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours” (Mark 11:24).

If, for example, one were to pray traditionally, one might say: “Please God, help me find a job.” By contrast, an affirmative prayer might be: “I am now guided to my right and perfect employment.”

Affirmative prayer reflects the certainty that we are each being led to our highest good, despite any temporary appearances.  

“In Unity, we believe that all things work together for our highest good,” says Lynne Brown, vice president of Unity’s 24/7 prayer ministry called Silent Unity. “We pray to align ourselves with God and to allow ourselves to be inwardly guided to that good. Through affirmative prayer, we help co-create the good that is possible in our lives.”

The Answer
by Lowell Fillmore

When for a purpose
I had prayed and prayed and prayed
Until my words seemed worn and bare
With arduous use.
And I had knocked and asked and
Knocked and asked again,
And all my fervor and persistence
Brought no hope,
I paused to give my weary brain a rest
And ceased my anxious human cry.
In that still moment,
After self had tried and failed,
There came a glorious vision of God’s power,
And, lo, my prayer was answered in that hour.