Prayer time 12 August 2026
The spring that is never spent
What God is like — Spirit.
Download a PDF of the prayer script
Orientation
Tīhei mauri ora. Welcome. Three of our five evenings on what God is like are behind us. We have prayed with the aspects of God as Life, Truth and Love, Intelligence, Soul, and tonight, Spirit.
Spirit — the aspect of God that shows us God participates in everything and is worn down by nothing.
Tonight for an idea of God we hold two images, or metaphors, one we have well used, and one that aligns beautifully with the one that is familiar to us. The sphere (well known to us) and the spring (of living water).
A spring of living water, rising inside everything, and never running dry.
A sphere whose centre is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere. The centre is everywhere, so the spring rises in the middle of every life. The circumference is nowhere, so there is no edge where the water fails.
If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake he of the Spirit. (John 7:37–39, King James Version)
On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, 'Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, "Out of the believer's heart shall flow rivers of living water."' Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive. (John 7:37–39, New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition)
The water is the Spirit, and it rises from inside us now.
Spirit within me rises now.
In him we live, and move, and have our being. (Acts 17:28, King James Version)
Wherever we are, in whatever circumstances we are, God is the source of our being.
So let us move through the five steps of Unity affirmative prayer with the idea of the Spirit of God as a Sphere and a Spring.
Relaxation
We'll take a moment to relax and settle where we are. As we fully relax, we let go of the struggle and the striving to pray correctly and to be right in our prayers. We'll do a full body sweep.
The breath comes and goes on its own.
It began without our struggle, and it keeps on without our effort.
The source of your life is already here. Let it rise within.
We pause together.
Concentration
Gather our prayers, pause, see your concerns and thanksgiving.
Golden Key: The Spirit is the spring, and the spring is in everything.
Ideas we can imagine: All, in all. In all things. All.
Just as a spring, which perpetually flows and waters the roots of the flowers, so that the flowers bloom and receive their colours from the water of the spring, so the Godhead imparts Itself to the capacities of the soul.
God is equally near in all creatures. He knows God rightly who recognizes Him alike in all things.
(Meister Eckhart, translated by Claud Field, 1909)
God is an infinite sphere whose centre is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere.
(The Book of the Twenty-Four Philosophers, twelfth century; carried into Unity by Eric Butterworth)
The spring and the sphere are one truth. God rises in the centre of you, and God has no rim that can wear away. Think on this image now, including the image of the spring. God rising in the centre of you is the spring at the centre of you, and if God has no circumference, there is no rim that holds the spring to a set point.
Prayers to align our thinking, our prayers, with the Scriptures we have brought to concentration. These are very simple prayers that one or more of them may stick with you to use again during the week.
I let go of the belief that the Spirit is somewhere I am not.
The spring rises in me now.
I let go of the belief that I can use up what is holy.
The Spirit in me is never spent.
I let go of the belief that any person or place is dry of God.
God is alike present in all things, and I am one of them.
Meditation
We go quiet now. Rivers of living water. Let the spring rise, and be still.
Song: 'Fleeting' by Ocean Fal-Cav, used with permission.
Realisation
Come back gently.
I am Spirit, perfect, holy, harmonious. Nothing can hurt me or make me sick or afraid, for Spirit is God, and God cannot be sick or hurt or afraid. I manifest my real self through this body now.
(H. Emilie Cady, Lessons in Truth, 1894)
The spring rises in me.
Its centre is in me, and it has no edge.
Nothing that wears down is the truth of me.
God fills all things, and fills me now.
The Spirit in me is never spent.
God is alike present in all things, and I am one of them.
God is alike present in all things, and my loved ones are one of them.
God is alike present in all things, and all the earth, and all sentient beings. All creatures great and small are one of them.
God is alike present in all things and for all humanity, for all governments, for all teachers, for all children, and for all seniors. All people are one of them.
I am Spirit, and Spirit is never spent.
Appreciation
Thank you, Spirit. Spring that rises in us and is never spent. Centre of every life, with no finite edge to wear thin.
Come, Holy Spirit, God and Lord! Let all your graces be outpoured on each believer's mind and heart; your fervent love to us impart. Lord, by the brightness of your light, you in the faith do men unite of every land and every tongue; this to your praise, O Lord, be sung.
(Martin Luther, 1524, translated by Catherine Winkworth, 1855)
A note with the hymn: this is Luther's own Pentecost hymn, still sung across the Lutheran churches of Finland. In Unity we hear its ‘come’ as a welcome to the Spirit already here, already ours.
The same Spirit, in every land and every tongue. No one we love is outside the Spring and Sphere that is God.
Let all the world in every corner sing, My God and King. The heavens are not too high, his praise may thither fly; the earth is not too low, his praises there may grow. Let all the world in every corner sing, My God and King. The church with psalms must shout, no door can keep them out; but above all, the heart must bear the longest part. Let all the world in every corner sing, My God and King.
(George Herbert, ‘Antiphon (I),’ The Temple, 1633)
Let nothing disturb you, let nothing frighten you. All things pass. God does not change. Patience obtains all things. Whoever has God lacks nothing. God alone suffices.
(Teresa of Ávila, ‘Nada te turbe,’ 1515–1582)
The light of God surrounds us; the love of God enfolds us; the power of God protects us; the presence of God watches over us; wherever we are, God is.
(James Dillet Freeman, ‘Prayer for Protection,’ Unity, 1941)
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done; on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.
(The Lord's Prayer, traditional)
God, the Spring that is never spent, and the sphere whose centre is everywhere, there is no edge to God. Wherever you are, God is. You and your people, go well, go in God, and thank you for coming to pray together. The world is blessed by your prayers and concentration on the things and ways of God. Thank you dear ones.
Prepared by Jacinda Faloon-Cavander for Unity of NZ