Prayer time 14 January 2026

Limitation is direction

Perceived limitation is divine direction.

Relaxation

Let’s begin by arriving.

I’m always grateful for the stool!

Take a slow breath in through the nose. Pause.

And release it fully. A wriggle. A stretch. Again.

Allow the body to settle without trying to improve anything.

And when we’re finally still, the silence follows.

Feel the contact points - feet on the floor, body on the chair.

Gravity holding you without effort.

Let the breath become natural.

Relaxation is not passivity - it is cooperation with Life.

So we let go of the fight against what is.

We stop arguing with reality.

Not because everything is perfect, but because resistance clouds perception.

As the body softens, the mind becomes quieter.

And as the mind quiets, direction becomes visible.

Rest here.

Concentration

As we have settled our bodies and still our minds, as we think about our current circumstances, the place and stage we are at in our lives, our career, our family life etc., allow the edges of those circumstances to soften around you. Our homes, our money, our energy, our love for our family and friends, let the edges of this soften and spill out. Imagine the contents of our lives reaching much further than we usually dare to imagine. Can you see your love, your prayers, your hopes, your faith reaching our brothers and sisters in Iran, in American, in South Sudan, in Australia and so on? So these edges of our lives, of our situations don’t keep us separate from one another, and others’ situations.

Also, bring to mind the facts of your life right now:

• your location

• your finances

• your energy

• your responsibilities

• your opportunities

With this in mind, I have a reading from James 1:2-8 for us:

'“My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trails of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance, and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing. If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you. But ask in faith, never doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind, for the doubter, being double-minded and unstable in every way, must not expect to receive anything from the Lord.”

As C.S. Lewis wrote: “Faith is a necessary virtue….” Without ‘out,’ our outer conditions or our inner moods sway and us, toss us about like the wind … a “dithering to and fro” (Lewis says). So we must train the habit of faith.

Let us pray for help to train and strengthen our faith:

“Loving God, God of Love, Love… we come together in prayer, as we are, with the conditions of our heart and our lives and our personal and corporate situations before you now. We are reminded here in this Scripture, that we must train our faith, drive the stakes of our faith deeply into solid ground, so that we would do dither to and fro.

We bring to mind our personal sense of limitation and the ideas of lack or want that may have crept into our thoughts over recent weeks. We are reminded that Jesus, when he walked this Earth, gave simple, clear, and remarkably straight forward instructions to his followers. Go here, do this, speak to this person, do this thing, stand up, sit with me here, bring the children… and so on. Often times dear LORD, these simple instructions blew limitations and preconceived conditions out of the water. The women were to be busy, not sitting at Jesus feet. The children were to away from the mighty teacher, not troubling him. The outcasts were to be outside, not with the Master, and so on.

In the very same way, dear God, we ask for divine clarity, divine insight, divine direction in the places we are experiencing or seeing limitation. We strengthen our faith as we pray now, believing and not doubting, that we may receive all that is ours to receive.

…

Dear God, we have a question for you. Of these limits we see, what direction are you showing? What limitation is a redirection? If we have been looking down and we need to look up, we listen and we seek, and we pause and we obey.

That opportunity, Lord - the door did not swing open; we thought it would, but did not. What is the redirection? Listen dear ones, listen.

That job, contract, commercial idea, promotion, expansion and growth trajectory did not play out, Lord. What is the redirection, what have we missed, what did we not see because we were not looking? Thank you for the limitations. Thank you for the stuckness. Thank you for the scratchy edges, drained resources, tired furnishings, missed opportunities and faded colours. What are you showing us in these corners?

And we ask for and offer, forgiveness. To all people affected by our frustrations and limited vision, we say sorry and ask for grace and forgiveness as we refresh and renew our minds together this evening. We are sorry for speaking of perceived insufficiencies, and the apparent failings of others in our orbit. We bless our people with the boundless, infinite good of God. As Jesus confidently stepped into his mission and boldly commanded the same of his helpers, we also confidently turn to God, and bless every situation we find ourselves in.

We affirm that this situation is a blessing of God.

We affirm that the doors that need to open for our way will indeed open at the right time.

And we give thanks for every bolted door and locked window and brick wall that today we have encountered. We give thanks for this divine redirecting of our lives. Thank you for the guidance. We are listening Lord, we are still, we are. One with God.

Life is for me. Life is guiding me. I am not alone, and I am not a mistake.

My brothers and sisters, the world over, are not forgotten in their trials and temptations and situations.

Meditation

Christian Scripture (for silent reflection)

“Do not say, ‘Why were the former days better than these?’ For it is not wise to ask such questions.” - Ecclesiastes 7:10

Realisations

Affirmations - Limitation as Divine Redirection

(Inspired by the writings of Charles & Myrtle Fillmore: Prosperity, Christian Healing, Mysteries of Genesis, Teach Us to Pray)

Affirmative prayers - Repeat after me as you wish

1. Limitation as Guidance, Not Punishment

I do not interpret limitation as denial. I understand it as direction.

Where a way appears closed, Divine Intelligence is opening a truer way.

What seems restricted to human sense is being reordered by spiritual law.

I trust the wisdom of God active in this moment, shaping my path with exactness and care.

2. God Working Through Present Conditions

God works through conditions, not against them. Right where I am, with what I have,

as I am, the will of God is unfolding in order and precision.

There is no mistake in my present circumstance. There is instruction here. There is guidance here.

There is life seeking fuller expression here.

I consent to that movement.

3. Release of Struggle, Acceptance of Order

I release resistance to what is.

I cease arguing with appearances and yield to the divine order beneath them.

As I accept what is present, clarity rises. Direction sharpens.

Peace takes its rightful place in my mind. I move forward without strain,

guided by the law of good.

Appreciation

We close with spoken appreciation, shared out loud, as we choose….

Thank you for the courage to stop resisting.

Thank you for the wisdom to see direction where we once saw lack.

We rest in trust. We move forward in faith. We allow Life to lead.

And so it is.

Together: Recitation of the Lord’s Prayer.

Amen.

Prepared by Jacinda Faloon-Cavander for Unity of NZ