Prayer time 18 February 2026

Remembering, surrendering, affirming

Orientation

Haere mai welcome. All pray-ers and all prayers welcome.

Our intention here is to pray. We actually don’t have a goal or a desired outcome, it’s just simply to pray. We are the prayer. Both the pray-er and the prayer. We do come with expectant hearts however - for as the old saying goes, we don’t get what we ask for, we get what we expect.

And so we are here to remember. To remember there is good in the world. To remember that our lives and all that comes to us, and through us, is good. To remember that God is good. Just as we are, where we are, who we are, right here, right now, in this place, all is good.

God is good. Life is good.

With expectant hearts we recall the invitation to Be Still and Know That I Am God.

And we come as active participants in our own healing. And we come as conscious participants in healing prayers for ourselves and the world. The whole world. With everyone, and everything in it, as it is.

Relaxation

And so we prepare ourselves. Gentle, natural breathing. And hear the language of your thoughts. How funny are your thoughts today?

How expansive, or how, limiting? Oh well … they’ve come and now they go.

Our physical relaxation. And we settle.

Lord God, Life, Creator, Source, Elohim, the great I Am, we come.

Where you are, life is. Right where we are, you are, and I am.

What have I brought to you in prayer?

Before I word is on my lips you know it completely, Lord.

I am aware of the evidence of life and abundance and goodness around me. I am aware that you instruct me to be still, and to know, that ‘I AM’ God.

I AM - is life.

I AM - is infinite potential.

I AM - is the source and supply of all my good.

And so we enter this shared prayer time. Aware together.

The Father and I are one.

The Father and I are one.

The Father and I are one.

Nothing separates us from the love of God.

Nothing separates us from the love of God.

Nothing separates us from the love of God.

Rest in the Presence of God.

The Prayer of Protection - James Dillet Freeman

The Light of God surrounds you.

The Love of God enfolds you.

The power of God protects you.

The Presence of God watches over you.

The Mind of God guides you.

The Life of God flows through you.

The Laws of God direct you.

The Peace of God abides within you.

The Joy of God uplifts you.

The Strength of God renews you.

The Beauty of God inspires you.

Wherever you are, God is!

Concentration

Our Scripture:

John 1:17 - NRSV:

‘The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.’

In the metaphysical Bible dictionary grace is defined as ‘favour; the disposition to show mercy; aid from God in the process of regeneration.’ It goes on ‘… we can enter into this consciousness by faith in Him and by means of the inner spirit of the law that He taught and practiced.’

‘…grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.’

In prayer, here now, we take the thoughts of our lives and we shift our thoughts, worries or anxieties to a disposition of grace. Let’s do that now, let’s actively exchange error thoughts for thoughts of God.

God is love. God is truth. God is soul. (That really big thing that requires more of you than you think there is to do the job - that is soul!)

This body of mine - in grace, through Jesus Christ, I am aided by God in the process of regeneration.

This state of mind - in grace and truth through Jesus Christ, I remember that I am aided by God in the process of regeneration.

Our land, with the effects of the weather and other elements associated with climate change - we remember that grace, mercy and truth aid the process of regeneration of our land.

Grace - is God’s good will.

Our lives, all the things that make up a ‘life,’ have, are in fact completely held by and surround by the good favour of Jesus Christ. All that you see, feel, think, know and experience to be true, is actually grace. Think about that for a moment.

What we might call a bother, a burden, a hurdle, a difficulty, or nuisance, a mess, a bit of chaos or disorder, in Scriptures, all these matters, are to be seen as God’s favour, and God’s mercy. Yes, this could be very, very, very hard to accept - especially when life is delivering extraordinary difficulties. But here in prayer, change the thought of this ‘difficulty’ (whatever name you have for it), and in this moment, let’s set our minds to the filters of ‘grace and truth.’

Sit with this. And do it again. Each thing sitting close to the surface. The things that you can almost touch when you put your hand to your heart, or your head .. those things …wow - shift our view of them from difficulty, to grace and truth. In Jesus Christ.

We call the name Jesus Christ, and we are still. We are aware. We choose to align our thoughts, which are our prayers, with the truth of who and God says we are. We are in grace and in truth. Our whole life is pointing toward grace and truth. Why do we not welcome these hard times, why do we resist? Why do we lament the mess left behind by extreme circumstances? I may be saying things that trigger you a little, why is that? Does it matter? Drop the labeling of our circumstances, and come into the stillness and the quiet, and know that all of our lives is Divine Order.

Meditation

And so we settle further into this stillness and this silence. Gather everything that feels like it could do with a cosy blanket thrown over the top of it, and someone to come along and sweep it all up and cuddle it for you.

Just as we are, just as you are, just as I am, we enter into this consciousness by faith in Him, and we rest. What feels uncertain? Lay it down. What plan or upcoming events feels heavy and difficult? Lay it down. How tired are you? Rest.

How deep do your pockets need to be right now? Let them open.

Beneath every circumstance is your life held in grace and truth, not in the law of Moses, but in the life embodied by Jesus Christ. The unchanging Presence of God. Here now.

Stillness and silence.

Realisation

What do you know to be true? What does your heart know now, that it didn’t remember earlier today?

Start your own affirmation like this:

I know it to be so that…

I know it to be so that…

I know it to be so that…

Kitty O’Meara wrote a poem in 2020 as a response to the Coronavirus.

The poem is a strong portrait of life affirming awarenesses.

I’ll read it for you here as part of our affirmation time.

And people stayed at home

And read books

And listened

And they rested

And did exercises

And made art and played

And learned new ways of being

And stopped and listened more deeply.

Someone meditated, someone prayed

Someone met their shadow

And people began to think differently

And people healed.

And in the absence of people who

Lived in ignorant ways

Dangerous, meaningless and heartless,

The earth also began to heal.

And when the danger ended and

People found themselves

They grieved for the dead

And made new choices

And dreamed of new visions

And created new ways of living

And completely healed the earth

Just as they were healed.

So we affirm, that God, Life, Creator, Source…is not surprised by what has transpired in the world today.

We affirm that grace is the ever renewing, the ever unfolding, expression of God’s good for me life. And, God is Truth. There is no truth but God’s truth. Every aspect of my mind, my body, and my affairs is now brought into perfect and harmonious alignment with the Truth of God. My good, our good, is universal.

Appreciation

From the book Every day I pray by Iyanla Vanzant.

The Prayer of Surrender

Dear God,

Today I acknowledge accept and admit, that my life is a God job and I surrender my life to you.

Today I surrender fear, doubt, worry, anxiety, and control.

Today I acknowledge, accept and admit that I cannot fix anything or anyone.

Today I acknowledge, accept and admit that I cannot change anything or anyone.

Today I acknowledge, accept and admit that I cannot heal anything or anyone.

Today I acknowledge, accept and admit that I cannot help anything or anyone.

Today I acknowledge, accept and admit that I cannot control anything or anyone.

Today I acknowledge, accept and admit that I cannot fix, change, heal, help myself.

I am a God Job.

And my life is a God Job.

Today dear God, please work on me, in me, through me, work on my life, work in my relationships, all my affairs, and on in everyone and everything in my life.

Today, dear God, please have your perfect way with me.

For I know that the least you can be to me is Good!

For this I am so grateful.

And so it is.

The Lord’s Prayer - as a gift to you, as we close.

As we go, a deep heart bow to you. Go, do your work, put your life and energy into your family, friends, work, poetry, sport, and inventions. And go to bed. And sleep. And see you again next week or as unfolds for us.

Prepared by Jacinda Faloon-Cavander for Unity of NZ