Prayer time 4 February 2026
Bringing our requests to God
Welcome and orientation
Outline for our prayers tonight: as always, our five steps of prayer.
‘We relax so we may concentrate,
We concentrate so we my meditate,
We meditate so we my realise,
And we realise so we may appreciate.’
Tonight we are bringing our requests to God.
We are searching our hearts and minds for any worries, constraints or concerns we perceive to be there, and we will re-align ourselves with the good that God has for our lives.
This prayer session is very much putting feet to our prayers. That’s quite funny isn’t it? What does that mean?
It means that we engage in this concentration and meditation, AND we get up from our prayer time and we put into action all that know to do concerning the requests that we have brought to God in prayer. Remember, right where we are, God is. Remember, John 1 and 12, we are children of the Most High God. Whatever we are wanting to see happen, we are affirming God’s good in our lives, and in prayer we are remembering and re-aligning with that good.
Relaxation
Framing: Bringing our requests to God
A little moment of context setting. Let’s first remember together, that prayer works. There’s an intentional double meaning in that phrase just there - prayer works. Prayer works, and! we must put feet to prayers. We are both the pray-er, and the prayer. We are both the request and the answer.
When we rise in the morning and whisper ‘Thank you God for this new day,’ and when we retire at night (or collapse exhausted and can barely believe how good the mattress feels supporting our fatigued calf muscles, pinched toes, and weightless arms….) and say ‘Thank you God for this wonderful, blessed day’ - we are to recall that we are united with God. In these little moments of prayer, by acknowledging that God Is, we are aligning our minds and hearts with the good that God has for us.
Reminder: when we use affirmative prayers, as opposed to our traditional prayers of supplication, we are affirming that what we present to God (from God) as a request is, in fact, already happening or outworking.
When we use affirmative prayer, we are reminding ourselves … we are remembering … that God’s will for us is a life in ALL it’s fullness - harmony, wholeness, oneness with All.
For example: A ‘please help me God’ prayer becomes ‘I am a Child of the Most High God and God’s wisdom moves through me now.’
Concentration
Our centering Scripture this evening:
Philippians 4:6–7 (NIV)
‘Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.’
Get any notes you’ve brought to prayer tonight in front of you, or grab some paper and pen, and have it handy for working these prayer exercises.
We’re going to take a moment, using this scripture and having a good think or spell of concentrated feeling (thinkers and feelers!) … and get to whatever constraints or concerns we’re carrying around at the moment. It’s just for you, we don’t share these things out loud. Get really real. And don’t judge anything. Stop worrying that by admitting the presence of worry, you’re worried you’re getting your prayer life all wrong! (That was intentionally meant to be difficult to follow, and funny if you could follow it!)
Into some quiet - let’s see what’s going on.
Ten focus areas (from Stuart Wilde’s book - Life Was Never Meant To Be A Struggle).
Your Physical Body
Your Emotional Balance
Your Relationships
Your Physical Living Circumstances
Your Finances
Your Attitude to the World Around You
Your Ability to Handle Conflict
Your Ability to Handle Stress
Your Psychological State
Your Spiritual Balance
Meditation
Two or three minutes - letting go, releasing all thinking, all worrying all working things through. Nothing to do … stay beautiful and still, let silence follow.
Now, from our place of rest, we actively remember and affirm the rightness of the conditions in our lives. Get ready. Here’s our deep work with affirming prayers. (These may be known to you.)
Here we go.
Through the ten areas that we outlined at the beginning.
Realisation
Your Physical Body
‘Divine life is the healer of my body.’
‘I am healed because I know the truth.’
‘Life is God, and this Life is my life now.’
Your Emotional Balance
‘Peace be still.’
‘I now know the Truth, and all fear disappears.’
Your Relationships
‘There is only one Presence and one Power in the universe.’
‘Love is the harmonizing principle of the universe.’
Your Physical Living Circumstances
‘Divine order is the first law of the universe.’
‘Wherever I am, God is.’
Your Finances
‘God is my supply.’
‘I affirm, there is no lack in God.’
Your Attitude to the World Around You
‘Divine Mind is in All.’
‘Divine Mind in me meets Divine Mind in you.’
Your Ability to Handle Conflict
‘Resistance blocks my good. I choose to let go of all resistance to what is.’
‘What I resist, persists. Therefore I no longer resist. All is well.’
Your Ability to Handle Stress
‘I am still, and I now know that which I need to know.’
‘Faith is the substance of things hoped for.’
Your Psychological State
‘The kingdom of heaven is within you.’
Your Spiritual Balance
‘God is all, and God is good.’
‘I and the Father are one.’
Closing
Giving thanks … we remember we can re-align ourselves at any time with the truth of who God is and the truth of who we are. We give thanks for this moment of presenting our requests to God in prayer and we conclude our time together in the usual way with a recitation of the Lord’s prayer….
Prepared by Jacinda Faloon-Cavander for Unity of NZ