One of the ways we communicate and co-create with Spirit is with “Affirmative Prayer.” That is because it is done in the present tense and with considerable build-up of feeling. We do this in five steps: Recognition, Unification, Realization, Gratitude and Release.
Rev Shelley has a great way to summarize the how to do – and feel – the steps of Affirmative Prayer, or a Spiritual Mind Treatment. She often inserts this spontaneously into the middle of a Sunday talk. She agreed to document the steps as she teaches them here:
AFFIRMATIVE PRAYER
by Rev. Shelley B. Heller
RECOGNITION:
The first step of Recognition is recognizing there is nothing outside of God, God is in every atom, every cell, every word spoken, every dream imagined, every great piece of literature or great work of art. It is the power in creation that exists in all forms. We keep expressing this in as many ways possible until we get it, until we feel embodied with that idea. Then we move to unification.
UNIFICATION:
The second step is in that recognition comes from the realization that Spirit is all there is, that it is in and expressed as everyone, and therefore that includes us, every part of us, all our thoughts, our feelings, our expressions. We repeat this until we also embody this idea.
REALIZATION:
The third step is speaking the word for what we desire in the present tense as if we already have achieved this desire. My life is filled with exactly what it needs to express Spirit perfectly in every way. It expresses in my material life as well as my emotional and spiritual life. I am filled with the love of God right now and it feels ecstatically wonderful.
GRATITUDE:
Once we have embodied that feeling of owning what it is we so long for – whether it be peace, or a new car, or perhaps at that instant, a parking place – we express thanksgiving for this wonderful gift in our lives as though we already have it. We embody that feeling in word and in feeling, the feeling of great gratitude for that and for all we have.
RELEASE:
Then we let it go. We don’t hang on to it and gnaw it like a bone, worrying that it won’t really happen or it isn’t possible. We just let it go. It is now a planted seed in the Mind of God, left to flourish and grow without our doubting it.
The way we teach this to younger children is by the following steps:
GOD IS – Recognition: God is All
I AM – Unification: Thus I am a part of God
IT IS – Realization: My longing, desire in present tense with feeling & detail
THANKS – Gratitude: Giving thanks as if it were already mine with feeling
BYE BYE – Release: Letting go knowing Spirit “has this”, it is a seed planted
Rev. Shelley Heller