CHAPTER TWO
AFFIRMATIVE PRAYER
What is prayer, exactly?
According to Webster’s definition, a prayer is, “An address (as a petition) to God or a god in word and thought. An earnest request or wish.”
Affirmative Prayer, on the other hand, is a focused, positive, mental process of directed thought into the Universal Mind, wherein certain spiritual Laws are put into motion to attract or manifest a certain outcome, condition or thing. Affirmative Prayer is not a petition, wish or a request, an act of overcoming a fickle God’s reluctance, but a conscious knowing of your oneness with Spirit and Its complete and total willingness to give that which is already yours by Divine birthright. Spirit, being All There Is, is unlimited supply, abundance, perfect solution, happiness and health, and you can partake of it now.
It is an awareness that the good of Life is, and always has been, yours. Affirmative Prayer is a conscious conjoining and co-creation with the Spirit within you, that is you, to manifest that which already exists as a perfect blueprint in Infinite Mind, and is yours to claim and bring forth into immediate manifestation.
Affirmative Prayer is not willing something to happen. It opens within you a channel through which it can happen. The “Force” is always at work! When you pray affirmatively, you do not send out a petition, request or make a wish – you realize, reveal and attract the truth, perfection and abundance that is already there. You set into motion an idea that goes into Infinite Intelligence, where it is accepted at its own level and acted upon.
Prayer always works, one way or the other, but sometimes appears to not bring about the particular results you intended or hoped for because of the underlying beliefs with which it was expressed. Traditional, non-affirmative prayer is often an entreaty, with the hope, rather than the certainty, that whatever is asked for will be granted. It comes from a belief in separation, a God that is “out there” somewhere. It arises out of a consciousness of lack and an ignorance of the truth that Spirit is not separate from you, but is a Creative Power within you (as well as all around you). Results from this often fear-based, self-effacing form of prayer can therefore be mixed and unclear. It may not seem to be working, when in fact it actually is. Fear, negativity and doubt result in fear, negativity and doubt. Suffering is not a pre-ordained condition of Life nor is it imposed upon you. It is the result of ignorance of your oneness with Spirit, which is only good, and of the spiritual Laws which run the universe.
A very important reason why your prayers may sometimes not seem to “work” is that Spirit can only do for you what It can do through you. Spirit reveals and gives to you only to the degree that you believe It can. Higher Power cannot work for you until you first recognize It as Power. Believe in and expect a little, and you will get a little. Believe in and expect a lot, and your world will be filled with abundance. You may not always get what you want, but you will almost always get what you expect! Prayer and belief are very closely related. Faith and belief are the fuel that powers the prayer! This is discussed in greater detail later in this guide.
Affirmative Prayer comes from a recognition and awareness of a oneness with the universe, with Life, with Spirit, with Cosmic Consciousness and Infinite Intelligence. What Spirit is in the macrocosm, you are in the microcosm, individualized.
The Power that created the universe and keeps it eternally in motion is the same Power that created and lives in you, through you, as you and is you. Just as an entire image exists on a tiny piece cut from the full portion of a holographic film, all of Spirit is within you in Its totality. It is everywhere and equally present, as It is everywhere and equally present within all creation. That’s because at the level of the Absolute, there is no “space”. Space is a manifestation of the outer, physical universe. And since in Spirit there is no space, there is no “time” either. Time is an abstract human-created concept for measuring movement through space, and only seems to exist because you have a mind which can remember the “past” and can imagine a “future”. In fact, there is only the ever-present “now”. This is why, once an Affirmative Prayer is released into the Law of Mind, it becomes a done deal, a perfect spiritual/mental blueprint awaiting manifestation; it might just seem to take a little “time”, on this heavier physical plane, to actually manifest.
There is a Power for the Positive in the universe. As an expression of Spirit you have the ability to use it! The universe is unlimited abundance, lacking nothing. Everything is already available to you, and all that is necessary to have it is to declare it into physical manifestation through the power of your thoughts, words and the right use of spiritual Laws.
You already live in a perfect universe. Simply perceive and recognize it mentally and it will become part of your experience.
CHAPTER THREE THE LAWS OF MIND: CAUSE, ATTRACTION & MANIFESTATION/EFFECT
Prayers work because they set into motion certain universal spiritual Principles which, when fully comprehended, can be consciously and proactively used and directed. Just as there are unseen but very real scientifically measurable laws of physics which propel and govern the physical universe, there are also underlying, unseen, and very real scientifically measurable spiritual Laws which move and govern all of Life and Creation. Perhaps the most significant and powerful of these Principles is the Law of Mind and as aspects of it, the Laws of Cause, Attraction and Manifestation/Effect.
The Law of Mind is an aspect of Spirit which, although intelligent, is not conscious and has no volition of its own. It is triggered by our thoughts and words, mechanically taking them and transforming them into a form, situation, condition, circumstance, outcome or event. It takes what it receives literally, impartially and without judgment. Allowed to work without interference, it manifests exactly what is thought into It.
The Law of Cause is what the Infinite Intelligence or Mind of Spirit brings into action. In Spirit, it is the Word or Divine Idea, backed by intention or desire. Spirit is the ultimate First Cause of all creation. In us, Cause is triggered by our own ideas, intentions or desires, and molded by our beliefs, thoughts or statements.
Immediately following Cause, the Law of Attraction is set into motion as soon as a thought or statement, backed by belief and intention, is expressed. This Law has a “magnetic” effect, and its nature is to attract (rather than to create from nothing) people, situations or things to you that may already exist. Once an intention is expressed, the Law of Attraction begins arranging the ways and means for your intention to be fulfilled, pulling in the necessary circumstances, opening the right doors, providing the perfect opportunities, people and things into your sphere of reality, often from what might seem to be out of thin air!
Working in conjunction with the Law of Attraction is the Law of Manifestation, and they might sometimes be perceived as one and the same. Both are the natural consequence of the Law