The Power of Prayer

World Day of Prayer

Of all the wonderful things I have learned and of all the ways I’ve changed in the 22 years since I first walked through the doors of a Unity church, no gift has been so great as learning the power of affirmative prayer.

My discovery of Unity broke open the practice of prayer for me. I had always thought the purpose of prayer was to pray for things or to pray to God. As I delved into Unity teachings, I discovered that my prayers were not to change God but to change myself.

And change I did. Through my regular prayer practice, the use of denials and affirmations, and years of spiritual study, illness gave way to healing. Constant worry about money and material security became a deep and abiding understanding and experience of prosperity. And relentless anxiety over the state of my life and my place in the world faded in the presence of deepening, understanding faith.

Even so, there would be times I could not rouse myself from malaise or discouragement, times when the world felt bleak, and I felt unable to help myself. At those times, the Unity Prayer Ministry, known as Silent Unity, held the high watch for me. They prayed with me, affirming the truth I was unable to know for myself. I felt blessed by those prayers and so grateful there were those who were willing to do for me what I was unable to do for myself.

Holding the high watch in prayer focuses our thoughts and energies on spiritual truth, which crowds out thoughts of worry and powerlessness.

Holding the High Watch for Others

These days as I consider the increasingly unsettled state of the world and the struggles of my fellow human beings, I’m eager to expand my prayer practice to include more people. I do this not only for those I know and those I don’t. I also do it for myself. It’s so easy to take in the news of the world and feel defeated and discouraged. And it’s becoming all too easy to commiserate and sink down into the depths of despair rather than be the beacon that can lift others out of it.

World Day of Prayer is a potent reminder it is always within our power to make that choice and to be that beacon.

The upcoming 29th annual World Day of Prayer is the perfect opportunity to do that. This year’s theme, “Holding the High Watch,” is a powerful reminder that affirmative prayer is a gift for all of us, a way to lift everyone up, especially those who may be struggling or feeling unable to do it for themselves.

There’s another benefit. Holding the high watch in prayer focuses our thoughts and energies on spiritual truth, which crowds out thoughts of worry and powerlessness.

World Day of Prayer begins this Wednesday evening at 7 p.m. (CT). I’ll be attending online, and I hope you will register to be there too. Together, we can hold the high watch and know the truth that will set us all free.