Affirmative prayer

Affirmative prayer is a form of prayer or a metaphysical technique that is focused on a positive outcome rather than a negative situation. For example, a person who is experiencing some form of illness would focus the prayer on the desired state of perfect health and affirm this desired intention "as if already happened" rather than identifying the illness and then asking God for help to eliminate it.

New Thought spirituality originated during the 1880s and has emphasized affirmative prayer as an essential part of its philosophy. Practitioners among the various New Thought denominations Religious Science, Divine Science and Unity may also refer to this form of prayer by such names as "scientific prayer," "spiritual mind treatment" or, simply, "treatment."

Within New Thought organizations, centers and churches, the foundational logic of this form of prayer is based on the belief that God is unlimited and plays no favorites, that God has created spiritual laws that are both as mysterious and as constant as scientific principles like gravity, and thus, if one's prayer is correctly and diligently focused, it will be answered consistently.

Affirmative prayer is called "Spiritual Mind Treatment" by practitioners of Religious Science.

Affirmative prayer with a Christian theme is a central practice of the Unity School of Christianity.

In the early 1900s, some in the American Jewish community were attracted to the teachings of Christian Science and the New Thought Movement, by the 1920s they were referring to their study by the term Jewish Science. A major figure in this movement was Morris Lichtenstein who together with his wife Tehilla Lichtenstein, published the Jewish Science Interpreter, a periodical featuring much of his own writing. Lichtenstein found affirmative prayer to be particularly useful because, he believed that it provided the personal benefits of prayer without requiring the belief in a supernatural God who could suspend the laws of nature. Lichtenstein considered that affirmative prayer is a method that can access inner power that could be considered divine, but not supernatural. He taught that the origins of affirmative prayer can be found in the Old Testament book of Psalms, and that affirmations, or affirmative prayer is best offered in silence.

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