Imagination · “Feel It Real”
Affirmative Faith Prayer
Affirm in prayer the felt assurance that the desired good is possible ‘through Christ,’ and inwardly assume that capable, backed identity.
Affirm present assurance, not a request.
- Anchor to a short line (e.g. Philippians 4:13).
- Feel it — calm, capable, backed.
- Assume that identity; pray it at the trigger.
- Act from it; scaffold if you can’t yet believe it.
What it is
Schuller’s devotional engine underneath possibility thinking: a positive, affirmative prayer in which you do not beg for a far-off outcome but affirm present assurance that the good is possible because you are backed by a power greater than yourself.
His headline form is the Pauline line he leaned on, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:13), reduced to a personal affirmation of capability — I am, through Christ, able. The point is to assume the state of someone capable and supported, with feeling, and let that assumed identity carry into the day.
It is faith used affirmatively — Peale’s charged Bible-verse drill turned from defence-against-the-negative toward forward assumption of possibility.
The Method
- Choose a present-tense assurance, not a request. Frame the prayer as already-granted backing, e.g. “I am, through Christ, able,” rather than “please let me be able.” Schuller’s possibility prayer affirms capacity and divine support now.
- Anchor it to a short scripture or phrase. Philippians 4:13 is his anchor; a single confident line keeps it firm and repeatable (and links to repetition, The Inner Creates the Outer).
- Feel the assurance, don’t just recite it. The affirmation should produce a felt sense of being capable and supported (The Inner Creates the Outer) — calm confidence, not mechanical words.
- Assume the identity. Inwardly be the person for whom the dream is possible — possibility thinking’s stance, held in prayer (The Inner Creates the Outer).
- Pray it at the trigger. Use it first thing and again at the moment a challenge or doubt arises, then act from the assumed state — faith expressed in the next concrete step. (Sourcing note: Philippians 4:13 is scripture; its use as an affirmative possibility-prayer and “I am. able” framing is Schuller’s adaptation of his mentor Peale’s verse-affirmation method. Short fair-use quotation.)
Source & Lineage
Move Ahead with Possibility Thinking (1967) and Schuller’s Hour of Power preaching, where affirmative prayer and self-esteem theology underwrite the possibility-thinking method. It descends directly from Norman Vincent Peale’s charged-verse affirmation and the New Thought / Coué autosuggestion line Peale carried.; mentor.
Common refinements
Affirmation backfire. For someone who flatly disbelieves it, “I am able” can worsen mood (Wood, Perunovic & Lee, 2009). Scaffold it — “I am learning that, with help, I am able” — rather than forcing a state you reject.
- Petition disguised as affirmation. Slipping back into anxious begging defeats the assumption; keep it present-tense assurance.
- Words without feeling. Mechanical repetition does little; the felt assurance is the active ingredient.
- Affirming over action. The prayer is meant to launch the next step, not replace it; pair every affirmation with a concrete move.