This gem is from the Baha’i writings, from Shoghi Effendi to a believer as a method of finding a solution to problems using prayer.
Step 1. Pray and meditate about it. Use the prayers of the Manifestations as they have the greatest power. Then remain in the silence of contemplation for a few minutes.
Step 2. Arrive at a decision and hold this. This decision is usually born during the contemplation. It may seem almost impossible an accomplishment but if it seems to be as answer to a prayer or a way of solving the problem, then immediately take the next step.
Step 3. Have determination to carry the decision through. Many fail here. The decision, budding into determination, is blighted and instead becomes a wish or a vague longing. When determination is born, immediately take the next step.
Step 4. Have faith and confidence that the power will flow through you, the right way will appear, the door will open, the right thought, the right message, the right principle or the right book will be given you. Have confidence, and the right thing will come to your need. Then, as you rise from prayer, take at once the fifth step.
Step 5. Act as though it had all been answered. Then act with tireless, ceaseless energy. And as you act, you, yourself, will become a magnet, which will attract more people to your being, until you become an unobstructed channel for the Divine power to flow through you.
Many pray, but do not remain for the last half of the first step. Some who meditate arrive at a decision but fail to hold it. Few have the determination to carry the decision through, still fewer have the confidence that the right thing will come to their need. But how many remember to act as though it had all been answered? How true are these words– “Greater than the prayer is the spirit in which it is uttered” and greater than the way it is uttered is the spirit in which it is carried out.