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Your First Prayer Ministry Session

If you are new to TPM, then there is a possibility that you have not yet personally experienced being prayed with in a ministry session.  We refer to what happens in a ministry session as the TPM Process. The TPM process is designed to help you to position yourself so that you might receive the truth that the Spirit has for you. TPM is about identifying the lies that we believe that cause us to feel the painful emotions we carry (such as; stress, fear, worry, anxiety, feeling alone, lost, helpless, powerless, out of control, depressed, rejected, etc.)

In TPM we view emotional pain as a good and purposeful thing that just happens to feel bad. Pain is a God created indicator or warning system that something is wrong. Our pain points us in the direction of the problem, but the pain itself is not a problem, but actually plays an important part in the solution.

This Article will provide an overview of what you should know before going into your first session. For a detailed overview of what you should expect you will want to read the article titled, “Ministry Session Guidelines.”

The Purpose of TPM

Many people assume that the purpose of TPM is to help emotionally wounded people find freedom from their emotional pain.  It is often viewed as a “Pain managing” ministry, when in fact it is not. This is probably why many churches have relegated TPM over to their “recovery” ministry and most of the church never considers it’s value or benefit since they are “doing well” and managing their emotions successfully.  Probably most people initially come for prayer ministry because something is going on in their lives that they believe is causing them to feel badly. They often come with the hope the person who will pray with them will be able to help them deal with is troubling them and thereby, make the bad feelings go away.

This is not what is taught or understood in TPM. In TPM we view the bad feelings as a good thing that just happens to feel bad.  We are not suggesting that what may have happened in your life was a good thing, but only that emotions you feel are accurate indicators of your belief and not caused by anyone or anything. We do not feel what we feel because of what has happened to us, but rather because of how we interpret what happened. We feel whatever we believe. TPM is not focused on managing pain, but rather embracing it and allowing it to help us to identify the lies we believe.

Purifying Our Faith and Mind Renewal

God wants to purify or refine our beliefs and uses life situations to help bring this about. We each feel whatever we believe in any given moment as our emotions flows from our belief. Nothing or no one causes us to feel anything that we feel. The good news is, when God renews our mind with His truth we will be transformed and our emotions will follow.  The Bible says, “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” (Rom. 12:2)

God’s primary means for bringing forth His refining work is often misunderstood and rejected by many people.  His process involves a fiery furnace and extended exposure to the flame. Like purifying gold with fire, so our faith — or belief, is being made pure. Therefore, finding the freedom He has for us can be a very painful experience. The writer of Hebrews brought this to light when he said, “All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.” (Heb:12:11).

This “fire” is the means by which God purifies our faith, renews our minds and transforms our lives. This is the purpose of Transformation Prayer Ministry.

What does this furnace look like?

This fiery furnace takes on all forms and expressions. Sometimes it looks like our spouse, our workplace, a traffic jam, or the people in the church (especially if you are the pastor), and anything else that might cause us to react with a negative emotion. It is easy to assume that what we feel (when people or life becomes troublesome) is because of what has happened to us. The truth is, no person nor any circumstance can ever make us feel anything that we do. We ALWAYS feel whatever we believe. It is our interpretation of our situation that is the reason that we feel what we do.

Unless we can take FULL responsibility for the emotional pain in our lives, we will never enter the freedom that God has for us. If indeed others or our situation is the reason that we feel what we feel, then there is no place for freedom unless people or life changes. If this were so, then we truly are victims of our circumstance. Freedom only comes for victims if and when they are rescued. TPM does not view anyone as a victim needing rescue. TPM teaches that we each can choose our way to freedom (which is what God does in us).

So then, when the fire is stoked up and we begin to feel its heat, our natural inclination is to look for a way of escape. When we experience bad feelings the first thing we tend to do is try to make it go away or blame others for its painful heat. We tend to look for a way to distract ourselves from feeling bad. Food, sex, alcohol, recreation, entertainment, and even acts of Christian service are readily available when the pain shows up. However, in TPM we understand negative painful emotion as a good thing that God has created to help bring about His work within us.

In TPM we view pain as our friend helping us to identify the reason we feel bad, making it possible for us to find freedom from its source. The pain is not the problem, but merely a symptom that provides us a great service. Since God created all emotion – both positive and negative, all of it is good even though some of it feels bad.  It is not good to live in constant emotional pain, but it is good that we feel it when it surfaces. The task at hand is learning how to cooperate with God during the fire and pain.

Let me ask you a question, “If you were to step on a thorn, would you want your foot to hurt?” Of course, you would not like it to hurt, but because you see the benefit in this pain you are glad that it does. The pain alerts you to a problem going on with your foot. The same is true for the emotional pain we feel from time to time. The pain is an indication that something is wrong. That “something” is rooted in what we believe. We feel whatever we believe.

TPM is not counseling, spiritual advice, coaching, or a means of diagnosis. And even though TPM is technically a prayer ministry, it is not a prayer that anyone prays over you. No one will be praying you out of something, through anything, or rescuing you from anything. Rather, it is a prayer ministry intentionally focused on you identifying the lies you believe (which is the reason for your bad feelings) and then petitioning the Lord for His truth and perspective. During this process, your prayer ministry facilitator will not tell you what he thinks God might want you to know, give you his opinion, and will only ask questions that help you in your journey through the process of TPM.

This is your journey.
This is your journey with God, and the facilitator is there to help equip you for that journey. You will learn to look to God to see what truth He has personally for you. Only He knows what you need and how to best communicate this to you.

This is not to say that your prayer facilitator may not take off his or her “TPM hat” after the ministry session is over and put on his or her “teaching, encourager, or life coaching hat.” But when this occurs, what he or she is doing is no longer TPM but something else. This is not to say that what he or she does during these times is not of value or beneficial, but only that it is not TPM. If this should happen, it is and up to you whether you want to participate or not.

Because this is your journey it is imperative that you take responsibility for being equipped. Choose to spend much time learning the principles and concepts proposed in this ministry model. Choose to take ownership and not blame others, life, the devil or God for what you feel. We each feel whatever we believe. No one or thing can ever make us feel anything that we do.

Choose to become well equipped by taking this training for yourself. Your ministry facilitator is your mentor, but NOT your “doctor” or counselor. He or she does not possess knowledge about TPM that you cannot know for yourself. All the questions that he or she will ask you are already available to you on the TPM “MAP” that is a part of this training. As a matter of fact, to the degree that you know the basic process and principles of TPM, your sessions should flow smoother and your success should become even more consistent.

Learn the purpose and intent of each of the TPM questions so that you will understand what is being asked of you during your session. There is a series of articles focused directly on explaining each question that will ever be asked during a ministry session.

SEVEN THINGS THAT YOU SHOULD NEVER SAY WHEN YOUR MINISTRY FACILITATOR ASKS, “HAVE YOU BEEN WORKING THROUGH THIS TRAINING?”

“I didn’t have time…”
“I am not a reader…”
“I forgot…”
“I couldn’t find the article…”
“My computer crashed…”
“I tried but just couldn’t do it…”
“My dog ate my computer…”

In other words, no excuses. Take charge and move in the direction of God and His freedom. This is your journey. His truth awaits you. The Bible clearly says, “…Draw near unto God and He will draw near unto you…” (James 4:8)

You Are Totally Responsible for Your Own Belief and Feelings.

As we have seen, emotion serves a very important purpose –even when it feels bad. Your feelings will take you where you need to go in the session. It is the thing that we believe that produces the emotions we feel in any given moment and not what has happened or is happening to us or around us. You will soon learn that we all feel whatever we believe.

You will be expected to acknowledge and take full ownership of what you feel and will be expected to choose to look for the belief that is at the root of it. Taking your focus off those who may have hurt you, does not justify any hurtful thing someone may have done to you, but it makes it more possible for you to find freedom from the emotional impact that others and your circumstances appear to hold over you. Many believe that people or life circumstances are the cause of the emotional pain one feels. However, if this were true, we could never be free unless others or life circumstances change.

The good news is that we can be free whether anyone or anything external to us ever changes or not. Jesus is willing to grant us peace in every circumstance as it says, “May the Lord of peace Himself, grant you peace in EVERY circumstance …” (2 Thess. 3:16). If we do not have peace in every manner of life, it is not because someone or something has robbed us; it is because we believe something that is contrary to our receiving His peace. Having His peace is not dependent upon what others may do toward us, or what life may bring. His peace is available is in spite of our circumstances. The solution is not to deny what we feel in an effort to “be more peaceful,” but rather, the solution is to gain His truth and perspective.

You Have Everything You Need to Identify What You Believe and to Move into a Position to Receive the Lord’s Truth.

Your facilitator will not be providing you with any answers to your situation. He or she will allow you to make all decisions as to how far you want to go in gaining the freedom that God has for you. He or she will not wage any battles for you against the devil, or attempt to rescue you from anything. This is your journey, not his or hers. You have everything that you need to find the Lord’s freedom. Nothing stands in your way. All that is before you are your own beliefs and the choices that must be made. No person or thing can keep you from the truth and freedom that awaits you. This is not to say that you will not encounter some difficulty along the way. Nonetheless, the difficulty will not come from outside, but only from within.

THERE IS NOTHING BETWEEN YOU AND THE TRUTH GOD HAS FOR YOU

The only thing standing between any of us and the freedom that God has for us is our own choosing. No one is holding us back from what God has for us and He has much good prepared. God is also NOT withholding any good thing from us since He has already “… blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ …” (Eph. 1:3)  He desires that we know the truth in our hearts and walk in it. However, He is waiting on us to move to the place where we can receive what He has for us. The TPM process will help you to do that.

However, if we choose to blame others, the devil, our past or our current situation for the reason we feel what we feel, there is no path to freedom unless all of these things are either changed or removed. You will soon discover that everything that occurs in a TPM session is directly related to what you believe and the choices you make.

I think it is safe to say, the world and others will probably not ever organize itself around us. However, we can choose to move in the direction of freedom, and if we take ownership and responsibility for what we feel (and therefore, what we believe,) God can change our belief by replacing it with His truth. When our belief changes, how we interpret what is going on in our lives and our emotions will also change.

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