Transformation Prayer Ministry has been labeled many things since its inception in the mid-nineties. Some have misunderstood it to be healing of memories, deliverance ministry, guided prayer, and etc. TPM is none of these things, but rather TPM is a means by which we may willfully cooperate with what God is doing to refine our faith (belief), renew our minds and thereby, transform our lives. TPM does not understand memories as something that needs healing nor are demons given any place in TPM, and of course, no part of TPM is ever guided or directed.

Memory never needs to be healed since it is not in need of restoration.  Memory is merely recorded information that helps us to identify how we came to believe and feel what we currently believe and feel.  Memory is not the source of our  emotional pain and the lies we believe are not contained in the memory. Those who have tried to fit TPM into the “inner healing” ministry or “healing of memories” category do not understand TPM.

TPM does not view memory as something that needs to be healed, nor does TPM focus on anything needing healed.  What occurs in a TPM session is not the healing of anything, but rather mind renewal (Rom. 12:2); the exchanging of a lie for the truth. Healing has to do with restoring something broken or sickly back to a former place. TPM is not about restoring something to any former state, but rather replacing one thing with another. The focus of TPM is on lie-based core belief that needs to be replaced with truth and not healing anything. Therefore, the idea of healing does not describe TPM.

For certain, demons are evil entities that hate us and want to destroy us, but in TPM they are not viewed as something to contend with, but rather as “lie-detectors” that indicate the presence of lies believed. The only reason that they are present is because of belief. Rather than viewing the person as a victim of the devil needing rescued, the person is seen as a free willed choosing agent that has the capacity to “resist the devil” and take responsibility for their beliefs and the emotional pain they feel. Because this is so, spiritual warfare is not needed nor is it incorporated into the ministry process.

Many people understand TPM to be a means for resolving the painful emotion with which many people are encumbered.  Pain is mistakenly viewed as the enemy and a problem to be resolved. TPM is not concerned with or focused on resolving pain, but rather views pain as a necessary part of the ministry process. In TPM is is said, “Pain is good even though it feels bad.”  Pain is a trusted friend that points out to us that something is wrong. Pain does not need to be fixed, but rather acknowledged, embraced, and given attention. In the same way that we want our hand to feel pain from touching a hot stove, we need to feel pain when we believe a lie. Without the emotional pain we would be destined to live in our deception without any warning. God wants us to feel anxious, worried, fearful, helpless, powerless, out of control, alone, dejected, etc. when we are believing a lie. Painful emotion is a built in warning system that we are not walking in the truth. This is why we say, “We feel whatever we believe.”

Nevertheless, because some people assumed that the objective of TPM was pain management, TPM came to be mistakenly understood by many to be a ministry designed solely for helping the emotionally downtrodden. If we focus on the outcome of a typical TPM session, one might surmised that this ministry does help the emotionally down trodden to find release of their pain and enter into the peace of Christ. However, though this appears to be so,  pain resolution is still not the purpose or goal of TPM but rather an outcome. The person’s pain was never the problem, but only an indication of the real problem; belief.

Probably the main reason that TPM is sometimes viewed to be a ministry for the emotionally wounded (as opposed to a practice for all), is that pain is often understood to be a problem to be overcome, as opposed to being an indication of something else.  Pain resolution or the management of it, is not the purpose of TPM.  As a matter of fact, our emotional pain plays a vital role in us doing the process of TPM. In TPM, emotional pain is not viewed as a problem to be fixed, but rather as the primary means by which we are able to identify the true problem; our lie-based belief. Without the presence of our emotional pain we could not know when we were walking in falsehood.

Peace is good but so is feeling bad.

We all like walking in peace. Peace is good. However, when we are operating in falsehood, we need to feel badly. In the same way we need to feel pain when we touch a hot plate, stump our toe or step on a thorn, we need to feel negative emotion when we are believing lies. This is not to say that pain feels good, but only that it is a necessity.

Even though experiencing the peace of Christ is an expected outcome of TPM, it is not the goal. The primary purpose of TPM is the refining of our faith which results in mind renewal that produces genuine, effortless, and lasting transformation in both belief and behavior. Peace will follow truth, but pain management or pain reduction is not our goal. Peace is an expected outcome of what happens when we know the truth, but the goal of TPM is to identify the lies we believe, exchange them for the Lord’s truth which will result in effortless transformation and peace.

Pain Management is not a part of TPM

People are for the most part, pain managers and therefore, typically only seek help when their pain becomes greater than their ability to suppress it or distract themselves from feeling it. It seems that we all have our own personal “go to” self-medication for distracting ourselves from emotional pain. It comes in all shapes and sizes; drinking, drugs, sex, eating when not hungry, enabling, entertaining ourselves, shopping, spiritual performance, overachieving, underachieving, serving, blame shifting our feelings onto others, life or God, etc. Since we have our solutions for pain in place, TPM is often overlooked and relegated to those whose solutions are not working well.

Unfortunately, if our understanding of TPM is merely a way to resolve emotional pain, we will missed out on the true potential and intended purpose of the ministry. If pain resolution is our goal, when our pain level is reduced, we may not see a need for the ministry and will probably revert back to our temporary solutions. This is why it is common for a person to seek out TPM and have a glorious encounter with the Lord, resulting in a reduction in their pain level, and then because it becomes manageable, they don’t come back. As long as their pain is manageable they see no need for ministry. They fail to understand the basic principles of TPM. All negative emotion no matter how minimal is an indication of belief. If we suppress what we feel by distracting ourselves through some form of self-medication (which can be thinking happy thoughts or doing spiritual things), we forfeit the opportunity that God provided for mind renewal and transformation. If the “good” things we do are an attempt to deny, suppress, or distract ourselves of what we feel, then they are not good, but contrary to what God is trying to accomplish within us.

Again, TPM is not about managing pain, but rather a process by which each of us can intentionally and purposefully cooperate with God as He refines and purifies our faith (belief), renews our minds with His truth, and transforms our lives (the fruit of the Holy Spirit). When this occurs, our emotions will change to match the truth, since we feel whatever we believe. When we know the truth within our hearts (the essence of faith) we will experience the fruit of His Spirit. Where there is an absence of fruit, their is something wrong.

Whether we are receiving ministry in a session that is being facilitated by someone else or doing a session on our own, the steps are basically the same. We first must identify the real problem. However, if we look for the problem outside of ourselves, we will never find the freedom that our heart desires. Without question it is easier to play the victim role and blame our past, or our spouse, boss, children, the man who just cut us off in traffic or who got “OUR” parking place, or flat out demonic oppression, for the reason why we feel badly. However, when we blame others or life itself for what we feel, we become stuck in our own deception and cannot move forward. The real problem resides within each of us. No one or thing is making us feel anything that we may feel.  The problem is our belief and the solution is the Lord’s truth. Therefore, before we can move toward genuine and lasting freedom we must choose to let go of blaming others or life for why we feel what we do.

Trying to control behavior is not the focus or goal of TPM.

Trying to live and look like Jesus is not the transformation God desires for us and is a task that can be accomplished by any person believer and unbeliever. Far too often we make controlling our behavior an indication of successfully living the Christian life. Much effort is put into the task of trying to live and look like Jesus. But the Bible does not tell us to go out and try to do this per say. Instead, living and looking like Jesus is about transformation and conforming into His image. This is not our job, but a work of God. Transformation and conforming is no more about “works” than was our salvation (Eph. 2:8-9), it is an outcome of Christ indwelling presence.

Rather we are told to rest in the finished work of His death and resurrection (Heb. 4:10) and submit to His handiwork that He is doing (1 Pet. 5:6) and walk in faith (Gal. 2:20) so that we might be transformed into His likeness (Rom. 8:29, 2 Cor. 3:18).

Living the life, is not us performing it, but rather Christ living it through us. According to the Scriptures, “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” (Gal. 2:20) What part do we play in this verse? Only two things; being crucified (being dead) and living by faith in Jesus, the Son of God. There is no mention of work that we are to do other than positioning ourselves so we may receive and be. TPM is a way in which we can cooperate with God in this process.

The Fruit is the Proof

Christ living in us is made evident by the presence of His fruit being made manifest in and through us. We are called to “bear fruit”, but not to “DO the fruit.” The fruit is His fruit and not our conforming ourselves to the truth. Our trying to “do the fruit” is not Christ living in us, but rather a vain attempt to mimic or to look like Jesus. We are not called to be Jesus mimics, but rather to be transformed into His image (Rom. 8:29). Mimicking His behavior we may do, but transformation is a work of God. Only Christ, through the Holy Spirit who dwells within the true believer, can produce the real fruit.

We get the process backwards. We fail to realize that before we can bear fruit, God must first do only what He can do. When He grants us the truth within our hearts, we will bear fruit. We see this process in the Apostle Paul’s words that say, “…we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God…” (Col. 1:9-10)

Notice how “walking in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God…” is all determined by God  “…fill[ing us] with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding…” Unless God brings this about within our hearts, the rest cannot be realized. Walking, pleasing, bearing, and increasing are all contingent upon God’s filling. However, many of us skip over verse nine and see verse ten as a mandate and a command to go and try and fulfill. Doing the fruit has never worked and never will. God is not impressed with our doing, but He is well pleased with our transformation.

Much effort is often invested in trying to conform our behavior to the truth as opposed to the truth itself transforming us. When our minds are renewed with the truth, transformation naturally follows, apart from our work and effort. The Bible is clear where it says, “… Be transformed…” [How?] “… by the renewing of your mind…” (Rom. 12:2) There is a big difference in us trying to conform ourselves around the truth and the truth transforming us.

People often come for ministry burdened with behavioral “problems”, such as addictions, sexual sins, relational conflicts, “habits, hurts and hangups,” etc.  Many have already done all they know to do to control their “sin” and control their behaviors, but have hit a wall. They come hoping to find a fix for their dilemma through receiving counseling, deliverance through spiritual warfare, being rescued in some form or fashion, or to be given steps to take so that they can better perform and somehow overcome or at least better maintain. TPM provides no hope for performance, but only taking ownership for what we believe and feel, identifying our lie-based belief and offering it up to the Lord to exchange it for His truth, and thereby, enter into His rest.

So we see that controlling our behavior and behavior modification through effort, struggle, and determination is not a Christian concept, but a worldly one. Controlling one’s self is not the same thing as the fruit of the Holy Spirit known as “self-control.” Controlled behavior is what any lost person can do if he sets his mind to it. Whereas, self-control is a fruit of the Holy Spirit; an act of God wrought within and through the believer. We are incapable of producing this fruit ourselves.

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