In the early years of TPM, we believed that Jesus was taking people to their memories or revealing memories to them that they needed to visit. We did this because we held a false notion that people needed help in finding memories that were somehow hidden from them. Today we realize that we were mistaken in our understanding. We made people victims of their own “forgetfulness.” We no longer ask the Lord to take a person anywhere because first, He will not comply, and second, He never did before, even though there were times that we thought that He did.

Today we understand that the person who hid the memory also knows where it is hidden. Believing otherwise might be compared to someone saying, “Help me! I have hidden my keys and I don’t know where to find them.”  I personally lose my keys often, however, if I am the one who hid them, then they are not lost. When I am ready to retrieve them, I can do this myself.

People will choose to remember a memory if they believe there will be no consequences when they do. It is perceived negative consequences that cause a person to hesitate or resist remembering. (This is where the SOLUTION Box comes into play.) Today, we recognize that Jesus does not “remember” for someone, nor does He EVER take them on a memory journey. We also realize that remembering is a natural and God created process sometimes referred to as association. All we have to do in order to remember something is have a “trigger” to engage our minds in the association process.

Nonetheless, in the early years, we asked Jesus to take a person to the memory where he first learned to feel what he was feeling. We prayed something like, “Jesus, will you take Bob to his memory where he felt this way before?”  Because the person might sometimes remember something after we prayed this, we assumed that Jesus took him there. However, we did not have an answer for why Jesus did not always cooperate. It appeared that sometimes He would, and sometimes He wouldn’t.

In the cases where Jesus “did not cooperate” and no memory came to mind, we might blame the devil, encourage the person to try harder or just assume that it was a “difficult case.” The truth was, Jesus never took people to any memories because He never needed to, since we will all remember when we’re ready. If Jesus had taken a person to a memory when they had made a choice not to remember, His doing so would have been a violation of the person’s will.  The only reason a person blocks a memory is because they don’t want the memory to come to mind. When this occurs they are in the SOLUTION Box on the TPM MAP. This blocking (suppression) is a willful choice based on what the person believes. If Jesus took them to a memory that they had chosen to suppress, He would be forcing His will upon the person. This He will never do.

Also, Jesus NEVER, EVER reveals memory content to a person who is not already fully aware of that content. Any “jesus” that tells a person they have been abused or tells them anything else that they are not aware of is a false “jesus” and not the true Lord. In addition, a ministry facilitator who suggests or insinuates that a person has a “hidden” memory is potentially planting false information and is definitely NOT doing TPM.

A ministry facilitator should NEVER ask suggestive questions or make leading statements such as, “Do you think you may have been abused?” or “Is it possible you are repressing something you do not want to remember?” or “You have the signs of having been traumatized as a child.” If a facilitator ever asks any questions that are not included on the “TPM MAP”, then he is not doing TPM but something else. Nothing is hidden that the person himself did not hide, and he knows where he put his “keys”. He will remember when he is ready. He will be ready when the belief he holds that is contrary to remembering —that is creating some manner of threat or problem— is replaced with the truth.

 

A person’s inability to remember something is actually a choice that deliberately thwarts the God created and natural process of “mental association.” This mental process always works unless it is deliberately deterred. For example, if I believe that to remember something would be overwhelming, destroy me, ruin my life or require me to remember something I do not want to recall, then I will probably block out that memory and hinder association. Therefore, if I don’t remember because of what I believe will happen if I do remember, then I am making a willful decision—even though it’s probably not a conscious one.

If a person recognizes he is hindering association from occurring because he believes lies about moving forward, the Lord is willing to supply the truth needed to displace these lies that are hindering his way. When this occurs, association will re-engage. The Lord will wait for the person to make the necessary choices for this to occur and will not force anything to happen.

If a person wants to remember and he doesn’t believe something that causes him to resist  remembering, his mind will effortlessly associate his feelings to a memory. It requires no effort to remember, but not to remember requires much effort. Any struggle a person experiences when “trying to remember” is a struggle against their own will. How many times have we said, “I know what I need to do, but I just cannot do it”? This is a belief problem. This type of belief is what we call a “Solution Belief.”

Remembering is as easy as feeling what you are feeling and letting your mind do what it was designed to do. However, when we are struggling to remember something, it’s because we are wrestling with ourselves. Our conscious mind is fighting against the will of our unconscious mind. There aren’t two of us inside our heads, and we really have only one will. This is the difference between desire and will: I desire to remember, but with my will I choose not to.  Because this is so, Jesus will not violate our will and “take us” to a memory since we are unconsciously choosing NOT to go there.

We have moved a long way from when TPM was initially introduced in 1995. What we used back then worked well and God blessed it. However, the sharper the tool, the more effective the process. Our desire is to be as sharp as possible in the hand of God as He sets people free.