The Mentee’s Role in the TPM Process
To view full screen click button in
The “Mentee’s” Role in the TPM Process
Mentor and Mentee Relationship
In this video, Joshua uses the terms Mentor and Mentee. He uses these terms to identify and define who is doing what, in a ministry session. The Mentoring ministry facilitator is the one who initially asks all of the questions in the process while following the Mentee’s lead (the one being prayed with.) In a TPM session we do not have a “doctor/patient” or “healer/healee” relationship, but rather one like unto a “trainer and trainee.” The person being prayed with is not “receiving” ministry, but rather he is the one doing it. The Mentor is teaching the Mentee how to administer the TPM process while in the context of a ministry session. Some have misunderstood TPM to be a ministry designed solely for the emotionally downtrodden, when in fact it is a “tool” that all members of the Body of Christ can reap great benefit.
Necessary Conditions to be Met by the Mentee in Prayer
So who is doing what during a ministry session? It is obvious that if you are by yourself then you are the facilitator of your own session and the one doing everything –other than granting yourself the truth. However, as strange as it may sound, the same is true even when there are two people involved –both Mentor and Mentee. The person being prayed with is still the one that is doing everything. Initially he needs some help with the questions and the overall process, but nonetheless, he is still the one who focuses on what he is feeling, allows association to occur and remembers what needs to be remembered, lets go of solutions, identifies the core belief and offers it up to the Lord. The only reason that the Mentoring facilitator is present is because the Mentee has not yet mastered the process himself. As time passes and if the facilitator has done his job well, the person being prayed with begins to facilitate himself.
Basic Actions of the Mentee
There are some expected and basic actions or conditions commonly required of the person being prayed with or Mentee (the one learning TPM) in order for him or her to have a successful TPM ministry session. Not all actions are essential in every session; for example, his dealing with anger may not be present in a session. Every TPM session is basically the same in form, since each one is based upon the same principles and process making it an easily taught and followed process.
- Choose to connect with their presenting emotion (to feel what they are feeling).
- Choose to focus on what they are feeling while knowing that their mind is designed by God to associate them to a related memory. (The recipient does not need to try to remember or look for a memory. The mentoring facilitator will need to take as much time as needed to teach the person about mental association and how it works.)
- Report whatever comes to their mind even if it seems insignificant or unrelated.
- Use their memory to help them identify how and why they came to believe the lie they currently hold. The prayer recipient uses the memory to help them to identify the specific core belief that is causing them to feel what they feel.
- Choose to hold their lie-based core belief up to the Lord in order to receive God’s truth.
- Test (using the TRANSFORMATION Box question) to be sure that transformation has occurred by determining if the lie still feels true.
- Report any feelings of anger that might surface anywhere along the way.
- Identify and acknowledge when a solution has been engaged.
Doing these actions is not an attempt to force God into a formula. As we know, God cannot be manipulated by anyone. These elements merely help us to align ourselves with what God is already doing in renewing our minds. The TPM process helps us to fulfill the conditions required of us in order for God to do what He has promised to do. He wants to grant us the truth, but there are conditions to be met in order to be in the proper place to receive it.
Truth Granted as Conditions are Met
God desires to grant us truth, but there are conditions that must be met before He will do so – none more important than identifying and acknowledging what we believe, which is contrary to the truth He wants us to know. God desires we know truth from the heart. He wants to grant us a “… spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him [and] … that the eyes of [our] heart may be enlightened, so that [we] will know what is the hope of His calling, the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints …” (Eph. 1:17-18) The TPM process helps us to take ownership for what we feel, identify our false belief, confess this belief to God, and look to Him for the truth.
The Bible is full of conditional statements. For example, we may want our sin forgiven, to be cleansed of its stain and enter into the family of God, but until we meet certain requirements, this will not happen. The Scripture says, “If we confess our sin [condition], He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin [fulfillment]”. (1 John 1:9) Conditional statements express God’s faithfulness to His Word. We see some other examples in Galatians 6:9, 2 Timothy 2:11-12, Hebrews 3:14, and 1 John 1:7, 2:3, 4:12, and 5:14-15.
It is sometimes easy for us to take on a victim’s role, needing to be rescued. Facing and embracing our pain, and uncovering and exposing the lies we believe, is not something many of us ever want to do. Nevertheless, it is a condition we must meet before God will grant us His truth. He is waiting on us to move in His direction. Meeting these conditions are our responsibility. God will fulfill His promise of granting us truth when we are where we need to be to receive it. As James the Apostle wrote, “… Draw near to God and He will draw near unto you…” (James 4:8)
These are conditions that we can choose to meet in order to position ourselves to receive the truth that God desires to give us. God never withholds the truth from us; rather, He is always willing to pour out His truth and wisdom on those who will ask. “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” (James 1:5)
The Process Explained Backwards
In this video Joshua explains, what is referred to as, the TPM Process. He takes a different approach to doing so by explaining it in “reverse” by starting his discussion in the Transformation Box and working his way back to the EMOTION Box. His insightful approach sheds new light and understanding on the administering of the process protocol. The TPM process is one of three components that make up the greater scope of Transformation Prayer Ministry. The other two components are the Principles and Purpose. These are discussed in detail in other articles. This video is focused upon the process itself.
However, before discussing the process itself, giving a brief overview of the principles and purpose may be beneficial. The Principles are the beliefs and concepts that support and explain what is done and why what is done, in a ministry session. If we are unaware of these guiding principles, the process might be misunderstood to be some mysterious and unexplainable event, or the facilitator just blindly trusting and following the Holy Spirit while hoping and praying that God might show up. None of this has merit or explains the TPM process. The process is a predictable and consistent means of identifying the lies we believe. It is a system that is based upon how God has designed the mind to work, as well as principles concerning memory, emotion, motivation, mental defenses, solutions, and etc.
Every Session is Predictable and Runs the Same Basic Course
Though some may not agree, there really are no difficult sessions since the facilitator should always do the same things in every session. As strange as it may sound, there is also nothing in the process itself that is “spiritual.” This is not to say that the Holy Spirit is not present from the beginning to the end, for He is. However, everything that occurs in the session up to the point where the Holy Spirit grants His truth to the person, is accomplished solely by the person making free will choices. The person chooses to feel, remember, uncover what he has hidden, let go of his defenses and solutions, and offers his lie-based belief to the Lord.
The Spirit does not tell a person where to go, take them to any memory, or reveal anything hidden. Anything that may be hidden was hidden away by the person in the ministry chair and no one else. There are no locked doors standing in the way for which the person does not hold the key. There is no memory that the person needs to be taken to, since he already knows exactly where he needs to go. He merely needs to determine what he believes that is causing him to resist and hesitate remembering. It really is all about the person’s belief and choice.
A “Tool” that Everyone Can Learn to Apply
The TPM Process –what occurs in a ministry session– is a “tool” by which we can participate with God in His refining process so that He may more effectively bring about mind renewal and genuine and lasting transformation. As was just stated, the TPM process is not spiritual in and of itself, but rather, a system of questions asked to aid in the identification of lie-based core beliefs. As we are ready and willing to identify what we believe –that which runs contrary to the truth– we are better positioned to have the lies we believe replaced with God’s perspective. When the Lord grants us His truth, we will experience the fruit of the Holy Spirit naturally and spontaneously as an outcome of a purified faith. The fruit of His Spirit is the outcome of a renewed mind. Transformation is the fruit. The fruit is not something that we try to do, but the outcome of what we are. Transformation is walking in the Spirit. It is Christ living His life in and through us. It is “… no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me…” (Gal. 2:20
Participation with God in His Work
The TPM process is a means by which ALL members of the Body of Christ may intentionally, consistently, and systematically participate with God in His process of refining their faith, thereby renewing their minds with experiential truth, bringing about effortless transformation in their belief and behavior.
A Spiritual Discipline
The TPM process can become a spiritual discipline that every believer can learn and apply in some measure. When God refines our faith and renews our minds, His truth will transform us and thereby make it possible for us to walk effortlessly in the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Transformation that is the outcome of a refined faith and renewed mind is the ultimate goal in TPM.
Our choosing to embrace and apply the TPM process as a lifestyle requires a measure of discipline on our part as we choose to cooperate with what God is doing and as we submit ourselves to His “handiwork.” (Eph. 2:10) No one wants to feel the pain produced by the lies that they believe. This is why distracting ourselves with food, sex, intoxicants, entertainment or even good deeds and religious service are often the solutions of choice when it comes to dealing with what we feel. Nevertheless, for those who are willing to lay aside their futile solutions and submit to the work that God is doing exposing our lie-based belief through our daily difficulties and crisis, these same people can reap the benefit of mind renewal and transformation. Genuine transformation of our belief and life is solely His work that He alone can bring about.
Transformation is Not Trying to Be Like Jesus
We do not need to discipline ourselves to be transformed into His likeness; He accomplishes this Himself. Transformation is not trying to be like Jesus. Transformation is being conformed by God into His image because, “… those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son…” (Rom. 8:28-29) In the context of suffering, Peter the apostle revealed the work that God is doing in us that He alone is bringing about, where it says, “… After you have suffered for a little while (the refiner’s fire), the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.” (1 Pet. 5:10)
However, there is a required discipline in our choosing to position ourselves where He can better accomplish this work. We can resist His work and distract ourselves from what His fire exposes in us. Our propensity is to run from our pain through self-medicating, blaming others, life or God for what we feel, as opposed to taking responsibility. Cooperating with God requires that we choose (discipline) to stop running and submit and humble ourselves under “… His mighty hand …” (1 Pet. 5:6) during His refining fire. As we choose to do this (discipline) we can reap the benefit of Him granting us a pure faith and an effortless transformation.
Mentee: Student in Training
The ministry session is the personal journey of the mentee. The mentoring facilitator is simply his traveling companion. The facilitator may ask questions all along the way, but only because the mentee has not yet learned to ask them for himself. Since the mentor does not have a clue as to what the final destination may be he never offers his opinion concerning direction.
So then, all of the responsibility for moving forward, where to turn, when to stop, and when to go, totally lies with the mentee. The mentee will choose to focus on what he is feeling. He will either allow or hinder the process of association from working. He will explore his own memory and identify his core beliefs. Once identified, he will offer them up to the Lord and receive the truth the Lord provides. He will test to see if the lie still feels true and if transformation has occurred. So even if the mentoring facilitator is asking all of the questions, the mentee is doing all of the work.
If a ministry facilitator ever thinks that he knows what needs to happen next, he should as quickly as possible reject such thinking and get back in his role and position of follower. The moment that the ministry facilitator ever does anything to move the session in any direction that he or she thinks it should be going, he or she is NO LONGER doing TPM. This is more of a problem with those who have practiced as a counselor prior to administering TPM. Old habits are sometimes hard to break.
Everything that occurs in the ministry session is fundamentally the responsibility of the mentee. Initially he will need the facilitator because he does not yet have the knowledge and understanding of the TPM PROCESS, PRINCIPLES or PURPOSE. However, he is still the one doing all of the actual “work” in the room at every stage of the journey.
- Owns the problem (belief) and stops blaming others and distracting himself of his emotional pain.
- Connects with his emotion and allows association to work.
- Explores his memory.
- Identifies his core beliefs.
- Offers-up his lie-based beliefs to the Lord (confession).
- Receives truth from the Lord.
- Checks for transformation.
The following videos will provide additional insight into the role of the mentee in the ministry session.
The Role of the Mentee
click here to learn how to download a copy of this video
TO DOWNLOAD A COPY OF THIS VIDEO, PLEASE FOLLOW THESE STEPS:
- Click the “Vimeo” logo found at the bottom-right of the video player (above).
This will take you to the video’s Vimeo page.
- Click the “Download” button found under the video on its Vimeo page.
This will open a pop-up box.
- Select the video quality you would like to download (remember, higher quality = larger file size).
After selecting which version you would like to download, you may be asked where you would like to save it.
Equipping Mentees for the Journey
click here to learn how to download a copy of this video
TO DOWNLOAD A COPY OF THIS VIDEO, PLEASE FOLLOW THESE STEPS:
- Click the “Vimeo” logo found at the bottom-right of the video player (above).
This will take you to the video’s Vimeo page.
- Click the “Download” button found under the video on its Vimeo page.
This will open a pop-up box.
- Select the video quality you would like to download (remember, higher quality = larger file size).
After selecting which version you would like to download, you may be asked where you would like to save it.
Comment Below
This is great, I have been using elements of TPM for years. THIS is what I have always believed the core to TPM was, this was and is GOD’s truth. Thanks!!!!
This was awesome, I am glad I opened the e-mail .lt was what I needed to hear as a reminder of Truth. The application on the
video was great.