There are many different kinds of relational prayer, and we will be posting much more detailed descriptions as time goes on. For now, this is meant to be a simple overview of the basic relational prayer process. Much of this information is based, specifically, on Theophostic Prayer Ministry™ as layed out by Dr. Ed Smith.
A person in emotional distress will often be presented with a situation or feeling in the present that we call a “trigger.” This trigger could be a something someone says or does, a painful situation, or even a belief. An important point is that this trigger is not the cause of the person’s pain. It is actually bringing out a lie-based belief. That lie-based belief is often learned at a very young age and then triggered again and again throughout life.
The lie-based belief (which we will just call the “lie” in our discussion) often comes as a result of a painful situation, so that is where we will need the healing touch of Jesus. Once we build a “context” of our belief and find the origin of it (the memory where we learned the lie), we ask him for truth about our belief. His truth adds perspective and understanding, and he sets us free from the lie that once held us. The pain is gone, requires no maintenance, and we live in effortless victory over our past.
So, in short, we felt a presenting emotion in the present, found the memory where we learned it, exposed the lie, and asked Jesus for truth.
It’s important to note that sometimes we might find the memory before even identifying the emotion we were feeling (don’t we all have painful memories that we can go to almost immediately, but have stuffed the emotion of them down to not feel the pain?). So, we can represent this process with the acronym M.E.L.T. even though the emotion can also come first, sometimes.
M (memory)
E (emotion)
L (lie-based belief)
T (truth of Jesus)
Here’s a simple example…
Suzie was ignored by her father growing up (a classical workaholic who believed that her mother should be the care taker of the children). She has always had a hard time making and keeping relationships, feels mostly alone, and yet desperately longs to be loved. Her husband forgets her birthday. She is devastated by his thoughtlessness.
In a session, as she is asked to connect to the present feeling, she might reach an idea like, “he does;t even care about me. I’m not worth anything to him.” As she presses into the emotion and dares to look at what she is believing about herself, she may discover that she feels worthless. As she is feeling worthless, a memory comes where she was a little girl sitting at the dinner table with an emotionally absent father, and interpreted the situation as defining that she was worthless.
She felt the present situation (forgetful husband), which opened up the memory of learning that she was worthless (the memory and lie). As she is connected to that lie, she asks Jesus to tell her the truth about her belief that she’s worthless. He speaks to her experience (not like a friend who speaks cognitively, but as a creator that speaks into the very spirit and soul of his creation), and he tells her that she is worth everything to him. Her lie-based belief is replaced by the full understanding of her value to Jesus.
We will have many more examples of what healing prayer looks like. The important points to remember (for now) are:
- It is important to FEEL the presenting emotion
- As we FEEL the emotion, our heart will take us to memories where that feeling was present
- As we build the “context” of the lie-based belief, we may visit a number of memories and situations throughout our life
- once we reach the origin of the belief, we identify the exact lie-baed belief
- Jesus will heal the lie-based belief with his truth
- we will live in effortless victory over our past
There are many more topics related to this. Anger, sadness, anxiety, shame, fear, and self-beliefs vs beliefs about God will all be discussed as we go. We hope to help provide knowledge and understand so that God’s people can live in joy and freedom!!!!
For more information, we have a downloadable pdf file that might help…