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Healing Prayer (sometimes called inner healing prayer) is a specific
type of prayer for therapeutic and spiritual growth purposes.
Healing prayer is a tool developed by Leanne Payne, John and Paula Sandford,
the Kylstras, Ed Smith and many other Christians who minister to those wounded
in spirit and soul. Each person ministering in healing prayer has his own
variation of praying such prayers.
Healing prayer ministry is prayer based ministry that focuses on inviting the
Lord Jesus to speak into wounded areas of the heart. To overcome painful
emotion, it is sometimes necessary to discover lie based thinking packed away
in past experiences. It becomes necessary to allow Jesus to replace these
lies with truth and experience the touch of Jesus to remove the pain.
There are other ways to minister the love of Jesus to the wounded soul. The
most common involves renewing the mind with scripture. This is a sound
biblical process that should not be neglected. Over time, such a practice can
produce very good fruit. However, this process focuses on a single part of
our soul, the logical mind. The beliefs that we deeply hold arise mainly from
early painful experiences. We know from neurobiological studies that such
experiences and their meanings are stored in pathways of the brain that only
partially touch the "logical apparatus."
Perhaps this is why Jesus emphasized the heart as well as the mind. It is
out of the heart that the wellsprings of life bust forth. We are called to
both renew our minds and allow the Lord Jesus to touch our hearts. Sometimes
he does both at once. For many though, the mind erects strong walls of
protection around a heart that is wounded and in need of life-restoring
ministry. These walls (denial and dissociation) may serve a valid function
for a time and cannot be dismantled indiscriminately and without sensitivity.
The process of allowing the heart to receive healing usually involves a degree
of emotional pain. It may seem difficult for the time, but the rewards of
genuine healing are worth the effort.
All of us are wounded in some degree by past experiences in our lives and can
therefore benefit from healing prayer ministry. Able to benefit the most are
those experiencing negative emotion such as abandonment, shame, fear, anxiety,
powerlessness, depression, defilement, insignificance, worthlessness,
hopelessness and confusion.
2. Asking the Holy Spirit (Jesus) to take us to the source(s) of these
ingrained beliefs.
3. Confessing the lies believed in those memories and acknowledging our
inability to change these lies into truth without Jesus' help.
4. Asking Jesus to reveal His presence in our pain in whatever way He chooses.
Note: Sometimes blocks may stand in the way such as unconfessed sin,
unforgiveness or revengeful emotions like anger, hate and bitterness. If a
person is willing and ready, these can be confessed and forgiveness received.
5. Receiving Jesus' ministry in the memory.
Elements of Healing Prayer
1. Acknowledging the beliefs of our inner heart and feeling the emotions they
stir.
Page prepared by Edward Hersh. Send comments to:
Edward Hersh