The process of sanctification and transformation by inner healing is not a formula, but a Holy Spirit-led work in the hearts and minds of God’s people for the purpose of restoration and reconciliation. In His Word, God has given us the way and the means to help others to implore on His behalf, “Be reconciled to God.”

The law of judgment applies not only to our conscious actions, known and performed outwardly, but also to what is lodged in our heart, repressed, unknown and unexpressed. Once formed, judgments reap results. Bitter roots not brought to the Cross defile, and may be the most powerful negative force in our lives, bringing destruction to ourselves and those around us.

In order for us to have true fellowship, God has to pierce or melt our hearts of stone. Hearts of stone give rise to, and are further cemented by judgments, expectancies, and vows, making us the loneliest people in the world even in the midst of friends.

If our hearts are pure, we are able to comprehend the glorious nature of God, and relate to Him in a blessed intimacy. But when judgments and bitterness are lodged in our hearts, our perception of God becomes distorted, crippling our relationship with Him.

Accurate head knowledge of the faith produces nothing in terms of expressing the fruits of the Holy Spirit, unless what is lodged in the heart relative to parents is countered by effective grace in Jesus on the cross. Almost every failure in life can be traced sooner or later to the breaking of one commandment: “Honour thy father and mother”.

The primary need for forgiveness springs from the Law. Until forgiveness is effected in the heart, the law of sowing and reaping must roll on to its inevitable conclusion. Forgiveness is central to being made whole. This lesson makes the necessity of forgiveness clear. Learn how resentment becomes lodged in the heart and, once entrenched, requires a work of God’s grace to be removed.

An essential role of prayer ministers is to help those in pain find the freedom of godly repentance. True repentance requires an awareness of sin at the heart level, and understanding of how sin hurts others and God, a willingness to accept full responsibility for our actions, and the determination to change.

The constant tendency of the born-anew is to fall back into striving by human effort. Our mind and spirit know the free gift of salvation, but our heart retains its habit of earning love by performance. We live unaware that motives other than God’s love have begun to corrupt our serving into strife, tension and fear.

Parental inversion is not an easy sin to hate. The difficulty is that for many people it has become the most noble definition of life; the sacrifice and service it involves are readily justified by Scripture. But God asks us to lay down our lives for other people for His sake, rather than out of the impure motives of our own wounded hearts.

Basic trust is the first and foremost of developmental accomplishments, without which succeeding lessons cannot be learned well. Failure to acquire basic trust negatively affects us throughout our adult lives, impacting our ability to relate to one another and, ultimately, the Lord. We can depend upon the Lord to build basic trust in us, even though we did not acquire it in infancy. Father God is able to reach into our innermost being and fill us with His tender, enfolding love. Prayer ministers can help to communicate God’s unconditional love through gentle prayer and godly affection.

We are designed both to give and to receive love, and know in our spirits that love is necessary nourishment to our lives. But are we able to receive love in its infinite forms of expression offered us by God and others, or do we identify and accept love only when it comes in a few select “packages”? Formed in childhood, these packages are idols which define and limit our idea of what true love is; they almost assuredly deny us the full joy of giving and receiving it.

We will see the importance of listening and establishing the trust necessary to allow people to share their lives. Sensitive listening occurs in three ways: we listen with our minds; with our empathic personal spirits; and with an ear to what God wants to tell us. Our listening results in information-gathering which will lead to areas of woundedness, helping us to recognise fruit-to-root patterns.

This lesson explores the conditions, symptoms and healing of several common in-utero experiences. In each of these cases, a child may react sinfully to the wounding, and then later in life reap the consequences of those reactions made in the womb. Special emphasis on the problems of adoption gives prayer ministers tools with which to help adoptive parents bring their adopted children to life.

Scripture testifies to the sin of man passing from one generation to the next. In this lesson, we look at ways we are defiled through generational sin. Through prayer, we can help free families from their generational patterns of destruction.

Central to our healing is a willingness to be known by ourselves and others. God calls us to “walk as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth)” (Ephesians 5:8b-9). When we live in denial, we walk in darkness and untruth, and cannot fully receive God’s healing power.

This lesson helps us understand the ways in which we seek shelter or protection in places other than the Lord, and how He invites us to find refuge in Him. It explains how false refuges are developed and the problems they can cause. It gives hope and healing to overcome some of life’s most plaguing and addictive issues.

We are often taught to believe that certain emotions are wrong. We blame our sinful behavior on our “wrong” feelings, and then try desperately to control them. We repress, hide, or deny them, instead of accepting them as God-given messagers. This lesson looks to Jesus as a model for dealing with our human emotions. Through His responses in the Garden of Gethsemane, we explore some the attitudes we have about our own emotional life.

Reconciliation between the fields of inner healing and deliverance will help to bring freedom, wholeness, and maturity to the Body of Christ. This lesson seeks to correct misunderstandings and abuses which perpetuate the conflict between the two areas, and offers Scriptural support which integrates them appropriately. The relationship between healing and deliverance is both necessary and practical in the process of sanctification.

Strongholds, both personal and corporate, are formidable obstacles to the healing process, for they are deeply embedded in our minds. Strongholds have lives of their own. In this lesson, we will look at the origin of strongholds, and the part the mind plays in blocking our relationship with the Lord. Scripture offers us a model for entering into warfare against the strongholds that hold us captive as individuals, as groups, and as entire nations.

A captive spirit is a condition related to but more serious than that of slumbering spirit. Rather than simply being awakened to life, a captive or imprisoned spirit must be set free from the powers of darkness. In this lesson we explore the symptoms and discuss healing for the person whose spirit is captive.

This lesson helps us understand the functions of our own personal or human spirit. If we are not awake in our spirit, we will not be able to function in various areas of life. We will learn what causes the spirit to slumber, how to identify the symptoms of a slumbering spirit, and how to distinguish between true conscience and remorse conscience.

No one except Christ has exhibited both perfect submission to authority and perfect leadership. We have all failed in both. However, in this lesson we will only deal with our issues and attitudes toward those in authority over us. We will outline how history and Satan have worked hand-in-hand to destroy proper respect for authority, how that has affected us, and what Scripture says about proper submission, even to those who abuse authority.

We are all to bear one another’s burdens, but some are especially called by the Lord to do so. This lesson explains the gift of burden bearing, and explores the character and experience of the burden-bearing personality, including the wounding that occurs when the gift is misunderstood or misappropriated. The more we bear the burdens of others appropriately, the more we feel the weight and horror of sin, and thus the more we sense the price our Lord Jesus paid for our continued existence.

This lesson looks at how God intercedes through us to bear others’ burdens without our being crushed as we try to help. We look at how this gift of burden bearing in intercession can bring us into a closer relationship with Jesus, in which we can feel His heart for those for whom we are interceding.

Three major factors that contribute to sexual addiction are fear, anger and lust. People use these to hide from their true, underlying feelings in an effort to gain protection and comfort. It is the job of the prayer minister to recognise this and go beyond what is visible in order to bring the hidden pain into the healing light of the Lord—and to help the one receiving ministry to invite the Lord to dismantle those structures that keep him bound in sin.

Scripture says that “an anxious heart weighs a man down, but a kind word cheers him up” (Proverbs 12:25). This lesson explores the nature of anxiety in general, the more potent panic attacks and phobias, and how they can be overcome.

Many Christians believe that depression is sinful in that it denies the hope and joy of the Lord in our lives. But depressed people are not at fault for their condition. They truly cannot help themselves. In this lesson, we learn what depression is and why depressed people need the help of others. This lesson explains the steps necessary to begin the healing process.

Major loss invokes in us intense emotional suffering, or grief. In this lesson, we will review the process of grieving, to see how we get “stuck”, unable to move through the stages of grief and beyond into acceptance and healing. Also included is a special focus on how to understand and facilitate grief in children.

This lesson discusses the physical, emotional and spiritual conditions associated with burnout. We’ll explore its causes and possible prevention and specify what is needed to help bring healing. We also explore how burnout relates to conditions of depression and wounding.

We look at boundaries from a biblical point of view and we will also apporach the issue of boundaries from the perspective of both the prayer minister and the one being ministered to.

When assented to and allowed to continue, spiritual adultery inevitably leads to physical adultery. This lesson outlines its roots and symptoms and gives guidelines as to what to do when spiritual adultery occurs in the prayer ministry relationship. Additional information is also given on the problem of empathetic defilement, a concern in any relationship.

As with “Spiritual Adultery,” closeness and intimacy between people in ministry situations may give rise to inappropriate attachments, dependencies, or confusion from transference in relationships. This lesson offers insights and help for prayer ministers in handling these situations in godly ways.

The degree to which we reject circumstances of our lives, our family, our job, or our physical appearance, indicates the degree to which we are in spiritual rebellion. Like Satan, we are all angry at God, dissatisfied with His provision for our lives. This lesson will identify the attitudes which indicate the problem, and discuss the fruits of this sin in our lives.

The damaging effects caused by occult involvement and how to bring healing.

This is a lesson in awareness. Prayer ministers must continually practice rigorously honest self-examination as we come before God with our gifts, knowledge, and healing abilities. This lesson describes some of the many ways in which prayer ministers can act outside of the will of God.

Often we ignore the dangers of spiritual laziness and fail to seek the spiritual nourishment that comes through Bible reading, prayer, home fellowship, etc. Then, when things go wrong, we blame God. Prayer and healing are not “magic,” nor can they be substitutes for the work of discipleship to which He calls us. This lesson illustrates numerous disciplines by which we can maintain our healing and further develop our relationship with the Lord to strengthen new and healthy structures to replace the old and sinful patterns in our lives. The process of prayer ministry would be incomplete without instruction and support in this area.