Sunday, April 1, 2012

Immanuel Approach continued

Much of my thinking about God and man lately has stemmed from using the Immanuel Approach to Healing Prayer. I learned about this approach at a conference held by Dr. Karl Lehman  back in November, and have been testing it out on my (daring) friends since then. I knew some things about healing prayer going into the conference, but the new stuff I learned there excited me. I hoped as I left the conference that this slightly different approach to helping people pray through pain and trauma was easier to use and  more effective than the approach I had used before (something similar to Theophostic prayer).

I have not been disappointed. For all the sessions I've done (barring those where the pray-er had to hurry and catch a train or something) the people have heard from Jesus directly to their hearts in really powerful ways. In some cases, people who haven't felt the presence of Jesus in years have been able to receive breakthroughs.  Before you think in your mind that I'm doing something altruistic here, I have to say that watching Jesus show people what He has to show them is fascinating for me personally.  It's like watching a true movie about the truest thing there is, but told in a different way, and to a different person with every session. All of this goes a long way in enriching my own faith walk.

Dr. Lehman wrote up a brief description of the Immanuel Approach, that I think is clear and succinct.  I haven't found it online anywhere, so 'm typing up and posting it below for people who want information about Immanuel prayer. Also, if you life near Illinois, Tennessee or Kansas here is a list of people (all of whom are more qualified than I) who you can contact for help in removing the barriers between you and Jesus.

So here it is in a nutshell

The Immanuel Approach:

  • Immanuel means "God with us" in Hebrew, and the Immanuel approach takes the reality of God's ongoing presence as its primary foundation.
  • Thousands of professionals and lay people around the world are applying the Immanuel approach to resolve past pain, deepen intimacy with God, and discern God's ongoing guidance. 

The Immanuel Approach to Emotional Healing:
  • Shifts the primary objective from "resolve trauma and relieve symptoms"to "help the person connect more intimately with Jesus by removing barriers between her heart and Him." We gratefully accept the resolution of psychological trauma and the associated symptom-relief as side benefits, but the more important priority is to remove blockages that stand between our hearts and Jesus. 
  • Starts with recall of positive memories and deliberate appreciation, to prepare our brain-mind-spirit systems for connecting with the Lord; and then establishes a living, interactive connection with Jesus as the foundation for the session.
  • Is organized around turning to Jesus, focusing on Jesus, and engaging directly with Jesus at every point in the session.
The Immanuel Approach to Life:
  • Includes healing for psychological trauma, but clearly recognizes that this is only one part of God's agenda for working in our lives. For example, the Lord also wants to build our capacity, grow our maturity, and spend time "just" being with us as a friend.
  • Takes the tools for helping us connect with the Lord outside our special "sessions," with the ultimate goal of helping us get to the place where we perceive the Lords' presence, and abide in an interactive connection with Jesus, as our usual, normal, baseline condition as we walk through life each day.
  • Again, identifies the primary objective, the most important priority, as intimacy with God. 

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