What is Theophostic Prayer Ministry (TPM)?

In my book I make a brief reference to Theophostic Prayer Ministry (TPM). Put simply, it is one of many forms of prayer for inner healing of emotional wounds.

A little background as it relates to me. About twelve years ago I was doing a lot of counseling at church and getting pretty frustrated. It didn't matter what I told people...it didn't matter how powerful the truth was...people weren't finding freedom on a consistent basis. That just seemed wrong to me.

Then a fellow pastor shared with me a video series on prayer for inner healing. It was about a new approach called Theophostic Prayer.  The word theophostic simply means "God's light". It refers to God revealing the source of our emotional pain and then healing us. I watched the videos and I was struck by the simplicity of it. I'm over simplifying it here but it basically involves a prayer facilitator helping a person find the source of their emotional pain through prayer.  

I was trained in this technique and worked with many clients. I then trained a few people in my church who built a ministry around this technique. We have seen hundreds of people set free from deep issues of depression, shame, anger, etc. as a result. The frustration that I  had in my previous counseling experience evaporated as person after person found true freedom.

Sadly, TPM has taken some criticism from people that don't understand the nature of it.  However when you compare the few who have criticism to the tens of thousands of people using this prayer ministry in over 150 countries worldwide the criticism becomes minuscule. Also, TPM has been maligned, not so much for the process but the facilitator. As with any counseling profession, there are good counselors and bad ones. But we don't negate the counseling profession just because of a bad counselor. So don't let the criticism of TPM scare you away.

My book, Healing the Hurts of Your Past,  is an excellent primer for TPM, that is, it doesn't teach you how to do it but it helps you understand the role that lies play in our dysfunction and how we can find true freedom. 

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