609 Independence Parkway, #115
Chesapeake, VA 23320
www.MeadowsHealingPrayerCenter.com
757-696-4053

Inner Healing Prayer
This is an article on Theophostic Prayer Ministry, a Spirit-led and Christ-centered approach to inner healing and mind renewal. Frank Meadows, LCSW, is the founder of the Meadows Healing Prayer Center in Chesapeake, VA. He is a clinical social worker and psychotherapist. (See biography at the end of the article.)

What is inner healing prayer? Some might think it sounds like a mystical concept. However, anyone using inner healing prayer simply believes that a powerful, supernatural God desires to heal and restore His people emotionally and to renew their minds, as He promised in the Bible. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:2 NIV) (Note that as I refer to the term Inner Healing Prayer throughout this article that memories really do not need to be healed. What occurred in our past has already occurred and is a fact. What needs touched or renewed is the interpretation of events or “lie based thinking” that becomes internalized in our past memories. As the Lord reveals His Truth in memories in the context of the healing prayer process the pain leaves and symptoms subside as the lie based thinking is replaced with God’s truth in a way that healing does occur.)

The healing concepts I will share actually flow together simply, are easy to comprehend, and quite natural. That is how the Lord does things. Inner healing prayer also includes believing that God can do far more than we could ever imagine. God is not limited to our preconceptions of how people are emotionally healed. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us. (Ephesians 3:20 NKJV)

I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and a Mental Health Professional with 30 years experience. I have always been seeking to find the Lord in the counseling, healing process by utilizing prayer, scripture, and inviting the Holy Spirit into the therapeutic process. I have always felt there was more that Jesus, through His Holy Spirit, wanted to do that Christian Counseling alone did not accomplish. I believe in and practice Christian Counseling and do not mean to diminish it as it certainly has its place and usefulness.

Even in college and graduate school in the 1970’s and early 1980’s I remember reading about inner healing. I read Dr. David Seamonds Healing for Damaged Emotions as well as other authors whom the Lord had given insight into the supernatural realm of emotional healing. Although intrigued, I never thought God would use me to minister supernaturally to His people. Did you ever notice how the Lord telegraphs or gives us glimpses of the things He calls us to? It always made sense to me that God still wants to dramatically transform those who have been emotionally wounded. Isn’t our God a SUPERNATURAL GOD? Isn’t He “the same yesterday, today and forever”? I believe that He is. Scripture says that God is our healer and also that greater works than these will we do. Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. (John 14:12 NKJV)

Over the years, my searching and openness to wanting more of God’s healing power in the counseling, healing process continued. I went to various seminars and training to learn more. I am very grateful for the groundwork that many have laid over the years; they were being used by God in pioneering inner healing prayer and mind renewal. However, even though I gleaned useful concepts from many places and integrated them into my counseling and healing repertoire, I was unable to find something that worked well for me.

In 1999, that all changed when I was introduced to the teachings of Dr. Ed Smith who is an ordained Southern Baptist Minister and Christian Counselor. Dr. Smith and I were in the same healing journey. He was seeking, as I was, to bring his clients into a deeper, Biblical, healing encounter with the Spirit of God in his counseling practice. He was frustrated, as was I, in finding only what he called tolerable recovery and not total healing of the emotional wounds that people suffered from or a resolution of their symptoms. I could understand where a person had lie-based and faulty thinking and I could even communicate the truth to them; yet people were still struggling to be free and to grasp in their hearts what they intellectually believed to be true. For instance, one may know intellectually that their sins are forgiven, but still live in guilt, shame, and condemnation.

During formative years we all experience wounding from various hurts in life. Unfortunately, we internalize these beliefs and they become a part of our core belief system; therefore, lie-based thinking is set in place as a stronghold develops. For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:3-5 NIV)

A stronghold in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 is defined as a BELIEF that is not in line with God’s truth. A belief that develops into a stronghold needs a Divine Power Encounter, a freeing touch from Heaven in order to be demolished. In terms of emotional healing, when we internalize and believe a lie about our life or who we are as a person that is contrary to God’s Word we will walk in defeat and bondage. We will struggle with unnecessary problems and emotional symptoms like depression, anxiety, unworthiness, shame, and self contempt. The degree of bondage parallels the degree of a person’s woundedness and the depth of the internalized lie-based thinking. Unfortunately we can “know” (intellectually) the truth yet not be free as we have not internalized it at the core “experiential,” belief level rooted in those early memory experiences. A wounded believer in Christ can know and understand the Biblical concepts about their true identity in Christ. However, they can intellectually believe it and still not fully grasp the concepts in the core of their being because of these early wounds.

WE LIVE AND REACT FROM OUR CORE BELIEFS. That is why it is important for us to deal with our past hurts and seek and allow the Lord to renew our minds. I am totally convinced that God wants to reveal Himself to us in the deep places of our hearts. We need the SUPERNATURAL WEAPONS OF WARFARE to bring down our strongholds or core root beliefs. Did you ever try to convince someone with low self-esteem that they were worthwhile? They may intellectually accept the concept but when push comes to shove they revert back to their core beliefs. In other words, we live day to day and react from the core beliefs that are stored and rooted in the experiential part of the mind. So we can KNOW the truth of scripture but not really get it and not live in the true freedom that Christ intended for our lives.

Counseling will help; however, what we end up doing is layering truth in the LOGICAL ROOM of the mind over the CORE (lie-based) BELIEF (stronghold) that is rooted deeply in memories in the EXPERIENTIAL ROOM of the mind. The lie is then triggered or activated every time a similar emotion or situation triggers the historical lie which then causes an old emotional response to be activated in the here and now.

During a time of personal struggle, soul searching, and seeking God, the Lord revealed some simple but powerful principles to Dr. Ed Smith. These principles of mind renewal and healing revolutionized his ministry and mine as well as I studied and applied the Theophostic Prayer Ministry principles in my counseling ministry. (Dr. Ed Smith is the founder of Theophostic Prayer Ministries (www.theophostic.com).

I had a successful Christian Counseling practice prior to this time and God used me to touch people’s lives. However, since I started to use the Theophostic Prayer Ministry approach, I now consistently see memories completely resolved as Gods’ truth is revealed. I see people’s lie-based thinking in memories resolved as Jesus reveals HIS TRUTH and the pain from their memories is released supernaturally. Jesus, through his Holy Spirit, does what you and I in our own strength cannot do.

Therefore, what really happens in the Theophostic Prayer Ministry process is not healing of memories but mind renewal. A person receives a revelation of truth by a direct encounter with Jesus in the memory. As a result, the pain is released as truth is received on this deep level in the experiential part of the mind. Healing is a byproduct of a renewed mind.

God does not want us to have just more INFORMATION but a REVELATION that leads to TRANSFORMATION. We already have so much cognitive Christian information, books, and numerous versions of the Bible. We do not need more of that. We need to have an encounter with the Living God in the part of the mind where renewal is needed, i.e. in the core memory places where the lies are rooted. THEN we will KNOW the truth and be more fully set free and walk in peace and freedom!

I am not saying that healing prayer is the only way we can receive God’s truth since God works in many ways. As we experience anointed worship, teaching, preaching, personal Bible study and devotions, and in many other ways, we receive truth and grow in Him. What I am referring to in this article is where we are stuck, where we get emotionally triggered over and over. These are the places we need a deeper healing encounter with Jesus and a revelation of His truth.

I now have people from around the United States and other countries come for extended times of Healing Prayer who are seeking a deeper healing encounter. In 2006, I formally started the Meadows Healing Prayer Center (www.MeadowsHealingPrayerCenter.com) in Chesapeake, VA where people can come for extended and intensive times of healing prayer and mind renewal. I found many people are desperate and hungry for a real encounter and touch from the Living God, for real healing and breakthrough.

What makes Theophostic Prayer Ministry unique and effective?

As I previously stated, I use the term, INNER HEALI NG PRAYER, because that is a term many of us understand. However, the difference I see in the Theophostic approach is that a memory really is not what needs to be healed. It is only the container in which the LIE or interpretation of past hurtful events are stored. What happened to us in our past has already happened. The lie (how we interpreted the event) or stronghold that is stored or imprinted in the memory container is now the problem. It has become a core belief. The emotional pain we experience now, in our daily lives, is coming from present situations that feel familiar or like those original places where we were hurt and lies took root. We now see the world through these lenses. If we learned to believe during these hurtful life events that we were unworthy, not good enough, others cannot be trusted, etc. or as an abuse victim who feels terror, helplessness, dirty, and shameful, we will go through life interpreting situations through that grid. Therefore, what is needed is mind renewal, a revelation of truth at the core foundational memory level. We need for the Lord to give us some Heavenly, corrective lenses.

In 2005, I had the privilege to accompany my wife, Beth, and the team from The Christian Broadcasting Network, (CBN), where she is employed, as they went to remote, poverty stricken villages in India. Operation Blessing tended to their medical needs as they have very little if any health care. A few weeks before we came, Operation Blessing’s medical teams examined and fitted those who had vision problems with glasses. When we arrived we saw older people who had not seen clearly in years put on those new eye glasses and for the first time see things clearly. What joy they experienced in that moment. In the same way, when God reveals His truth to us in the root memory places of our mind, our vision or understanding, is supernaturally corrected in that loving, God-truth encounter.

We have all been wounded by sinful and fallen people as a result of living and growing up in a sinful and fallen world. Even when we are raised in a healthy, functional family with the best intentions all we can do is minimize the damage to our young psyches. As we mature and go through life, the problem, years later, is not the fact that our parents were divorced or that we were abused or that we were often rejected by others. Instead, the problem is now how we interpreted these life events. Unfortunately, these lie-based beliefs stay connected to us like flies on an outhouse or rats around a garbage can. What Theophostic Prayer does is connect a wounded person in need of mind renewal with a Spirit-led truth encounter with Jesus, who is the Spirit of truth. I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you. (John 16:12-15 NIV)

One might ask why this is necessary; don’t we already have the truth as revealed in scripture? Don’t we as Christians have the truth of the gospel through good preaching, teaching, and Bible study? Is not that enough? Don’t we learn that when we sin we are forgiven when we confess and repent? Doesn’t the person who has learned to believe that they are guilty, shameful, dirty, and worthless learn that they are forgiven, clean, and of great value and worth as a new creation in Christ? The answer is yes; as we grow in our faith we progressively learn these truths; there are many ways God reveals His truth to us. However, there is still a problem in our receptors or how we interpret and receive information.

The mind has two rooms: Cognitive and Experiential.

The cognitive room is the place where we reason and study, where we have facts and data, where we have a logical understanding of things. We can, for instance, know logically that our sins are forgiven, that we are a new creation in Christ. We can believe the Bible gives us hope; we can believe what the Bible says about the fact that we are of great worth and value but at the same time feel unworthy, unlovable, hopeless, guilty, and defeated. Ask any pastor or therapist about the difficulty people have with internalizing this information. They can rationally believe something to be true that they cognitively believe and yet internally struggle deep down to experientially accept it. Another way of saying this is that I get it in my head but not in my heart. That 18 inches from our head to our heart can be a long journey.

This is where Theophostic prayer is very effective in imparting truth on a deeper level, in that other room which is the experiential part of the mind. The experiential room is the subconscious part of the mind, the part of the mind where past memories are stored. In these memories children make faulty interpretations of painful life events and are filled with emotional pain as a consequence. Our emotional pain is connected to our CORE BELIEFS. In those past memories where I was belittled and put down I may learn to believe that, I was not important and that I didn’t matter. The emotions that I feel connected to the belief would be worthlessness, insecurity, shame, and self contempt, etc.

The sexual abuse victim who was molested and overpowered by an older, bigger person who made them do sexual things against their will and threatened to hurt them if they told anyone, also internalizes core beliefs. As an adult, they may display emotional reactions when they confront a controlling, strong personality or authority figure. These reactions may be toward a spouse, a boss, or even their pastor. This occurs when a person is triggered, or reacts strongly to a here and now life situation that taps into similar types of emotional pain from the historical, wounded places. A computer analogy I use is that of typing in an e-mail address; before we can finish typing, the address or a similar address pops up. Why? Because the computer has been previously programmed with that address or a similar address. In a similar way, when a person is triggered by a current life event, past programming pops up just like the e-mail address and all the pain floods in from earlier life programming or experiences. In these historical memories the person may have experienced being helpless and powerless. They believed they would be hurt if they told anyone. They may feel the emotions of fear and anxiety. The sexual abuse victim whose body responded physically may also have felt some ambivalent pleasurable feelings along with the painful disgusted feelings. They may believe that they were bad, that it was their fault or that they were dirty and shameful as well as fearful and helpless. Even though in their logical, adult mind they may KNOW these things not to be true, they EXPERIENCE them as true.

The problem is that we go through life reacting and living from the experiential part of our mind. That is why we need a truth encounter in memory with Jesus so His truth can be revealed and expel the lies internalized in these earlier life events.

How does Theophostic Prayer Ministry actually get the Lord’s truth in memory places?

Theophostic prayer is a Spirit-led process by which a Theophostic Prayer Minister asks the ministry recipient focus on their current emotional pain as well as any physical feelings in the body or images that come to mind. For example, I might recommend the person close their eyes to help them focus on their painful emotions for a few minutes while I briefly pray and invite the Holy Spirit into the session. I have them tune in to their emotional pain and physical sensations such as body tension and tightness. When anyone experiences emotional pain in the present often they are having emotional and sometimes physical memories that are triggered by current life situations, which might be related to conflicts in family, work place, or even in church or other areas of day to day life. Where a person is OVERREACTING, is probably a place where they are being triggered and the mind is activating painful emotions rooted in a former unresolved conflict of past memories. In fact, it can be anything in life that causes a strong emotional reaction or overreaction that is more than the present circumstance warrants. I call this being triggered.

When we are being emotionally triggered, the reaction is from that experiential room or part of our mind letting us know that the present situation FEELS familiar. Typically, day to day when triggered, we do not make a connection to past events. We just feel bad in the here and now. We may project our feelings onto others and blame them for our reaction. Most of us have developed coping techniques and defense mechanisms that help us bury, suppress, and avoid our pain. Many compulsive addictive behaviors are used to cover or numb out. Alcohol, drugs, eating disorders, work, and sex are often used to cover pain. Although it looks good on the surface, even “working for the Lord” can become compulsive if the inner motivation is denial and avoidance of one’s personal problems and emotional pain. An example would be people who are always at church events in an out of balance way, while neglecting their own family. The greater the past hurts the more likely we are to bury, suppress, repress, defend, dissociate, or numb out our emotional pain.

God wants more for our lives than to be forgiven or to just intellectually know we are loved and of great worth, value, and dignity. He wants us to experience being forgiven and to know deep down who we are in Christ and to walk in the fullness of our destiny, purpose, and life’s calling. Only when our hearts are touched and transformed and our minds renewed does real breakthrough take place. In Isaiah 61, we see God’s purpose in coming to earth and in restoring His children from the effects of sin. The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners; to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn, to grant those who mourn in Zion, giving them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting so they will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified. (Isaiah 61:1-3 NASB)

We know from this and other scriptures that the Lord desires for His children a deeper, fuller and richer salvation. He longs for us to be healed, delivered, and our minds renewed. In order for us to receive His comfort we must mourn or in other words, stop managing our pain and feel it. In the healing process we must allow our minds to go to the memory places that contain our lie-based thinking. In a healing prayer session I do not ever suggest memory content as a prayer facilitator. I just help the individual to feel and stay connected to their pain and to stay out of that logical room of their mind; I encourage them to go to the memories that emerge and then ask questions about their painful emotions in order to help them discover their own lie-based thinking.

For example, I might ask: “What are you feeling as seven- year-old Susie when Dad left you and Mom for another woman and you did not see him much after that?” If she responds, I feel scared, I might ask, “Why do you feel scared?” Because Dad is not there to protect me and I feel insecure, lonely and sad. “Why do you feel that?” I feel sad because I’m all alone and like I’m not important any more to Dad. I’m not a priority, I don’t matter and I feel unloved. “Is there anything else you feel Susie?” Yes, I feel guilty. “Why do you feel guilty?” Because they always argued about me. “What does little Susie in that memory believe about that?”

I assume that Susie knows logically as a 40-year-old adult and a Christian that these core beliefs about her are not true; however, in the memory as that 7-year-old girl it feels like her parent’s arguments about her and Dad’s leaving were her fault. Susie like most of us can logically know the truth but not be free. Therefore, Susie walks through life feeling unlovable, guilty, and overly responsible and insecure.

After a person feels through the memory, I would help them identify the beliefs or lies that feel true to them in the memories. I would then have them embrace the lie, feel the pain, and then ask Jesus to reveal His truth to the lie-based thinking in order to bring His Light into their darkness of core belief. Jesus is not revealing truth like you or I might reveal truth to someone. JESUS IS TRUTH and scriptures say He is the Spirit of truth.

In the Healing Prayer process it is not enough to just recall the memory like we normally do when remembering the past; instead, it is important to feel through the memory. In doing so, I have them feel the painful emotion and embrace the lies and ask Jesus to reveal truth in the memory container. When the Lord reveals truth at the memory level a tremendous breakthrough takes place. When they receive Jesus’ truth the pain leaves and freedom and peace settle into the memories that are visited. As one’s mind is renewed in the memory container the feelings and triggers start to subside and a deep abiding peace and freedom emerges in one’s present circumstances.

I am not suggesting a quick fix or that one prayer and all life’s problems are solved and all the symptoms diminished. We have thousands if not millions of memory events in our past. The good news is we do not have to visit them all and none of us will be totally free until we are in Heaven with Jesus. However, if we will listen to what our painful triggers have been trying to show us over the years and allow the Holy Spirit of God, who thoroughly knows every minute detail of our lives, to reveal His truth, then the lies that form our core lie-based beliefs and prevent us from really being able to walk in His truth will start be removed. Only then can we find real freedom and peace. Hallelujah!

In the last 10 years I have trained many people in the United States as well as in Turkey. In addition, I had the privilege to accompany Dr. Smith to Ghana, Africa during his first live African training and I was blessed to be able to minister healing prayer to leaders there.

Since 1999, I have had the privilege of facilitating Theophostic Prayer Ministry for over 15,000 hours to hundreds of people and many Christian leaders with tremendous results. I see all kinds of memories completely resolved, truth revealed, and current symptoms diminished. This regularly occurs as one CHOOSES at their deepest level to allow their painful emotions to emerge, identify their lie-based beliefs, and allow the Lord to reveal His truth. I have witnessed at least several thousand of the most psychologically damaging, traumatic sexual abuse memories COMPLETELY RESOLVED and pain free. I have witnessed their transformation as the Lord’s truth replaces their lie-based thinking. I witness their symptoms of shame, self contempt, fear, and helplessness subside as the Lord’s truth replaces their lie-based thinking in early foundational memories that have plagued their lives.

You must proactively choose healing; God will not violate your will.

One final note is that you too can be healed and restored but you have to CHOOSE at the deepest level to feel your pain, connect in memory, and allow the Lord to reveal His truth; God will not violate your will in healing and renewing your mind, just as He will not force us to accept His salvation. However, the good news is that He is always waiting to heal His people, renew our minds, and to take the pain from our lives that He has already made provision for on the Cross. Do not shrink back but come forward to receive today all he has for you. But my righteous one shall live by faith; and if he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul. Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (Hebrews 10:38-39; 11:1 NASB)

Take a step of faith into the fullness of what God has for you; step by faith out of your fear and deal with these unrenewed parts of your mind that are the root of your pain. These are the places and situations where we over react and struggle relationally with others, the places that we cover over with our defenses and medicate with compulsive addictive behaviors. Most of our sinful behaviors, I believe, are really rooted in unresolved wounds from our past. Allow the Lord’s truth to go to the depths of your being to truly set you free! Take a step of faith today and pursue your personal healing.

Frank Meadows, LCSW

Meadows Healing Prayer Center

609 Independence Parkway,  #115

Chesapeake, VA 23320

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Brief Bio

Frank Meadows, LCSW, is the founder of the Meadows Healing Prayer Center in Chesapeake, VA where he has ministered to and trained many locally, nationally and internationally utilizing Theophostic Inner Healing Prayer. He is a mental health professional, a licensed clinical social worker and the clinical director of Christian Psychotherapy Services in Chesapeake, Virginia. His ministry focuses on ministering to leadership and bringing healing and restoration to those with emotional, relational, spiritual and abuse trauma recovery issues.