(material here is drawn from the teachings of Dr. Karl Lehman & from Pastor Patricia A. Velotta)
Immanuel Prayer is an inner healing approach designed to increase intimacy with God and to build cognitive and emotional capacity
The Purpose of the Positive Memory Approach • The Pain Processing Pathway
The Immanuel Prayer approach to inner healing is unique in the way that it results in deep intimacy with God. It restores one's relationship with God by removing barriers of deep wounds, lies and sin that are consequences of unresolved trauma in one's past. As God removes the barriers, we are able to see Immanuel for who He truly is and can respond to His love while being transformed into His image.
Immanuel prayer is not a counseling session, a deliverance ministry or a prophetic ministry. It is a prayer time to meet with Jesus. He always leads. He always does the work. He always overcomes.
The first and primary goal in an Immanuel Prayer session is to connect with God and enjoy being with Him. That connection with God often leads to healing, counsel and deliverance, which is a secondary benefit to being in His presence. This enjoyment of being with Him also helps us to see Jesus for who He really is—His nature and character. We learn to experience Him in past memories and in the present. Overtime, these encounters cause us to gain a secure attachment with the Lord.
"Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and forget not all His benefits!" - Psalm 103:2 ESV | "Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I never forget the good things He does for me." - Psalm 103:2 NLT
The Process
This Immanuel Prayer session is preceded by an opening orientation and prayer. You start with a positive memory, then you also have the option of moving into a negative/traumatic memory, if the recipient feels connected and safe, and is willing to go there. Allow for 1-2 hour for each prayer session (1 hour and a half is about right).D
Jesus & the Coach
Remember that Jesus, not the coach, guides the Immanuel Prayer process and gives the revelation. So as a coach, let Jesus work directly with the recipient. Once the recipient is connected to Jesus, he/she will discover intimacy and healing in the direct encounter with Jesus, without additional intervention from the coach. The coach facilitates the process, while Jesus leads the direction and content of the session. A coach is essential for listening, attuning, evaluating and reminding the recipient to turn to Jesus. The coach has an important function. It's just not at the wheel. Your job is to coach the recipient to turn to Jesus for help and not to you. Remember, you are always the coach, never the Savior. You are the connector, never the Connection. So let Jesus go where He wants to go and do what He wants to do without your intervention or initiative. The coach also reminds the recipient that Jesus has the wheel of the session.
What About Impressions That Come to The Coach?
When the coach has a lingering impression that something is not right or needs addressing, he/she can say, "The thought that is coming to me is..." Simply tell what is happening to you instead of weighing your interpretation with divine authority by saying "Holy Spirit is telling me," or "God says..." When as coach, you tell the recipient what is happening to you then you can submit your own impressions to Jesus by suggesting that the recipient speak to Jesus about them. "Jesus, what do you want me to do about it?" This way, Jesus remains behind the wheel, and the recipient is still in the front seat, and the coach stays in the back.
Attunement
Attunement deepens the experience for the recipient, because what they say is listened to and affirmed by the session coach. So as a coach, listen carefully to what is being shared and reflect back what the person has said, in your own words. Ask: "Did I understand that correctly?"
As a coach, I am successfully offering attunement if I see you, hear you, correctly understand your internal experience, join you in the emotions you're experiencing, genuinely care about you, and am glad to be with you.
You, the recipient, have successfully received my attunement if you feel seen, heard, and understood, if you feel that I am with you in your experience, and if you feel that I care about you and that I am glad to be with you.
Another attunement that is of upmost importance is between the recipient and Jesus. Attunement feels like Jesus connects and understands. Here, the recipient is aware that Jesus perfectly understands and perfectly cares. Suddenly, nothing else seems to matter. Even the negative ramifications of a memory vanish when Jesus fills the screen.
Appreciation
Memories of joyful connections and relationships make the brain very stable. Appreciation of these positive memories release joyful bonding hormones which turn on relational circuitry in the brain, leading to deepening intimacy with Jesus.
Secure Attachment with Jesus is a Goal
Secure attachment is a vital human need; it is designed to be met during early childhood by a loving parent or caregiver. This attachment is the ideal foundation for relationships. When parents fail to act positively, in ways that a child can count on, a child will feel insecure.
Secure attachment with our parents and/or caretakers occurs if:
When I look for a parent, I can find him/her.
When I find him, he/she is always happy to see me.
He/She is the solution to my problem.
When we get separated, we can always come back together.
In Immanuel Prayer, Jesus never fails to manifest Himself, to show joy in being with the recipient, and to provide the solution to the recipient's dilemma. In the process, He reveals lies, brings His truth, and heals deep wounds. He is 100% consistent in His character and His abilities. Establishing secure attachment with Jesus corrects the attachment wounds of our childhoods. It moves us from a fear-based life to a joy-based one. Great fruit! So how do we know we have a secure attachment to Jesus?
You and I will know we have a secure attachment to Jesus:
When we look for Him, we always find Him.
When we find Him, He is always happy to see us.
He always has the answer for our problems.
When we get separated (for whatever reason), we have the assurance and inner security that we will always come back together.
Memory-Work
If there is bad fruit there are bad roots. When we are not living the kingdom life of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit, wounds, lies, and sin are actively at work. Memory work takes us back to the source and origin (roots) of our continuing distress (fruit)... God designed a memory system with built-in protection. God built our brains with a protection system like the circuit breakers in our houses. When we are overwhelmed by negative emotions, our circuit breakers pop—that is, we forget, bury, or put away our traumatic material rather than going crazy. As little children, some situations overwhelm us. We simply could not process them, but now, as adults with Jesus' help, we can. This is important because the feelings of a memory—the anger, sadness, disgust, or fear—remain long after the facts of a memory are no longer available to us. Jesus is there and is able to let us know the feelings and facts again. Sometimes the recipient needs to ask for each piece. So we coach them to always keep looking at Jesus as best as they can.
When There's Fear or Reluctance To Go Into a Traumatic Memory
Most memories that Jesus takes the recipient into are not that pleasant on some level; if they were they wouldn't need healing. At times the recipient may be reluctant to explore a memory with Jesus. God knows! If the recipient is unready or afraid, Jesus is never demanding. There will be other days. Jesus seems to be fine about waiting until the recipient is ready. He goes about building an ability and willingness to go with Him. So we encourage the recipient to take time to enjoy Jesus and let His love and compassion soak in. When Jesus does this, He is preparing the recipient to go into a memory.
Emotional Capacity
The ability to trust Jesus, by knowing Him for who He really is, increases our emotional and spiritual capacity. The Christian life is all about building capacity. Getting to know Jesus intimately builds the recipient's capacity to face the most difficult of hurts and wounds—with Him (and in facing daily life's challenges, stresses, and distresses). He loves to be with us. Another reason Jesus has for building capacity is to bring the recipient into His good plans for his/her life. "but the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits." - Daniel 11:32 NKJV
Cognitive and Emotional Circuits Must Be Turned On
If the memory is a normal memory , the recipient will remember both cognitive and emotional data.
Cognitive circuits carry the factual content—knowing the what, when, where and why of the memory. It can be remembered or supplied by Jesus if your cognitive circuits are on. That is why the recipient keeps asking, "Jesus, what do You want me to know?" and "Please help me turn on my cognitive circuits." The picture comes into focus as Jesus brings the missing pieces.
Emotional circuits carry the feelings of memories—it is feeling the emotions of the memory. When the recipient is fully reliving a memory, she will feel happy, sad, frustrated, angry, scared, and so forth. If the recipient knows she/he is angry in the memory, but does not feel the anger in the memory, then her/his emotional circuits are not turned on at all. Here the coach encourages the recipient to ask Jesus for help saying, "Jesus, will You help me turn on all my emotional circuits?" If the recipient is experiencing a cognitive memory without emotions, he/she will be able to report exactly what's happening but feel nothing. As the recipient asks Jesus to help, you as the coach encourage him/her to press in, knowing that the feelings will probably be uncomfortable. You might remind him/her, "This may not be pleasant, but remember, it will only last for a moment." As you coach the recipient to feel his/her feelings, remind the recipient that feeling his/her negative feelings is not the primary goal, but that feeling all his/her emotions also includes receiving the good feelings of Jesus' attunement.
Inside Or Outside Of The Memory?
The recipient might not experience the emotional content of her memory because she is outside of herself in the memory. When the recipient arrives in a memory, she can observe it from outside or can experience it from inside herself. If she is observing it from the outside, like a movie, she will be able to see what is happening to her, but she will not be able to reconnect with her feelings. If the recipient reports she doesn't feel anything, I ask if she is outside herself. "Do you see the memory like a movie, standing outside of the picture watching yourself in the scene?" If so, encourage the recipient to make a heart decision to get inside of herself in the memory. Once inside, the recipient will report a different perspective. Suddenly, the recipient will probably feel her emotions as well as experience her senses. For deep healing to occur, we look for the recipient to be fully present in the memory and fully connected cognitively and emotionally.
Safety Net
Keeping in contact with Jesus is vital to the healing process. Knowing where Jesus is in the present as well as in a memory will provide a safety net for the dark places that are in need of healing. By establishing His presence in the room [in the present] before going to a traumatic memory, the recipient sees that he/she can move back and forth between the room and his/her memory. Jesus is in both places. You've established a safety net for him/her. If the [traumatic] memory gets too scary, the recipient can lose Jesus in the memory. The coach then brings the recipient back to the present encounter just experienced to get resettled with Jesus before returning to whatever is happening in the memory and finding Him there again.
Encouragement Is Important
The coach is cheering on the recipient in the session. Phrases like these go a long way to help the recipient feel supported and cheered on...
"It's good to be with You, Amanda."
"Strong work! You are doing a good job!"
"Lord, give her/him grace and courage."
"This is good work, press in!"
And when the recipient reports something Jesus said that sounds like the old tapes of our brokenness we play to ourselves, the coach can have the recipient ask, "Jesus, is that you?" Jesus will let the recipient know.
Who Is This Ministry For?
The Immanuel Prayer approach is for anyone—lay people, professionals, and beginners—and everyone who is willing to let Jesus do the hard work. The strongest asset for a recipient is being willing to let Jesus do all the hard work.
Immanuel Prayer Webpage Specially Made
This Immanuel Prayer approach—in this web page—is made especially with beginners in mind so that it is easy for them to lead another person in it. The beauty of Immanuel Prayer is its simplicity. In this one approach, you can deal with both a positive memory and a negative memory. This is all the resource needed to do a complete session with a person. Another strong quality of the approach is that the structure of the positive memory is pretty similar to the negative memory part. Because of its structure and simplicity, Immanuel Prayer is one of the most reproducible approaches of all inner healing ministries. It is a preferred inner healing tool on the mission field because it works cross-culturally, cross-generationally, and it is easy to train others in it.
You Can Use The Immanuel Prayer Approach On…
yourself
another person (as you lead someone through this approach)
whole group (just gotta give ample time through each step for all to walk through their own process) - one suggestion is to have each person journal what they sensed from Jesus when they ask Him these questions: Jesus, what do You sense and feel about me? What do You want me to know?