Frequently Asked Questions about Inner Healing Prayer
answered by Rev. Tammy Melton, LPC
Question: Who needs IHP?
Answer: Everyone needs God’s perspective. However, IHP may not be the tool, or perhaps not be the right timing, to use for certain people. For example, someone who has a history of trauma and abuse may not be ready to deal with certain issues that stem from childhood trauma when first starting on a journey of healing. I do not recommend lay people who have been trained in IHP to use this tool on such people. Instead, refer them to a professional Christian counselor who has experience in dealing with trauma.
Question: You said sometimes it is the right tool but not the right time. How do you know when it is the right time?
Answer: Basically, when something surfaces, it is usually the right time. I have had clients say they think they are slipping back in their healing journey if they have an emotional mishap. Just because negative emotions rise to the surface, it does not necessarily mean that the person has lost forward momentum in the journey to healing. On the contrary, it may mean the opposite; she may not have been ready to deal with this issue before now.
Question: Is IHP confidential like traditional counseling?
Answer: Absolutely! Facilitators and note-takers are trained to be strictly confidential.
Question: Does IHP contradict the Bible verse that tells us to “forget the past and press on to what is in the future”?
Answer: No. The context of that verse in Philippians 3 was Paul listing all his religious “works” and how all the things he did in the past do not matter in the spiritual realm. The only way for someone to move forward and not be stuck in the wounds of the past is to allow God to give His perspective on his past. I do not believe it is God's intent to take someone back to a traumatic memory to retraumatize him. However, sometimes God will take the recipient to a memory to free him from the hurt that occurred there. The facilitator does not take the recipient to a memory; he only asks God’s perspective of a memory if one comes to mind after asking God what He wants to say or show the person.
Question: I heard a famous Christian speaker say that inner healing is not good because it focuses on the problem and has the person looking down instead of looking up to focus on Jesus. Is that true?
Answer: The approach to IHP is not to focus on the problem as much as it is to seek God for why a person was affected by the problem. For example, a good prayer to pray is, "Lord, why did what that person said or did affect me the way it did?" God will answer and lead you to freedom as you let go of unhealthy perspectives and embrace His truth!
Question: 1 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” Since Jesus died on the cross not only for our salvation, but also for our healing, shouldn’t we just trust in the finished work of the cross for our physical, mental, and emotional healing?
Answer: Praise God for the finished work at the cross! When we accept what Christ did on the cross, our spirit is born again. If we were to die right then, we would be in Heaven! While our mind, will, and emotions can receive a tremendous breakthrough right then, there is also a process of sanctification of becoming more like Christ. Hebrew 10:14 (AMP) says, “For by the one offering He has perfected forever and completely cleansed those who are being sanctified [bringing each believer to spiritual completion and matureity]." Christians still make mistakes and battle in our minds. (Even the Apostle Paul did. See Romans 7, which was after the finished work of the cross.) IHP is just one avenue that can help set us free to receive the healing Jesus took stripes on His back to give us.
Answer: Everyone needs God’s perspective. However, IHP may not be the tool, or perhaps not be the right timing, to use for certain people. For example, someone who has a history of trauma and abuse may not be ready to deal with certain issues that stem from childhood trauma when first starting on a journey of healing. I do not recommend lay people who have been trained in IHP to use this tool on such people. Instead, refer them to a professional Christian counselor who has experience in dealing with trauma.
Question: You said sometimes it is the right tool but not the right time. How do you know when it is the right time?
Answer: Basically, when something surfaces, it is usually the right time. I have had clients say they think they are slipping back in their healing journey if they have an emotional mishap. Just because negative emotions rise to the surface, it does not necessarily mean that the person has lost forward momentum in the journey to healing. On the contrary, it may mean the opposite; she may not have been ready to deal with this issue before now.
Question: Is IHP confidential like traditional counseling?
Answer: Absolutely! Facilitators and note-takers are trained to be strictly confidential.
Question: Does IHP contradict the Bible verse that tells us to “forget the past and press on to what is in the future”?
Answer: No. The context of that verse in Philippians 3 was Paul listing all his religious “works” and how all the things he did in the past do not matter in the spiritual realm. The only way for someone to move forward and not be stuck in the wounds of the past is to allow God to give His perspective on his past. I do not believe it is God's intent to take someone back to a traumatic memory to retraumatize him. However, sometimes God will take the recipient to a memory to free him from the hurt that occurred there. The facilitator does not take the recipient to a memory; he only asks God’s perspective of a memory if one comes to mind after asking God what He wants to say or show the person.
Question: I heard a famous Christian speaker say that inner healing is not good because it focuses on the problem and has the person looking down instead of looking up to focus on Jesus. Is that true?
Answer: The approach to IHP is not to focus on the problem as much as it is to seek God for why a person was affected by the problem. For example, a good prayer to pray is, "Lord, why did what that person said or did affect me the way it did?" God will answer and lead you to freedom as you let go of unhealthy perspectives and embrace His truth!
Question: 1 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” Since Jesus died on the cross not only for our salvation, but also for our healing, shouldn’t we just trust in the finished work of the cross for our physical, mental, and emotional healing?
Answer: Praise God for the finished work at the cross! When we accept what Christ did on the cross, our spirit is born again. If we were to die right then, we would be in Heaven! While our mind, will, and emotions can receive a tremendous breakthrough right then, there is also a process of sanctification of becoming more like Christ. Hebrew 10:14 (AMP) says, “For by the one offering He has perfected forever and completely cleansed those who are being sanctified [bringing each believer to spiritual completion and matureity]." Christians still make mistakes and battle in our minds. (Even the Apostle Paul did. See Romans 7, which was after the finished work of the cross.) IHP is just one avenue that can help set us free to receive the healing Jesus took stripes on His back to give us.