Desert
Stream Ministries
Healing Prayer Resources
Compiled by Dan Hitz, Executive Director of Reconciliation Ministries, www.recmin.org, June 10, 2006.
This list is intended to provide a brief description of many ministries which specialize in healing prayer. Some of these programs are available through Reconciliation Ministries. Others offer conferences throughout the US, and all offer valuable online resources. Theophostic Prayer Ministry and many of the programs offered by Desert Stream Ministries are available through Reconciliation Ministries. Call 586.739.5114 for more information.
Desert
Stream Ministries
Kansas City, KS
Desert Stream Ministries is a healing ministry which has many curriculums specializing in sexual and relational issues including homosexuality, sexual addiction, pornography addiction, marital unfaithfulness, transgender issues, difficulty with intimacy, frigidity, incest recovery and childhood sexual abuse recovery. This ministry effectively combines theology, psychology, and healing prayer in a format that includes corporate worship, large group teaching and prayer ministry time, and small group sessions. The main focus of this ministry is to develop a deeper intimacy with Jesus Christ so that He can repair faulty emotional and spiritual foundations resulting in healthier sexuality.
Curriculum Includes:
Living Waters
Living
Waters is the
primary program from Desert Stream Ministries and covers a wide range of sexual
and relational issues. The focus is approximately 80% spiritual foundations and
20% boundaries. Living Waters is a closed 30-week program, which means
that participants must complete an application and an intake interview to assess
their readiness and must begin the program within the first three weeks.
Comiskey, A. (1996). Living Waters: Sexual and Relational Wholeness through Christ. Kansas City, KS: Desert Stream Press. This manual is available only to participants of the Living Waters program.
Cross Current
Cross Current is an 8-week version of Living Waters summarizing the highlights of the larger program. It is an open support group and participants may attend any or all of the sessions. No registration is required. Cross Current may be used in an evangelical manner for unchurched participants or used specifically for Christians.
Comiskey, A. (1999). Cross Current. Kansas City, KS: Desert Stream Press.
Falling
Forward / Sexual Addicts Learning Trust (S.A.L.T.)
Falling Forward is a 20-week program for heterosexual males struggling with sexual/pornography addiction. The focus is approximately 20% spiritual foundations and 80% boundaries, action plan development, and study of the cycles of addiction.
Lockwood, C. R. (2000). Falling Forward: The Pursuit of Sexual Purity. Kansas City, KS: Desert Stream Press.
Men Pursuing Purity
Men Pursuing Purity is an eight-week version of S.A.L.T., yet also covers many of the spiritual aspects of the Living Waters program. It is intended for heterosexual males struggling with pornography and/or sexual addiction. The curriculum may be used in church small groups, individual study, and facilitated as an official recovery program. The focus is approximately 70% spiritual and 30% boundaries.
Citlau, R. (2005). Men Pursuing Purity. Kansas City, KS: Desert Stream Press.
Additional Resources
Comiskey, A. (1989). Pursuing Sexual Wholeness: How Jesus Heals the Homosexual. Lake Mary, FL: Creation House.
Comiskey, A. (2003). Strength in Weakness. Downer’s Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press.
Comiskey, A. (2004). Where Do I Go from Here? Help for Wives Facing Their Husbands' Sexual Brokenness. Kansas City, KS: Desert Stream Press.
Comiskey, A. (2005). Beauty and the Breach: Liberating Marriage from Sexual and Relational Sin. Kansas City, KS: Desert Stream Press.
Morrill, C., & Coy, W. (2000). Soulutions: Relational Healing for the Next Generation. Kansas City, KS: Desert Stream Press.
Theophostic Prayer Ministry, Campbellsville, KY, www.theophostic.com
Theophostic Prayer Ministry is a healing prayer model that is useful for helping people overcome a wide variety of emotional issues including depression, anxiety, panic disorder, trauma, obsessive compulsive disorder, dissociative identity disorder, and sexual abuse. The foundational premise is that emotional difficulties are rooted in lies which the person believes about him/herself. In short, a person believed a lie about him/herself at an early stage in his/her life, and lives as though a filter has been placed over his/her heart which causes him/her to interpret emotional information and life experiences based on the lie.
The prayer minister is careful not to suggest situations, ask leading questions, or offer his/her own insight to the client during the prayer session. The lie is usually rooted in the client’s own emotional or cognitive misinterpretation of his/her own event(s) which he/she could easily understand if objectively observing another individual. The client may be able to cognitively recognize a realistic answer, but cannot apply that answer to his/her emotions. The prayer minister asks the client to focus on the negative feelings he/she is experiencing and then asks the Holy Spirit to take the person back in his/her memories to the first time the person felt the same way. As the person remembers the first time he/she experienced the same negative feelings, the prayer minister asks the Lord to reveal the lie that was planted during the event. The minister then asks the Lord to speak the truth about the situation and dispel the lie. Because the client hears the Holy Spirit identify the lie and speak the truth while remembering the source and origin of the lie, the truth moves beyond the cognitive realm into the emotional realm. When this happens, current life experiences no longer have the power to trigger the negative emotions caused by the lie.
A simple example of this would
be a childhood sexual abuse survivor who feels dirty when she has legitimate sex
with her husband. She begins to understand that the first time she felt dirty
while having sex was when she was sexually abused by her adult neighbor at the
age of four. It
was there that the lie was planted that “Sex is dirty, and I am dirty because I
didn’t stop the man from having sex with me”. As the prayer minister asks the
Holy Spirit to speak the truth, the client receives the truth from the Lord in a
way that is meaningful to her. It may include such simple truths as, “You
couldn’t stop him because you were only four,” or “You didn’t want him to do
it.” Prior to the pray, the client usually understood the truth intellectually,
but it has now moved into a heartfelt understanding since the truth was spoken
by the Holy Spirit. She is now able to experience sex more freely with her
husband because she is no longer bound by the lie that she is dirty because she
did not stop the neighbor from sexually abusing her.
This ministry uses a more conversational prayer approach, rather than a theological study of Scripture or a psychological treatment model.
Smith, E. M. (2005). Theophostic Prayer Ministry: Basic Seminar Manual. Cambellsville, KY: New Creation Publishing.
Smith, E. M. (n.d.). Theophostic Prayer Ministry: Basic and Advanced Seminar Series, DVD. Cambellsville, KY: New Creation Publishing.
Restoring
the Foundations
Santa Rosa Beach, FL
Restoring the Foundations is a healing prayer technique that is useful on a wide variety of emotional and spiritual issues and is almost identical to Theophostic prayer ministry. The manual is better written than the Theophostic manual, easier to understand, and generally covers the same concepts with different vocabulary. Additionally, Restoring the Foundations focuses on generational sins and curses, soul/spirit hurts, and demonic oppression.
Kylstra, C., & Kylstra, B. (2001). Restoring the Foundations: An Integrated Approach to Healing Ministry (2nd ed.). Santa Rosa Beach, FL: Proclaiming His Word Publications.
Pastoral Care Ministries (Leanne Payne)
Wheaton, IL
Pastoral
Care Ministries
is one of the original prayer ministries helping men and women to overcome
unwanted homosexuality. The founder, Leanne Payne, has mentored Andy Comiskey,
founder of Desert Stream Ministries; and Mario Bergner, founder of Redeemed
Lives Ministries. It is also very helpful for sexual abuse survivors and those
dealing with severe emotional wounds. Pastoral Care Ministries’ prayer
model focuses on “listening prayer” where the prayer minister and the client
both learn to develop the ability to hear the Spirit of God in relation to
his/her wounds and needs. Unlike Theophostic and Restoring the
Foundations, Leanne Payne’s model does use guided imagery during prayer
ministry. Regardless of one’s opinion of guided imagery, there is a wealth of
other useful ideals in her prayer model. This ministry tends to have a strong
scholarly and theological focus, which makes it somewhat difficult to understand
for the average reader.
Payne, L. (1994). Listening Prayer: Learning to Hear God's Voice and Keep a Prayer Journal. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Publishing Group.
Payne, L. (1996). The Broken Image: Restoring Personal Wholeness through Healing Prayer. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Publishing Group.
Elijah
House Ministries (John and Paula Sanford)
Post Falls, ID
Elijah House Ministries is one of the original healing prayer ministries. Its founders, John and Paula Sanford, have mentored Jack Frost, founder of Shiloh Place Ministries. The Elijah House School of Ministry uses an extremely effective blend of clinical psychology and spirituality to help people struggling with a wide variety of emotional, spiritual, and relational issues. There are many valuable resources available on the Elijah House website.
Shiloh Place Ministries (Jack Frost)
Conway, SC
Shiloh Place Ministries is a healing prayer ministry that specializes in empowering Christians to experience a deeper understanding of God’s love as they receive healing from wounds inflicted by their earthly parents. These wounds frequently cause people to serve God out of fear and obligation rather than love and acceptance. This is a good ministry for people struggling with mother/father wounds, religiously inspired perfectionism, rejection, hopelessness, and spiritual burnout. The focus of Shiloh Place Ministries is helping Christians learning to develop a Biblical, intimate relationship with God the Father. There are many outstanding written, audio, and video resources available on the Shiloh Place Ministries website.
Frost J. (n.d.) From Slavery to Sonship. DVD and audio cassette.
Frost J. (n.d.) Breaking Free: Exposing Bitter Root Strongholds. DVD and audio cassette.
Frost, J. (2002). Experiencing the Father's Embrace. Lake Mary, FL: Charisma House.
Frost, J. (n.d.). Experiencing the Father's Embrace Teacher's Manual. Conway, SC: Shiloh Place Ministries.
Disney’s the Kid
Disney’s
the Kid is a
fun (hilarious) way to understand healing prayer. Russ Durrich is a tightly
wrapped, obnoxious image consultant who is turning 40. Although he is
financially successful, Russ is unable to experience love and acceptance from
those around him and masks his self-rejection with annoying perfectionism. His
very imperfect, 9-year old self shows up to complicate his “perfect” adult
life. The movie shows how lies and wounds buried deep in the heart of a 9-year
old boy can still impact one as an adult 30 years later. It includes a very
effective scene where the adult self understands why he acts the way that he
does as he goes back to a traumatic event experienced by his 9-year old self.
Turteltaub, J. (2000). Disney's the Kid. Burbank, CA: Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Inc.