Theophostic Prayer Ministry
Phase One: Basic Training Seminar Starting
9 weeks- Registration fee $45
Each person will complete the 14 Video session in the Theophostic Basic Training Seminar. The group will watch the discuss the 14 sessions that make up the core teaching of this ministry approach. This will be accomplished over the course of nine weeks.
Date: January, 2010
Time: Tuesdays 7:00-9:00 pm
Location: Riverside Church- Modular B
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A Newsletter of Discovery at Riverside Church
By Rev. Dale Fiegland
The desire of our Discovery ministry is to continually refine and improve our relationships with God, ourselves, and others. We are here to discover all that God intended us to be. Theophostic Prayer Ministry has been a dramatic tool God has used to refine and improve my relationships. Theophostic Prayer Ministry has helped me to see the difference between tolerable recovery and emotional freedom. Discovery has been a 12-step ministry that transforms our wounded lives, through the Holy Spirit and biblical principles, into more satisfying intimate relationships that Jesus wants for us. Theophostic Prayer Ministry fits right into this process by helping us experientially deal with the lies we believe about ourselves because of our past memories.
I have had difficulty living the Christian life, not because of the lack of zeal or determination to do better, but because of the lies I believe about myself like: I will never be happy because this has happened; I am all alone; no one needs me; I have been overlooked; there is no one to protect me but me; I did not try to run away; I don’t matter; What I say is not important. I could go on and on. I knew the truth, but my memories were permeated with lies and my knowledge of God was more cognitive than experiential. I knew the truth, but still had triggers through present emotions that helped me feel like the lies were true. One of the lies I believed about myself was no one was there to protect me. If I needed protection I had to do it myself. I was dramatically abused as a child, as an adult I tried to control everything and felt overwhelmed, pulled in every direction, sometimes weak and helpless. Hurtful criticism and condemnation went deep into my heart and mind as a child. As a result of this lie I could never feel comfortable or at ease if someone was behind me, let alone touch my back without my permission. I have actually hit people or objects that touched my back trying to surprise me. (Some of you, through the years, have witnessed this behavior). I went back to a memory and experienced Jesus protecting me. The feeling, anxiety, is now completely gone. I no longer have this uneasiness when someone is behind me. I found that every lie I believed hindered me from living effortlessly in the finished work of Christ. As I found freedom from these lies experientially with Christ, I began to walk victoriously and effortlessly in that area of my life. I am finding true Christian victory has nothing to do with me, it’s God’s grace and Christ’s work in me. My victory is becoming maintenance-free and is “easy” because it is not based on my self-effort or willpower. More biblical truth and personal application of that truth did not result in freedom which I found effortless. It gave me the right “answers,” but I still continued to suffer. I was good at saying “My God shall supply all your needs (Phil 4:19)” and “We are more than conquerors (Romans 8:37).” Just because I believed these statements logically did not mean I knew them experientially. Freedom for me, “genuine maintenance-free recovery,” happened when I went beyond knowledge into experience. I experientially, through Theophostic Prayer Ministry, discovered the truth of who I am in Christ. God taught me “to know the love of Christ, which surpasses knowledge that I may be filled up to all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:19).” Theophostic Prayer Ministry has helped me go beyond my cognitive understanding to experience God’s presence.
