These teachings provide keys of understanding for the equipping of students at Elijah House Ministries Keys to Transformations Courses. We come to understand: Why we and others behave the way we do. Why we experience difficulties in our lives and relationships. We have choices. There are solutions. How in the power of the Holy Spirit we are helped and enabled to help others.
Biblical Basis of EH Ministry – The fundamental laws of God are written into the universe and affect our lives as surely as gravity. We are all subject to these laws whether or not we believe them. When we transgress them, we set in motion forces that must be reaped by simple, impersonal law — law that is absolute and eternal. In our sinful responses to wounding, we begin early to develop patterns of behaviour that cause us to reap in adulthood the very thing we hate. We sow and reap in kind. We judge and do more of the same. We honour or dishonour, and in the area of life in which we dishonour, life will not go well with us. The pain we reap often seems out of proportion to the harm we have done, but Scripture clearly states the principle of increase.
(1) Honoring Father & Mother – In Hebrew, “kabod” or honour means to make glorious; in Greek, it is “time”: to place high value or price upon. Giving honour to our parents is a God-given command (Exodus 20:12).This teaching explores its meaning and outworking. The law of honouring affects our lives powerfully and completely. For prayer ministers, the absolute reliability of God’s law is protection against deception (Hebrews 4:12). Through the Holy Spirit and the Word, we help people recognise the excuses, rationalisations and smokescreens they use to justify sin.
(2) Bitter Root Judgments & Expectancies – Judgments are not only conscious actions, but also lodged in our heart, repressed and unexpressed. Once formed, judgments reap negative results. Bitter roots defile, and may be the most powerful negative force in our lives, bringing destruction to ourselves and those around us. Only through repentance at the cross can they be removed.
(3) Hearts of Stone and Inner Vows – This teaching discusses the condition of a heart of stone. We form hearts of stone early in childhood as a defense to pain. Hearts of stone give rise to and are further cemented by judgments, expectancies and vows, making us the loneliest people in the world – even in the midst of friends. We have already looked at the power of roots of bitterness to defile us and others, and to keep us from knowing the love of God. Our judgments will often give rise to determinations of the mind and heart called inner vows. We make inner vows in order to exert control over our lives, but like the bitter root judgments they are born from, they actually control and defile us and others.
(4) Heart & Mind – What is the difference between living from the head and living from the heart? And what is the heart anyway? Why do some people soak up love, while others are unable to accept or even feel love? A new understanding of heart and mind will change the way we see prayer ministry.
(5) Accomplishing Forgiveness – We learn in this this teaching makes the necessity of forgiveness clear. We learn how resentments become lodged in the heart and, once entrenched, require a work of God’s grace to be removed. The main stumbling blocks to forgiveness are misconceptions of what it means to forgive. Forgiveness is surrendering to Jesus our right to hold a judgement against someone who has sinned against us. Forgiveness does not justify sin or remove accountability from those who have hurt us, nor does it mean that we must act as though nothing has happened. Forgiving lets God be the judge and jury and frees us from the burden of holding the resentment and requiring justice.
(6) Repentance & Restitution – True repentance requires not only confession of wrongdoing, but understanding how sin hurts others and God, and willingness to make restitution that heals the hearts of those we have wounded.
(7) How We See God – In our infancy and childhood, mothers and fathers model a picture of God for us. We “see” what God is like by how they act and what they do. We interpret each succeeding experience through the lens of judgements we make and the expectations we develop as a result of what has happened in the past. The more judgements we make, the more our view of life and God is distorted. By the time we reach adulthood, our minds may have been taught that God loves and desires to bless us, but our hearts say, Y13.1 Jan 12 “Oh, yeah? He’s just like Dad (or Mum).” We are not capable of seeing life as it really is—experiences with our parents have given us ‘tinted spectacles’— until confession, repentance, forgiveness, death on the cross to the old way of seeing, and the gift of a new heart and mind enable us to see God clearly.
(8) Foundational Lies – In reaction to hurt, we often form lies about God, the world, others… and ourselves. God created each one of us with our own “song.” Foundational lies silence that song. This lesson explores foundational lies—what they are, how they affect us, and how to get free from them.
(9) Unmet Needs – When basic human needs go unmet, we may believe lies about and form bitter roots toward ourselves and others. This lesson deals with identifying needs, the results of believing the lies, and finally, the healing that leads to wholeness.
(10) Restoring Childhood Foundations – Beginning with basic trust, we must build each stage of our life on the one that went before. A poor foundation, in any stage of childhood, can negatively affect us throughout our adult lives, impacting our ability to relate to one another and, ultimately, the Lord. Through inner healing, we can rebuild each part of our foundations.
(11) Reconciling with God: Healing Spiritual Rebellion – Do you accept the life God has given you—your face and body, talents, family, country, etc.? Discover the fruit of spiritual rebellion, and how to turn and embrace life.
(12) Rightly Expressing Emotions – We are often taught to believe that certain emotions are wrong. We repress, hide, or deny them, instead of accepting them as God-given messengers. This lesson reveals how to bring emotions into the light, process and truly resolve them.
(13) Prenatal & Childhood Issues, Part One – This lesson presents both the scriptural base and modern research supporting the idea that what happens in the womb can affect us throughout life. Inner healing can repair the harm that has been with us from the beginning of our days.
(14) Prenatal & Childhood Issues, Part Two – This lesson explores the conditions, symptoms and healing of several common in-utero experiences, how they affect us in later life, and how to bring healing.
(15) Generational Sin – Sometimes prayer ministers exhaust every trace of personal sin in an individual, only to find great trouble still besetting the person’s life and family. The trouble may originate from causes outside a person’s own guilt or sinful nature, descending instead through family lines. We call this ‘generational sin’.
(16) Performance Orientation – Our mind and spirit may know the free gift of salvation, while our heart retains its habit of earning love by performance. There is a way to escape that trap.
(17) Parental Inversion / Cutting Free – Some of us grow up taking care of our parents, rather than vice-versa. This can cause all sorts of bad fruit in our adult lives. This lesson discusses how to heal the effects of taking on a role that was never our own.
Life is a growth process and what is right for one season is not appropriate for another. The main thrust of this teaching is in the area of marriage and the wisdom of cutting free from the childhood home with its emotional ties and becoming a family unit, in its own right.
(18) Adult Children of Alcoholic & Other Dysfunctional Families – Adult children of alcoholics and other dysfunctional families were once ‘children’ but were never child-like nor experienced ‘safe’ emotional development, being loved freely, easily receiving love or experiencing the carefree joy that is meant to be every child’s right to being. These childhood demerits wreak havoc in adult life. The teaching fans out under the following headings: problems of living as an adult child from a dysfunctional family; common characteristics of adult children of alcoholics and other dysfunctional families; lack of intimacy; generational illness; helping children of adult children of alcoholics and other dysfunctional families; and healing for adult children of alcoholics and other dysfunctional families. This teaching covers a lot of territory and is profound, but is presented in a manner that is readily understandable.
(19) Healing Relationships to Authority – No-one except Jesus has exhibited both perfect submission to authority and perfect leadership. We have all failed in both submission and leadership. This teaching deals only with our issues and attitudes towards those in authority over us. We will outline how history and Satan have worked together to destroy proper respect for authority, how that has affected us, and what Scripture says about proper submission even to those who abuse authority.
(20) Identifications of Love – On our own, we are not capable of loving as God loves. When we try to love in our flesh, we limit love’s
expression. God wants to bring our versions of love to death on the cross. This teaching is about identifications of love. These identifications are ‘packages’ of specific words, gestures, actions and attitudes that we deem to be love. Formed from childhood, these ‘packages’ are idols that define and limit our idea of what true love is; they almost assuredly deny us the full joy of giving and receiving it. When we demand our identifications of love from those around us, we defile the very relationships we value most. God desires to bring freedom to both receive and express His love in its many forms.
(21) False Refuges – When we are hurt or in danger, we seek out places for comfort and protection. Many of them do not truly provide protection or comfort, but are just places to hide from the truth. We become accustomed to running to these places rather than seeking the Lord’s protection and comfort. In this respect, they have become false refuges.
(22) Grief – To Be Advised
(23) Personal & Corporate Strongholds – Strongholds, both personal and corporate, are formidable obstacles to the healing process, for they are deeply embedded in our minds. Strongholds have lives of their own. This teaching examines the origin of strongholds, and the part the mind plays in blocking our relationship with God. Scripture offers us a model for entering into warfare against the strongholds that hold us captive as individuals, as groups, indeed as entire nations.
(24) Denial – Central to our healing is willingness to be known by ourselves and others. God calls us to “walk as children of light” (For the fruit of the light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth, Ephesians 5:9, NIV). When we live in denial, we walk in darkness and untruth, and cannot fully receive God’s healing power.
(25) Emotional Abuse – Arbitrary, inconsistent, or abusive parental discipline can damage the emotional well-being and security of a child, and destroy the natural sense of justice that God imparts to our being. This lesson explores healthy and appropriate forms of discipline necessary to raising children, and explains how the affects of bad discipline can be healed.
(26) Healing Life’s Common Sexual Experiences – We often over-react, or under-react, to the sexual behaviors of our children. All sins are not equal; Jesus made a clear distinction between greater and lesser sin. Handled improperly without understanding, the common sexual experiences of childhood and adolescence can wound deeply and lead to greater sins in adulthood.
(27) Shame – Shame causes us to build walls of protection around our heart, and hide from God and others. This lesson explores how shame affects our lives, families, churches, generations and culture, and how to find its root causes so that we may effectively minister and bring healing.
(28) Healing the Sexually Abused – The sexually abused often live with a barrage of emotions that keep them in bondage to the wounds of the molestation. This lesson explores the aftermath in the adult life of a child who was molested, and shows that through inner healing, any wound, no matter how deep, can be healed.
(29) Addictions – This lesson brings insight and understanding about how inner healing can remove the roots of this devastating problem. Those who minister to persons with addictions know how prevalent it is, even in the church.
(30) Praying to Release Trauma – Trauma comes in many forms: physical, loss, betrayal, etc. This lesson defines trauma, explains why some people are more susceptible to it, and reveals how to pray to release it.
(31) Spiritual Slumber – Spiritual slumber is a condition in which a person is unable to attune himself to God and others, access creativity and inspiration, maintain emotional perspective, thrive in the midst of illness, and live from a working conscience. To avoid pain, some people make inner vows that shut off these abilities. This lesson explains the symptoms of spiritual slumber, and how to reawaken the spirit through inner healing.
(32) Spiritual Captivity – Unlike one who spiritually slumbers, a person in spiritual captivity is still able to sense the life around him, but because of inner vows that distance him from life, he feels as if a wall separates him from direct participation. In this lesson, we explore the symptoms, and how to bring a person out of captivity.
(33) Burden Bearing – This lesson explores the character and experience of persons whose temperament causes them to attune themselves to others and pick up unwanted burdens, and how wounding occurs when this is done in the flesh. It also explains how to bring healing so that burden bearers are lifted up, not weighed down, as they carry to the cross in prayer only those burdens which only God places on our shoulders.
(34) Burnout – This lesson discusses the physical, emotional and spiritual conditions associated with burnout. We’ll explore its causes and possible prevention, and specify what is needed to help bring healing.
(35) Depression – In an earnest desire to help, well-meaning Christians unknowingly have caused torment, rather than eased suffering. If we are to truly help, we must be sensitive to the unique characteristics and ramifications of this painful condition.
(36) Care & Feeding of the Personal Spirit – God intends to transform our inner man (our soul). He will not put a new patch on the old garment of our character; it must die and be reborn. But our personal spirit never dies, although it does suffer the wounds of daily existence. God promises to heal these wounds, and He asks us to honour and care for our spirit as a precious and eternal gift.
(37) Overcoming Fears – We will cover the different kinds of fears and those who are susceptible to them. We will talk about healthy defenses against fear and about the role love plays in building those defenses. We also will present appropriate methods of ministry for simple and complex phobias, general anxiety and panic attacks. We will also look at the limitations of prayer ministers in dealing with these issues.
(38) Spiritual Development of the Believer – A person’s character largely determines many things in life. Most of our problems result from our own character weaknesses. God is in the business of developing our character (inner strength and integrity) even more than our giftings, because it is our character that will help us stay the course and endure to the finish—that we may be perfect (mature) and complete, free from everything that would hinder us from our destiny.
(39) Spiritual Adultery – When allowed to continue, spiritual adultery inevitably leads to physical adultery. This lesson outlines how this happens and how to bring healing. It also gives guidelines about what to do when spiritual adultery occurs in the prayer ministry relationship.
(40) Spiritual Abuse – This teaching explains the origin, nature and function of our personal spirit; the nature of the damage when this spirit is wounded; and the importance of its healing. A range of types of wounding and areas of abuse are touched upon (family, church, counselling), and also the essential ingredients for healing.
(41) Deliverance & Inner Healing – This lesson shows how demons take advantage of root issues, and how dealing with roots lays the groundwork for casting away demons. It also lays out principles for effective and lovingly administered deliverance.
(42) Resurrection Side of Healing – Honoring father and mother involves more than forgiving them. We need to see not only the bad they have done to us, but who God designed them to be, and learn to maximize that without minimizing our own pain. This will cultivate in us a heart that can honor others in all of our relationships.