Inner Healing Methods by Virkler and Lehman

It is an honor to do a podcast with Dr. Karl Lehman on the topic of various inner healing methods. Dr. Karl has been involved in inner healing for more than 35 years, as have I. He has come at it through the lens of brain science and hearing God’s voice, and I have come at it through the lens of a Charismatic theologian. We have arrived at very similar methodologies; my guess is probably a 95% or greater overlap in the way we minister to the wounded heart. Enjoy our 60-minute discussion below.

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Reflections on the video

The many models of inner healing have a core methodology that is about 80% the same.
The remaining 20% of methodologies have some significant differences which greatly affect how easy and safe it is to minister inner healing, and how effective the end results will be.
Following are several simple propositions to incorporate:
1. Let Jesus lead through the heart of the client, rather than through the administrative and prophetic skill of the counselor. This means you guide the client to look for and listen to Jesus as He reveals Himself through flowing thoughts (His voice), flowing pictures (His visions) and flowing feelings (Kingdom emotions) which are occurring within the heart of the client.
2. Help the client’s brain prepare to connect with God by beginning the session with having them recall and reconnect with a positive memory in which they felt appreciation. This guides them into relational mode (turns on their relational circuits), and makes it easier for them to connect with God. Furthermore, if they use a positive memory in which they experienced God’s presence, this activation of a memory for a past experience of connecting with God will make it even easier for them to connect with the Lord in the present.
3. Have a safety net so if you run out of time or the client gets stuck in a painful memory, you have a way to restore them to peace before you end the session. The safety net is to have them return to the memory of gratitude they began the session with.
4. Have a second safety net - Dr. Mark’s approach: Make sure the client knows how to hear God’s voice and see vision before you begin the session. For example, require training on the four keys to hearing God’s voice as a prerequisite for doing inner healing work. Dr. Karl’s approach: Make sure the person is able to connect with God in the context of the positive appreciation memory before moving forward with inner healing work.

A summary statement

Dr. Karl Lehman, founder of “The Immanuel Approach” and Dr. Mark Virkler, founder of Christian Leadership University, are in agreement that God’s voice is easy to hear and an essential part of the inner healing ministry (Jn. 10:27; 6:63). God’s revelation is received as flowing, spontaneous thoughts, pictures and feelings bubbling up from the River of the Spirit within (Jn. 7:37-39). This revelation is to be honored, written down and shared with another in order to experience its maximum transforming power (Rev. 1:9-11). Jesus, the Wonderful Counselor, is to be given central place in all inner healing ministry. Inner healing should begin, continue and end by drawing upon the Spirit’s continuous revelation, which ushers in direct personal encounter with the Wonderful Counselor.

All revelation is ultimately confirmed by ensuring it is in agreement with the Bible, by observing that it produces good fruit (for example, peace in the recipient’s heart), and by confirming specific content in discernment with the recipient’s community.