Counseling training breakthrough

Since early summer I have been meeting with a group every Monday evening in our home to go through some training that has just recently become available in Russian in prayer ministry. I like prayer ministry, though not to the exclusion of other kinds of counseling (which I also teach) because it is a way of allowing the Holy Spirit to directly speak to the issue a person is facing. It also can have a very quick and dramatic impact on the person for the same reason. More information about it is here.

The plan is to take a year to go through a video series, twice, and to practice together with each other to gain confidence and build the skills and sensitivity to God's leading as we go. Some of the students just started in October, but I decided we were already ready for some work in groups last week. I put them in sets of 3 to practice asking good questions of each other. What amazed me was that, in every group, they went beyond what I had asked or expected, and they started really ministering to each other with some wonderful results.

Here are the comments of one person taking the training, who is on staff at the Harbor:

Generally I am very glad that there is such a ministry! There is an opportunity to communicate with like-minded people!
1. It helps me better understand God and how He acts.
2. I'd become aware that people actually can help more often than we think
3. In some cases, I have the freedom to help myself [through prayer]
4. If I had small children, I could save them from many false beliefs that could have an adverse affect on them
5. In me was more understanding, compassion for others. I think more about how what you say or do can affect others.

Another long-time student of mine wrote this to me:

These classes helped me find inner peace, which helps me in ministering to people and understanding God. Spiritual Formation becomes more understandable when you take no responsibility for others' feelings. Pessimistic Christianity rejects feelings as not necessary and too elementary for spiritual life. In fact, the more you realize that God will heal, the more you want to serve Him. I realized that only God can enter into the past and heal wounds. This affects all spheres of life. I have become more confident, can understand people better, and hopefully cam help them learn more effectively. Thank you, Lyle, and the people who sponsor you, because we are able to understand better God's healing and His ministry to people. Thank you very much. God bless you!