I love helping people. One thing I love about Immanuel is that people actually get better, there’s tangible, measurable, remarkable fruit. So many mental health workers try to help, but see little or no change over long periods of time. The Immanuel approach very quickly moves the receiver from despair to hope, from lies to truth, from fear to joy.

Another aspect of Immanuel that I constantly take joy in is the conformity of this approach to Scripture. Time and time again, Holy Spirit whispers, “This is that.”  Jacob wrestling with Jesus, Hannah pouring out her soul to God, David realizing that his sin is against the Lord, and Jesus washing the feet of the disciples are a few examples of parts of Immanuel. Richard J. Foster in The Renovare Spiritual Formation Bible introduces the concept of the “with-God life” as a model for seeing the whole of Scripture as the unfolding story of God’s plan to bring us into our loving relationship with our Creator.

As a coach, I get to see Jesus solve the receiver’s distorted ideas of his past in ways that I could never rival. Every time I coach, I am amazed at his love for the receiver (and me). If the coach coaches in faith that Jesus can and will do his healing work, then he will see marvelous things. The little sermons, prophesies, discernment and wisdom that I am always tempted to give pale in the glorious work Jesus puts into smoothing the wrinkles of his bride. Again, there is a time and place for what I do as a pastor (and I do all these things that pastors do), but here, in Immanuel, Jesus  builds capacity by revealing who he really is and his desire to have an intimate relationship with the receiver.

Perhaps the best part of coaching Immanuel is getting to know Jesus and being part of his work. Every receiver shares him with me as part of the session, so I get to see him in action. I get to watch him demonstrate his creative, caring, fun, surprising, brilliant way of doing and being. I have fallen much more deeply in love with him and I have gotten to know him in so many life stories. WOW!  What a privilege to watch him work, recreating his sons and daughters and bringing them into their birthright. I wonder if it’s anything like what Wisdom (Jesus) experienced when watching and working along side of Father God and Holy Spirit in Creation

Patti Velotta
Author of Immanuel: A Practicum
Pastor, Calvary Way International Fellowship
President of Three Cord Ministries, Inc.

Excerpted from Immanuel: A Practicum, pages 57&58