Hope, Healing & Freedom Podcast : Ep 10
TRANSCRIPT
When we were first introduced to the ministry of RTF, we instantly had two thoughts. The first thought was, where has this ministry been my whole life? I knew there had to be more freedom to the Christian life but I did not know how to get there. RTF had the solution to our struggle, we simply were not even aware there was an RTF.
The second thought we had was, how can we get trained to share this freedom and healing with others. Let me talk about becoming an RTF minister in this podcast. The place to start in thinking about becoming an RTF minister is with the question: are you called to be an RTF minister or is it just your desire to help people that is motivating you.
Many of you are no doubt in the same position we were in after receiving RTF ministry. You have just received this amazing healing through RTF and you want to help others experience the same freedom by becoming an RTF minister. Awesome! Let me take a few minutes and talk about becoming an RTF minister.
The first thing I want to point out is that not everyone is called by God to be an RTF minister. It is very natural for many of you who have received such amazing freedom and healing through RTF ministry to want to share RTF with your family and friends. However, the desire to share with others what God has done in your life does not necessarily mean you are being called by God to be a minister. There are many wonderful people who have become RTF Champions who are not necessarily called to become an RTF Minister.
What is an RTF Champion? They are people who gladly tell others about the ministry of RTF. We have one such RTF Champion who somehow gets into conversations with people about RTF almost everywhere she goes. Her life has been so dramatically changed by God through RTF that she shares her story with people everywhere. RTF just leaks out of her. Champions tell their church, their family, their friends, their car mechanic, the people at the grocery and others about how RTF changed their life. Some of these people are not gifted to be a minister, but they are gifted to be a champion.
Other people are called by God to become an RTF minister. First let me talk about why RTF is different and distinct from the other healing ministries in the Body of Christ today. You need to know that you are called to RTF and not to one of the many other wonderful healing ministries in the Body of Christ.
There are several aspects of RTF ministry that make it distinct from other healing ministries that God has established around the world. Let me say up front that RTF is not in competition with any of the other healing ministries. We are excited when the Body of Christ receives healing and freedom, no matter how it happens. It is more important that the Kingdom of God advances on the earth than it is for RTF, or any other ministry, to get the credit. Our desire is for the Body of Christ to receive all that Jesus died to give us, no matter who He uses to bring that to earth.
God gave Chester and Betsy Kylstra an amazing revelation of how to set people free that contains similar elements of other ministries. What sets RTF apart from other healing ministries is the integrated approach to doing ministry. When we say integrated approach to ministry we are describing the need to minister to all four problem areas that people have during the same ministry. God showed Chester and Betsy that people of every tribe and nation around the world have the same four problem areas.
We had some RTF ministers just return from doing ministry in Uganda. I asked them what were the major issues that people in Uganda struggled with. They listed the same issues that people all over the world struggle with.
The first problem area is the generational sins and curses that are passed down from generation to generation. Exodus 20:5 says “you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,” This iniquity is the pressure to sin that is passed down in the bloodline for four generations. This pressure to sin must be dealt with.
The second problem area is the lies that we believe. Romans 12:2 says “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” Why do we need to have our minds renewed? Because we have learned a lot of lies from the world we live in that are keeping us held in bondage.
The third area is the wounds picked up living life here on planet earth that need to be healed. The good news is we have a wonderful healer. In Luke 4:18 Jesus says, “He (Father God) has sent Me (Jesus) to heal the brokenhearted”.
The fourth problem area is the demonic oppression that comes as we open the doors to our life through the other three areas. These three areas give the enemy a legal right to come and oppress us. Ephesians 4:26-27 says “Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil.” The word ‘place’ means that we give the devil a legal right to oppress us.
When we minister to all four areas at the same time, the healing that is received is profound and many times permanent as long as the doors are kept shut. The ministry must be integrated because all four of these areas work together to keep someone in bondage. Dealing with just one or two, but not all four areas leaves some of the doors over a person’s life open. Locking only two of the four doors to your house leaves your home vulnerable to invasion. When all four doors are ministered to, closed and locked at the same time, then the house is secure.
How do you know if you are called to be an RTF minister? Here are just a few of the qualities of an RTF minister.
The most important thing is to be a person with a mature Christian character. As an RTF minister you are going to have the privilege of hurting people telling you things they may have never told another person. An RTF minister has to have the maturity and character to be able to hear painful or even sinful things and not be negatively affected by what they hear. We like to say that an RTF minister needs to be shock proof.
Another part of that maturity is the ability to be confidential. People are going to tell you things that you can not tell to another human being. Even if you are married, you can not tell what you are told by someone in ministry to your spouse. This is very difficult, but it is an essential quality of a good minister. Something that often happens within the church is a well meaning person is told something, and out of a desire to help the one who told them, they will go to others and ask them to pray. “We need to pray for Suzie and Mike’s marriage.” As an RTF minister this can not happen. That is breaking confidentiality.
Romans 2:4 says that it is God’s kindness that leads people to repentance. Another characteristic of an RTF minister is to minister out of kindness. As an RTF minister you will hear of things in a person’s life that you may want to correct. It is not our job as an RTF minister to change people. It is our job to set the table for them to have an encounter with the Living God and He will change them. So the question is can we be kind and considerate and accurately represent the loving heart of Father God while ministering to someone who is in obvious sin?
Another quality of an RTF minister is their own life and relationships being in godly order? Does their personal life measure up to the message that we are trying to deliver? It is sad to see someone who has great ability as a minister be disqualified because their relationships with others are out of order. The most common reason that RTF can not allow someone to continue as an RTF minister is due to having undealt with issues in their own life. This is often displayed during ministry training by being rude or controlling to your ministry teammate. Or this is evidenced by talking over or cutting off the ministry receiver or their ministry teammate. We communicate more by how we act during ministry than we do by what we say.
One of the things Chester and Betsy Kylstra taught was that words don’t heal, Jesus heals. We often find that people who have a strong teaching gift will try to “teach” the issue out of the ministry receiver. There is a place for sound discipleship once a person has received freedom from the stronghold of the enemy. To try to disciple someone out of prison does not work. Jesus has to set them free. Once their foundation is restored, then they are able to build upon that solid foundation.
Lastly, are you able to be led by the Holy Spirit during the ministry. In RTF ministry we develop a ministry plan based on a questionnaire that the ministry receiver fills out prior to the ministry. But we must always hold our ministry plan loosely. The ministry must always be led by the Holy Spirit. It often happens that the plan we brought into the ministry session gets adjusted by the Holy Spirit as He reveals a different direction that He wants us to go. And sometimes, the Holy Spirit totally blows up your ministry plan and you have the opportunity to stick with your plan, or abandon your plan and follow Him.
RTF needs more ministers. This last season of lockdowns and isolation has brought people’s issues to the surface in a drastic way. People need RTF like never before and we are in need of more ministers to meet the growth in demand. Please pray and consider if you are called to be either an RTF Champion, or an RTF Minister.
