SOZO

I spent all day Saturday at a Sozo ministry training and then on Monday night I was able to experience it for myself. Sozo is the Greek word for salvation only in the Greek it is so much more than just salvation. (Even as I type that I realize how absurd the statement is - how can salvation be "just" anything? It is revolutionary if we allow it to be.) But in Greek it means "saved, healed and delivered". Is that what you expected when you received Jesus into your heart? Did you expect to be not only saved but also healed and delivered? I don't remember anyone telling me that I would walk in all of those things, only that I had been saved from eternal damnation and been given the gift of eternal life. What are we doing?? We sell God so short. Ok, stepping down off my soap box.

Very simply Sozo is a prayer process thru which you lead the "sozo-ee" back to a source of wounding or pain, find Jesus there and allow Him to speak truth into the situation. There are 5 tools they've put together to help you through the process. It's amazing.

I want to tell you about my experience. My new friend, Sue, was the leader and my old friend, Diane, was her support. After we prayed inviting the Holy Spirit to be present and guide us, Sue began by asking me if there was anything I was struggling with or wanted to get past. I told them that I wanted to get past whatever it was that was blocking me from writing. I had started a story several months ago. When I started the story I was so excited. It just literally flowed out from my pen. Then I ran out of time and had to put it down. I've never taken the time to pick it back up. I know what you're thinking. Who has time anyway? Well, I do. Lots of it. Which made me feel even more guilty for not taking the time to write. Something was keeping me from it - a barrier.

I told them about my twin brother, Randy, who is an amazing artist. He was always "the creative one". At some point in time I believed that if I couldn't do what he did I was not creative. They had me close my eyes and we asked Jesus to take me back to a time when I got that message. Immediately I recalled a memory of sitting in church at about the age of 5 or 6. I was sitting between my mom and Randy. We used to play a game where I would squiggle a line on a piece of paper and Randy would draw it into some elaborate incredible picture and then he would squiggle a line and hand it to me. I would stare at it and see a squiggly line and then try to make sense of it. He would laugh. My mom would be amazed at what Randy had drawn and never acknowledge my "art". Here's how the rest of the Sozo session went:

Sue/Diane: How did that make you feel?

me: Rejected

Sue/Diane: Look around. Do you see Jesus there?

me: Yes. He's sitting behind me.

Sue/Diane: Ask Him what is the lie you received at that moment.

me: That I am not creative because I cannot do what Randy can.

Sue/Diane: What is Jesus doing now?

me: He got up and came around in front of me. He took my hands in His and stood me up. He is saying, "You have been given different gifts. I have gifted you with creative words. You see things in your mind and make word pictures of them." Then He turned me around and, with His hands on my shoulders said to my mom and Randy, "Watch out for this one!"

Now how cool is that! But that wasn't the end of it. Then Sue felt like I needed to forgive my mom for giving me the impression that I was not creative. So she led me through a sweet prayer of forgiveness where I was able to ask God to give her a hug for me. (She died last October) I love that. Then they were led to ask me if I might have put up a wall of protection that needed to be removed. So I closed my eyes again and asked Jesus to reveal that wall to me.

I saw myself walking into my bedroom and closing the door. (side note: I noticed that there wasn't a ceiling in the room as I walked in.) I immediately knew why this was my wall. When I was a kid whenever we had family or company over my mom and dad would have Randy get out all his drawings for everyone to see and I would just go to my room and shut the door. Nobody every seemed to wonder where I had gone. As I explained what I was seeing Diane asked me if the room had a ceiling. I said, "Funny you should ask, I actually noticed it didn't as I walked in." We all thought that was interesting. We would soon see why!

Sue/Diane: Why don't you ask Jesus to help you take the walls down?

me: He just walked up with two hammers and two chisel things. He's removing the top hinge of the door and I'm removing the bottom one. (Fascinating! I had control of the door but simply opening it was not enough. It had to be removed.)

Sue/Diane: What about the other walls? Does He want to take those down too or is He telling you that it's okay to leave them up?

me: He says it's okay to leave them up. But He's laughing and we're sitting in chairs in the middle of the room - laughing together.

Sue/Diane: What's happening now?

me (amazed): Words are pouring into the room through the ceiling and then out through the door. Now there are so many more words in the room than the door can handle that the walls are bulging out. Now they're busting down! Not a wall left! (So that's why He was laughing!!)

Sue/Diane: That is so cool! You're still in your safe place but there are NO LIMITATIONS!

I opened my eyes and we are all sitting there in complete awe. When we got back to reality Sue asked me if she could say a prayer of blessing over me. I can't remember a single word but that girl was on fire!

I feel such freedom! I am amazed at how simple the process was and how little time it took to complete. I think what I love the most is that Sue and Diane were as touched by the whole thing as I was. Sue gained so much confidence! She was absolutely beaming! God is so very, very good.

I hope to be able to use this in the future in many ways with those God brings into my sphere of influence. I am by no means a learned Sozo-er. But then, it's not really about us. It's about God. Why we think we have anything to do with it beyond our willingness to let Him use us to be His hands and feet and voice is beyond me. If we would really understand that, we would feel the pressure lift right off of us. We would be totally free to just be who He made us to be. I want that. I want it all.

And that, in a nutshell, is Sozo ministry. Let's talk.