We’ve Been SOZOFIED!
We've Been SOZOFIED!
It was caught rather than taught. Spirit spoke to spirit. Deep called to deep. The mind moved out of the way and the heart was rejuvenated and refreshed by all the members of the Trinity.
Every week another level of God’s glory fills our lives. This week was no exception. Jim and Pat Banks, along with their wonderful team, ministered powerfully to all of us. Everyone was refreshed and strengthened in the inner person by their efforts. What did God impart through the North Carolina SOZO warriors? They sowed the Father and Mother heart of God’s love into our lives. That was it! We experienced God’s love at a very deep level!
We were blessed beyond measure by their gentle, loving, winsome, firm, pragmatic, and transparent style of ministry. After dealing a deathblow to the orphan spirit last week, God used this team to heal, rebuild and fortify with love. I cannot think of a better follow up to last week’s intense time of repentance and forgiveness.
God’s love felt like a thick quilt being placed over us. It was like our Father in Heaven was tucking us into bed. We felt safe, secure, and protected. Yes, a lot of technique and wisdom were shared, but the presence of God captured our hearts. It changed us.
However, when you think of SOZO ministry, why would God run the conference any other way? It’s all about Him and not us anyway. He’s the counselor and healer. We are just facilitators. We are called to bask in his healing presence. We are called to let go and let God do his thing.
What is SOZO ministry? Simply put, it means helping people get saved, healed, and delivered. It’s the ministry of Jesus found in Isaiah 61:1.
As we practiced SOZO ministry with one another, we all put our counselor hats aside, and allowed the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit to minister to people. The prophetically challenged ministers (the ones who had a hard time turning off this gift) were challenged to lay aside their cut-to-the chase style of ministry in order to let God initiate healing and deliverance. We just pointed them to Jesus. It was easier said than done for some, but all agreed that you could not beat an encounter with the triune God when it came to true healing. The upshot was this: SOZO made sense. We pointed people to the true healer, Jesus.
The end of the conference had Pat Banks praying into someone’s spirit by looking at and praying into that person’s left eye; the eye that has a direct connection to the emotional, spirit side of a person. It was heart warming to see this person’s spirit blessed and enlarged. God literally blew into her sails and refreshed us all.
The Friday and Saturday conference sadly came to an end (we wanted to adopt Jim and Pat as our parents), but we all felt like we had new wings. We could soar again. “No more shackles, no more chains, no more bondage. I am free…..”
Sunday morning started off with Pastor Dean challenging the church to binge out on worship for the next twelve days before November 2nd. We all agreed that some churches are called to pray or teach or evangelize, but Unified.. . is called to worship. We will war in the heavenlies through lifting up the name of Jesus before the election. We challenge you to worship at home, while you drive to work, while you walk your neighborhood, and of course, corporately with the Unified.. . family on October 31 and November 1st from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM.
I heard the words, “Righteousness will flow down like a mighty river”, during our prayer time. God is truly telling us to turn the spiritual tide of our state towards righteousness in this next election on November 2nd. Our focused worship will accomplish this. Let’s band together to see our state motto become a reality: The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness! Could God change a state in 12 days through a group of crazy, radical people who could care less what the world thinks? You better believe it! He could change it in a day! Church, let’s band together in worship and change the course of history. Righteousness will flow once again throughout Hawaii. It will happen through our worship!
God then capped off our powerful weekend, through Jim and Pat praying blessing on our young and old girls; with the added support of the men in our church. He dealt with the spirit of misogyny (the hatred of women) in a very powerful and loving way. God is definitely strengthening the women at this time and preparing them for great things. I was amazed at God’s line upon line process with the women and all of us. He truly is setting the foundation right.
Jim then dealt with performance orientation and perfectionism (a form of idolatry) by calling us all to spend time with our Heavenly Father in ways true to our own heart. Our Father wants to fellowship in unconventional, nonreligious ways that reveal his deep love for us. Jesus wants to throw pistachio nuts at our back (get the CD if you want to hear the whole story) and laugh with us. Did you know our Heavenly Father has a sense of humor? He will reveal a lot more as you spend time with Him. “God, reveal yourself to us! Free us from the bondage of ‘doing’ in order to receive your love. Help us to rest as your beloved children. ”
Like I said earlier, the SOZO training was caught rather than taught. Our equipping came through impartation from a father and mother in the faith, who demystified the inner healing process for us all. They made it simple and reachable. They gave permission for us to use our sanctified imaginations again in order to really meet Jesus and receive true healing. It was a powerful time. Thank you Jim, Pat, and the rest of the team for blessing us. We will never be the same! Our Heavenly Father touched us all.
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