Advanced Sozo Day 2

Today was the last day of the conference, and it was a very good day. We learned some more tools and the best part was the question answer section and when they did some of the role-play. This has really been a great learning time as well as a time connecting with leaders. With around 200 people attending the conference from all around the southeast, it was a great time of sharing and interacting among the teams. Sheryl and Terry Cantrell did a great ob of putting things together, but the real kudos go to the RiverStone Sozo team for really taking ownership and pulling this thing off with excellence. They made me very proud.

I only hope that in the next year Sheryl and I can build the Bethel Atlanta Sozo team in the mold of what has been developed at RiverStone. I know that we have a challenge. First, we are a lot smaller church; we only have about 300 – 350 members, RiverStone has around 1000. But we know that we have the advantage of being under Bethel Redding and if we can get this team up and running I have no doubt that we can join RiverStone as one of the two best Sozo teams in the state.

Speaking of Sozos, I have written many times about how you use sozos to discover wounds and lies to heal and connect you to Father, Son and Holy Spirit. But there is another reason to have a sozo. Sometimes it’s just good to have one to “recalibrate”. By that, I mean when life gives you hits, sometimes it is good just to see if there is anything that has blocked your relationship to the Trinity. My last sozo was about three years ago when the Bethel team came to do the basic conference at RiverStone. A lot has happened since then. I wanted one about six months ago, but I didn’t think it was fair to have any of mine and Julia’s friends do it. Also I didn’t want anyone of my friends at Bethel Atlanta to do it. So, I waited until this week. I was hoping that Dawna would minister to me, and this morning she did.

By sozo standards, it was rather quick. It took about 40 minutes, but it was a great time, and she wrote down two pages of notes on what Papa, Jesus and Holy Spirit said to me, along with the prophetic words and pictures she saw. It was surprising because she identified a familiar spirit that I had lived with almost all of my life. Needless to say, I walked out of the room much lighter and brighter than I went in. I really didn’t know what I was carrying, but I knew that it was something. To be honest, that is a sign of spiritual maturity to be able to know that things aren’t quite right and be willing to deal with it.

I know that this year is a year of open doors. Every door that I even though about knowing on has been opened this year. I am so excited about what He is doing. But I know that to go where He is calling, I have to move up a level in the Spirit. I think that I took that first step this afternoon. That’s a good thing, because tomorrow school starts and I have great responsibility and great opportunity.