SOZO = Saved, Healed, Delivered
What is Sozo?
Definition
to save, keep safe and sound, to rescue from danger or destruction
one (from injury or peril)
to save a suffering one (from perishing), i.e. one suffering from disease, to make well, heal, restore to health
to preserve one who is in danger of destruction, to save or rescue
to save in the technical biblical sense
negatively 1b
to deliver from the penalties of the Messianic judgment 1b
to save from the evils which obstruct the reception of the Messianic deliverance (Source)
In early 2016 after the relationship ended with the man I was preparing to marry, I found myself in the midst of a soul-crushing recovery process full of spiritual warfare. It was horrific. I really only let a handful of close friends and my mentor pastor walk with me through it. I suffered silently trying to recover the hope that had been shattered. I alluded to this experience in HeatherFerroni.com...REALLY?! and Connecting Relationally With Your Teams and The Power of Scent and Behind These Eyes. I kid you not, this heartwrenching experience could be made into a Christian version of a Lifetime Movie Network film.
I needed help and healing. Immediately.
I had heard of Sozo Ministry from a friend and decided to look it up:
SOZO is the Greek word translated “saved, healed, delivered.” Sozo ministry is a unique inner healing and deliverance ministry aimed to get to the root of things hindering your personal connection with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. With a healed connection, you can walk in the destiny to which you have been called.
A Sozo session is a time for the Sozo team to sit down with you and with the help of the Holy Spirit walk you through the process of freedom and wholeness. Sozo is not a counseling session but a time of interacting with Father, Son and Holy Spirit for wholeness and pursuing of your destiny. (Source).
I found a local church that facilitated this experience and booked the soonest available session.
Before I share my experience, I want to admit that I was nervous. I was worried that I was opening a doorway to the spirit realm that I wasn't prepared for. Spiritual Warfare had not been a topic I had been exposed to in my religious upbringing and it's not often spoken of from the pulpits of the churches I had attended. It all seemed a little "woo-woo" to me. And I questioned if this healing process was really in alignment with Biblical standards. I was immature in my faith and still held captive in the bondage of fear introduced by the spirit of religion. So, if you identify with these concerns...just know...I had them too.
I nervously walked into a room with two female pastors. They explained that for the next approximately 2 hours we were going to go on a journey of prayer with the triune God to discover areas in need of God's healing touch. One woman walked me through a series of questions to prayerfully ask God while the other gal recorded the questions and revelations.
In my session, I discovered the first memory of fear entering my life and went through a process of release and forgiveness. I also discovered a vision of generational bondage that was at work in my family and I broke the chains of that bondage and released the spirit of captivity. I safely identified the demonic spirits that were at play in my failed relationship and released the soul tie to the man that I nearly pledged my life to. So many deeply seeded issues came to light. I felt a strong presence of the Lord's Spirit of Peace with me through it all. I felt as if I were literally in the Throne Room of Heaven having a very personal conversation with Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
As I mentioned in "Get to Know Me: Faith Journey", I discovered in this process that I had been mislead in my understanding of the Godhead. It came to my awareness that the early developmental programming of the Byzantine Catholic doctrine had given me a very "scary" idea of God and Jesus. I shared a bit about this (including the Greek/Orthodox pictures of Jesus and the Saints that terrified me as a child in my blog: Get to Know Me: Faith Journey). With the help of the Holy Spirit, I denounced the false doctrine, and came to a personal understanding of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit in a way that brought me peace, joy and a great sense of the true definition of LOVE.
Then came the topic of tongues. I'll have to write another blog post about my journey of understanding this spiritual gift because it's quite the process I feel could really be beneficial to others who struggle with understanding. But I can say, something beautiful happened in the room when I asked for the Lord to empower me with this gift. My early utterances of speaking in tongues began. It didn't so much open up to the full manifestation of this gift, but it DID close the door on my preconceived notions and impure judgments. For this, I am SO thankful!
I left my session feeling light, free, joyfilled and excited. Anxiety and fear were gone. I felt as if I had been released from heavy chains of bondage, released bitterness and unforgiveness, had a greater awareness of God, a deeper understanding of His love and felt whole, alive and strengthened.
I've recommended the Sozo Healing Ministry to many of my close friends. And I'm going to recommend it to you. Every experience is deeply personal and I believe with all my heart it's a meeting God wants to have with ALL His kids. Seriously. Yes, it's deep inner healing work. Yes, things will surface and come to light. But because it's a journey that's solely focused in the presence of God, there is peace. If you're in the Phoenix area, check out Living Streams Church Sozo and book your session. For other Sozo locations around the US and Internationally, you can visit the Bethel Sozo Network.
Studying the stories of healing in the Bible, not ONE time have I found Jesus or the disciples encouraging anyone to take an 8 week course for inner healing. While I'm sure programs like "Mending the Soul" and "Healing from the Inside Out" are wonderful and have produced many beautiful testimonies, I personally believe that it is the Lord's will for all His beloved children to experience instantaneous peace, freedom and deliverance. We see story after story in the scriptures that one touch from God brought the dead to life, blind eyes to see, lepers healed, demons fled, etc.