The Power of “Sozo”!

I can’t get it out of my head.  I turn to it.  4:00 in the morning.  Awake in my bed.

And after soaking in the church for four decades.  I feel lastly ignorant to the simple steps…it requires to meet Jesus.

I mean….I have taught Bible studies. Prayer ministry. Children’s Ministry.  I have done the routine….over and over…..time and time again…..of being a “good” Christian.

But, this theme. It captures me.  And won’t let go.

• Is it because I have a foster daughter?  Who just found Jesus?  And needs to know.  So much more than the intellectual acceptance of salvation?
• Or is it because I have seen it?  This slow pealing.  Take hold of my own life in the most unlikely display or fashion.  
• Or due to the stumbling upon its expressions?  Time and time again……all throughout scripture?

Yes, it’s easy to reckon….

God wants to heal “certain” aspects of our lives.  He wants to save us.  That is a fact.  He wants us to come into his fold.  He wants to care for us.  But what happens…..

• When salvation is more than a ticket to enter….those pearly gates?   
• When “accepting” the Lord, in some intellectual way, is not complete, to be light and truly proclaim….Jesus?  
• What happens to the scriptures that breathe, the truth of this non-fiction read that says….

The God of the Universe can do.  Anything.  “Salvation” being more than a “noun”, but a “verb”, in the Greek…..with abundant meaning.

Warring for truth. I seek it. God’s Word.  Listening.  As He starts speaking….

Luke 10:19
“Behold, I give you authority….over all power of the enemy.”

Luke 9:1
“Then He called His disciples together and gave them power over all demons and to cure diseases.  He sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.”

And I see….

This dominion over darkness.  This same power that conquered the grave….is in me.  It’s in all Christians.

For isn’t greater is He who is in us……than he who is in this world?

Yet, I see…..

We must receive.  And apply.  Our authority through prayer, preaching, teaching, & walking out the fullness of the ministry He has given us.

And then….just when I think I am getting it.  “It” happens.  I stumble upon a word. The word….

Yet, we forget.  Sometimes.  That we are saved by grace…..through faith.  And that grace is made abundant as we believe.

Still yet, why do we too often get stuck in the Old Testament.  Prior to Jesus.  Still paying our penance   Working, striving, sacrificing…..to get more of Jesus?

Is not the gift of salvation….a free gift.  That we cannot earn?  Work for?  Or pay means for?

And how completely liberating….to know we do not need to store up treasure of our futile works….in order to meet Jesus.

We can come to Him….empty.  dirty, worthless, worn, unworthy….And He will accept us just as we are.

And as we believe.  The Lord will pour out.  His Spirit.  So, we can be made whole.  A gift not just for the religious….but the broken.  The destitute.  The alone.

And I think about the question, Jesus asked the chained one.  Who acknowledged Christ.  And fell down at His feet….

“Where is your faith?”

Did He not say….“If you have faith like a mustard seed…nothing will be impossible for you.” Matt 17:20.

And He says of the dead girl.  And my foster child struggling to be made new.  Tasting.  The first fruits of being saved.

And to think….

Because of the obedience of the seventy.  Because of their completion of the mission to walk in authority.  Subjecting the demons to the Saviors power of healing.  And “Sozo”…..

“Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit.” (Luke 10:21)

The word suggesting….“a shouting and leaping”.  Rejoicing as his power and revelation is given….

Not to the wise, the kings, and the prophets…..

But the simple.  

So that through repentance.  And the “going and sinning no more” that allows us to stay well and experience the fullness of His well being….

We can have deliverance. Deliverance. Salvation.  And Healing.

After all, Jesus didn’t die for just one aspect of our being.  He died to restore, redeem, and transform….

Body, mind, & spirit……

The power of  “Sozo”.

(Linking with Barbie, Laura, Ann, On, In, & Around Mondays)