SOZO - Saved, Healed, Delivered Book Report

SOZO - Saved, Healed, Delivered  Summary 

Briefly write what the whole book is about and why the author has written it. (Imagine the author will read this and would say, “Yes, this is the main point(s) of my book.)  The authors Dawna DeSilva and Teresa Liebscher set out to provide readers with tools and dynamic ways to build stronger connections with God. With these tools one has the ability to break lies, addictions and hinderances that keep one from living an abundant life and fully pursuing ones destiny and calling. This book was filled with stories of people who were transformed through a SOZO experience. It presents many tools and techniques and thought provoking questions that are useful for personal transformation or when ministering to others. 

Briefly outline 4 major points of the book as the author presents them including page numbers.  “ Throughout Scripture, we see each member to the Godhead providing specific needs. Whereas Father God tends to provide protection, provision, and identity, Jesus offers companionship and communication. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit provides comfort and instruction. “ This sentence from page 34 sums up what I felt to be the most insightful message of the book. That our relationships with parents, siblings and friends colors how we understand the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. My first three points will be looking at those parallels. My fourth will be to look as some of the tools presented and how they might be useful additions to ones ministry tool belt.                                                                                                        1. Father : From our earthly Fathers we should experience protection, provision and gain a understanding of our identity. Sadly this relationship is often broken in some way and leads to disfunction in how we relate to the Father. It is hard for someone who has been abandoned by their father to see God has being there for them. Those who have been abused often have issues with protection and don't view God as safe. The provision aspect often affects how we feel about finances.  “ A person may have an excellent sense of identity, yet a complete dysfunction in the realm of finances. Someone may believe she is worthy of protection but have no grid for how God see her. Whatever the client needs, the SOZO minister’s duty is to partner with God to bring those needs to him, expose andy wound, dispel demonic attachments, and facilitate an exchange of those lies for God’s truth”. Pg 79  

  2. Son: How we relate to Jesus is often colored by how we were treated by our siblings and friends. “When a friend or sibling hurts our feelings, especially in our formative years, there is a chance that a lie from the enemy can develop. Resolving this issue in a safe environment can remove destructive patterns that seek to interrupt God’s purpose.” Pg47 The Presenting Jesus tool is often helpful for people who have trouble connecting to Jesus. After discovering a lie that has been believed the SOZO ministers would pray with the person to have Jesus show them the truth and to reveal where Jesus was at that point in time. Often they gain a totally new perspective for what happened. Jesus offers communication and companionship if we have been teased or bullied or called names by our friend and siblings we may feel Jesus will also treat us in a similar fashion. “Over and over, we see Jesus heal hurts, remove lies, and exchange those lies for truth. Connecting people to Jesus as friend, companion, and savior opens the way to clearer communication between themselves and God.” pg 53 

3. Holy Spirit:  “We have found that when a mother is absent from hers children’s lives though their early years, either physically or emotionally, they are often confused whether or not they can expect to have their needs met. They can easily transfer these feelings onto their understanding of the Holy Spirit.”pg 90  I had an ah-ha moment in realizing that while I am moved by the Holy Spirit and have no trouble relating to Holy Spirit as teacher,  I have trouble feeling and I have a lot of limiters on emotions. It had not occurred to me prior to reading this book that my relationship with my mother could color my connection with Holy Spirit.  I realized that I needed to forgive my mother for not being one to physically touch or to hold or hug or comfort. She is also a great stuffer of emotions. I needed to forgive and receive the exchange for greater truth, revelation and healing. 

4. Tools: The Father Ladder was the main tool presented in this book. Basically it is a step by step approach to helping people realize  that things they learned and believed as a result of their family and friend relationships effects how they view Father, Son and Holy Spirit. “The first institution God created was the family. This unit represents the function of each member of the Godhead - Father God, Jesus, and Holy Spirit (see Gen. 1:26) When family members fail to fulfill their roles the resulting pain and confusion can easily transfer to our understanding of God, Jesus and Holy Spirit.”pg 83  I think the most compelling aspect of the ladder image is of one moving upward spiritually as those relational hinderance lies are broken off a person allowing them to climb to new heights in their relationship with the Godhead. 

Other tools presented were Colored Lenses and Crafty Suggestions which deal with lies that we have grown to believe that have become so much a part of us that we don’t even realize they exist and influence how we behave.  The tool called the Four Doors deals with areas of sin in our lives. The idea is based Ten Steps to Freedom by Pablo Bottari.  “This tool is used to identify strongholds in a person’s life and to bring needed deliverance from demonic bondage. According to Bottari, a person’s physical, spiritual and emotional issues can be traced back to the opening of any one of these four door: fear, hatred/bitterness, sexual sin and the occult.” 

Thoughtfully explain one main strength (or point of agreement) with the author. 

We hear the success stories of people who have been healed or set free in some form or another. Why doesn't everyone get free? What do you do with the difficult hard to deal with folks struggling with unimaginable pain from trauma and abuse. We have become a society even as Christians that want the quick fix pill to make everything better. We want to persist in our lifestyle and often times can’t connect the dots to behaviors and  practices that are undermining our greater desire for wellness. We just want the pain to stop and more often we will settle for simply numbing it or finding ways to distract our selves from the things we don’t want or know how to to deal with. Too many people stop at salvation and never receive the healed and delivered part of the message of Jesus.  I love the that on the back cover where it states  “Salvation is not simply a ticket to Heaven. It is abundant life that begins now… and continues forever.” I see a lot of believers who are just holding on in their personal struggles waiting for the Rapture to wisk them out of it all. They have                                                    developed a ‘Come Lord Jesus because my life really sucks’ kind of mentality and somehow think in a twinkling of the eye God is going to take a bedraggled bride and remove the spots and wrinkles when we are told repeatedly to be over comers. I think we risk becoming like the man in the parable of the Talents in Matthew 25:14-30 who did nothing with what he had been given and in the end lost everything. 

 Write down some of your favorite 

sentences in the book. 

“Whether from fear or inconvenience, many Christians fail to pursue a personal relationship with God. Without a passion for and a close companionship with the Godhead, their ability to influence others is decreased. Like the cover lamp in Jesus’s parable, they are unable to function as designed.” Pg 35 

“If you partner with a false truth, chances are you do not even know it exists. Mose lies exist at a subconscious level. It takes God, revelation through the Bible, or a safe individual to point out a lie;s existence.” Pg. 111

“Pastor Kris Vallotton of Bethel Church states that the devil flees difficult battles because he lack the fruits of the Spirit, specifically patience. Therefore, one way of usurping his attacks is to simply with him out” pg 186

“ A stronghold is broken via the process of forgiveness, repentance and renunciation.”  Pg 158 

“To live successfully as a son or daughter of god, we must partner with His victories mindset. To do this, we must equip ourselves as powerful individuals.” Pg 1126

 In what way did this book impact your life as one who transforms cities? How will you be different? It has given me some useful tools such as the Father Ladder, Colored Lenses, Crafty Suggestions, the Four doors, Repentance and Exchange, Shifting Atmospheres.  I will begin to work to use these tools on myself to deal with my own brokenness and will look for opportunities and ways to share them with others. 

 What challenges(s) have you been given by the Lord to implement some of the strategies in this book?  The back cover of the book states that you will receive. “practical tools to deepen your relationship with the Triune God - Father God, Jesus and Holy Spirit.  Victory strategies to help you disarm lies, break harmful patterns, achieve spiritual atmospheres, and access the often - un reached realms of abundant life. Keys to experience inner healing by breaking addictions, overcoming obstacles and walking in sustained deliverance. These are all valuable in the work of discipling people. I suppose I am still formulating what my Massage and Wellness practice encompasses.  I my massage practice I see people burdened down by stress and physical pain and often there are deeper issues that could be dealt with. I find myself wondering about scope of practice at this point and if this would cross over into counseling, which is beyond my scope of practice.  Sometimes the hour of quiet time on the massage table is as healing to the mind and spirit as the massage is to the physical body. I believe as I continue through this school that God will help me to understand how this all could become some sort of creative Wellness Center that uses tools like these found in this book along with other coaching tools and the arts to allow people to express and process in a safe environment. I think I might want to make individual worksheets or booklets of some of these ideas because most people don’t have time to read a whole book and allow the Holy Spirit to lead them onward as they journey greater wellness for mind, body, soul and spirit. 

 My Concluding Thoughts

There may have been some spiritual warfare around the reading of this book for me. I had a hard time getting into this book. I found myself irritated by the many references to the Father Ladder prior to its introduction in chapter 5. I was annoyed that I had to wade through four chapters of stories told through dialogue to get to the Father Ladder.  I don’t know if the intent was to build suspense - it really didn’t work for me. Part of it may have been that I had to put Sharon Murphy’s Transforming the Land book aside to read this one. I had been powerfully impacted by the first three chapters of Sharon’s book and then got to experience a Transformation session. Its gentle breakthrough and approach to deliverance left me wanting more. While I am glad to know about SOZO and will keep its tools handy I would have rather spent the time on Transformation which is available for us to be a part of here at the International Healing Rooms.  I am however glad that I pushed through because the book really was full of a lot of helpful tools and the insights.

Destined to Win Book Report

Destined To Win Book Report 

by Margot Cioccio  

I am doing these book reports as a student for the International Healing Rooms School of Transformation.  There is an on-line course available in addition to the actual school.  I am doing my course work live and in person at the International headquarters in Spokane Washington. If you are interested in training please follow the link above. I highly recommend the School. It is stretching and growing me and have loved every minute of it.  

Book reports are not my usual devotional style but I thought I might as well post them here. The questions are the same for each report. Hope you enjoy my report. 

1. Briefly write what the whole book is about and why the author has written it.  We are tridimensional beings who are to Love the Lord with all our  spirit, soul and body. This book looks at how we love and care for our soul. I love the quote from page 31 that says “ If you want to reach your full potential in God, you will need to find a culture where love flows through you, to you, and around you or create one. Anything less will reduce your capacity, or at least delay your destiny.” This book spoke not only to the individual but also gave a lot of insights into working together as part of a team. I would say this book is a must read for ministry staff or leadership teams. 
2. (Imagine the author will read this and would say, “Yes, this is the main point(s) of my book.) I think the much of the book was about how finding your “people” has an impact on accomplishing your destiny.  There was a lot that spoke to working as a group and surrounding yourself with people who share your passion but its important that they are not just like you.  I liked this quote about the book by Heidi Baker cofounder of Iris Global. She says, We are made for community and he urges us that we can’t reach full potential until we surround ourselves with covenant friends who share our DNA.” I read this book in three days of it being assigned, I found lots of ideas, information and practical ways  for discovering your destiny and God given purpose.
3. Briefly outline 4 major points of the book as the author presents them including page numbers.  In thinking back over the book I would break it down into these four ares or over arching themes.                                                                                                                        • Caring for Your Soul & Discovering What makes You Tick pages 1-66 Caring for ones soul is something that has been de-emphasized in the church. This book helped to show why the soul needs care. “ You should take care of the needs of your natural man, because your body is the temple of the Holy spirit. Likewise, your soul was created in the image of God, and it also requires intentional care.” page 15                                                                            • Finding Your People & Discovering Your Destiny pages 66-93 “The people around us awaken the destinies dormant within us. Remember: if we find our people, then we will discover our destines.” page 66  The idea of finding your people was very significant in this book. We are living stones being built up together. Figuring out who we are called to labor along side as well as where we fit are both huge factors in realizing our destiny.                    • Working As A Team & Creating a Culture of Honor pages 95-172  As I read the later half of this book I kept thinking about how the many ideas presented in the book really need to be shared with ministry teams. As we create an environment of love and honer we all blossom and grow. “Great leaders must master the art of being deeply compassionate without letting the desires of others dictate their destinies or dominate their daily priorities. “ page 125 I loved the assessments found in this section.                                                                                   • Unleashing Heaven & Becoming Heaven’s Nobility pages 173 - 199 This section is filled with a lot of great biblical examples of people who essentially unleashed heaven on earth. We are called to be the people upon whom God’s presence and power resides. “You are an open heaven. The presence that changes everything is in you, with you, on you and through you. You are God’s wild card, heaven’s X factor, and the incalculable difference maker. The odds might be 100 to 1; but if you are the one and if you know Jesus, then it’s foolish to bet against you.” pg 188                                                                                                   
4. Thoughtfully explain one main strength (or point of agreement) with the author In my pursuit of wellness for the whole person I agree with Kris that there is a pretty good understanding about how to care for the body and the spirit but a lot of confusion about the soul. Before reading this book I would have said things like art, music and beauty are things that feed the soul. Those are things that feed my soul but perhaps it is not those thing but finding people who also light up when they are involved in creating.  It seems from this book that a large part of caring for your soul is in surrounding yourself with people who will encourage, inspire and feed your soul in positive healthy ways.  “This is the kind of love that transforms people! This covenant love causes people to be fully actualized, because they know they are loved beyond their ability to perform.” pg 31  I really liked the section called Three Ways To Live on page 18.   For our souls to be well and to thrive they need love, acceptance, attention, approval and significance. We can pretend we don't need those things or that those things are somehow un-spiritual and we choose to live inactively and find ourselves broken, lonely and empty.  We may also choose to be reactive and meet those needs in all the wrong ways and generally create broken relationships. The best way is to be proactive and realize your soul has needs and devise a healthy strategy to meet them.                                                     
5.  Write down some of your favorite sentences in the book.  I’ve used a lot of them through out this book report. These are the ones that didn’t find a place but were too good to be forgotten. 

• “The difference between humility and pride is that humility acknowledges the source of greatness as God. Therefore, it is Christ-centered. Humility isn’t think less of your self; it’s thinking of yourself less.” page 27                                                                                                   
• “So do the world a favor, and begin to embrace God’s love for you by reminding yourself that you were born to be amazing because you were modeled after your Maker.” page 28                   
• “what I have discovered over the year is that “God ideas” will stand the scrutiny of faith-filled people. but good ideas typically won’t.” page 104                                                                          
• “ There are people all around you who love you; but the truth is, you are the only one on this earth who really knows you… your energy, your stress level, your fears, and your passions. No one else ca set boundaries for you. You have to muster the courage to say no, to risk being misunderstood, to refuse to live under the expectations of others, to be satisfied at times with pleasing only God.” page 131                                                                                                          
• “ An optimist sees the glass half-full, but a believer knows it’s not the level of the water in the glass that matters as much as whether or not it’s being filled or depleted.” page 140                      
• “You must anticipate that something meaningful, profound, powerful and wonderful could happen to you at any moment because anticipation is the fruit of faith. page 174                          
• “ Faith sees the invisible, believes the impossible, and empowers the incredible!” page 174  

6. In what way did this book impact your life as one who transforms cities? How will you be different?  I have been thinking about various groups of people that I am involved with and wondering which of them is my people group. Which one most exemplifies my true passions. Which allows me to use my true gifting to build a truly unique and wonderful legacy? I think this book has given me the tools to figure those and other questions out.

7. What challenges(s) have you been given by the Lord to implement some of the strategies in this book?  One of my biggest challenges is to figure out how various aspects of my life fit together.  I have a wide array of gifts and talents and because I am good at a lot of things it is easy to get busy doing stuff because I can do it rather than do the things I am truly called to do. This book has helped me to better see where and how discovering who my people are, begins to define where I want to go and what I want to do and be. I realize that those people will help mold and shape me as I will mold and shape them. “ It seems as if most of us are asking what we are called to do when we should first be asking who we are supposed to be with. It’s only when we find our people that we can fulfill our purpose. The truth is, our purpose lie in our people!” page 47 I have been asking the wrong question. When I ask “Who am I supposed to be with” everything suddenly starts to make sense.                        
8. My Concluding Thoughts Recently I chose a word for this year. That word is legacy.  “Courageous people peer into the future and live with a passion to leave a legacy.” page 180 I have found that there are books, much like people resonate with you. This book really provided some keys that have turned the tumblers in the locks of my life. Other keys have fit but were not able to turn the tumblers to open the door.  I read this book in three evenings. It was hard for me to put it down and I found myself excited to come back to it. Even now I hope to go back and really soak longer in some of the chapters. I think if I had any issues with this book it would be that I’m not sure the writer was totally clear who his intended audience should be. Is this a book for any believer who wants to understand their soul or is it a book to church staffs and ministry teams about how we need each other to accomplish our destinies? For me it worked because I am involved in both. I have a much better understanding of why my soul is important and how I can better care for it.

Receive Your Healing & Reclaim Your Health Book Report

These are book reports that I have done as a first year student at The International Healing Rooms School of Transformation. 

Receive Your Healing & Reclaim Your Health  

Briefly write what the whole book is about and why the author has written it.

This book was about becoming a partner with Holy Spirit to change how we think about healing and health. We have wanted quick fixes and patches when God has wanted to do a complete re-model. Cal shares his own personal journey of realizing that his “eat what ever “ mind set was not benefiting him and was potentially separating him from the ability of accomplishing his destiny.  “Your belief system will be formed according to where you focus your mind. If you focus on the circumstances around you, the condition of your family and friends, you will have difficulty believing the truth of God’s Word, that it is possible to walk in health. The truth is, the Word of God is not determined by the condition of man; the condition of man is changed by the power of God’s Word”. pg 50

(Imagine the author will read this and would say, “Yes, this is the main point(s) of my book.)  I think Cal’s main point was to help us understand that walking in Health is a partnership with the Holy Spirit. We have relegated God to the sidelines to deal only with spiritual things in church but not our health or the way we live our lives. God sent Jesus to save, heal and deliver us, we have to often only allowed him to spiritually save us assuming other benefits would come when we got to heaven.  Our bodies and soul also need His transformation. I think our bodies are effected by the food choices we make and our soul is effected by how we deal with interpersonal relationships with others. 

Briefly outline 4 major points of the book as the author presents them including page numbers.  

• Healing and Wellness are part of our benefit package as believers. However not an automatic blessing because we have an enemy who would like to steal those benefits and our flesh needs to be submitted to our spirit  

“But God gave us free will, just as we have to choose to accept Christ as Savior, we also  have to choose to steward our bodies into health. Health is not an automatic blessing to a believer because we have an enemy who wants to steal our health. And our fleshly desires often go against the requirements of good health.” pg 54

• We must partner with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will bring us into all truth not just Spiritual truth. We fail to make that connection and limit what we allow the Holy Spirit to do in our lives.                                                                                                                “ I did not realize that he power to overcome the flesh in any area, including health is achieved by setting my mind on the Spirit and watching and praying. I had only applied this biblical truth to my spiritual growth, not my healthy growth.”  pg 22

“As I partnered with the Holy Spirit to pursue my health, I began to think according to heaven’s perspective instead of earth’s. With the early perspective, I could only look up to heaven with a rapture mind-set, waiting for the Second Coming to let me escape the troubles of this earth. With my new heavenly perspective, I began to have a kingdom mind-set, expecting to see His kingdom come on earth.” pg 68

• Knowing our Kingdom authority is more than being just called to attend church. 

“You cannot do this with a rapture mentality, focusing your attention on Christ’s return and simply waiting to escape this life. You will have a hard time bringing the kingdom of heaven to earth if you believe you are part of the failing church, waiting to be bailed out of a world where the enemy is defeating it.” pg 139

“Amazingly, the will of God is done on the earth through men and women to whom God has given authority. We have authority because the Spirit of God,who is all authority, dwells in us”. pg 147

• Realizing that God has a destiny for you to fulfill. 

“Too many people are not receiving breakthrough because they have not addressed the calling go of God on their life. Many get born again and then began a religious struggle to figure everything out. They attend church and sit in a pew as thought that is what their destiny is to be. After a while they find themselves going to church simply because they have become personally needy”. pg 215

“God has not just called us to become Christians and then wait around for Jesus to return so that we can receive our future inheritance after the Rapture, as I have discussed. We are called to be part of His army now. We are ordained to walk in the steps ordered and arranged for our lives by God Himself. We are called to be warriors who wear the armor of God and walk in truth to destroy the work of the enemy. Why do we destroy the works of the enemy? We do it to bring the kingdom of heaven on earth as it is in heaven.” pg218  

Thoughtfully explain one main strength (or point of agreement) with the author

I Corinthians 3:16-17 “ If anyone ruins the temple of God, God will ruin him. I wondered if we ruin ourselves, then why would God need to ruin us? I believe what God is saying is that t if we make the decision to ruin His temple, our body, with unhealthy lifestyle choices. He will agree with our decisions. He may not agree with what we are doing, but because he gave us free will that allows us to choose, He cannot break that covenant and override our choices. When we make a decision outside of the will of God, God honors our decisions though His will cannot be fulfilled in us as a result of our poor choices.” pg 52 

I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants. Deut 30:19 

I thought the quote above was perhaps the most powerful thought in the entire book. I even wrote Yikes in the margin. It is even true of Salvation, God offers it to everyone but he will agree with that choice as well. If you chose not God, eventually you will get all that is not God and none of what is God. Most Christians would agree, we do not serve an angry vengeful God who sends some people to hell. He just agrees with our choices. I hand not made the leap between this truth and how it impacts our health. God offers us life and health we are given choices. Will we do things his way and live or go our own way and die in our choices. I think too often we come to God with our desperate illness and we want God to fix it. He needs to fix how we think and talk and the choices we make. I have seen people who wanted to be healed die and I think it is because they realized too late what it was that they needed to change. It may be bitterness, un-forgiveness, lack of repentance, anger, rejection, or it may be food and lifestyle choices. We want that instant answer, that quick fix pill type prayer to make it all better.  God in his mercy does often  give a miracle of healing.  Sadly unless a person changes the things that made them sick in the first place they will likely get sick again.  I think sometimes it is a matter of a race against what has already been set in motion. Can one’s faith, belief system and lifestyle be transformed in time to beat the effects of the sickness or disease that is already in motion? 

Write down some of your favorite 

sentences in the book.  

“Our life does not determine our lifestyle; our lifestyle determines our life.” pg 6

“The original Hebrew word for griefs means sickness, and the word for sorrows means pain, physical or mental.” pg 14

“The way we can prove the will of God for our health is to think within ourselves that we can become healthy. Our transformed thinking will empower us to obtain the goal.” pg 19

“The triune God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - wants to impact a triune man - spirit, mind and body” pg 23

“We must choose to receive the grace that God gives us to live without sin and sickness. When we make that choice, god gives us His authority, His power in us that allows us to walk in victory.” pg 47

“I do not have to bear this sickness because Jesus bore it for me, as 1 Peter 2:24 states. I among set free rom the law of sin and death because I have been redeemed from it.” pg 47

“If the postman comes to your front door with a special delivery package with your name on it, and you hear a bunch of hissing and rattling inside it, are you going to accept the package? No. Return it to sender. In that same way, spiritually you do not have to accept any sin or sickness form which you have been redeemed, even if it seems to find your address.”pg 48

“For as he thinks within himself, so he is. We become what we think. And what we think, we usually say.”

The key to living the abundant life in Christ is to be fully occupied with god so that He is glorified in your body, mind and spirit. This “occupied” man of woman will reflect the light of God i wholeness and health. “ pg 75

“God wants His will done on earth as it is in heaven ( Matt. 6:10) When we become new creatures in Christ, He occupies us with His Spirit. The Spirit of god dwelling in us provides the power within to cause the will of God to become creative in our lives. Our faith becomes the vehicle for the unseen things of god to be seen on the earth. This is simply the way God works in u . When  my will and His will agree, faith is activated so that the Holy Spirit can release His power to cause the seed (His Word) to produce a harvest.” pg 85

“As Christ represents the Father, we are to represent Him in the earth. As redeemed Christians, we are not just to live in the kingdom of God pursing our own goals and waiting of the Rapture to take us to heaven. we are to bring the kingdom of heaven to earth as it is in heaven; that is our assignment as ambassadors of Christ.” pg 141 

“When a believer lives in fear, their words become creative in the enemy’s camp. Their confession will line up with his will, not God’s  For example, when people say things like: “I am sick.” “I am broke.” My marriage is bad. “ “I do not like that person.” “My life is a mess; I am in turmoil” In each of these statements the person takes possession of something that is not the will of God. It is all right to recognize where the problem is but why take possession of it as though it belongs to us? “  pg 223

In what way did this book impact your life as one who transforms cities? How will you be different?        

(For as he thinks within himself, so he is. Proverbs 23:7) 

I have had the benefit of having read a number of Cal’s booklets as well as the benefit of getting to see the real man in action as he speaks and encourages the team and staff each week. He is a person I greatly admire he is the genuine article who lives by what he teaches and preaches. A lot of the information presented in this book was not new to me and that was perhaps why I had a hard time staying focused to read this book. Because of these benefits I believe part of my calling is to help share these ideas with others. I believe there is a lot of work to be done changing people’s mind-sets in the church from a Rapture mentality to a Kingdom mentality. I think many people don’t even realize there is another biblical option.

I have silently disagreed with the Rapture mentality for much of the past 20 years. I am now seeing the wide spread damaging effects of that mind-set. I believe the time is coming to begin praying, speaking, writing and creating resources to help change this mind-set and our mind-set regarding healing. It is not just individuals that need a mind set shift but the church as a collective whole. It seems to me a task of enormous proportions.  I suppose if it was a simple thing to accomplish we might go about it in our own strength, rather than realizing that it will take the power of the Holy Spirit to accomplish through myself and many others.

 When I first came to the healing rooms and heard Cal and others talk about the Kingdom mindset it was like a breath of fresh air to me. Finally I had found others who saw something other than just struggling through life, holding on by our fingernails to faith till Jesus arrives to set things right. 

How will I be different because of this book? I used the following quote before in an earlier question, because it spoke very loudly to me and challenges me to make sure I am agreeing with God in all aspects of who I am and in this life. 

I Corinthians 3:16-17 “ If anyone ruins the temple of God, God will ruin him. I wondered if we ruin ourselves, then why would God need to ruin us? I believe what God is saying is that t if we make the decision to ruin His temple, our body, with unhealthy lifestyle choices. He will agree with our decisions. He may not agree with what we are doing, but because he gave us free will that allows us to choose, He cannot break that covenant and override our choices. When we make a decision outside of the will of God, God honors our decisions though His will cannot be fulfilled in us as a result of our poor choices.” pg 52 

I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants. Deut 30:19.

What challenges(s) have you been given by the Lord to implement some of the strategies in this book?  I lay hands on and pray for many people each week at the Healing Rooms, in my massage practice and in my church. Most are believers and are struggling with sickness, poverty, depression, relationship or other problems. I feel like there is so much “Just get by till the rapture mentality and a great disparity in the hand full of refrigerator verses that people may know how to quote but not understand how to stand on them or how to apply them. I realize that there is a lot of re-educating and mind renewing that is needed. We have learned how to wield our butter knife but not the Sword of the Spirit. How can I take the information from this book and create bite sized nuggets that people can begin to chew on, digest and put into practice. I am thinking how this could possibly be the deep well from which many ideas will come for a future prayer loft and resources to help people. 

My Concluding Thoughts:  This book was so rich that I would have liked this book as more of a devotional or a work book using Catchy Quote from Cal followed by 1- 3 pages of explanations or stories and some practical application ideas. I would change the title to Sixty or Ninety days to Receive your Healing and Reclaim Your Health.   Even though this book was packed with wonderful information - I got bogged down trying to read it in this format and had to set it down often to allow time to process the information presented.  

Translating God Book Report

I am doing these book reports as a student for the International Healing Rooms School of Transformation. 
There is an on-line course available. I am doing my course work live and in person at the International headquarters in Spokane Washington. If you are interested in training please follow the link above. I highly recommend the School. It is stretching and growing me and have loved every minute of it.  
Its not my usual devotional but I thought I might as well post them here. The questions are the same for each report. Hope you enjoy my report. 

This was the first book that we read this year. We also were able to view in class the video series of Shawn Bolz teaching. Sadly, I missed getting to see Shawn Bolz when he came to the International Healing Rooms as a guest speaker last year. This has been one of my favorite books this year and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to grow in hearing God's voice. 

Translating God Book Report

By Margot Cioccio

1. Briefly write what the whole book is about and why the author has written it. (Imagine the author will read this and would say, “Yes, this is the main point(s) of my book.)  The main message of Translating God is that prophecy is for every believer not just the specially gifted. Shawn shares his journey and the many lessons he has learned from many years of practice and development of his prophetic gift. He has also gained understanding from being around others who were using their prophetic gifts. He shares many wonderful stories of lives touched by the love of God through words of knowledge and prophecy. He is a regular guy who is partnering with Jesus to do incredible things to make a kingdom difference in the world.                                                                                                       
2. Briefly outline 4 major points of the book as the author presents them including page numbers.  The main points that stood out to me are in bold print followed by my thoughts and verses that impacted me for  each point.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          • Love is more important than information. (Page 18). “See what God sees, hear what God hears, and speak what God speaks so we can all love the way God loves. Revelation is given so we can carry a piece of God’s heart from eternity into the world.” (Page 20)  Another quote that expressed this point and the heart of Jesus, said “ He saw them through a developed sense of love - the Father’s point of view. He saw them as though they were restored to their original design, God’s original intention, as though they had already fully said yes to his invitation of walking with him, even though they were not yet capable. He didn’t treat them as he hoped they would one day be, he treated them as if they were already restored. (Page 20) “There is no power from God that is separated from love.” (Page 51)                                                                                                                                                                                                          • Defining the difference between discernment of spiritual information and the communication that comes from relationship building with God.  In this Shawn answers why God speaks, and how he speaks. “His eternal plan is for us to see what he sees, which enables us to love like he loves” (page 23) He spends a full chapter telling us about John’s relationship with Jesus. In the book of Revelation John try to describe the magnitude of what he saw. He had up to that point only experienced Jesus as a human and Jesus resurrected. He now experiences the fully glorified Jesus. He was overwhelmed and collapsed and needed help from Jesus to be able to stand. He is called to “Come Up Higher” in which he sees not only Jesus glorified but the culmination of believers from every generation as the fully prepared  bride of Christ. This experience forever changed how John would see the church. “ He was seeing eternity now - the bride made ready to not just serve, but to partner as creator, to partner as a counterpart, to partner as a daughter/son as a friend.” (Page 31)  It is out of our relationship with Jesus that we begin to experience the Fathers’ heart for people. While we may initially see their fault and brokenness it is through the lens of the Father’s love for them that we are able to share things from his heart to help them be restored to His plans and purposes for their lives. I liked the quote by Phil Elston that was included in the book. “It takes no anointing to see what is wrong in people’s lives. Tell them something they don’t know! See the gold and tell them that.” (Page 32) We learn from John’s example to see everyone who is running the race with their first place victors trophy.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        • Eagerly Desiring the Prophetic and Understanding the Prophetic as a Relational Tool   Shawn shares how he is a normal guy. He had no great signs at his birth or fantastic supernatural visitations. Nothing that would set him apart as more special than you or I. He writes on page 43 “May times when I didn’t feel qualified, or like I didn’t have the relational or emotional capacity, let alone the skill set, to speak to different people (it felt way out my comfort zone), God’s personality and his passion possessed me in a way that made it easy. I am not limited to my resources: I am limited to his, even when reaching outside my comfortable space.”  We are encouraged in 1 Corinthians 14 to eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy.  “The reason why is because prophecy can be on of the clearest validations of the Father’s great love …When people hear the thoughts and emotions of God toward them, they believe in his love for them. (Page 45)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     • Accountability, A New Way To Grow God wants each of to grow in our use of the Prophetic. We need to move from the doom and gloom, God is going to judge you for your sins to a type of Prophecy that is born out of a culture of love. We want to encourage people to begin to see themself through that love that Jesus has for them. One way we can grow is to be accountable to other prophetic people who have had more experience than we have. It is also important to be responsible for our words that don’t happen. One way we can improve and grow is by tracking our words. Get the persons contact information and check back with them. There used to be an attitude that if something didn’t come to pass that it was the persons fault due to their lack of faith, or disobedience. It is important that we be the responsible party. We meant well but sometimes we don’t get things right. Mike Bickel challenged Shawn one day saying” One of the mistakes we have made as a ministry culture, that I don’t want you to repeat, is that we never looked for the words we gave that weren’t right. I bet that 90 percent of the time, if your prophecy doesn’t come true over someone’s life, he will think God is mad at him or the devil is warring against him, or worse yet, that he blocked something good from coming into his life because of sin.” It is also ok for us a people receiving words to say thank you but I don’t think that is what God is saying to me. Prophecy should confirm things that God has already been speaking and stirring in our life.                                                                                                            
3. Thoughtfully explain one main strength (or point of agreement) with the author. Looking back over my years as a believer and having spent much of those years in full or part time ministry. I have seen Prophecy to be a wonderful thing at times but I have seen it also delivered in very damaging ways. I have also been troubled in the past by self proclaimed prophets who seemed to think they were somehow exempt from the fruit of the Spirit in their life because they were somehow God's specially chosen. I agree with Shawn that prophecy must come from a culture of love and one that is formed in relationship with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit as well as with the people we touch through prophecy. I loved  how Shawn was willing to take responsibility for his words that didn’t happen. This book gives me hope that many of the imbalances in the use of the prophetic have been and are being corrected.                                                                                                                                                                                              
4.  Write down some of your favorite sentences in the book. I have already included many of them in my answers to the previous question. One of my favorites is on page 113 “you start to feel as though the gaps between Gods heavenly heart and his peoples is closing. Your very life becomes a bridge over that gap. Your faith and love stretch from God’s own desire to your sphere of influence.”   I also really like this one from page 17 “The prophetic is one of the greatest tools of love we have.”                                                                                                                                                 
5.  In what way did this book impact your life as one who transforms cities? How will you be different? It has encouraged me to be bolder about sharing the things God shows me. I told a client this week that I believed that God wanted her to have more joy. She responded that she would like that but wanted to know how to have more joy. I told her to ask God for it.  I shared some of the things I find helpful such as soaking in the Word with music and how the gift of tongues has been one of the most helpful things for me personally. She didn’t realize that one could have more than one gift and didn’t realize that all of the resources of heaven are hers simply by asking. We prayed together and she spoke in tongues. I see my self being less reserved and more open to share words with people not just at the Healing Rooms or at my church but with my clients and as I go about my day.                                                                                 
6.   What challenges(s) have you been given by the Lord to implement some of the strategies in this book?  I mostly just know how to pray and what to share when I lay hands on people, it is as if I connect to Gods heart and become his voice in that moment. I just know things. Most of the time people weep and are deeply touched.  This book challenged me to try using word of knowledge as a way to connect on a deeper level with people and help them to be more receptive to what God wants to say to them. So the other day at the dentist office while the hygienist was working on me, I spent the time praying for her. I kept hearing the name Edmond and felt like I should ask her if there was someone important to her with that name. Turned out that she didn’t but I was able to share that I had been praying for her. We laughed and I told her I don’t always get things right but when I hear something I ask just in case it is important. I drove home feeling a little disappointed that it didn’t mean anything to her but I celebrated that I had had the courage to share it with her. Who knows maybe Edmond is someone who will be important to her and she will remember our conversation. I leave it in the Lords far more capable hands. I will keep listening and loving and sharing as the Holy Spirit Leads me.                                                                                  
7. My Concluding Thoughts  I found this book to be a refreshing look at the prophetic gift. I am encouraged to see growth and accountability among those who have not only the gift of prophecy but the office as well. I have to say I have steered clear of a lot of the folks that ride into town claiming to be prophetic voice of our day. I guess I have always felt that God knows my address and I know his voice and I am confident that he will speak to me about the things I need to know. He was willing to use a donkey, and Jesus said the rocks will cry out if we don’t praise him. Just because one has this gift doesn’t make them hyper special.  There have been many times where I have been encouraged by the words, and pictures and verses that the teams at the healing rooms have shared. I just have always believed I shouldn’t have to run from meeting to meeting to get a word or a confirmation it should be a part of my normal life. I read my bible to say that signs and wonders should follow me. I don’t need to be chasing after them. I think some people have substituted running after words from Prophets rather than establishing a relationship with God who wants to speak directly to them. Jesus came so we no longer need an intermediary. I do see how I could be more open to operating in this gift and to others who are also practicing hearing from God.  At the time of the Toronto Blessing revival, I saw a lot of things happening in the church that was alarming to me. I was Spirit filled and spoke in tongues and was traveling with my husband teaching people about praise and worship. We did concerts at both Randy Clark’s church in St. Louis and at Bethel Church in California before they became a big deal. I saw a meeting led by Rodney Howard Brown where the Pastors stood frozen for the entire meeting. Having come out of a New Age background it didn’t feel right to me at the time. Yes, people were getting touched but ministries all over the place came to a screeching halt to accommodate the revivals that erupted.  I couldn't find with in the pages of my bible scriptures to confirm people to be barking like dogs, or hysterically laughing. I didn’t have much of an understanding of the messiness of revivals at the time.  I suppose it is the fruit that I see now many years later in people who were profoundly touched by God at that time to make me look back and wonder if I missed it or did God simply have another path for us.  I think of David’s wife who laughed at him wildly worshiping in his ephod and I find myself repenting for my critical spirit at that time and my inability to bend with a new move of God.  This book has stirred up some of those memories and choices that were made. I am grateful that God loves and uses us where we are at a various times in our lives even if we were not ready to swim at the deep end of the pool.