The Role of Father God.
In Bethel Sozo, we recognise that, ideally, Dad’s role in our lives should be to protect us, provide for us and help us to grow up knowing our identity. The trouble is, this isn’t always our experience. How easy was it in your Sozo to deal with the forgiveness issues around your Dad? Was there lots to do or is/was your Dad an all-around good guy who showered you with love? Occasionally, people come for a Sozo and have absolutely nothing they feel the need to forgive their Dads for, but that’s a rarity. More often than not a lot of someone’s first Sozo is spent thinking about and forgiving Dad.
What’s important to recognise is that forgiving your Dad doesn’t necessarily mean you are dishonouring him. He might, for example, have been serving in the armed forces on the other side of the world, which in itself was fine, but he wasn’t there for you growing up. He wasn’t there when you needed him and forgiveness is needed for the pain of his absence and the feelings of abandonment that might have followed.
Unintentionally, we often assign to Father God the same attributes, or lack of them, as our own Dads have or had. In the above example, of Dad serving in the armed forces, it’s easy to start to think that Father God could abandon us too or that He’s not interested enough to be there for us when we need Him. We tend to place our Dad’s face onto the face of Father God, again thinking He’ll be exactly like our Dad, and the truth is: He’s not!
Hopefully, your Bethel Sozo helped you to understand this, and you now have a much better relationship with Father God than you had before. Now’s the time to develop that relationship, to share the ups and downs of your life with Him and to get His input. You’ll know His voice because it will sound the same as it did in your Sozo!
Reading:
Look with wonder at the depth of the Father’s marvellous love that he has lavished on us! He has called us and made us his very own beloved children. The reason the world doesn’t recognise who we are is that they didn’t recognise him.
1 John 3:1 (tpt)
Also read:
John 14:7–11
Father God, I thank You for showing me that You are a good Father and that Your love for me has no bounds and no boundaries. I know that whatever I’ve done, I’m forgiven and that whatever I do, You’ll forgive me if I turn to You in true repentance. I know I can trust You with my innermost thoughts and my most outrageous dreams. I know that You want me to know Your protection and be secure in being Yours. I choose, Father God, to learn how to become the person You made me to be, so that I know not just who I am but Whose I am. Amen.
You can’t make yourself feel loved, but you can begin to love yourself. Your Sozo will have revealed the lies you’ve been believing about Father God and about yourself, and He will have told you what the truth is. Think of yourself as you now know Father God sees you and how He wants you to see yourself. Remember to declare your truths over yourself and then reflect on them. Journal how Father God sees you. Then go out believing these truths.