Things have been very different at Sanctuary in the last 2 months. As we reached our 2nd anniversary and began our third year of worship and intercession for our city, the Holy Spirit surprised us with a significant visitation that continues on each week. What began as a few of us eager to see more of God's presence in our meetings has turned into power for infilling and even healing.
Shortly after we had heard about what was happening in Lakeland, Florida, we had the privilege of having friends travel there and return to share of their experiences and pray for us. As I mentioned in the previous posting, the events in Lakeland are so new that it has been difficult to categorize them as one specific type of visitation or another. But, clearly something was happening and a first-hand account was just what we needed. That first night was so good! The Spirit came in power and filled people in new ways. Many of those prayed for had never had experiences like this but were overwhelmed by Gods presence and found themselves shaking and overcome. Believing that this outpouring is as much about physical healing as anything, we pressed in to pray for those sick among us, as well. And, to our great joy, we have had a few healings already, some that were significant. The Lord is good...all the time!
The most difficult part of this has been trying to decide how to best allow for this move of God and still maintain our activities as a house of prayer. But, we decided that it was critical to do both, so we have taken the posture to "pray for rain even in the midst of rain" and to make room for the Spirit to come in power in our meetings just for us and any who would join us. Since we began this 6 weeks ago, we have had lots of visitors, including many pastors from other churches. It has been our honour to pray for these folks and give away all that God has given us in this time. And that has fit so well with our mandate to pray for the church in this city...usually we pray for them while they are somewhere else, so its nice to have them in our meetings this time!
I have no idea how long this will continue for. We are going to keep making space and time to pray for everyone who wants to receive more from the Holy Spirit. We will eagerly receive all visitors and give all that we have. We are determined to pray for healing for everyone sick who comes to the meetings. We are praying for other churches and leaders in the city, specifically Trevor and the gang at Calvary Temple, for the full outbreak of healing power for the entire city of Winnipeg (in the meetings, the workplace, the schools and the neighbourhoods). And, we are excited to see how all this fits in with what God is doing in our city in this hour of history.
If you are in the area, come by on Sunday evening. Check the schedule page for times.
Blessings,
Brian Creary
Ministry Director
