First Day update

We began our prayer room last night with a two-hour intercession set. Our purpose in all this was twofold: to intercede for the activities in the conference on the floor just above us (we are in the basement) and to minister to the heart of the Lord as an audience of One. So, we pressed forward with extended worship, vertical in nature, and let the intercession come from that posture.

In the second set from 8-9pm, we were led in devotional worship by two of our ladies. It was wonderful. This format is not new for us; this is one of the ways in which we create a place for His presence to go deep in our hearts. It is a perfect compliment to a set of agressive intercession. You just want to fall back into rest in the presence of the one you love.

The night ended with a 9-10pm set focused on the passage from Psalm 27:4 ("one thing I ask...that I may gaze upon the beauty of the Lord...to seek Him in his temple"). As the singers went through the passage and sang nuances of truth that the Spirit was highlighting to them, I found myself pacing the floor and praying. I could feel the truth of the passage and the heart of the "Beautiful One" for his bride. So, I began to take each line that was sung, each truth expressed to God about how he feels for us and turned it into intercession for those in the conference upstairs. "God, reveal yourself in new ways to them...let their hearts burn to be in your presence...reveal the Beautiful God to them...capture their hearts with love".

It was a good night to be in the prayer room.

More to come...

Brian Creary
Ministry Director


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Praying at the Conference

Beginning tonight at 6pm, we are going to be running a prayer room for the "Kingdom Come" conference at Calvary Temple. This is a yearly event organized by our good friend Trevor Meier and the folks at "beyond". This year they have Jason Upton leading worship and Ryan Wyatt speaking and praying for people. You may remember him from the outpouring in Lakeland, Florida this past summer. He was speaking and ministering frequently and saw MANY healings take place during his prayer times. It should be a powerful weekend.

For our part, however, we felt that we wanted to offer support to this event in the area that we do best. So we will be running a prayer room each night from 6-10pm as the meetings are happening upstairs. They will be pressing in for healing in one meeting and we will be calling for the power of God to break in on their behalf at the same time. How awesome is that?!?

I am off to get things set up right now. I'll post some pictures later when I get time.

May God do something incredible in Winnipeg through the events of this weekend.

Blessings!

Brian Creary
Ministry Director


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September

We are about to enter the Fall and we are excited to see what the remaining 4 months brings us. God has invited us to discover all that we "really believe" and it has been a wild year...so far. More on that as the months unfold.

For now, I am eager to keep on track with worship to the One. Come and do it with us some time.

Blessings,

Brian Creary
Ministry Director
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Update

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

Revival??

So, what is going on in Lakeland, Florida? That is the question that so many are asking these days since word began to spread a number of weeks ago that the Holy Spirit is being poured out in significant measure. And, what's more, there has been tons of healing accompanying this outpouring. The man in the centre of this is Canadian-born Todd Bentley, an evangelist with years of experience in revival meetings and healing the sick. But, by his own admission, he has never seen anything like what is happening in Lakeland. Significant healings are occurring, evangelism is following and lives are being changed.

Since this outpouring began about 50 days ago, Todd and his team have held meetings every night. What began as a weekend conference for a few hundred has mushroomed into crowds of many thousands, long line-ups to get in and people flying in from all over the world to receive from God. Similar to the Toronto Blessing in 1994, this outpouring seems to be about two things: first, any person can be significantly touched and impacted by the Spirit of God if they go to the meeting and take a posture of receiving from God. And second, the person can also receive an impartation that they can take with them back their nation. Reports are coming in that healing and infilling are being experienced in all corners of the globe after someone spent time in Lakeland.


If you are like me and you long for the presence of the Lord to increase in our city, this sounds like good news. At Sanctuary House of Prayer, we spend many hours asking for God to come in power in our city and this seems like a possible answer to prayer. But there are a few things that need to be considered before we claim that "this is that" which we believe is coming.

First, it is very early to be making any significant conclusions. Thinking back to Toronto in '94, the wave was just beginning to grow at the 50-day mark and it was impossible for anyone to know for sure where it was going. All they knew was that it was God and it was extraordinary! To see Lakeland as more than this conclusively is a bit premature at this point. Having said that, we can learn from the Toronto experience. Waves like this tend to increase in size and force over time. If it is really transferable as the reports are suggesting, we have every reason to believe this will have a global impact within a year. It will impact every city on the earth that wants it and change the way things are done in the church world and beyond.

Second, waves like this are often the way God works. Therefore, we need to make mental adjustments to allow for God to work in this way and shed old ways of thinking if they prevent us from seeing (and hopefully participating) in what He is doing right now. Revivals often come just this way and we want to be open to the style being a bit different than we are used to if the fruit is good.

Third, we know that there will be more and more of these outpourings as we get closer to the Second Coming of Jesus. Anticipate Acts 2 becoming a full reality in your city as it is coming to all of us before this draws to a close. So, this outpouring may or may not be the "big one" that you have in your head. Embrace what God is doing, celebrate the activities of the Holy Spirit and join in with it by asking God to increase it in your area.

Fourth, there are always things in any outpouring that seem extreme (outlandish, even) and some of the behaviour exhibited by attendees (and even leaders) can cause us to be offended. This is important to know now because God is not wanting us to ignore sinful or abusive behaviour but rather to press through to find Him in the midst of broken humanity on display at points. It is far better in these situations to allow the style and culture that typically annoys or offends you to just flow. Suspend your judgments and press in to God. Remember, there are things about you and your ministry style that people don't like as well. Extend grace and keep your eyes heavenward.

And finally, we need to remember that Jesus usually responded to people who demonstrated hunger for what He had to offer and faith that they would receive if they pursued Him. The principle still applies today. As a friend of mine used to say to his unbelieving friends, "if there is something good out there, why not go and get it?" The posture to take with this outpouring needs to be one of hunger and faith. Determine that whatever God is doing right now is something you want in on and pursue it as "something good you want to go get". This doesn't mean changing your life calling, dropping what God has asked of you now or violating your own beliefs. God knows each of us so well. He will grant to us according to what is the best for us. So, throw yourself open to what He wants for you in this and ask Him for more.

Sanctuary is in an interesting place in this. We want to be touched and filled by God, receive whatever power is available for healing the sick (and get our people healed in the process) and see the lost come to Jesus through it all. But, we want our prayer meetings fired up and fueled by the presence of the Spirit and an increase in authority for what we contend for manifest in every meeting. And most of all, we want greater intimacy with Jesus, our eternal reward the lover of our very souls.

May God do all that He has planned. Holy Spirit, come!

Brian Creary
Ministry Director

Step 5

And finally....Point #5

We have reached the end of this method with this final point, one that seems so obvious most people want to begin with it: pray the verses.

If you recall, we began by stating that scripture meditation was about more than learning the verses by heart or even learning the background and meaning of each verse. To meditate on the verse is to "prayerfully consider" what is contained there, to encounter God as you encounter His written word. We have learned the value in reading the passage, in writing it down, in saying it (especially out loud), in singing and allowing the melodies of your heart to join with what the Spirit is teaching us. And now we are able to take it all and turn it into prayer request before God.

There is some mystery to this final step, believe it or not, because it is very likely you are going to have an "a-ha" moment in there somewhere. All the way along you have been pressing to connect with God and what He wants to share with you concerning the passage in question. More than learning what your favourite commentator has to say on it, you are learning to approach God in the midst of worship to seek deeper truths. But now that you have received revelation from God on this, your final step in the process is to take what you have learned and say it back to God in prayer. The language that He gives you will become the very language you will use to pray it back to Him. And there is your "a-ha" moment: the prayer that is the most meaningful will be filled with language and ideas that came first from Him anyway.

Simply put, He longs to share His heart with us and to have us walk in step with what He is thinking, feeling and doing. We often forget this as we run ahead doing the works of the kingdom and accomplishing things for Him. And, all along He was after our hearts. We probably should have guessed as much considering that our future in eternity is with Him. Of course He wants people who voluntarily love Him!!

How do we pray the thoughts and ideas we have received? Try something like this....

-read, write, say and sing through Psalm 27:4 ("one thing I ask and seek that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to gaze up His beauty..."

-the thoughts and ideas will have come to you as statements of realization ("God, you must be more amazing than I realize to hold the attention of David for his whole life", "there is nothing more important than to be in relationship with you, God", "to gaze clearly upon who you are is the beginning of worship", "I am not doing this very well right now...forgive me in my neglect and distraction", etc)

-begin to pray these back to God as request ("God, I want to see more of you", "let me gaze on your beauty", "focus my eyes on you alone and let nothing else distract me from you", etc.)

-don't forget to weave in much expressions of love through singing...He loves that!


Like any method, it won't bring you to God in and of itself. But, take the time to learn and grow in it and your engaged heart will allow you to find more of God.

Be blessed in the journey!


Brian Creary
Ministry Director

Step 4

Assuming you have been trying this approach to scripture meditation out for yourself, you have now reached the point where you are getting some revelation from God and things are beginning to flow for you. Your journal is filling up with amazing ideas and you feel like you are hearing God through His written word. Good for you!

Now, we are going to try something that can be both wonderfully fulfilling and intimidating all at once. Step 4 is to take the phrases you are jotting down in your journal, particularly the ones that have lots of "life" on them for you right now and begin to sing them out. Yes, I said sing them :) Let me suggest some reasons why and then a practical way or two that you can go about doing this.

Singing, whether it be the scriptures or any written phrase, will do something for you on the inside that no other mechanic will accomplish. We have all had the experience of getting a song stuck in our head, but rarely does the same happen with a spoken phrase. Music has a way of staying with us, of making the ideas more familiar and much more memorable. Music can touch our emotions quickly. It can cause us to feel the idea and well as understand the content. It can be used for evil and it can be used for good. Most of all, it can be a vehicle into greater understanding of God and His word.

Incidently, there is much singing going on in heaven. A complete reading of the book of Revelation will show that singing was happening as the events of the end-times were unfolding. It was happening as they gazed on God and who He was in His complexity. They declared in song the goodness of God and the brilliance of His leadership, even as judgements were being poured out on the earth and many people were dying. It is the future, frankly...those who can see Him and the wisdom of His leadership will sing as the day of His appearing draws closer. Clearly, God both enjoys and sanctions the use of singing in the activity of prayer and searching for understanding.

Even more powerful than hearing music, however, is the act of actually singing it out yourself. Somehow, this step, when done with an engaged heart in prayer (in its simplest form, this is talking to God), causes us to connect in a way that involves deeper parts of who we are. Our emotions are touched. Our rational thoughts connect with the feeling side of our soul. We hear ourselves singing truth, with the Spirit interacting with our efforts, and it takes us deeper into knowing God for ourselves.

Doing this, however, is often a challenge for a few reasons. Unless you have a house of prayer that engages in corporate worship for hours on end, you may have trouble engaging in this step in a "live music" setting. Most Sunday morning worship times are designed for you to actually sing what the leader is singing and not go off on your own themes. The folks sitting nearby will not appreciate your sung efforts at Psalm 27:4 or anything else if that is not what is happening in the room.

The next best thing to a live worship setting is a recording of your favourite worship music. I suggest something slower and more devotional in content to begin as you are going to feel you need space at first. This step will be difficult if the band is rocking and the theme is celebrative. Look for something that moves your heart when you listen to it or when you sing it in a church setting. Here is what it could look like:

-for a start, take your ipod or favourite worship cd in the car with you for a long drive

-pick your song and begin to sing along with it...this will get you used to hearing yourself sing out, usually one of the biggest obstacles for most people.

-assuming your are engaging your heart with God via the song, launch out with some spontaneous phrases of your own in the spaces or even over top of what is being sung. Again, a good choice of song will allow for more space and easier entry points here.

-Be real in this! It is too easy to fall into cliches and not really say what is in your heart. Anyone can sing "blessed be the name of the Lord" over and over, but if it is not real to you it is best to avoid it as the central theme of your singing.

-Now what about the written phrases in your journal, you say?? Now would be a bad time to get the journal out and search for a good phrase (you are driving, after all). Instead, be free and spontaneous this first time. It will cause you to see quickly that you will run out of language to express your heart. When you arrive home, take out the journal and begin to get some of your favourite phrases into your thinking. Prepare yourself for your next singing time.

-If you are alone in your home, you can join all of this together easily. With the music on and your heart engaged, you can go through steps 1-4 with a natural flow that will allow this to be an expression of love and not a structured mechanism that restricts your efforts.

It may sound awkward, but give it a try anyway. You will be surprised at how the truth of the word will stay with you and how much you will feel what moves you as you sing it out before the Lord.

One step to go....


Blessings,

Brian Creary
Ministry Director