Testimonies from Sanctuary Days

1) "Thank you for last Friday – I thought the church looked superb and I think it is what we should be doing and continue to pray for others to join in........ we need to continue to remember that  the Lord can achieve great things without great numbers – look at the 12 disciples , look at the prayers for great revivals over the years ---  --‘’Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See I am doing a new thing!’’

2)  "How beautiful the Sanctuary Prayer on Friday was........ prayer-God’s Spirit was really there.  I felt the Holy Spirit on me as a cloak and 30mins seemed like 1 min.  I just wanted to stay there all the time left.  I really felt God speak to me through Ps 32 and Ps 34.  I am so looking forward to the next one and will want to spend more time in such a beautiful space both spiritually and physically."

3)  "At first I found it difficult to focus. My mind seemed like a loud waterfall in the silence, but as the time went by I found my noisy, active thoughts being stilled in God's Presence. As my soul became quiet before God I realised I had been missing the joy involved in knowing Jesus. I found myself praying through Psalm 51, in particular asking God to 'create in me a pure heart and renew a steadfast spirit within me.' I was also asking Him where my joy had gone. I later began to focus on the immensity of God's love in Psalm 103, that it is 'as high as the heavens are above the earth' and that God is a compassionate Father towards His children.  As I got back into the reality of life the next week I realised I needed to review.  There was too much clutter and activity, my peace was hampered by a false sense of responsibility for some things. I knew I needed to let go of some of these things that were causing stress so that I could stay on God's path for me and allow Him to be at the centre again. Joy is returning!"

 4) "I came for one hour and stayed for six!" 

5) "On 10^thDecember I thought I would give Sanctuary Prayer a “go” The church was warm, welcoming and creatively filled with resources to help me to pray.   I found complete peace, time to quieten my busy brain,  time to pray, to think and even to doze in complete safety.  People came and went during the time I was there.  One huge delight was a young Mum who brought her children to pray after school.  Prayer is for all ages and it does not need to be wordy or particularly “religious” I found time to be real with God and His Spirit met me in the gentlest way.  It was a life changing experience which I will never forget and which I know has lead me closer to Him and the knowledge of His love, not only for me, but for the all in this community.The next day of Sanctuary Prayer is 7^thJanuary.  I cannot think of a safer or better place in which to quietly commit my new year to God’s care.  Do come if you can."

 6) “…immediately on entering the church I was struck by the beautiful atmosphere of peace……I greatly appreciated the cross with its symbolic colours of cloth, the water, the candles….all things which gave me a sense of coming into a special time with God. It is often hard to discipline oneself personally to make ‘God-time’ special, and I felt a real pleasure at coming into the church and having that quiet hour there. Above all, there was an awareness that every other person within the church was seeking to be in the Lord’s presence too. We were a community at prayer. I cannot tell you that I felt any particular 'message' from my time there, but I had had a sense of the immense importance of just putting oneself in God’s presence and resting in that place. I spent time especially contemplating John 15: 4 – ‘Remain in me, and I will remain in you.’

 7) "I simply enjoyed God's presence. I realised that I didn't have to "pray" but just receive"

8) "I have marked every Sanctuary Prayer Day out in my diary as a priority. I cannot tell you what it means to me. I'm listening to God more and hearing Him speak to me. The longer I spend quietly seeking God, the more I hear from Him."

9) "I'm experiencing being more peaceful, and restful, there is more joy in my life."

10) "Sanctuary Prayer is so simple and so powerful."