Sanctuary

When someone hears the word Sanctuary the first thing they usually think of is the place you go to worship God or when The Hunchback of Notre Dame was going around shouting "Sanct-u-ary, Sanct-u-ary".
Exodus 25:8 tells us that Sanctuary was to be the place for people to dwell with God. We as Christians already have Jesus dwelling inside us, so why do we call the room where we have the services at church "the Sanctuary"? To fully understand what a Sanctuary is we must go back to the Hunchback.
He was wanting the place where he could get away from the ridicule of the townspeople "Sanctuary". That is the basic reason why we should go into the the Sanctuary. The Sanctuary is a place where the rest of the world can be forgotten and focus on God, without all the distractions and worries of this world. Jesus said in Matthew 21:13 "My house shall be called the house of prayer". Prayer is nothing more than being in communication with God. That is supposed to be the main focus of church, getting closer to God. We have preaching and teaching to learn what we might be doing to keep us from being close enough to God to hear him when he speaks to us. It is not supposed to be a place to sell your Avon or to go see your friends. When you enter the Sanctuary, you should treat it as such, a place to get away from all of Satan's terrors. A place to focus on God without all the things of the world interfering. If you are sitting in church and think about what you are going to cook when you get home or what you are going to do later that day then you might as well just get up and leave because you are polluting the Sanctuary by bringing in the things of the world. We all must try to stay focused on the reason Jesus said to go to church: to fellowship with him.
If you don't hear God speaking back to you when you speak to him then you need to find our why. If we are focusing on God then we will hear him when he speaks to us and it will be often. 1 Thes.5:17 says "Pray without ceasing." We are supposed to be in constant communication with God, that means both people talking and listening. As we go through our normal lives it is often hard to hear and understand what God wants us to do, that is why he has provided us a Sanctuary. Use it for the purpose intended.
Blessings to you
Apostle Charlie Hale