Vineyard - Lord Prepare Me To Be Sanctuary Lyrics
Lyrics
Lord, prepare me to be a sanctuary Pure and holy, tried and true With thanksgiving, I'll be a living Sanctuary for You
It is you, Lord Who came to save The heart and soul Of every man It is you Lord Who knows my weakness Who gives me strength, With thine own hand.
Lord prepare me to be a sanctuary Pure and Holy, tried and true With thanksgiving I'll be a living Sanctuary for you
Lead Me on Lord From temptation Purify me From within Fill my heart with Your holy spirit Take away all my sin
Lord prepare me to be sanctuary Pure and holy, tried and true With thanksgiving, I'll be a living Sanctuary for You
Video
Sanctuary - worship video with lyrics.wmv
Meaning & Inspiration
When the Vineyard movement brought us this simple prayer, they tapped into a core reality of the Christian walk that often gets buried under complex theology. We are talking about the basic, raw desire to be a place where God actually dwells. It feels like a quiet morning prayer rather than a stadium anthem, yet it hits the core of what Paul meant in 1 Corinthians 6:19 when he reminded us that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. This song strips away the performance of Sunday morning and settles into the uncomfortable truth that we are not just observers of God's work; we are the ground he chooses to occupy.
The lyrics focus on the transition from a messy, broken life to a consecrated one. When the singer asks to be made pure and holy, they are echoing the call of 1 Peter 1:16, where we are told to be holy because He is holy. You cannot manufacture that kind of purity on your own. It requires the refining fire that tests gold, turning us into something tried and true. That imagery of being a living sanctuary is a direct nod to Romans 12:1, where we present our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God. It moves worship from a song we sing to a state of existence we inhabit.
The middle section shifts the weight off our shoulders and places it back onto the Savior. Acknowledging that He knows our weakness is a massive relief. Hebrews 4:15 tells us we have a high priest who sympathizes with our infirmities, and this song leans hard into that grace. It admits we are prone to wander and prone to fail, but it counters that with the promise of His strength. It is a request for the internal renovation that only the Holy Spirit can perform. When the lyrics plead to be led away from temptation and to be purified from within, they acknowledge that the real battle happens behind the eyes, in the quiet corners of the mind where only the Spirit can reach.
We get so busy building platforms and programs that we forget the primary task of the believer is simply to be a house for the King. If we stop trying to impress the world with our own efforts and start asking God to inhabit us, our lives stop being about what we do for Him and start being about who we let Him be in us. The goal is to be a space where He feels at home, a place of thanksgiving that is entirely set apart for His purposes. Real change doesn't start in our actions, but in the decision to let the Holy Spirit clear out the junk so He can finally occupy the room. Stop chasing the shadow of holiness and invite the Living God to furnish the space where He intends to stay.