I recently read this very interesting book summary called From Prision to Praise by Merlin R. Carothers. It is basically his personal testimony of how being praiseful has tranformed his life and the lives of many others that he has come into contact with. I would encourage all to read it, as it has really made a difference in my life and I’m sure you can get some helpful tips on how to have a proactive use of this wonderful art of praise.
Here are a couple of quotes that stood out to me.

Merlin R. Carothers.
I have come to believe that the prayer of praise is the highest form of communion with God, and one that always releases a great deal of power into our lives. Praising Him is not something we do because we feel good; rather it is an act of obedience. Often the prayer of praise is done in sheer teeth-gritting willpower; yet when we persist in it, somehow the power of God is released into us and into the situation. At first in a trickle perhaps, but later in a growing stream that finally floods us and washes away the old hurts and scars.

Often when someone began to praise God for the problems that faced him, he found that Satan increased his attacks and the situation appeared to become worse instead of better. Many who tried the way of praise became discouraged and were unable to hold on to their belief that God was in charge.
Others simply didn’t understand and refused to try praising God for unpleasant things. “It just doesn’t make sense,” they’d say. “I’m not doing to praise God for something I just don’t believe He has anything to do with. How can God have anything to do with my broken arm or my wrecked car or my husband’s horrible temper? I’d be foolish to thank Him for something like that.”
Of course it doesn’t make sense. The question is, does it work? It didn’t make much sense when Jesus said, “Leap for joy when you are hungry or poor or persecuted.” Yet He very definitely told us to do just that. In Nehemiah 8:10 I read: “The joy of the Lord is your strength.”
The enemy’s arrows just can’t penetrate the joy of someone who is praising the Lord. In 2 Chronicles 20 we read how a whole army was de¬feated when the Israelites simply praised the Lord and believed Him when He said that the battle wasn’t theirs, but His.

Some have asked me if this principle of praise isn’t just another way to talk about the power of positive thinking. Far from it. Praising God for every circumstance does not mean we close our eyes to the difficulties. In his letter to the Philip¬pians Paul says to worry about nothing, but “In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which passes all un¬derstanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
When we praise God we thank Him for our situation, not in spite of it.
We are not trying to avoid our dilemmas. Rather Jesus is showing us a way to overcome them.
Praise is not another way of bargain¬ing with the Lord. We don’t say, “Now we’ve praised You in the middle of this mess, so get us out of it!”
God is calling us to praise Him, and the high¬est form of praise is the one Paul exhorts us to give in Hebrews 13:15: “By (Christ) therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continu¬ally, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.”
The sacrifice of praise is offered when all is darkness around us. It is offered of a heavy heart, unto God because He is God and Father and Lord.
As we begin to praise Him, His Holy Spirit begins to fill our beings more and more.
To continually praise Him means a steady decreasing of self and an increase of the presence of Christ within us, until with Peter we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.

Any form of sincere prayer opens the door for God’s power to move into our lives. But the prayer of praise releases more of God’s power than any other form of petition. The Bible gives examples which demonstrate this fact again and again.

Posted on June 3rd, 2005 by John
Filed under: Ponder