Listen/Download Audio of The Prospering Power of Praise
Remember to cultivate your divine impulse to praise rather than your human impulse to find fault.
Praise is a God-given ability, which you can develop and strengthen like a muscle in your body by wise use and exercise. You can develop your ability to praise to the extent that it will become a very powerful, constructive force in your life and promote your health, happiness, and prosperity.
The Psalms are filled with powerful words of praise for God. Here are two verses from the 67th Psalm showing that praise has the practical power to increase growing crops: “Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee. Then shall the earth yield her increase; and God, even our own God, shall bless us.”
When we praise God He blesses us. When we praise people and things they also bless us. The power of praise works wonders in any phase of our life’s experience, just as it does in the fields of growing grain.
Praise the Spirit of God in the work you are doing, and God will reveal to you new and better ways of doing it. Praise the good work of the person who is helping you, and your praise will help him to do even better work. Praise God who dwells in your body, and His intelligence dwelling in its organs will respond by doing better work for you. Praise God working in your affairs, and your affairs will respond by growing more prosperous, harmonious, and pleasant.
Praise God’s goodness working in your family, and its members will begin to express greater love, harmony, co-operation, and good fellowship.
Praise God’s substance in your finances, and they will prosper. Jesus explained a phase of the law of prosperity when He said: “For unto everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not, even that which he hath shall be taken away.”
If you have praise in your heart for even the seemingly small talents that you now have, your praise will cause them to increase, but if you bury them under condemnation and think they are not worthy to use, even these will be taken away.
Bless and praise your mind, your heart, your hands, and they will respond by becoming more efficient and more fruitful. Thus you will increase your talents by using them, as the first two servants mentioned in Jesus’ parable did. If you have only a single talent, use it to the glory of God, and it will increase. If you label it “no good,” it will be taken away from you.
If you have a garden, try praising it. Give some crop in your garden a special blessing and praise it; then see how it prospers in comparison with the other things in your garden. See how you can make it respond to your love and praise. If you have plants in your window, praise them, and see how the God life and intelligence in them will respond.
Praise the wisdom and power of God within you when you feel that you have some especially difficult problem to solve. Turn your thought energy into praising and thanking God for His power and wisdom working in you to solve the problem. Do this instead of turning your thoughts over to fear and negation, and the feeling that you lack wisdom and ability to solve your problem. With God’s good help you can do things that may now seem impossible to you.
It is good to give thanks always, because by giving thanks you open the way for more of God’s goodness to become manifest in your life. God has already given you everything He has, and you can have as much of it as you can use by thanking Him for the things you desire and accepting them on faith.
It is quite right for you to be thankful for things after you have received them, but it is also good to begin giving thanks for the things that are yours now only in Spirit before you receive them in manifest form. By giving thanks before you have received them you open the way for them to come to you in manifest form.
Jesus said: “Freely ye received, freely give.”
We have indeed freely received, for God has given everything to His children, and these gifts become ours as we give praise and thanks for them in faith and love. We must use them ourselves and also pass God’s good gifts along, because that is how we keep them moving in our life. We have received freely, and we must give freely to make room for a new supply. When we pass our good along and bless and praise it it increases.
Love is one of God’s highest gifts to His children, and we all know how love multiplies when we pass it on. The more we give of love the more we have of it. The person who loves increases the love of God in his heart and in the hearts of other persons about him. But the person who sits apart and says: “Nobody loves me. I have no friends,” shuts himself away from God’s love and everybody’s love. If he will change his attitude and begin praising the love in those who do not seem to be friendly he will draw friends to him, for love is a magnet.
It is not always necessary to express your praise audibly, but you can always give thanks to God silently in your heart for His rich gifts and for the good things in your life, and for a better understanding of the good qualities in all persons. When by your praise you open the way to discern these good points in other persons they will be revealed to you. It is true that praise is “comely for the upright.” Praise can be as helpful in moving you pleasantly along the highway of life as a good car can be in carrying you safely along a State highway.
SUGGESTIONS FOR DAILY MEDITATION
SUNDAY: I praise and thank God for His infinite love and wisdom, which is now filling and inspiring my life and affairs.
MONDAY: I joyously praise God from whom all blessings flow.
TUESDAY: I praise God for His harmonious life, which is now filling my mind and body with health and satisfaction.
WEDNESDAY: I praise God for His forgiving love and harmony now blessing all the members of my family.
THURSDAY: I praise God for His unfailing substance, which is now satisfying me and prospering all of my affairs.
FRIDAY: I praise God for His vital energy and strength, which are filling and glorifying my mind and body every minute.
SATURDAY: I thank my dear Father-God for making it possible for me to love Him and praise Him.
