Page 12 - praiseandthanks

through praise, by which the evil one is frustrated. Unceasing

praise and thanks puts real hope into a situation, into a fallen
world. There really is no other way to go. However bad it is, we

are never to lose heart, give in to worldly ways of thinking.

Once praise is working we can do what we think we should do
to help without trying to take over from God. By continuing to

praise we sit firmly in God’s will. He will direct us.

It may be that we need physical healing so, praise Him in

everything that is wrong with us, all those suspicious lumps,
unexplained fatigue and apparently fruitless outcomes that

don’t seem to come good for all our praise. The cancer is still
there, the growth has not decreased, things still look bad. It

takes great faith to keep praising Him in such circumstances, to

keep trusting in His love. He is in love with us. He is. Didn’t He
love us into life? Didn’t He love the very idea of us? It is God

we are talking about, not some Collins Street specialist,

psychiatrist, even dear friend. Praising God at such a time
means going against the tide. With all our heart we say “Lord, I

know you have helped me, so thank you for the symptoms that

still appear.” St Paul, in one of his letters (Phil.) says not “to
worry” . We should perhaps look at Abraham that mighty man

of God still waiting on God’s promise of a child at nearly 100
years of age.

In praise and thanks waiting is very important that’s real faith,

real trust. There are to be no strings attached to our praise and

thanks. We love too much. With a pure heart we trust in God’s
judgement, knowing that praise is a good in itself, quite apart

from its releasing of His power in our particular circumstances,

to enable God to change them – if it is the right thing for all
concerned, short-term and long-term. Our solutions could very

well make things much worse. We just don’t know what is best,

but God, He can get the good out of anything counting on our

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