Page 5 - praiseandthanks

step out into the beyond, which is in fact very close. It is within

us. Within our very souls, we call it divine wisdom. It is there. It
is here, and there is a gentle pathway to a construction site of

that city which is to come, the kingdom, and the pathway here

offered to it is Praise and Thanks.

In Psalm 22: 3 we read that “God inhabits the praises of Israel.”
So God is in the praise. Praise is so important to our lives that it

should occupy an ever ready requisite place in them. It is not

only our duty to praise the Creator; it is His plan for us to do so.
It is our debt of service to Him, for our good. So, we praise Him

for everything and keep on praising Him. “God is king of all the
earth, sing praise with all your skill,” Ps 46. Praise puts God in

charge of the situation. This is what He wants.

Now it just so happens that praise and thanks release God’s

power in a given situation. I say this hesitantly, because
immediately we start looking for results, but no, no; it is never to

be used as a way of having God obey us, expecting Him to
hurry along to give us what we think we should have, as if to

manipulate God, swapping praise for what we see as best for

us. It doesn’t work that way. Our praise and thanks must be
offered in the light of eternity, in the light of love, for love’s sake,

for praise’s sake. Praise is to be offered in its own right as a

sincere gesture for the way things really and actually are. We
are to recognize our position as creatures. We can almost

forget the rest since that is God’s role. He doesn’t forget, of

course, as I myself well know. He is supremely alert to our
Praise and Thanks.

Nor should we go around dropping the words “praise and

thanks” all the time as if it were a throwaway phrase. We

should only say it when we concentrate on Who we are saying
it to and say each part of it with the heart. “I praise you Lord for

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