"Prison to Praise"

The past week, I've been reading this book called "Prison to Praise" by Merlin Carothers recommended by May. I'm a little over halfway done with it -- it's an easy to read and very engaging book about a person's testimony and how God worked in and around his life everywhere he went. As I read, I can't help but feel my heart melting at the way God uses people for his glory. He'll put people in weird situations so that God can reveal himself in it. It's amazing to see how this man weren't set by human boundaries and conditions, but he allowed God to use him His way and not according to the rule book, being bound by denominations and locking God in a small box. Highly recommend this book!

Quotes I want to remember:


p99: "The brightest sunshine below the cloud is the light that many christians live in and accept as normal. The ladder is the ladder of praising Me. Many try to climb and learn to praise Me in all things. At first they are very eager, but when they get into things that they don'tunderstand they become confused and cannot hold on. They lose faith and go sliding back. As they fall, they injure other people who have been hoping to find a way to live in continual joy and praise.

"Those who make it through those difficult times reach a new world and realize that the life they once thought of as normal cannot be compared to the life I have prepared for those who praise Me and believe that I carefully watch over them. He who reaches the light of the heavenly kingdom can walk on top of difficulties no matter how dark they may seem as long as he keeps his eyes off the problem and on My victory in Christ. No matter how difficult it may seem to trust Me to work in every detail of your life, keep clinging to the ladder of praise and move upwards!"

p105: "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 Philippians Paul says to worry about nothing, but "in thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, willk eep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

"Looking only at the good side of every situation is often a dangerous way of trying to escape the reality of it. 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 Christ is showing us a way to overcome them."

"For our praise to reach the perfection God wants for us, it needs to be free of any thoughts of reward. Praise is not another way of bargaining witht he Lord. We don't say, "Now we've praise You in the middle of this mess, so get us out of it!" Praising God with a pure heart means we must let God cleanse our hearts from impure motives and hidden designs. We have to experience the dying to self so that we can live again in Christ in newness of mind and spirit."

"Dying to self is a progressive journey, and I have come to believe it is traveled only through praise."

"God is calling us to praise Him, and the highest form of praise is the one Paul exhorts us to give in Hebrews 13:15. The sacrifice of praise is offered when all is darkness around us. it is offered of a heavey heart, unto God because He is God and Father and Lord.

"As we begin to praise Him, on whatever step of the ladder we may be, His Holy Spirit begins to fill our beings more and more. To continually praise Him means to 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."