God knew exactly what He was doing when He told us to praise and thank Him in all things. I can tell you from personal experience, like so many others, that praising and thanking Him in all things is transforming me and my walk with the Lord. Praising Him put the sun back in my spirit and raises me ABOVE any circumstances as He takes me high up to His joy.
The following was sent to me by my good friend, John, in the LA area. ☺
Thanks, John.
A MIRACLE STORY OF PRAISE
Miracles happen when we praise God. I once heard a story about a woman missionary in China many years ago. She contracted a deadly disease and was given up to die. For days she lay quarantined in her bunk, with no medical help—it was a hopeless situation.
The only thing she could do was pray. So hour after hour, she pled with God to heal her. Then suddenly the Lord gave her a vision. She saw an old-fashioned scale, the kind often seen on justice statues, with a fulcrum and plates held by chains on each side. This scale she saw was heavily weighted on one side, while the other side was way up in the air because it was empty. The scale was clearly out of balance.
The Lord revealed to her that the heavy side was her prayers—she had certainly prayed many prayers—while the empty side was her praise. God quickened to her that the praise side needed to be filled to outweigh the trouble she was facing. When the scale was balanced, her healing would be manifested.
So this desperately sick woman stopped pleading for her healing and started praising God. She praised Him for His greatness. She praised Him for sending Jesus and for all His benefits. She praised Him for being her savior, her healer, her provider, and for everything He’d ever done for her.
At first, she was so weak that her praises were mere whispers. But as she continued to do nothing but praise and worship God all day and all night, she grew louder. As the people outside her room heard her fervent praises they feared for her life, thinking that maybe she was delirious with fever. You can imagine how amazed they were, several days later, when she walked out of that room on her own, totally healed! She had taken “the praise cure” and she was completely made well.
There is power in praise! When we shift our focus from our troubles to God’s greatness by praising Him, miracles can happen.
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So come on, everyone, let’s go out and see all of the glorious things God has for us this week as we learn to become more and more like Jesus. After all, He’s overcome this world and knows we can do the same in Him. Hallelujah!
God bless,
Mark
Note: While we may not agree with everything a particular church or Christian group teaches or believes, there are times when we can be blessed by something outside the realm of our current understanding of God.