Book
Review Prison to Praise
Prison
to Praise foundation of praise, 1970, Foundationofpraise.org
Reviewer:
Mary Lou Codman, PhD, Pastoral
Psychology, Psychological Anthropology, Christian Education, Buddhism
February
24, 2025
Soundbite:
“There
is a ladder of praise, and I believe that everyone without exception can begin
to praise God right now in whatever situation he may find himself.
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 with the Lord. We don’t say, “Now we’ve
praised 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: “By (Christ) therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God
continually, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name.”
The sacrifice of praise if offered
when all is darkness around us. It is offered of a heavy 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 a
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. (pp.105-106)
Review:
Merlin Carothers
was a prolific author for the majority of his Christian life. The theme of most
of his books, like this 1970 book “Prison to Praise”, are dynamic
stories and Biblical teaching on the transforming power of praise, He said,
“I have come to believe that the prayer and praise is the highest form of
communion with God, and one that always releases a great deal of power into out
lives. Praising Him is not something we do because we feel good; rather it is
an act of obedience.”
The
implications of that belief are evidenced in the stories behind this book. 5
Stars
Excerpts:
“Jesus
didn’t promise to change the circumstances around us, but He did promise great peace
and pure joy to those who would learn to believe that God actually controls all
things. The very act of praise releases the power of God into a set of
circumstances and enables God to change them if this is His design. Very often
it is our attitudes that hinder the solution of a problem. He allows
circumstances and incidents which will bring our wrong attitude to our
attention.” (pp.90-92)
“The
enemy’s arrows just can’t penetrate the joy of someone who is praising the
Lord. In Chronicles 20 we read how a whole army was defeated when the Israelites
simply praised the Lord and believed Him when He said that the battle wasn’t theirs
but His.” (p. 97)
“The next morning, I was sitting on
the edge of my bed when I heard a voice. “What are you doing?”
“I'm sitting here wishing I didn't have to get
up!”
“I
thought we made an agreement last night?”
“But
Lord, I didn't know you meant things like this!”
“Remember what I said [be thankful]
‘in everything”
I said: “But Lord, I've got to be honest with
you. I've been sitting on the edge of my bed every morning for 20 years,
wishing I didn't have to get up. I've been thinking how wonderful it would be
if I could just lie down for five more minutes.”
But the Spirit said: “You are
supposed to be thankful. That it is the time to get up.”
“Lord, that's a little beyond my
ability to comprehend!”
The
Lord is always very patient and kind. “Are you willing to be made willing?
“Yes Lord, I really
am.”
That night I went to
bed praying. “Lord, this is a rough one. You're going to have to do it for me.
I'll get up anytime you tell me to, but I don't know how to be thankful that it
is time to get up.”
All
I could hear was “are you willing?”
“Yes Lord, I am.”
The next morning. I woke up in the
first thing that popped into my mind was my right big toe. I heard. “See if you
can move it.” I could.
“Are you thankful you can move it?
“Yes, Lord.”
“Now try your ankle. Are you thankful?
“Yes, Lord.”
“Now you're knee. Are you thankful?”
“Yes, Lord.”
“Now see if you can sit up?”
“Yes, Lord, I can. But I've got to
be honest with you, I still wish I could lie down and go back to sleep. “
Very patiently, he said. “See if
you can stand up. Are you thankful? Now see if you can walk to the bathroom.
Look into the mirror. Are you thankful you can see?”
“Hallelujah!”
“Are you glad you can speak and hear?”
“Yes, Lord.” …
“My son, because I love you, I'm
going to teach you to be thankful for everything you can learn standing right
there with all the things you are thankful for. Or I can let you go back to bed
and not let you move, see or hear until you learn.”
I jumped 2 feet in the air and
said, “Lord I understand, I am thankful. I will always be thankful.”
The
next morning, and the next, and the next, the first thing I thought when I woke
up was, “Lord, I'm thankful.” Never again have I been sorry. It is time to get
up…