Merlin Carothers talks about the praise prayer in his famous book Prison to Praise.[1] His books have sold over nineteen million copies, yet very few people have ever heard of him. Carothers’s basic principle of praising and thanking God for everything, especially tough stuff, is difficult to wrap our minds around. His book was an absolute game changer for me. He describes this process as “spiritual dynamite.”
I have come to believe that the prayer of praise is the highest form of communion with God, and one that always releases a great deal of power into our lives. Praising Him is not something we do because we feel good; rather it is an act of obedience. Often the prayer of praise is done in sheer teeth-gritting willpower; yet when we persist in it, somehow the power of God is released into us and into the situation. At first in a trickle perhaps, but later in a growing stream that finally floods us and washes away the old hurts and scars.
I’m still in the teeth-gritting stage of practicing this prayer. When I can praise God in the face of adversity, the results do seem to be miraculous. I would love to get to the place in my heart where I truly do thank God at all times and for every detail of my life.
Well before Merlin wrote Prison to Praise, the ten Boom sisters practiced this prayer in one of the most horrible places on earth: a Nazi concentration camp. Their story is extraordinary and almost every page of Corrie ten Boom’s book The Hiding Place beautifully illustrates the praise prayer in action. My favorite story involves fleas.
After months of imprisonment elsewhere, Betsy and Corrie found themselves in the death camp Ravensbruck. They finally made it to the barracks and were discouraged that their situation had gone from bad to worse. Moreover, they were assaulted by fleas. Corrie was horrified, exclaiming, “Betsie, how can we live in such a place?” Betsie replied by asking God to “show us how” and quoted the scripture: “Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).
Corrie and Betsy then proceeded to praise God for every single thing in the new foul-aired barracks, including the fleas (much to Corrie’s dismay). Later, it was revealed that the fleas were the reason why the guards did not go into the barracks, leaving the prisoners alone to conduct Bible studies and talk freely among themselves.[1] The praise prayer is simple but powerful! Try it.
[1] Corrie ten Boom, Elizabeth Sherrill and John Sherrill, The Hiding Place, 35th ed., 209-210. Another excellent book with powerful perspectives on the Holocaust and gratitude in the face of adversity is Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning (Boston: Beacon Press, 2006).https://www.amazon.com/Hiding-Place-Corrie-Ten-Boom/dp/0800794052
[2] Merlin Carothers Prison to Praise https://www.amazon.com/Prison-Praise-Merlin-R-Carothers/dp/0943026024
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