Sacrifice of Praise

Dearest Ones,

It is easy to give God praise and thanks when you have everything, when all is going well and you lack nothing. But the true challenge is offering up thanksgiving to God when you have NOTHING! When you cannot even see at all a way out! When bad things happen, we either come closer to God or we lose our faith. If you can still THANK GOD when YOU HAVE NOTHING, when you are still suffering, when your body is filled with pain and your heart is aching over the loss of a loved one, when your pockets are empty and the bills are coming, when you're lonely and when you seem to be attacked on all sides, if you still thank Him, this, my dears, is the SACRIFICE of PRAISE. St. Paul says in Hebrews 13:15: "Let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise (praise & thanks are the same) to God, our lips giving thanks to His name." For a long time the phrase, "sacrifice of praise," didn't make any sense to me. Why should I thank God in the middle of troubles? I began to pray in order to discover what Paul meant. Sacrifice means to "surrender," to offer something of value that we would rather hold on to. Giving thanks is always a pleasant offering to Our Lord. No gift is sweeter than words of thanks from the lips of God's children - it's like a sweet-smelling perfume going up to God. It's also the greatest way to defeat the enemy. Paul and Silas knew this: after being beaten, bound by chains and thrown into prison, rather than murmur and complain, rather than give into despair and hopelessness, or get angry with God, they began to sing prayers of THANKS! Imagine singing hymns of love and thanksgiving in a filthy prison. They began to offer the "Sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving," and it paid off! The other prisoners themselves began to listen with pleasure. God was so pleased He caused a great earthquake to shake the prison, so that every locked door was opened and every chain was loosed. Every prisoner was set free. By far the most important thing that happened, a prison guard and his entire family were so amazed by what happened, they became Christians and, no doubt, are enjoying heaven with St. Paul and Silas at this very minute. The Lord gives greatly to those who offer the "Sacrifice of Praise and Thanksgiving." (Acts 16:25) The enemy hates people singing their thanks to God, so he'll try to convince you that your situation is hopeless. He'll tell you that God can't hear your prayers, your dreams will never come true, you are wasting your time. To those who are praying for a loved one to return to the Church, he'll say, "Give up, forget it! Don't waste your time! Your prayers are useless! You've believed for so long, sacrificed so much, cried to the Lord and still you are no further ahead than years ago. Give up. " These are all lies. He wants to cause you to despair. He knows the minute you open your mouth to give thanks, great things begin to happen. Just keep on praising and giving thanks in the middle of your problems and you will begin to see the IMPOSSIBLE happen! I love you all so very much. Have a blessed week in the Lord and remember: whatever we do, do ALL for the glory of God!

May the peace of the Lord be with you today and always....Sister Francelle