Worship

One Example of the Power of Praise

by J.W. Phillips
05/27/25
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One Example of the Power of Praise

Praise releases the power of God, not only for our inner life but also for every other area of life.

Perhaps you’ve heard the story of Frank Foglio as told in his book, Hey God.

Due to a terrible car accident, Frank’s daughter suffered acute brain damage. So severe was this damage, she had to be institutionalized—permanently. There was no hope for a cure.

Frank visited her faithfully, but she didn’t even recognize him. As you might imagine, the seeming hopelessness of this situation eventually took its toll on Frank.

One day, while on his way to the mental institution, bitterness belched its fury within him when he heard a voice saying, “Praise me.”

“For what?” he answered. “I couldn’t praise you if I tried, and I’m not going to try!”

A little later, the same voice spoke again, “Praise me.”

“But why?” Frank protested inwardly. My daughter has been put in the most restricted part of a mental institution! She has become a danger to herself! She even tried to commit suicide! And now I’m supposed to praise God?”

As Frank continued to walk, down one corridor and then another, he slowly began to soften. Once more the voice urged, “Praise me.”

Instead of the previous protest, there was silence.

Then more silence.

Until finally, Frank relented by saying, “I know you love my daughter more than I do.”

And just as he reached the door to the secluded room where his daughter had been put, he got the rest of the words out, “I praise you, Lord.”

Immediately, Frank heard a voice very different from the one he had been hearing. “I want my daddy; I want my daddy!”

Quickly, the attendant opened the door as Frank raced toward his daughter!

What a scene! She threw out her arms and embraced him!

Nurses, attendants, and guards all rushed to the scene because they knew the situation—and were completely shocked!

Instantly, that young lady was healed!

After seven long years of being locked away in a mental institution, she was able to come home. After further examination and observation, you ask? No, that day!

The cure was total, not partial; instant, not gradual.

Medically trained or not, it was obvious to everyone that girl was completely normal!

You may never be in a situation like that, and hopefully never will be. But whenever praise does become hard, which occasionally it does, you should remember Scripture's words about offering “the sacrifice of praise” (Hebrews 13:15). If you have to, you should even do as the prayer warrior John Hyde advised, and praise God through clenched teeth.

Maybe all isn’t yet what you want it to be regarding your health, wealth, family, and friends. But that shouldn’t be the end of the story. You can extend your faith anyway by offering the Lord the sacrifice of praise.

In doing this, you will overcome what may be settling in—an inadequate view of God. This can easily happen if truth is on the back burner of subconscious thought and not on the front burner of rising praise.

Once you are focused on how much the Lord loves you, how faithfully he provides for you, how good his will is, how wise his plan is, how sure your future is, how wonderful Heaven is, how satisfying the filling of his Spirit is, your praise will then become ceaseless and ecstatic!

Every worry will fade, every sin will be overcome, every problem will be conquered, and no circumstance will dislodge your joy.

It is not an oversimplification to say that every fear, phobia, and foul mood is directly related to an inadequate view of God. What you know about him is too faint, too distant, too intellectual, too easily overwhelmed.

The sacrifice of praise requires resisting all those thoughts, feelings, and escape routes proposed by a carnal self and instead rushing to the very place where God dwells, in the praises of his people.

It is there, precisely there, that you will get what you really need—not a sudden change of circumstance, always and immediately, but a definite change of “inner stance.”