August, 2015 - Foundation of Praise

Prison to Praise
Prison to Praise changed my life!
Prison to Praise brought joy into my life!
Prison to Praise is the first book I have ever read!
Prison to Praise opened my eyes to the power of praising God!
Foundation of Praise
•
Desires Become Passions
P.O. Box 2518
•
Escondido, CA 92033-2518
•
760.741.2755
•
www.foundationofpraise.org
By Merlin Carothers • August, 2015
Go into all the World and preach the Good News to every creature (Mark 16:15 NKJ).
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THIS OFFER EXPIRES ON AUGUST 31, 2015. LIMITED QUANTITY AVAILABLE.
It is easy for us to build
up and strengthen a desire
until it becomes a passion
to get what we want, when we want it. We can
become totally convinced that we need what we
want. Then when we talk with God we tell Him
what our “needs” are. We believe that if He is
good and loving He will surely understand.
But it is we who don’t understand that God
may have a different perspective. God’s desire is
that we learn how to become more like Jesus.
Christ gave up His position and power in
Heaven in order to help us. He accepted our
guilt as His own guilt, so that we could become a
child of God.
To help us, Jesus became a man and had the
same feelings that you and I have. Before His
crucifixion He was free to ask God: If it is possible, let this cup pass from me (Luke 22:42).
We too are free to ask God for good things. But
then Jesus said, Not my will but Yours be done.
Our passion to get what we want always
needs to be modified so we can become more
like Jesus. This will require changes in us that
are beyond a mental acceptance of God’s will.
It involves a deeper hunger to have God’s will.
Prayers centered in our own will are often
overflowing with a passion for God to help us.
But to help us He has to lead us to the place
where we will want His will more than our own
will. To measure the influence of our own will,
we should make a list of the things we have been
asking God to do for us. If they are more selfcentered than Jesus would have prayed, we
probably need to change our prayer language.
“Holy Spirit, please pray through me the
prayers that You know would please God.”
Make copies available to Christian students to
share at schools or colleges. Enclose an invitation
to your church or youth group. After receiving
permission, place them in Laundromats, motels,
hospitals and doctor’s waiting rooms, club rooms at
apartment complexes, mobile home parks or service
organizations. Add a little sign marked: FREE.
The books will disappear quickly.
Give to people in your church, sales clerks or
food servers, or as a gift for birthdays, anniversaries,
graduations, etc.
Have the Foundation of Praise distribute for you.
We can use as many copies as you could supply.
We have been blessed by the incredible stories
people have shared with us as they read Prison to
Praise and began to apply the principles of
praising God for every situation in their life. We
rejoice at anything we can do to
help get Prison to Praise into the
hands of hurting and needy
people. Thank you for your
willingness
(Reprint from August, 2005)
Here are Ways You Could Distribute Prison to Praise
What’s in Your “Garden”?
By Mary Carothers
One day I saw
something different
growing in my garden.
It was small and quite
attractive with tiny flowers on it. Was it a weed?
Or a plant? I didn’t know. Someone suggested I
leave it for a while, and later perhaps I could tell
what it was.
So I left it and forgot about it, until one day I
happened to notice something LARGE and different growing in my garden. This uncultivated plant
had grown and spread and really taken root. What
had initially been pleasing to the eye was now
obviously a weed and very ugly. I immediately tried
to pull it out. No luck. It was there to stay. I finally
had to get a shovel and dig deep down into the soil
to uproot it. Later while washing the dirt from my
hands the Holy Spirit pointed out to me how that
weed was like sin in our lives.
At first, a sin may seem small and very
attractive. But later, after we have indulged in
that sin, encouraged it to take root and grow, it
takes over, and is truly ugly. Removing it from
our lives may be very difficult. Because we all
have a fallen nature, the “weeds” of sin just naturally want to take root in our hearts and lives. A
gardener needs to be diligent to prevent weeds, if he
wants a lovely garden. And we need to be diligent
to prevent sin from taking root in our hearts.
If only I had recognized that plant was a weed, I
would never have allowed it to take root and grow
so large. But I’m not a very wise gardener. I have
no book that shows me the difference between good
plants and weeds.
Sometimes, as we go along through life, we find
ourselves saying, “If only I had realized what
would happen, I never would have done such and
such.” We are either willfully disobedient to God’s
Word or we are unaware of what He says to us in
the Book. God would not have us be ignorant.
He has given us all the wisdom we will ever
need: in Jesus, the Living Word, and in the
Bible, the written Word.
When I finally got rid of that weed, everything
was a mess. Dirt was everywhere: under my
fingernails, on my clothes, and all over the sidewalk. Where that weed had been there was now a
jagged hole. It took quite some effort to restore
everything to the way it should be. I confess the
thought passed through my mind – was it worth the
effort? Of course it was worth it – now. If I had
not dug that weed up, it would have taken over my
garden and ruined it.
Getting rid of sin is tough. It clings to us and
doesn’t want to be uprooted. At times we are
tempted to deny its presence. At other times we feel
we cannot cope with its removal. From past experiences we know all about the “digging,” the “dirt,”
the humiliation. But sin produces death. We must
face sin, uproot it, and cast it away. It is usually a
painful process, and can make a real
mess in our lives. But the love of
God will wash us clean. Afterwards,
when we look back on our ordeal,
we will smile and say it was worth
it all. Because now a beautiful,
strong “flower” grows where once
there had been sin.
Prison to Praise Reports!
Thank you for continuing Merlin’s ministry. I
am glad that I read Prison to Praise after becoming
a Christian, it was a great help to me. MARGIE, PA
I give out Prison to Praise almost every day.
Quite often I run into a young person who has
already read the book and I see sweetness in their
spirit. One day while giving out books I came across
two homeless men. I asked them if I could give
them a book and they acted surprised that I would
even talk to them. They profusely thanked me for
the book and as I walked away they called after me
and said, “The Lord is going to bless you for this”- I
wondered if they were angels!
ARNOLD, CA
Prison to Praise was a Christmas gift. It was such
a blessing and it really stirred my faith. NANCY, MS
I just re-read Prison to Praise and it helped me
with my present physical challenge. I’m very
grateful.
LEA, CA
I picked up Prison to Praise at a doctor’s office.
It was a wonderful book to read.
SARA, CA
I’m so glad that the Foundation is still publishing
and sending out the praise books, especially
Prison to Praise. Why? Because it is “timely and
timeless”! The simplicity of the book reaches into
the spirit and soul of mankind causing the reader
to reach out to Christ.
BONNIE, PA
We have distributed Prison to Praise for many
years as an evangelistic tool. We place them in
many locations in our town, but the most productive place is a public Laundromat. We leave a
small box, with the owner’s permission, and over
the last few years 955 books have gone into the
hands of readers. Recently we have left them in a
hotel and have already given away 150.
TOM & CAROL, FL
In 1976 my husband left me and our six children.
By the grace of God someone gave me Prison to
Praise and it literally saved my life. With Merlin’s
death I feel as though I have lost a best friend. I
will be ever grateful to you both for your work to
spread the Good News of His love.
ANNE, PA
The Foundation of Praise
has received gifts in loving memory of:
William E. Broedling
By Joy Broedling
of Franklin, OH
Paul Matthew Blom
By his parents
Gary and Meg Blom
of Clancy, MT
Jean Isaacson
By her husband
Gordon Isaacson
Eleva, WI
James O. Martin
By his wife
Alice Martin
of Millersburg, IN
Pat Scanlon
By Elizabeth Williams
of Cape Coral, FL
In Honor of:
Margaret Turner
By her daughter
Betty Gordon
of Martinsville, VA
Merlin R. Carothers, Dad
David “Bert” Carothers, Uncle
Gerald “Jerry” Carothers, Uncle
By Joann Carothers Thomas
of Escondido, CA