Praise

Praise is commendation bestowed on a person for his personal virtues or worthy actions, on meritorious actions themselves, or on any thing valuable; approbation expressed in words or song. Praise may be expressed by an individual, and in this circumstance differs from fame, renown, and celebrity, which are the expression of the approbation of numbers, or public commendation. When praise is applied to the expression of public approbation, it may be synonymous with renown, or nearly so. The expression of gratitude for personal favors conferred; a glorifying or extolling.
  To praise is to commend; to applaud; to express approbation of personal worth or actions. To extol in words or song; to magnify; to glorify on account of perfections or excellent works. To express gratitude for personal favors. To do honor to; to display the excellence of.—Webster’s American Dictionary

“The Psalms mention praise hundreds of times,
so use them often for inspiration in praising.”—Linda Mihalic

In modern terms, praise is defined as to express approbation; extol, commend; to glorify God by homage, to magnify.—The Oxford English Dictionary

Earthly praise expresses approval or admiration. When we offer God praise, we exalt and worship the Deity. The Psalms mention praise hundreds of times, so use them often for inspiration in praising. Praise is the perfect use of the spoken Word, a soul virtue, the interaction of the conscious creation with its Creator. Praise is an abstract principle and a law of doing under the Emanation of the Word.

Edna Lister on Praise

Praise condenses substance and brings it into visibility.—Edna Lister, Your Magnetic Powers, January 13, 1933.

The Elect do not use enough dynamic praise. Praise lifts and clothes you in a cloak of glory. Thanks is the commonest form of gratitude, even among men. Give praise from a full heart. If you praise God, you will have no difficulty in praising other people and situations.

Praise everything, the things that are visible and those that are still invisible. As you send forth praise, the love substance returns to you, so expanded that it forms an invisible container, which love fills.—Edna Lister, Your Royal Birth, January 24, 1933.

Praise is the only thing that keeps your mind clear.—Edna Lister, How to Make Your Dreams Reality, January 25, 1933.

If you receive praise or criticism, it is opportunity knocking at your door.—Edna Lister, January 19, 1935.

If you accept praise as your due, you’re gone. Lay it on the altar, saying, "Thank You, Father. Your Light must be shining through." Praise is your tempter. "Not I, but the Light," which is all anyone can praise.—Edna Lister, January 19, 1935.

Devotion, poured out as praise and gratitude, bridges the abyss to God. You are triumphant and victorious in its completion, but like any work in progress, you must rebuild your bridge daily to reap the rewards.—Edna Lister, Devotion: The Bridge Builder, May 22, 1935.

Creation is God’s thought manifest in form. The action in God’s mind results in the reaction in man. Every action in man is a spiritual reaction. God’s action is what returns; you reap what you sow. You give praise and receive an opening of consciousness, knowing of law, strength in reaction to life.—Edna Lister, Philosophy, December 9, 1935.

When you have used the day in love, praise flows easily. When praise flows easily, the eyes see, and the ears hear symphonies of the high spheres of glory.—Edna Lister, August 7, 1938.

Your use of praise makes you a pillar in the Temple of Christ anointed.—Edna Lister, September 6, 1938.

“My mouth will speak in praise of the LORD. Let every creature praise his holy name for ever and ever.”—Psalm 145:19

Your half of the contract as God’s full partner is to use what He freely gives and bestows correctly in praise and in joy. Act as a creator, and so shall you fulfill law.—Edna Lister, December 26, 1938.

Rejoice in praise, for only so can your creations become outer form.—Edna Lister, January 25, 1939.

Without love and praise, life is incomplete, your creations are imperfect. Enough love, enough praise, enough joy and all life will respond. Love, praise, and joy are very simple, fundamental laws of expression of the full, rich Christ-life, and will build anything.—Edna Lister, January 15, 1941.

Praise regulates the principle of increase, and constant praise causes a greater flow of substance.—Edna Lister, Vivid Imagination, May 27, 1941.

Make praise your password to high and heavenly places.—Edna Lister, January 12, 1942.

Praise of such love that you almost melt and dissolve, comes from knowing and being law.—Edna Lister, November 2, 1944.

You can build wings of joy only from the substance of praise.—Edna Lister, November 9, 1944.

Prayer of praise opens the River of Love until it flows in an ever increasing stream of glory.—Edna Lister, December 7, 1944.

If you praise God, though tried and beset beyond human endurance, you fulfill all law. All God asks of you is to praise under all earth conditions.—Edna Lister, December 8, 1944.

When praise is your whole life, you have no room for any lesser consciousness.—Edna Lister, December 19, 1944.

Praise will bring release from the past.—Edna Lister, March 18, 1945.

The one who can praise the most in one day will reap the greatest benefits on the outer. All you need is more love and enough praise.—Edna Lister, April 1, 1945.

Praise longer moments with deeper soul fervor, until you reach a place of Light from where you cannot be dragged down by anything that earth can bring.—Edna Lister, July 3, 1945.

Praise will bring miracle after miracle, miracle upon miracle. Praise is continuously saying, "Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts," in reverence without thought of self, wants, needs or earth. Praise releases God’s Love as substance, which makes visible all you have ever desired.—Edna Lister, September 10, 1945.

Praise and singing lower the pure love substance of the Christ Light to visibility.—Edna Lister, September 10, 1945.

You will never reach too high a point of zeal, love or joy, but you can expand into a greater capacity and increase the fervency of your hourly praise, which is the Power behind your unconquerable faith.—Edna Lister, September 17, 1945.

This shall fulfill all law: Praise and sing in enough Love of God that Power will move forth to make each hour a greater miracle than ever before.—Edna Lister, September 17, 1945.

Enough love and praise will release the already God-given substance to fulfill your dreams, desires, plans, needs. Release as much love and praise in joy as you can put into an hour. Enough praise fills your hour to overflowing.—Edna Lister, September 17, 1945.

The laws of creation are love, joy and praise. Do this for every task always, for whatever comes.—Edna Lister, September 19, 1945.

Only praise of singing and rejoicing release enough Love Substance for God to build into fulfillment of His promises to His Elect. If they have not manifested, you have not yet praised enough.—Edna Lister, October 1, 1945.

Prayer covers everything when it rises on the wings of praise. Praise in joy and praise with joy.—Edna Lister, March 18, 1946.

Each day, add a little more love and praise to your creations to open the door for God to do the work.—Edna Lister, April 14, 1947.

Prayer is a process of activity. For instance, praise of it increases darkness. Curses increase darkness; therefore praising darkness is cursing. Declare that the darkness is good so that God can move in, no more.—Edna Lister, Jesus’ Prayer of the Ages, April 27, 1947.

You can make a complete surrender of self with just a single word of praise.—Edna Lister, Jesus’ Prayer of the Ages, April 27, 1947.

Divine Mind contains all the ideas, which you can praise into expansion. Praise opens all vibrations, and increases all gifts and "talents." You can use the same Mind as a blessing or a curse, but it always starts something. If you lack pure praise when you decree, you will not like the lukewarm result, or do not want it when it comes. If you give in to grief, you find nothing to praise gratefully.

Today’s answers are in a book that opens to your grateful praise. You can see, read and understand those for which you have praised enough. In other words, it does no good to become angry because you can’t find the answers in the back of the book. The keys to deciphering today’s problems are on today’s page. The rest is not there, you cannot see it, for you are not ready.—Edna Lister, Promises Fulfilled, March 4, 1948.

"A man’s gift makes room for him and brings him before great men."—Proverbs 18:16. Praise increases your talents and gifts. When you make your decree, you must praise the gift. If you receive half an answer, it is a challenge, incentive to make a greater effort. The use of praise expands a man’s gift.—Edna Lister, Responsibility, May 30, 1948.

Make the other fellow feel big, do not make yourself big in his eyes. The less he deserves praise, the bigger he feels when you give it.—Edna Lister, June 5, 1948.

We all sit, moments at a time, for so many hours a day, doing nothing. Fill the "nothing" moments by practicing paeans of praise, just as the aspiring musician practices his instrument.—Edna Lister, And It Came to Pass, April 30, 1950.

You open the floodgate with praise, singing and saying, "I love you."—Edna Lister, June 7, 1950.

You apply devotion as praise for God above, and as love below, for your fellow man.—Edna Lister, The Way of Ascension, October 29, 1950.

Fill heaven with gifts of praise and God gives it back as miracles, all your molds filled and manifested.—Edna Lister, I AM THAT I AM, November 25, 1951.

You harness Power by breathing deeply and offering devotional praise.—Edna Lister, The Great Challenge, November 23, 1952.

Your results depend on the quality of your praise. You must approach God through praise and prayer, blessing your low points of weakness, not weeping over them.—Edna Lister, The Altar and The Flame, December 14, 1952.

When you are begrudging with praise, when an eager one comes to you and you are half-hearted about his enthusiasm, you reveal jealousy, envy, covetousness, and stinginess of soul. You show that you covet praise when you say, "He is fine, but."—Edna Lister, Now Is the High Time, December 6, 1953.

Singing is the highest form of praise and rejoicing known to man.—Edna Lister, The Golden Silence, June 18, 1954.

To fear praise is the outer sign of an inner, well hidden personal self-exaltation. Accept praise in gratitude, and forget it. Always take time to pleasure the one who is praising, even if you know his tongue is in his cheek. Accept praise, and thank God that it is yours.—Edna Lister, The Lord Has Need of Thee, March 25, 1956.

Praise God to erase the world from our minds.—Edna Lister, The Silence, August 26, 1956.

Be profligate in praise—squander praise like a millionaire.—Edna Lister, The Glory: Your Ascension, November 11, 1956.

Describe your miracles as praise, giving God the credit in as few words as possible. Cleanse your heart of telling it as happening to you.—Edna Lister, June 17, 1957.

Praise your tongue and say it will speak only sweet speech. Bless your eyes, or every part of your body, for what you bless increases.—Edna Lister, A Charted Heaven, October 21, 1958.

Praise vitalizes every cell in your body, ascending them in rhythm. Lift all things through praise, even plants and animals.—Edna Lister, Constancy in Obedience, October 26, 1958.

You can praise the most belligerent person up and out of it. You can ascend any darkness, whether physical, mental or spiritual with enough praise, but the quality of your praise must be selfless.—Edna Lister, Constancy in Obedience, October 26, 1958.

Praise God in the face of disaster and your decree becomes the Word that is God.—Edna Lister, Faith Unconquerable, November 30, 1958.

The Mystic learns high prayer and praise. You cannot pray effectively without praise in your heart.—Edna Lister, The Pioneering Mystic, May 5, 1959.

Praise frees you to pray with fervor at the heart center, the respiratory rate of balance among the three lower and three higher centers. Acceptance, surrender, obedience and praise are the paths to transfiguration and levitation.—Edna Lister, Eight Great Powers of Being, June 23, 1959.

Praise God without ceasing to tune into the great principle of harmony.—Edna Lister, The 33 Degrees of Soul Conquering, November 3, 1959.

All healing of the physical depends upon the inflation of the atomic body through praise and the three higher breaths. Praise is your self‑help and a treatment for anything.—Edna Lister, What Is a Miracle, May 24, 1960.

Bless anyone who praises you.—Edna Lister, How Can I Apply Law to My Life, June 7, 1960.

If you still have "worst favorites," praise two or three good points about each while you are dressing in the morning.—Edna Lister, Is it Right to Ask for Myself, June 14, 1960.

Don’t be a sausage-linker in your praise—praise constantly.—Edna Lister, Realization Through Praise, June 26, 1960.

It takes praise to open the vibration of activity for a miracle. Praise absorbs subconscious opposition and starts the life sparks in the fire body whirling to affect the physical body. Praise absorbs subconscious opposition. Praise pulls the starter cord on the motor of your life and affairs. You may creak along for a while but praise enough automatically bursts into singing as the glory of God made manifest. When a patient does not respond to prayer, sing your prayer and praise.—Edna Lister, Increase Through High Prayer, July 3, 1960.

Praise is one of the greatest, most beautiful experiences that can happen to an individual. Accept all praise gracefully, as if it came from God. Expand on praise and make it your next step up. Bless anyone who praises you; return praise to the giver, saying, "You are seeing the Light."—Edna Lister, Is Praise Necessary, July 5, 1960.

Praise is the only activity that creates burning desire to comprehend, to act, to conquer.—Edna Lister, Is Praise Necessary, July 5, 1960.

If you fear to receive praise, you are not applying the law of progression under the law of ascension. The memory of having used self-praise is hidden in the subconscious as fear of receiving praise. Once burned, the individual fears self-praise will rear its head again. Carried too far, this fear-memory breeds repression under the contraction principle.—Edna Lister, Is Praise Necessary, July 5, 1960.

Make praise your next step in ascension. Instantly return praise to the giver as praise for their kindness, thoughtfulness or concern. Praise the praise giver for discernment beyond the appearance of things. Feel grateful to God for using you to lead others to praise, which expands them. Be thanking God in gratitude that His Light is breaking through.

Praise is a great treatment for both giver and receiver. Praise given as self-application of law unfolds a glory called humility. The humility of unconquerable faith is a rock to which your loved ones may cling; it builds a citadel of glory before the world. Unconquerable faith is the one law of challenge that devours and consumes darkness instantly. Praise builds a pipeline of determination from God’s storehouse of potential Power to transfer kinetic energy to fill your molds with Substance.—Edna Lister, Is Praise Necessary, July 5, 1960.

One moment of fervent praise is worth an hour of lukewarm armchair meditation. The answer to prayer is always there, waiting for you. Remain still until you can feel the Light. This is how to "wait upon the Lord." Wait until Light convinces your sense of knowing. You should experience a feeling of warmth, a glow when you are waiting in the Light. If you doubt, you will feel no warmth, for it is a "no." It doesn’t mean that your desire is illegal, but that your form of asking is illegal. Stop asking; substitute praise for your desire. Stand, praise, and wait in the Light.—Edna Lister, When Prayer Is at Work, June 4, 1961.

Joyous prayer always praises God.—Edna Lister, The Soul’s Exaltation, November 13, 1961.

Praise what you have.—Edna Lister, Song of the Lamb, December 17, 1961.

Do not allow a single vibration to lessen itself. Build up your life vibration by praising the simplest things for increased life, health, happiness, joy and added things.—Edna Lister, March 30, 1962.

In repudiating praise, you disobey law. Do not deny the words of truth in the praise. Even if it is rank flattery or to get something from you, you must accept praise as coming from God, who turns it to good when you accept it and name it good. The one who praised must make it good at someday. Ascend the words of praise, and declare, "Let them be cleansed and returned to him, pure."

Accepting praise gracefully is the best form of good manners. Jesus did this by riding on the colt into Jerusalem, accepting their praise, knowing most of them would turn on him Friday. He showed us how to accept praise gracefully, which is a test of good manners, and an initiation. Heaven help those who believe every compliment. Lift praise to the high altar without taking it into your consciousness.—Edna Lister, Loyalty: Your Chief Officer, April 15, 1962.

Praise God for everything that comes your way.—Edna Lister, Integrity: Our Great Anchor, April 22, 1962.

When you receive a compliment, pass it right back.—Edna Lister, November 26, 1962.

You cannot rejoice if you are bound to the little self, for it demands praise.—Edna Lister, December 13, 1962.

Praise magnifies, increases joy in the heart, Light in the eyes and a special radiance of beauty over the one who praises. "Thank you, Father, from all of me," lifts the earth.—Edna Lister, April 16, 1964

Praise is the keynote of any healing or miracle. Be sure to tell of a miracle to praise God and not build up your own ego.—Edna Lister, The Ten Lepers, November 15, 1964

To withhold praise impoverishes the soul. If you withhold legitimate praise, it enslaves the other fellow, and you retrogress.—Edna Lister, The Ten Lepers, November 15, 1964

An aura of praise is our protection. Surround an "evil" person with an aura of praise and glory and know that Power permeates him to heal and balance.—Edna Lister, The Ten Lepers, November 15, 1964

When you praise God from your feet up for two minutes, you are filled with His presence.—Edna Lister, Our Relation to God, December 1, 1964

Hold your silence before men and offer praise before God. Praise brings sovereignty of the soul over self.—Edna Lister, The Ten Lepers, February 28, 1965.

When someone thanks you, look up and give it to the Father. Return it to them as their own soul substance. Don’t gobble it up, but return it.—Edna Lister, April 8, 1965.

Dedicate each day to the praise of something you wish to have increased.—Edna Lister, Your Soul’s Accomplishment, May 30, 1965.

Be careful not to enjoy praise or apple polishing, not to yield to self aggrandizement. Take the up path; make up your mind to let the outer go and take inner credits. Lay a gift of praise on the altar and say, "Father, I have it here. I am putting self upon the altar."—Edna Lister, Pythagorus: His Three Degrees, June 8, 1965.

Wherever you center your attention, miracles will come, for your power-line to the source of all miracles will follow your attention, without fail. Miracles of increase will manifest wherever you focus your attention. If you concentrate on illness or needs, they will increase. Praise God unceasingly for what you do want, and your success will inevitably manifest as miracles.—Edna Lister, Eternal Youth Through Breathing, October 21, 1965.

So not be stingy with praise, or go hours without thinking of praise when the law is "Praise God a thousand times an hour."—Edna Lister, February 6, 1966.

Praise increases what you are, have and do, your ability to ascend, and you have not yet touched your heights.—Edna Lister, February 12, 1966.

Praise is the only thermometer for the heat of your expansion or the chill of contraction. Is your praise stronger, higher, deeper, broader and longer? Do you praise more today? Coming home at night, do you praise at the door that you are home. Do you expand upward in praise in the morning? You can tell exactly the degree of your ascension in consciousness for a day or a year, for praise becomes a compulsive action. The illumination of ascension acts as the amplifier for the desire to praise until you must praise.

When you become the law of praise, you are being perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect. When you become the law of praise, you are being faith in your desire, thinking and imagination. When you become the law of praise, you are being baptized by the Light from above, hour by hour. Stand in the Light pouring down from above. Praise becomes your escalator to the Mount of Transfiguration. Praise holds you as you conquer. Say, "Let there be Light," and new Light absorbs any and all darkness near you. "Light is denuding evil of power all around me." Where Light is, evil is not. You do not need new words of praise, but words newly vitalized every day.—Edna Lister, Triumphant Being and Living, July 3, 1966.

While she was lifting her lines of Light, Edna Miriam suddenly saw that she had not supplied the praise and gratitude for those receiving the miracles. Little dark vacuums had formed, like grapes of wrath. The way to lift them is to think for each, "I love You, Father. Father, I thank You." If you love enough, spheres of golden Light fill all the auras of all the people you have lifted.—Edna Lister, May 23, 1966.

Praise takes the Power from evil’s grasp. Praise bridges the chasms you’ve created with idle words.—Edna Lister, Your Eternal Destiny, October 3, 1966.

Many prophets have warned that "Pride goes before a fall. Take heed lest you fall." The only way to avoid static detente is always to praise.—Edna Lister, October 14, 1966.

Praise is the grappling hook you throw over the wall of Light to hold fast. When anything approaches, praise. Suddenly the Light will reflect the words you need on the mirror of the mind.—Edna Lister, May 5, 1967.

When you treat unselfishly, the Power goes through the person, around earth and returns. When you praise and love God enough, a share fills your molds as you treat. As Power moves through you, it condenses to make a visible miracle.—Edna Lister, May 18, 1967.

Praise the Light for going forth and creating.—Edna Lister, The Supremacy of Religion, October 15, 1967.

You can draw substance and call energy from the Source and create mass, so you must praise continuously, for in so doing, you gather misused substance to ascend it again. Lack of praise creates unbalance in the world. The Lords of Creation must make up what you lack in praise under the law of compensation, which is why you cannot allow your lines of Light to sag.—Edna Lister, Seven Groups Directing the Universe, November 14, 1967.

Insufficient praise hurts the quality of your joy and locks all heaven’s doors.—Edna Lister, March 16, 1968.

Seek a point of praise for your adversary: "I think that your wanting to make me so good is wonderful of you!"—Edna Lister, The Heavenly Mysteries Unveiled, October 20, 1968.

Patience is the outer expression of praise.—Edna Lister, May 8, 1969.

New Testament on Praise

Old Testament on Praise

Praise in Other Sacred Writings