Chapter 16
PRAISE AND THANKSGIVING
Charles Fillmore
Dynamics For Living
IN SPIRIT, praise accumulates. In sense consciousness this faculty is called
acquisitiveness. It accumulates material things. Praise opens the portal of the
mysterious realm called the superconsciousness where thought is impregnated with
an uplifting, transcendent quality. Every lofty ideal, all the inspiration that
elevates and idealizes in religion, poetry, and art, originates here. It is the
kingdom of the true and real in all things.
Praise is the complement of sight and hearing. It is the redemption of
weariness. From it issues the Savior of the world. Instead of a supplication,
prayer should be a jubilant thanksgiving. This method of prayer quickens the
mind miraculously. Like a mighty magnet, it draws out the spiritual qualities
that transform the whole man when they are given expression in mind, body, and
affairs.
Spirituality
Spirituality (prayer and praise) is one of the foundation faculties of the
mind. It is the consciousness that relates man directly to the Father-Mind. It
is quickened and enlarged through prayer and through other forms of religious
thought and worship. When we pray we look up from within, not because God is off
in the sky, but because this spiritual center is in the top of the head and
becomes active and our attention is naturally drawn to it.
Prayer
Prayer is natural to man. It should be cultivated in order to round out his
character. Prayer is the language of spirituality. When developed, prayer makes
man master in the realm of creative ideas. In order to get results from the use
of this faculty, right thinking should be observed here as well as elsewhere. To
pray, believing that the prayer may or may not be answered at the will of God,
is to miss the mark. It is a law of mind that every idea is fulfilled as soon as
conceived. This law holds true in the spiritual realm.
In the light of our knowledge of mind action, the law expressed in these
words is clear. Moreover, the faith implied is absolutely necessary to the
unfailing answer to prayer. If we pray asking for future fulfillment, we form
that kind of thought structure in consciousness, and our prayers are always
waiting for that future fulfillment which we have idealized.
If we pray thinking that we do not deserve the things for which we ask, these
untrue and indefinite thoughts carry themselves out, and we grow to look upon
prayer with doubt and suspicion.
God's Will
It should not be inferred that the will of Divine Mind is to be set aside in
prayer. We are to pray that the will of God enter into us and become a moving
factor in our life. The Father does not take our will from us. He gives us the
utmost freedom in the exercise of the will faculty. He also imparts an
understanding of the law, through the operation of which we can make any
condition that we desire.
Aggregation
One of the offices of spirituality is to aggregate divine ideas. Through this
action man draws absolutely true ideas from the universal Mind. Thus prayer is
cumulative. It accumulates spiritual substance, life, intelligence. It
accumulates everything necessary to man's highest expression. When we pray in
spiritual understanding, this highest realm of man's mind contacts universal,
impersonal Mind; the very Mind of God is joined to the mind of man. God answers
our prayers in ideas, thoughts, words; these are translated into the outer
realms, in time and condition. It is therefore important that we pray with
understanding of the law, important that we always give thanks that our prayers
have been answered and fulfilled, regardless of appearances.
With understanding and realization of the relation between the idea and the
fulfillment of the idea, Jesus quickened the slow processes of nature, and the
loaves and fishes were increased quickly. We may not be able to attain at once
such speedy operation of the law, but we shall approximate it, and we shall
accelerate natural processes as we hold our beliefs nearer to the perfection of
the realm of divine ideas.
Response
Praise is closely related to prayer. It is one of the avenues through which
spirituality expresses itself. Through an inherent law of mind, we increase
whatever we praise. The whole creation responds to praise, and is glad.
Animal trainers pet and reward their charges with delicacies for acts of
obedience. Children glow with joy and gladness when they are praised. Even
vegetation grows best for those who praise it. We can praise our own abilities,
and our very brain cells will expand and increase in capacity and intelligence
when we speak words of encouragement and appreciation to them.
Thought Stuff
There is an invisible thought-stuff on which the mind acts, making things
through the operation of a law not yet fully understood by man. Every thought
moves upon this invisible substance in increasing or diminishing degree. When we
praise the richness and opulence of our God, this thought-stuff is tremendously
increased in our mental atmosphere. It reflects into everything that our mind
and our hands touch. When common things are impregnated with our consciousness
of divine substance, they are transformed according to our ideals.
Through persistent application of praise, a failing business proposition can
be praised into a successful one. Even inanimate things seem to receive the word
of praise, responding in orderly obedience when, before, they seemed
unmanageable.
A woman used the law on her sewing machine, which she had been affirming to
be in bad order. It gave her no trouble afterward. A linotype operator received
a certain spiritual treatment given him by a healer at a certain hour, and his
linotype, which had been acting badly, immediately fell into harmonious ways. A
woman living in a country town had a rag carpet on her parlor floor. She had for
years hoped that this carpet might be replaced by a better one. She heard of the
law and began praising the old carpet. Greatly to her surprise, inside of two
weeks she was given a new carpet from an unexpected source. These are a few
simple illustrations of the possibilities latent in praise. Whether the changes
were in the inanimate things, or in the individuals dealings with them, does not
matter so long as the desired end was attained.
Health and Supply
Turn the power of praise upon whatever you wish to increase. Give thanks that
it is now fulfilling your ideal. The faithful law, faithfully observed, will
reward you. You can praise yourself from weakness to strength, from ignorance to
intelligence, from lack to affluence, from sickness to health. The little lad
with a few loaves and fishes furnished the seed that, through prayer and
thanksgiving of Jesus, increased sufficiently to feed five thousand people.
All causes that bring about permanent results originate in Spirit.
Spirituality, faith, and love are God-given faculties. When we are raised in
consciousness to their plane they act naturally under a spiritual law that we
may not comprehend. If we make proper connection with Divine Mind in the kingdom
of heaven within us, the Father will surely answer our prayers. No good thing
will He withhold from us if we comply with the law.
We all need a better understanding of the nature of God if we are to comply
with the laws under which He creates. We must begin by knowing that "God is
Spirit." Spirit is everywhere--the breath of life and the knowing quality of
mind active in and through all. The highest form of prayer is to open our mind
and quietly realize that the one omnipresent intelligence knows our thoughts and
instantly answers, even before we have audibly expressed our desires.
This being true, we should ask and at the same time give thanks that we have
already received. Jesus expressed this idea. When we think or silently speak in
the all-potential substance of Spirit, there is always an unfailing effect.
"Always praise the cooking of the cook" is the instruction of the veteran
hobo to the novice. Experience has taught the gentlemen of the road that praise
and thanks melt the hardest heart and often open the door to amazing
hospitality. Tradespeople have found that "Thank you" has commercial value. The
prophets of old knew the power of increase inherent in thanksgiving. "Praise ye
the Lord" is repeated again and again in the Psalms.
Increase
We increase our vitality by blessing and giving thanks in spirit. To bring
about this increase efficiently we must understand the anatomy of the soul and
mind centers.
It has been found by experience that a person increases his blessings by
being grateful for what he has. Gratitude even on the mental plane is a great
magnet. When gratitude is expressed from the spiritual standpoint it is
powerfully augmented. The custom of saying grace at the table has its origin in
man's attempt to use this power of increase.
A woman who had been left with a large family and no visible means of support
related how wonderfully this law had worked in providing food for her children.
In her extremity she had asked the advice of one who understood the law, and she
had been told to thank God silently for abundant supply on her table, regardless
of appearances. She and her children began doing this, and in a short time the
increase of food was so great at times that it astonished them. Her grocer's
bill was met promptly and in most marvelous ways the family was supplied with
food. Never after that time did they lack.
A simple word of blessing poured out upon that which we have or that which we
can conceive as possible for us as sons of the all-providing God will at least
begin to release the superabundance of Spirit substance, and we shall have an
inner confidence and faith in the providence of our Father.
Jesus warned us not to be anxious about temporal needs but to pray,
believing, and to bless and give thanks; then right in the face of seeming
insufficiency we should be enabled to demonstrate plenty.
Get Ready
When we commune with the Spirit within and ask for new ideas, they are always
forthcoming. When these ideas from within us are recognized, they go to work and
come to the surface. Then all the thoughts we have ever had, as well as the
thoughts of other people, are added to them and new things are quickly produced.
Let us quit depending slavishly on someone else for everything and become
producers, for only in that direction lies happiness and success. Let us begin
to concentrate on this inner man, this powerful man who produces things, who
gets his ideas from a higher-dimensional realm, who brings ideas from a new
territory.
What kind of character are you giving to this inner substance by your
thoughts? Change your thought and increase your substance in the mind, as Elisha
increased the oil for the widow. Get larger receptacles and plenty of them. Even
a very small concept of substance may be added to and increased.
The widow had a very small amount of oil, but as the prophet blessed it, it
increased until it filled every vessel she could borrow from the neighbors. We
should form the habit of blessing everything that we have.
It may seem foolish to some persons that we bless our nickels, dimes, and
dollars, but we know that we are setting the law of increase into operation. All
substance is one and connected, whether in the visible or the invisible. The
mind likes something that is already formed and tangible for a suggestion to
take hold of. With this image the mind sets to work to draw like substance from
the invisible realm and thus increase what we have in hand.
Elisha used a small amount of oil to produce a great amount of oil. So when
we bless our money or other goods, we are complying with the divine law of
increase that has been demonstrated many times.
Blessing and Curse
The Israelites set great store in blessing. Rightly understood, a blessing is
a great source of inspiration. It lays a firm foundation in the mind. It brings
out the good. A curse sees the evil and emphasizes it. A blessing sees only the
good and emphasizes only the good. He who uses his mind to curse gets the curse
in return, while the mind that blesses receives blessings in return. Blessing
imparts the quickening spiritual power that produces growth and increase. It is
the power of multiplication.
Praise is the positive pole of life. If you depreciate your life you decrease
your consciousness of life. All who have reached heights in things spiritual
have been noted for their devotions. Jesus spent whole nights in prayer. He
seemed to be asking the Father and thanking Him in almost the same breath on
every occasion where He did a great work or expounded a notable truth. Praise is
an active principle in our spiritual thoughts and should be given first place in
all our thanksgiving.
