Basilea Schlink emphasizes the importance of giving God the glory, not only in our personal lives but also for the fate of nations. She reflects on the beauty of creation and how it should inspire a chorus of praise to God, who deserves admiration for His mighty acts. Schlink shares her journey of establishing a chapel of praise, highlighting that true worship comes from recognizing our limitations and relying on God's power. She encourages believers to praise God even in difficult times, as it can lead to healing and comfort. Ultimately, she calls for a collective dedication to glorifying God, which can hold back judgment and bring about transformation in our lives and the world.

Give God the glory. Today we will be speaking about a topic that not only applies to our personal lives, but at the same time is of greatest importance for the fate of nations. In this talk by Mother Basilea Schlink, Give God the Glory, we will clearly see what it is that can move God's arm so that he will hold back the destruction that is about to descend upon us. Sing with joy and worship him. Rejoice in the Lord, all ye lands. Rejoice in the Lord, all ye lands. Summer 1956, and I was spending some quiet days in the splendor of the Alpine country above the lake of Thun in Eschi. Truly a gift from the hand of God himself, the Alpine peaks rose majestically towards heaven in all their glistening white. The flower-stream meadows seemed to love in the sunshine. The ever-changing vista of valley and hill lay before me. Below Eschi the crystal-clear blue lake mirrored the mountain's peaks. All this beauty awoke in me wonder, worship, and praise. How great a creator is our God, who has fashioned all things out of nothing. I felt how far too small my heart was to respond worthily in thanksgiving to the great and almighty creator. Out of a bursting heart I sang and wrote down one song of praise after another, like this one. O Father, how fair is this world you made! The forests, the meadows, the lakes fill all the world with joyful sounds for unto God the world belongs. Praise Him, Alleluia! Praise Him, Alleluia! Yet mine was but a single voice and God awaited from among the thousands who enjoyed this beauty, a chorus of thanksgiving. So that the psalm might be fulfilled, Rejoice in the Lord, all ye lands! But in fact, how seldom did one find anyone willing to express their thanks and praise to God for all His mighty acts and wondrous creation. Such thoughts gave me new peace and I wrote at that time to my spiritual daughters, God our Father has to receive more praise and glory. God must be admired by many through the beauty of His creation. Yes, the Father must be glorified by our praise. For this reason I had a burden on my heart. Here and in many other places chapels of praise must be built to His glory and a band of singers must praise the Heavenly Father so much that everyone will hear it and join in singing. You made a world with beauty rare a masterpiece beyond compare and all creation praises You are a glorious Lord and King for beauty only passes with the sun and moon and wonders You know the name of every star led for each wonder journey far You showed the world His pathway Almighty, great, omniscient Lord Only by You was life outpoured All life's strength of Your voice said This powerful conviction could not be silenced in me and so it was that the commission was undertaken. In 1960 God began to smooth the way. We were invited to take our religious place to Switzerland and so it was that in fulfilling this engagement a band of sisters arrived in Switzerland and after the tour drove to Eschy as singers of God's praise and singing hymns of praise as they went they made a pilgrimage through this lovely land of God's creation. In the autumn of the same year we took the first steps towards buying the land for our praise chapel. The burden in our hearts was God must be glorified by many He must be given praise and thanks but then we had to find out that God can only glorify Himself and this can happen only when we have reached the end of our own possibilities and plans. New things only go out of ruins that is if we no longer stand in God's way for this reason God in His fatherly wisdom let us be hit by one blow after another we wanted to build Him a chapel of praise to His glory but the building petition was denied God was beginning to answer our prayers for His glorification but in a completely different way than what we had expected it was a steep climb down yes, God wanted to show His greatness and glory to the larger vocationers especially to those who had strayed away from Him but He can only do that when we are put into impossible situations they are our great opportunity to reckon with His power because all the other possibilities have been taken from us God wanted to teach us that faith means not counting on human possibilities and situations but on the living God and His deeds faith means holding on to the promises of God even if our intellect can only say no when it looks at the facts humanly speaking we had come to a dead end we had already invited all our friends from far and wide to come to the consecration and yet with all these obstacles how could the chapel possibly be finished on time wouldn't they have a right to doubt God and ask us how can God give us promises for the building of the chapel and then didn't keep His word God had given us the verse behold, before all your people I will do marvels and all the people whom you are amongst shall see the work of the Lord yet we had just received word that at the very best we could begin to build on the day of consecration in the last minute three and a half weeks before the consecration a construction firm said that they could begin work immediately and they drove up with the necessary building materials we sisters helped with the building within a few days the walls were standing and on ascension day it was decorated for the guests that were expected what a wonderful Lord we have what a Father we have and we sang to God's glory the song that our sisters had written as a mosaic on the chapel wall ever since this day people have come from all over to visit this praise chapel we have seen the beginnings of the fulfillment of God's promise for this chapel never ending praise to Him who answers prayer and always keeps His promises it is not only the walls of the chapel that tell us how great and mighty the Lord is no, a much greater testimony is what happens friends who serve there during the summer tell us some of the stories others come by way of letters for example a married couple that was set on getting a divorce came the other day and then God met each one of them so personally in the chapel that after staying there a while they joined hands and said they wanted to make a new start others come for counseling believing the forgiveness of Jesus but perhaps when some of you listen to the story of this chapel you thought what does all this have to do with my life I have so many problems I am so sad there is nothing I feel less like doing than praising God but that is when our little praise chapel can master our problems and sadness there is no better weapon for getting rid of satan and his temptations than singing a song of praise from out of the depth a few days ago someone sent me a postcard with a saying on it giving thanks and praising God spells death for the devil and that applies to each and every one of us no matter how great when our hearts seem to be filled with darkness let us look to God our father we can see his fatherly love everywhere especially in the beauty of his creation the mountains tower up into the sky how lofty, how powerful and majestic must God the creator be who created these heights the wide ocean deep must be the thoughts of God how almighty the hand that can still the storms of the sea as our mother Basilea has written the whole universe is but a small example of the power and greatness of God and yet this great and majestic God if it is true that there is no sparrow that falls from a roof without the will of God then the father's loving eyes must also be resting upon your life and mine there is no earthly father that treats his children the way the heavenly father who created us in love treats us everything we see that is alive comes from the father's heart and rejoices at being created the fishes in the sea the birds of the air the animals in the forest if the sin of man had not come into the world joy would have remained then there would not be any dying there would be no rejoicing because the creation in its manifold variety praises the creator his majesty and power his wisdom and his loving care wind and the cloud hail you aloud my mighty lord and my king they only come and go in storm and peace below decreed by your love alone in sun and wind you are self-imposed showing your fatherly love so my heart lives to you with joy and love and you my father who is like you yes who can understand that god the father has created the universe for us his children for this reason the father rejoices when we rejoice at his creation and thank him for it let us all take a moment now and change our perspective let us look at his love his power and glory especially if we're sad or if there is darkness in our heart then we will come very close to the father then we are true children of the father who are hidden in his arms in every situation and very much at peace everything is a greeting from the father everything has something to do with the father and tells us about his love and care yes everything in creation lets us look into the father's heart that is love only love music I come ever singing the very air is ringing our father in heaven is loving all now a heart full of kindness a heart of love and goodness The heart of the Godhead, and I am his child. I come with my praises for love which so amazes The hearts of rich children, once full of their sins. A heart full of kindness, a heart of love and goodness, The heart of the Godhead, our Father is he. But we people whom the Father made to be the crowning glory of his creation, And created us according to his will, who are we? Shouldn't we be put to shame by the smallest creatures Who live their lives according to God's plan, and we? We often do not look as though we were created in God's image. We are corrupted by sin. So often we are filled with worries and restlessness. How it must hurt the Father to see his children so deformed and ugly. He had created them to be his pride and joy. For this reason he delivered up his only son to whom he could say, You are my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. He redeemed us through his suffering and death to become true children of the Father, With whom the Father is also pleased, because they bear his traits again. The Father is waiting for this. And according to Romans 8.19, the creation also waits with eager longing, Especially in our times which are so filled with suffering and terrible things. For the first time in the history of the earth, The entire creation of God is apt to be devastated by the hand of man. Man has thousands of destructive weapons on stock, And the tests that they have made with these weapons have already badly damaged nature. A march of destruction is beginning. But in Scripture, God is challenging us to make an effective march in opposition, Which alone can hold back the destruction. After Mother Basilea was inspired with this thought one day, She could not rest before she carried it out. I will never forget the time when she told us about it. We sat in our small prized chapel on the Griesalp in Switzerland, Which was our second prized chapel in the Bernese Oberland. Mother Basilea spoke on Revelation 14, 6 and 7. The Apostle John, who saw a vision, wrote, Then I saw another angel flying in midheaven, With an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, To every nation and tribe and tongue and people. And he said with a loud voice, Fear God and give him glory, For the hour of his judgment has come, And worship him who made heaven and earth, The sea and the fountains of water. My Father, grant to your world a time still of grace, We bring you our songs of worship and praise, O Lord, restrain all the sin that wrecks her. Yet, Father, lest your fair world be overwhelmed by fire, To honor you raise up a minstrel choir, Whose praise may ward off your holy judgment. We pray, Lord, let many hearts burn now into flame, Call multitudes, Lord, to praise your great name, Dedicate all of their lives to praise you. Mother Basilea said, Because we are living in the last times, A time like never before, We have to take this call seriously. Each one of us has a great opportunity To hold back God's judgment That is threatening to descend upon us. Where does he find people Who humble themselves completely Beneath his holy will in their everyday life And take his commandments as binding? The surrender to the will of the Father Is the only true worship. It is praise that is not deceptive And it brings joy to his heart. Where does God find people Who do everything possible to glorify him In a time that becomes more and more anti-Christian? If we only realize what might there is In praising God and his holy name, Then the powers of darkness must yield And wonderful changes are brought about. We all have problems or burdens. Or perhaps people who are dear to us Have heavy burdens. When we begin to praise God in prayer, He begins to work. His almighty power will solve Our problems and difficulties. His love, which we praise, Will comfort us and heal us. Yes, we cannot praise God enough For who he is. When we begin to call upon his name in praise, Heaven and earth resound With worship and praise For such a God and Father. Who can plan? Who has set? All the Father wants to bless. He loves giving, Helping, Aiding All his children gently leading That they all may find true joy. To you thanks now we raise, Father, hearken to our praise. Like a river streams your goodness Overwhelming us with kindness We taste paradise on earth. You are kind, always kind Only love to us we find Joyfully we praise your mercy Father, you are love, love only You are good, so good to us. But perhaps some of us will ask, If we are sinners, how can we truly worship God? Ask God for things that we can do, But worship him. We simply can't do it. It's true, we usually can't worship. But when we find this to be true, And we are sad about it, things can change. Then we can ask the Lord just as the disciples did, Lord, teach us how to pray. Praise can only come from a broken and contrite heart. Whoever realizes that he is nothing, Will also see that God is everything. He was and is and always will be. He is immortal. So it is of greatest importance to say yes To humiliations and chastenings, For only through them can we become humble And really worship God in spirit and in truth. Then he will shower us with all his fatherly love. So today let's give him our answer of love and dedication By saying to him, Our Father, how great is your omnipotence And your glory, which brought about such a wonderful creation. Through it you reveal yourself as the Lord and Creator Who can do everything. Forgive us for giving you so little thanks and glory. Our hearts and mouth are too often silent. We sense so little of your fatherly sorrow When people shake their fists against you in rebellion, And when we are actually at the point of devastating your creation. From today on, let us bring you more thanks and more love For all of those who do not do so. Our Father, may we now live to make you happy. May we respect your commandments and yield to your fatherly will, Which is always love. Yes, we want to proclaim who you are, Our loving Father. And then all the spirits of sadness that surround us And want to get us down must yield. May our lives bring you glory Because we trust your love completely. Let all the world lift up its voice In God's great goodness now rejoice And let all his faithful ones adore Sing glory to him evermore Yes, wonderful we name him now When good befalls we know not how How gracious is our mighty Lord May he be honored, loved, adored What goodness he his children show Now let our praises reach his soul O Father, we give thanks to you For boundless grace and mercy true Today's meditation was written by and in part spoken by Mother Basilea Schlink of the Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary Darmstadt-Eberstadt, West Germany. 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