Thanksgiving... God Hears You!

Happy Birthday!  God has been good to us all and I want you to know, God Hears You!

Transcript

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Welcome to Our Care Let's Pray Ministries, a podcast where hearts are encouraged, faith is strengthened, and you are reminded that someone cares, God cares, and so do I. I want to thank you all for joining me today because today is a special day. Today is my birthday. Yay! Happy birthday. And I want you to know as I reflect on another year of my life, I find myself overwhelmed with gratitude right now. These past couple of weeks, I've just been spending time with God, and I have just been overwhelmed with his Holy Spirit, overwhelmed with his presence, and overwhelmed with his love over my life. Amen. You know, and as I reflect, I want you to know that when I say I'm overwhelmed with gratitude, I'm not saying because everything has been perfect. I'm not saying because every prayer was answered in the way I wanted to be answered, right? And I'm not saying because every door opened when I wanted it to. I'm saying I am thankful because God heard me. I am thankful because God has been faithful to me. I am thankful because God has been present in my life. Amen. I want you to know today I want this entire episode to be a thank you letter to God. We all got a thanksgiving in our heart. We all got a song in our heart. We all gotta constantly matter how good God's been in our life. So I want you to know this is not a list of requests, not a list of complaints, not another prayer asking for more, but a moment, a simple moment to say, Thank you, Lord, for hearing me. Psalms 34, 17 and 18 states, The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles. The Lord is now unto them that are of a broken heart and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. Amen. May the Lord have a blessing to the hearing and the reading and the doing of his word. That is such a beautiful promise. God hears us. He doesn't just hear our words, he hears our hearts, he hears our hopes, he hears our fears, he hears the prayers we pray when nobody else is around. And for that alone, he deserves our thanksgiving. I want you to know that over this last season in my own life, I have spent time praying and fasting before the Lord. Like many people, I had some specific things I was believing God for, right? I wanted to draw closer to him. I wanted to hear him more clearly. I wanted his will more than my own will. Matthew 6 and 33, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things to be added unto you, right? And I want you to know, during this time of my last prayer and dedication and fasting before the Lord, my cousin asked me a simple question. What is the purpose of your fast? And honestly, which was crazy, I struggled to answer that, right? I knew I was seeking God. I knew I wanted more of him, and I knew I wanted his direction, and I knew the things I want him to do in my life listening on a piece of paper. But I could not fully articulate everything God was doing inside of me and why I was doing this fast. I mean, I was like, well, you know, and and this, and I started out doing this. It's like I was like flabbergasted, like I couldn't get the words out of why I was in this fast, right? And nine times out of ten, I know why I'm doing the fast. And so I want you to know it's crazy because Sunday, we was in church. My pastor stood and delivered a Remo word, remote word from the Lord, right? A direct word from heaven, a word that explained things I could not explain myself when he asked me why I was fasting, right? A word that confirmed what God was doing in my life, a word that answered questions I had carried before him, a word that brought clarity, a word that brought peace, a word that reminded me that God had been listening all along and he never left my side. And in that moment, when I realized it, I'm talking about I was mind-blown. Amen. I'm talking about I started calling my pastor by his full government name because I couldn't even call him pastor at that moment because God had taken over that stage, amen. And I want you to know that that word reminded me that God had been listening all along, never went anywhere. And in that moment I realized something else. Our greatest blessings was not merely answers from God, but our greatest blessings is knowing that God is still speaking, amen. The reward was not simply what God would do, the reward was God Himself, amen. And that, oh my God, my pastor said that, I mean the fire that flew through my veins. And I, oh, hallelujah, thank you, Lord. I I mean, I even left church and we went out to eat, and I'm still at table. Hallelujah, thank you, Jesus. Glory, glory to God, because God is so amazing. And sometimes we become so focused on what we want God to give us that we forget the greatest gift he has already given us, and that is his presence, that is his beauty, that is his joy, that is his love, that is his peace, right? I want you to know the blessings are wonderful, the breakthrough is wonderful, the miracles is wonderful, the open doors is wonderful, but none of those things compared to having a relationship with the one and only God that we have in our life, amen. The one who created us, amen. God is not really the rewarder, God is the reward. Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. His presence is the reward, his peace is the reward, his voice is the reward, his guidance, his mercy, his grace is the reward. The more I walk through these seasons of prayer and fasting, the more I realize that I was not chasing blessings. I am pursuing him every step of the way. And I'm talking about I have a heart that hungers for God. I have a heart that wants to long for God and see his face and hear his voice and know that I'm doing the right things, right? And I want you to know that every day I spent in his presence became a reward all by itself. This is why we all got to take time to fast and pray so we can empty ourselves of all the distractions, empty ourselves of everything that's been in us, and open ourselves up to be used by the Lord and to hear from the Lord. Amen. The Bible tells us that whatever is bound in heaven shall be bound on earth, and whatever is loose in heaven shall be loosed on earth. Hallelujah. I believe, I believe, I believe. God is releasing clarity, he's releasing peace, wisdom, direction. And I know he's releasing a fresh gratitude in our hearts because gratitude changes everything, right? When we focus only on what we lack, we become discouraged. When we focus on God's goodness, we become thankful. And today I'm so filled with thankful for prayers answered, but I'm also thankful prayers still in progress. I'm thankful for open doors and closed doors because I know when he closed them doors, he's protecting me, right? I am so thankful for victories, but I'm also thankful for lessons learned through the challenges. I'm thankful for the mountaintops, I'm thankful for the valley low moments because God walked with me through every last one of them. And I say thank you, oh God, for that. Most of all, I am so grateful and I'm so thankful and I'm so humbled that God hears me. Amen. And I know God hears you too. I know God sees you too. I know God's responding to you too. So I'm telling you, take a moment and thank God. Thank God for your mountaintops, thank God for your value low moments, thank God for the good days, thank God for the bad days. Never stop thanking God. Every day, give thanks to God for something. If he opens your ass, that's enough to say thank you. If he lets you make it back home safe and get in your bed, that's enough to say thank you. I'm telling you, thank God in this very moment for who he is. He is the great I am. Hallelujah. And I thank you, oh God, for being the great I am. And I want you to know that I have a declaration that we all need to start saying every day to just give gratitude to the Lord every day. I thank God for life. I thank God for breath. I thank God for strength. I thank God for mercy, grace, family, and friends. I thank God for provision and protection and healing and wisdom. I thank God for his word. His word, his word, his word, and his holy spirit. Hallelujah. I thank you, oh God. Thank God for every closed door that kept you safe. Thank God for every open door that he's moving you forward with. Thank God for every lesson learned. Thank God for every victory. Start thanking God for everything. Thank God for every prayer he answered. Thank God for every prayer he's still working on. Most of all, just thank God for who he is. God is the King of Kings, He's the Lord of Lords, He's the Prince of Peace. He is all that we will ever need. God is our everything. Life and breath. He's everything to us. Amen. Let us go to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus, we come before you with grateful hearts. Today we are not coming with a list of requests, oh God. We're coming to you as humble as we know how. Bowing down to our knees, oh God. Just coming to you with thanksgiving. Thank you for waking us up this morning, oh God. Thank you for the breath that's in our lungs, oh God. Thank you for the activity of our limbs, oh God. Thank you for the life, health, and strength in our bones, oh God. Thank you for keeping us through danger, seen and unseen. Thank you for protecting our families. Thank you for protecting our children and our grandchildren. Thank you, oh God, for the food that was on our tables and the clothes on our back. Henry Father, we thank you for the shelter over our heads, oh God. God, we thank you for every bill you helped help us pay, oh God. God, we thank you for every supply that you have ever given us, Honey Father. God, we thank you for every door that you've opened and every door you've done closed. Hallelujah, God, we thank you for your goodness. We thank you for your mercy. God, we thank you for your favor over our life. Honey Father, we thank you for the prayers that you answer quickly. And God, we thank you for the prayers that required patience. Thank you, oh God, for the lessons learned in difficult seasons. And thank you for your grace when we made mistakes, oh God. Thank you for your mercy when we was out here doing some stuff we had no business doing. And you protected us, oh God. God, thank you, oh God. Because you don't give us the deserve, you don't give us the judgment that we deserve, oh God. So we ask you to have your way, oh God, and continue to work on us from the inside out, oh God. Thank you, oh God. Thank you, oh God. Thank you, oh God, for your forgiveness, your kindness, your compassion, and your faithfulness, oh God. Thank you for pastors who hear from heaven, oh God. Thank you for the rhema words that bring clarity to our life, oh God. Thank you for divine confirmation that you give to us and let us know that we're on the right road with you, Heavenly Father. Thank you for speaking directly into my situations, oh God. Thank you for letting me know that you heard my cries, you heard my pleas, you heard my prayers, oh God. Thank you, oh God, that I know if you're doing it for me, you're gonna do it for my neighbor. Thank you, oh God, that I know if you're doing it for me, you're gonna do it for my church members. Thank you, oh God, because I know if you're doing it for me, you're gonna do it for our children and our families and our extended families. I know if you did it for me, oh God, you're gonna do it for every listener that's on this mic right now and that's listening, oh God. I just thank you so much. I have so much gratitude in my life right now. I got so much gratitude on my tongue right now. And I say thank you, oh God. Thank you, oh God, for every listener connected to this podcast today. God, I thank you for their life, their purpose, their gifts, their future, oh God. Thank you, oh God, for the blessing you have already prepared for them, oh God. Thank you for every prayer they have prayed. Thank you because you have heard every crowd, God. Thank you because you knew when they was near and you knew when they was having a broken heart, oh God. You stepped right in and you molded them and you healed them and you brought them back together again. Thank you, oh God, because you have never abandoned them. Thank you, oh God, for teaching us to become better people of giving, thanks, giving to you each and every day. Hallelujah. We bless your name, oh God. Teach us how to praise you and worship you before the breakthrough comes, before the answers come. Helling Father, we just thank you, thank you, thank you for this day. Lord, we thank you for your love, your peace, your joy, and your holy spirit. Thank you, oh God, for Jesus Christ who died on the cross where I see his way back on Calvary. When he was on that cross, he looked there and he said, I see you back there. I see you years and years and years away. So guess what? I'm gonna go ahead and take my bow and go on back to heaven with my father because I'm going to die, so you may have a chance at life. And Father, we thank you for giving us another chance to get our life in order with you. Giving us a chance to get our life in order with ourselves, Heavenly Father. God, we thank you for everything because you are our portion, Heavenly Father. You are our inheritance, Heavenly Father. You are our rewarder, Heavenly Father. You are the reward, Heavenly Father. And we say thank you, oh God, from the depths of our souls and from the depths of our heart, Heavenly Father. We say thank you, oh God, for hearing us. Thank you, oh God, for hearing and answering our prayers, oh God. Thank you, oh God, that you never left our side. Thank you, oh God, that you provide for us each and every day. Thank you, oh God, that you give us your heads protection each and every day. Thank you, oh God, that our story is not over with, Heavenly Father. Thank you, oh God, that you let us see our purpose more each and every day, Heavenly Father. Thank you to help us be driven, people that searches after you each and every day, because we know that you are the reward, Heavenly Father. We know eternal life is the biggest goal, Heavenly Father. And we say thank you, oh God. Thank you, oh God, for blessing us. Thank you, oh God, for keeping us, and thank you, oh God, for loving on us like never before. Lord, we give you the praise and the honor and the glory in your darling son, Jesus Christ's name, we pray. Amen, amen, hallelujah, amen. Glory be to God of the highest, Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna. Holy, holy, holy is who you are, oh God. And we thank you, oh God, for your presence today. We thank you, oh God, for your love today. We thank you, oh God, for being with us in the midst of our storms and our battles, oh God. Thank you, oh God, that we never have to fight alone. Thank you, oh God, that you said cast our cares on you and you will give us rest, oh God. We thank you, oh God, that we can come to you no matter what time of the day is and cast our cares on you and you will deliver us, Heavenly Father. So we say thank you, thank you, thank you, oh God. Amen. Hallelujah. Glory be to God. And I want you to know before we close out, because I'm four right now, and I'm about to go ahead and give me a praise service in on my birthday. I've been praising all morning. My daughter came in. She said, Oh, you with the Lord. I sure am. I'm thanking God for another gear. I'm thanking God for hearing me and answering me. And I just thank God for his power that came through our church yesterday, his glory that came through our church yesterday, his fire that came through our church yesterday. I am so grateful that God came in and set a fire within the souls that were sitting in them chairs. And I just thank God for his presence, his life, his son. And I want you to do something today. My sister challenged our church to write down a hundred things that we are thankful for. And just write down a hundred things that you thank God for. So I'm gonna tell you ain't got to do a hundred. But I'm saying today, thank him for something small. Thank him for something big, something expected, and something unexpected. Thank him for what he has done already in your life. Thank him for what he is doing, and thank him for who he is. Because when all blessings are counted and all the miracles are all the miracles are remembered, one truth remains. God himself is the greatest reward. He is the reward, and he is worthy of all the thanksgiving, he's worthy of all the praise. And until next time, I need you to remember, you are too blessed to be stressed, you are too anointed to be disappointed. This is disappointing, and this is the reason why. Because we serve a God who cares. This is our care. Let's pray ministries. Have a blessed day, and until tomorrow, I will speak to you all tomorrow. But smell and rejoice and just say thank you, oh God. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Amen. This is our care. Let's pray ministries.