Learning to Pray With Thanksgiving

Carter Conlon from the historic Times Square Church in New York City. A lot of people didn't live their lives worrying about everything that I refuse to worry, I'll never go back there again. The rest of my life because I know him know how faithful he is.

Thanks for joining us this week on a call to the nation with Carter, all of us find times in our lives where we need to reach out to God in prayer because of circumstances that seem beyond what we can handle, but be honest contemplating thankfulness in those times is not the first thing that comes to your mind is, as Carter will explain the only way to know how to pray with thanksgiving is to believe and understand that God is going to answer your prayers.

Let's join Carter now to discover more.

Philippians chapter 4 beginning in verses six and seven.

The apostle Paul says be anxious for nothing. Now here's a guy you know he had a reason to be anxious if anybody ever did this guy was shipwrecked every time he preached. He crawled out from under a pile of rocks.

Somebody was going to kill him. He was in jail more often. He was beaten he was stoned he was ripped was betrayed.

He was like he had a reason to be anxious, but Paul is the guy whose hand God puts the squirrel that writes on a parchment to this particular church and that worry to get braces be anxious for nothing, so worry about it.

That's what he thinks. Don't worry about where you going to go. Don't worry about how you get there. Don't worry about what you do when you get there. Don't worry about whether what your life is going to amount to God has a plan for you. That's bigger than you could even think or imagine. So be anxious for nothing. That in itself, that's for words.

We could focus on for the rest of our Christian life and try to get to the bottom of that is you and I know how hard it is not to be anxious about anything. We spent half I like more than half of our life not come from the home of worriers. My mother was a worriers word if she had nothing to worry about that so much she worried she does worry about everything she's to say don't tell me worrying doesn't do any good.

None of the things I worry about ever happened.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your your requests be made known to God and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

So there's just something about praying with thanksgiving. The end result of that of not being axis of of having a heart that does really trust in God is a a piece which passes understanding.

In other words, it's not based on anything we smell, taste, think, feel, no see.

It's something that's based on a confidence in God. And when people look at those of us who have this confidence in God. It passes their understanding. In other words as much as it passes ours. There has to be a reason for this, just like the king who saw the fourth man in the fire when he threw three Hebrew boys into the fire.

Further defiance in the sense of refusing to bow down to an idol and he saw 1/4 man, so he saw a piece. As they walked in the fire and I'm assuming they're praising God in that fire the discount walking through the flames that the smoke is not touching and the fire is not burning them in the tendencies of fourth man, there's something happening here passes understanding.

When you and I have confidence in God. There's there's this presence of God that people see even before we understand it or not they see something in us now Jesus himself. I want to just read to you his words in Luke chapter 12. Let me just read it to beginning of verse 22.

I want you just to listen with your heart.

Listen with the deepest part of your heart.

Then he said to his disciples. Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life what you will eat nor about your body, what you will put on and others don't live your life worried about these things.

Life is more than food and the body is more than clothing.

Consider the ravens. They neither sow nor reap which have neither storehouse nor barn and God feeds them of how much more value are you than the birds.

I remember when the Lord was leading me to leave my career and to pastor this little group of Christian people over meeting in a hotel who were offering me a salary that didn't even pay for my electrical bill that's that's that's hello that salary was going to be in the natural was foolishness but yet in my heart II thought drawn by God but I'm not going to suggest it was in the battle that I'm not going to suggest to that. I wasn't concerned or worried about my children about how to close them home to feed them. Where were going to live and how we going to pay our bills assisted kind of a natural part of of humanness and a member I was preaching one Sunday it to this little group of people while I was still police officer in the city of Ottawa, Canada. As I was preaching. I was actually preaching on versus these verses I was preaching on give you all the God follow God walk with God. I was in the battle of my life is that I'm freezing something that I'm in the throes of wondering what I'm going to live it myself. As I was as it was winter time and as it was preaching. I was standing in front of the window in this this hotel that we were having church and I looked out and there was about four or five little brown sparrows and they were in the driveway and it was snow so that a truck had plowed it in their pecking at the ground. I can see what they're eating but they gotta be eating something as are all pecking at the ground.

In this verse immediately came into my mind. Consider the ravens. They neither sow nor reap. You have storehouse nor barn and God feeds them of how much more value are you than the birds, but you sometimes goats trying to give us comfort. We just gonna push it out of her mind yet. It's nice and we just go back to your message and as it was preaching. I'm still exhorting the people to live for God gives all the God I looked out the window again and there those four birds again are five birds in the rock of the same spot and I still can't see with the reading and again the Lord said to me, are you not worth more than these birds.

It's amazing your God was saying. I don't want you to worry about what your future is going to be and how you're going to feed your children and were you going to live in the things that you going to have a Nichols on the safe and which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature. In other words, all of your work and you make yourself any taller. Can you make yourself bigger than you are. If you are not able to do the least. Why are you anxious for the for the rest. Consider the lilies how they grow, they neither toil nor spin, and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these units and I love the fact that he spoke so simply to us to just take a look at the flowers he said I dress the look at how they look, they're not worried about it.

They just let me do what I do and unfaithful to them. If then God so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven. How much more will he clothe you. You of little faith, do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink or have an anxious mind for all these things the nations of the world seek after in your heavenly Father knows that you need these things but seek and I like what in the Gospel of Matthew says first but in Luke addresses seek the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added to you. This has been one of the verses of my life as a believer in Jesus Christ. When our house burned down. When we wanted a full-time ministry and we lost everything and we had to stay at the home of another pastor and we didn't have close for our children and we didn't have a place to live and I remember I I went out to jog in those days and I went out for a run one.

January morning and I quoted this respect to God. I said, Lord, you told me that if I saw it first. Your kingdom and your righteousness that you would add all these things to me so I'm just going to take you at your word. I'm just going jog. I can't worry about it because I can't change the situation but I'm going to trust you to be who you say you are to make and most you know the story that within just a short season so much for vision came in from so many unexpected places that we eventually were able to purchase a brand-new home outright. We paid cash for all new furniture we got older close front children and I even got a pair of skates of the Canadian so I got a pair of skates that I've always wanted.

I could never afford them, and as recently. I still have in my garage, even recently, and so I gave him way to somebody and he said do not fear, little flock, for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom is the pleasure of God is not a reluctant God he didn't go to the cross and die for you and go back to heaven just to fold his arms and discount watch and see how you go make out in life know he died to be God to you and to me he died for those that are unlike he died. The Scripture says so you might have life and that you might have it more abundantly. The writer of Hebrews.

In chapter 10 verse 23 says. Don't cast away your confidence, and in one part of the Scripture says, but in verse 23 said he who promised is faithful and I stand before you. I've been saved 43 or four years now and I can tell you, God has been faithful through flood through fire, through trial, through sickness, through difficulties, through sorrow, through mountaintop through times of five excitement times of despair or all of these times. It came our way. God has been faithful and I've come to the point in life. Thank God that I'm not worried about what I'm going to wear a worm going to live for what going to eat obvious that not worried about what a good eat. I got enough here to keep me for about a good 5060 days if all else fails, but I could tell you over the years, a God has been faithful God is been faithful. I remember one time in our farmhouse. We ran out of water that the actually fire and got into our well in and ruin the water supply and it would be detrimental to our health. We didn't have any money with nothing and I remember bringing my little kids and at past the trees of the little kids into the room and I open the Bible and I showed them the promise. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you also showed them in James. He said no if you ask for something to consume it on your lusts, you won't receive anything from the Lord. I said so this is not for our loss.

God knows we need water and we don't have the money that the contractor said it was going to cost $3000 to two big got a brand-new well-connected to the house I said but I'm going to have him do it anyway because we need water.

God knows we need water. He's going to provide that all these things.

Six and I I've always held that I'm seeking first the kingdom of God's promises that he would provide.

So we had the contractor community dug a new well only hit this beautiful vein of crystal clear cold water was absolutely amazing connected to the house and the day before the invoice for it was due to arrive.

I went to the mailbox and there was a card in the mailbox from my father. I thought that I thought was strange so I opened the card and he said your grandmother when she died, left money for your education and we didn't we didn't use it all for your education and so this is what was left and it was a check for $3000 in the mail and now listen listen. The bill came to about $2981. So we had enough left to go for a large, all dressed pizza as a family and celebrate after paying for the water supply. I remember when we went into full-time ministry. I could be here all night telling you about the faithfulness of God. But these were kind of the early days, and in God's goodness. If he builds this in the early days so we can trust him for the bigger days and I'm going to be one day on the field and in a war-torn area the of the world. More than one time.

I'm going to have to have faith so he doesn't take you from zero to that kind of faith is. It starts building our confidence in him. For those that are listening online for just you start at the beginning and let God prove to you how faithful he is and how faithful he will be in and before you know it's you will be praying with Thanksgiving. You'll be praying because you only way I know how to pray with thanksgiving.

As you know that God is going to answer your prayer. I remember thinking when I wanted wind into full-time ministry and we started taking people in our house on top of this we took in a lady with her two children would come back to the Lord and in another pastor to pastor a group of French-speaking people began to attend the church and and there was just all kinds of people.

A principal and his wife and their three kids. I think it was weird. We had a full house.

I'll tell you one winter with 17 people. I remember thinking we can feed ourselves how we can feed these people but God again you said seek first your rights as this love I just had the secret joint, so the pleasantries of just those letting them do a miracle one more time, a member of 100 and we got to somehow get food for all these people in one day, I get a knock on my door and it's a farmer and days. A Christian man and he said the Lord spoke to me and told me to fill your freezer with beef and and filled with the best to be file and he said no, for real not know if it gets even better.

And he said as soon as it starts to get down every time he gets down. You call me and I'll fill it again. What is that on you call me and I'll fill it again and he was always faithful in another member pastor came to pastor the first church with a van will repeat the kids and took them to church on Sunday shows up one one day and at the whole van to hold minibuses full grapefruit and is full of bread and I said why was it the food bank and then there just overflowing to don't know what to do with all the food done. They said witnessed we want. This is foil so I said I'll take it you talking like we had about we had to have at least a thousand grapefruit and I remember thinking what to do with a thousand rates reside in THE decision to to waste. So we started knocking on doors and asking people if they wanted grapefruit in the area and everybody was really glad and that the poor know the poor. The long story short we had all the fruit and bread we ever needed way more than we ever needed and we started feeding families and we ended up by the time we left were feeling 237 families in the community by the goodness of our God by the grace of our God, the provision of God. That's what David could say my cup overflows. Now he didn't just fill my cup in the presence of my enemies are in my knee, but he filled the filled out cup so much that it was overflowing and we we had so much food we had to start giving it away with a start and we ended up getting a storage facility and other people found out about it and that huge food bank in the city of Ottawa contacted us and said, would you be interested in being our Eastern division which means we could've gotten a tractor trailer load full of food every week and brought it up just amazing.

There's no end to what God can do if we will seek him first in his kingdom and let all these things be added unto us now.

I've been all over the world I've seen God do you know of the story. Many of you are seeing them. If you haven't, it's all in the book called it's time to pray and I've seen God, stop Civil War. I've I've stood in front of governments a bit in the homes of prime ministers and leaders in residence. I been out I've been in so many places throughout the world to seen God do what only God can do, and there's is there certain miracles that really stick in your mind, and one is this some of them are fading and one below is as fresh as yesterday and it's called the great spaghetti miracle that happened in our life moment as pastor trees of the comps and share about this story and as shield meter microphone over there on the other side.

Though this was a miracle of the spiritual side I read about this in Scripture in the Old Testament but I live I live to see.

I've lived to see this miracle happen.

Well, we never get tired of telling this story that we were young in the faith, and it was before the freezer full of beef and I put a pound of hamburger on the counter and I went about 300 yards down the road to my moms house and while I was there. Someone said to meet present your driveway so I look over and it was a car I didn't recognize my walk back and it was a family of five and they had when pastor Carter and I had been ministering Eastern Canada hundreds of miles away. We said luck if you ever are in the area stop by and they did – so that was good family. If I were family. Five.

That's all right. I know how to finish sauce with the best of them. So that was no problem.

But when I short while later I heard dad motorcycle in the driveway and lo and behold it was pastor Carter's brother and a friend and they were motoring across Canada and need never visit us. Their home married life and he just shows that it's like wow that's very cool combined and so welcoming everybody and when. Literally I heard another car in the driveway and I luck out and this was a family of seven. They had five children and they were church family and I knew for them to be visiting us at supper time. I knew that was very deliberate and I knew that they needed to be at our house, so I welcome the man and by this time you eat there. You can barely navigate across the kitchen. There so many people in their when pastor Carter comes home he has my sister and her son with him.

They just traveled an hour to get there and I had this 1 pound of spaghetti member just now like the Lord said to meet the look in the pot don't look in the pot and just put a bright smile on and I just When it came to supper. I just Ladling out. I just kept pouring out pouring out looking at. I couldn't believe that I was getting more excited and by the end of that you know there was spaghetti despair.

It was an absolute miracle. It was a miracle that my first noun miracle. We were very young. A minute.

He said God the promise that the Lord will provide was so true and so real. Every one of those people. I realize were guided to our house in. I couldn't provide for them. We couldn't provide that God provided him because they were, you know, brought to us unannounced but this was of the Lord, and these are things like when you have an open home an open heart and open life. God will bring the people that need to coming here like NC will supply your needs any when I'm telling you when a miracle happens in your own kitchen when a miracle happens through the must mundane of ways.

And yet he miraculously provides you are forever change so don't please don't back up guy.

If you seek first the kingdom of God.

Everything you and I need to serve him and one another in our generation will be supernaturally provided. Again and again and again. Praise God. I just remember being in the kitchen and the Lords spoke to both of us don't look in the pot, just keep serving and she was generously serving this meat sauce and I'm on, but the might of just could you just hold back. Just maybe a little less.

She's generously putting it and big plates of spaghetti and we felt that, I don't know. 2024 people. Whatever it was in the were leftovers truly amazing.

I made only God could have done that. It was 1 pound hamburger with a Lieut. tomato sauce and maybe a couple of extra things, but it could never have said that many people was not it. No chance. This is the God that we serve and I'm just so thankful today that the God of the big things is also the God of the little things right. He sees our need and for many you need God to be with you in a big way and some in a small way, but I tell you from experience.

He will not fail you and if you will pray with thanksgiving. Be anxious for nothing, as the Scripture says, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. So here's how you pray God, thank you thank you that when my supplies short.

Yours isn't. Thank you Lord that when I run. I love you to hold in your supply levels territory from anyone without a got a pound you got you got tons love so you'll notice keep our love through me when my supplies gone when my patients is gone. Yours is everlasting and and you will start pouring through my life and when my words of kindness are gone. Yours are still there and you got more words new vocabularies in the world can contain.

So Lord I just filled my body is as the pot yielded itself to to the spaghetti sauce I yield my body to you Lord and I just ask you to be God and prove yourself to be God's will and you allow him to prove himself to be God in the small things then you start moving to the bigger things throughout life and you might find yourself in a place where you needed absolute miracle of God.

I have over the course of my life, but you'll remember the spaghetti understand.

You remember the water you remember the beef in the freezer. You remember how God never failed to remember the van of the of bread and grapefruit showing up, and yet so much yet to start giving to the poor.

You remember how God does things until you'll find that he sees is lavishly generously's lavishly generous, fear not, little flock, Jesus said it is your father's delight to give you the kingdom it's it's in his heart to give it to you. And so we don't draw back and I refuse to live in an anxious place a lot of people to just live their lives worrying about everything, but I refuse to worry, I'll never go back there again for the rest of my life because I know him and know how faithful he is whatever he asked me to do. That's what I will do that, spend that the theme of my life. I'll do God, what you asked me to do. I don't have to worry about it. You will supply everything that I needs a father to celebrate with thanksgiving what you did for us on the cross to celebrate the fact that we have become a family to celebrate the fact that even when life throws us a curve God Lord, we are still able to find your purpose in it and you still promise to give us the strength, my God, to navigate the difficult places we think of the apostle Paul who should be anxious for nothing, yet the man had literally gone through hell on earth but yet there was an abiding joy in a trust in him. God, that he could play with thanksgiving. So ask you Lord that you would enable us to pray with thanksgiving enable us to have grateful hearts and to believe you for the supply that were all going to need in the situations we find ourselves. Thank you that you made it all available at the cross. In Jesus name. Thank you for joining us this week for a call to the nation with Carter come from Times Square Church in New York City. For more information log onto TSC Donald NYC TSC.NYC you can count on a powerful message each week on a call to the nation with Carter,