When we come into church, what are we bringing into the service with us?
What things/circumstances consume our thoughts and minds and hearts? Is it finances? A troubled marriage? Work? Illness? Sin? Unforgiveness? 1 Peter 5:7 says to cast your cares upon Him for He cares for you. Matthew 11:28 "Come to Me, all you who are heavy laden and I will give you rest". We come in with hurts and struggles. What do you go in with? He knows our needs and is sufficient to take care of us.

When we worship we need to get our focus off of ourselves and onto Him. He is sufficient to meet our needs and is very aware of them but worship is about Him and should be 100% of the time. So before you enter into a worship service, you should take a minute to be before the Lord and lay all of it down before Him. He will give you peace and you will find peace when you are worshiping Him and mean the words that you are singing. I have found this to be so true and so vital. It's about Him, it's about Him, it's about Him!!

Jesus said to him, "'you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the first and great commandment.
And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." (Matthew 22:37 – 40)
Loving God with your whole heart is the key to everything in life; because your relationship with God affects everything and everyone in your life. It is impossible to love God too much; however it is easy to fall short of loving Him with your whole heart.

In a moment of honesty with myself and the Lord I asked "Lord, how can I love you more"? Instantly the Lord responded "be thankful".
In one moment, with those two words, came several scriptures to my mind and concepts that I had not thought of before. I also understood for the
first time that anything, whether past or present, that we are unthankful about is a part of our heart that does not love God. In that same moment I also understood why this is true. Deep down inside our spirit we know that God is in control of the universe. If we have had painful experiences which we are not thankful for then we are unhappy and unthankful to God for them,
consciously or unconsciously. You may not even know that you are blaming God; you may think that you are blaming Satan or you may be blaming other people. However, in reality you are blaming God also because you know that He is in control. God allowed the experience to happen to you. God could have prevented it and you know it. Each painful experience which you are unthankful for is a dark spot in your heart that does not love God. Because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became vain in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. (Romans 1:21)

We are commanded to love God with our whole heart. That is because it is possible to love God with only a part of your heart. Only when you are thankful to God with your whole heart do you really love Him with your whole heart. That means you must be thankful for everything in your life, past and present. Thankfulness is a gauge that measures your heart condition; it reveals anything which is blocking your love for God. Thankfulness to God is an indication of a heart that has right standing before God. Out of a thankful heart flow expressions of love to God, including praise, worship, and obedience. This is a good question to ask your self, "is there anything that I
am not thankful to God for"?

See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. (1st Thessalonians 5:15 – 19) Being unthankful causes you to quench the Holy Spirit because it is unforgiveness.

The word "quench" means to put the fire out. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of love. When you quench the Spirit you quench love. God says in everything give thanks for this is His will for you in Christ Jesus. Right now you may
be saying I can't be thankful for the terrible tragedy or wrong that happened to me. You may even be in a current situation that is very painful. But your choice in every situation is to either be angry with God or thankful. Maybe you think that you love God but you also admit that you are angry at people who have hurt you. If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he
is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? (1st John 4:20)

If you will decide to be thankful to God for the situation, recognizing that it is God's will for you, then the hate and anger will be replaced by love, even
for the people who have hurt you. Love always brings revelation, allowing you to see things and people in God's light. Why has God allowed you to experience painful situations? It is for your good, He wants you to be an overcomer. The Lord is teaching you to trust Him and love Him in every situation with all your heart so that you will be more than a conqueror through Him. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28)

If you are having a difficult time being thankful for a situation and you are thinking I do not see any way that good can come out of this it may be that you are preventing the good from being revealed. Remember that the promise in Romans 8:28 is conditional, for those who love God. If there is a
part of your heart that is unthankful and therefore does not love God you may be preventing the Lord from being able to make the situation "work together for good". When you become thankful then that part of your heart loves God and the Lord can now make the tragedy into a testimony. As long as you hold on to the pain, being unthankful, it can not work out for good because you do not love God with that part of your heart. You will not see the good until you become thankful.

You must trust Him and say Lord I thank you for this situation because I know that you allowed it for my good, according to your word. When you become thankful you will experience the love, peace, and joy of God's presence. That is because we enter into God's presence through thanksgiving. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, And His truth endures to all generations. (Psalms 100:45)

Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalms 139:23–24)

The Hebrew word for wicked, in this passage, means idol and it also means pain and sorrow. Any situation that has caused great pain and sorrow can become an idol in your heart if you choose to be unthankful
for it. Until a person can trust God enough to become thankful for those situations they are in bondage to them and they do not love God with that part of their heart. Sometimes tragic events become such an important part of a person's life that it becomes a part of their identity such is the case with victim mentality. This happens when a person sees themselves as just a
victim instead of being an overcomer. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (1st Corinthians 15:57).

Unthankfulness is not the cause of a heart problem rather it is a symptom of a root problem. A root problem may be unforgiveness, anger, bitterness, jealousy and any other spiritual condition that opens a door for Satan and closes a door to God. The root problem will need to be put to death first before a person can become thankful. If a root problem has become a part of your life you will need to go through a "dying to yourself process". Recognize that you are not a victim and that everything that happens to you is a part of your life to help make you into the person God wants you to be.
The law of sowing and reaping tells us that what cost the most receives the greatest reward. When you decide to be thankful to God for a very difficult situation in your life you will be taking a big step in denying yourself; because you will be giving up what has become a big part of your
life. You will be sacrificing your pride and humbling yourself before God. This allows God's grace to flow into you and cover the whole painful
situation. It will be a big step in your spiritual growth in the Lord, causing you to love Him and trust Him more. You may not be thankful for something that you did which caused suffering for you or others. However, you can be thankful for the lessons you learned. Now no chastening seems to be joyful
for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. (Hebrews 12:10)

You can also be thankful to the Lord for the way He is going to work it out for good. Often we do not see the good that God has planned. However, every time we go through a suffering situation with a thankful heart we grow in our
love and faith in God. We must realize that when we go through difficult situations it is not because God does not love us, but rather because He does love us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall
tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: "For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter." Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:35 – 39)

In the passage above the word "conquerors" is the same root word used for "overcomer" in Jesus' messages to the churches in the book of Revelation, chapters 2 & 3. We overcome by the blood Jesus shed for us, the word of our testimony, and by loving God more than our own life.
And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death; (Revelation 12:11). When you become thankful for your suffering it is turned into a testimony. It is also a way of denying yourself and giving up your life for Jesus. It proves that you love Him more than your own life. Then Jesus said to His disciples,
"If anyone desires to follow Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. (Matthew 16:24 – 25)

This is why, "For His sake we are killed all day long". Job was a wealthy blessed man but in one day he lost all he owned and all ten of his children
were killed. This was Job's reaction. Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head; and he fell to the ground and worshiped. And he said: "Naked I came from my mother's womb, And naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of
the Lord." In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong. (Job 1:20 22)
Then it got even worse for Job. God allowed him to go through a very difficult time of physical pain and suffering. After it was all over Job said, "I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, But now my eye sees You. (Job 42:5) When you decide to be thankful to God, even for the suffering, then the love in your heart for God will increase and so will your revelation of knowing
Him. Afterward God blessed Job with more than He had before.

Paul and Silas were beaten by a large mob of people and then whipped with many stripes. Afterward they were thrown into prison and the jailer put them in stocks. They were in terrible conditions, suffering from their painful wounds, and their hands and feet were locked in a very uncomfortable position. But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were loosed. (Acts 16:25 – 26) That night the jailer and his family were saved. The next morning Paul and Silas were let go.

When you thank and praise God in your suffering your love for God allows Him to make the situation work together for good, for you and for other people also. Right now ask the Lord how you can experience more love for Him. Ask Him to reveal anything in your life that you are not thankful for, anything that is blocking your hearts' flow of Love to Him.

… Be filled with the Spirit. Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 5:18b – 20)

In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
(1stThessalonians 5:18)

We can sing songs and read bible passages and go to church and listen
on the subject of the cross but for His sacrifice to deeply penetrate
our hearts and minds and to truly understand just exactly what Jesus
The Christ has done for us is so beyond anything we can listen to. The
depth, the height, the width of His love for us on the cross, when we
understand it, becomes overwhelming, becomes unbearable, becomes
incomprehensible and leaves us in utter and complete awe! 

Causes us to
not understand how we can so easily be distracted from Him with the
very sins which were laid upon Him and by which He suffered. Causes us
to want to share with others what He has done for us. Beaten beyond
recognition, lashed 'til His body looked like raw meat, spit on,
stripped of His clothing to be shamed in front of thousands of people,
mocked, ridiculed, His hands pierced with nails to wood, a nail driven
through both of His feet to pin Him on the cross that was lifted up for
all to see. 

Do you understand that it was supposed to be us to go
through those things? That Jesus stepped in front of us and took the
complete wrath and punishment of God for our iniquity? I can't fathom
it! It doesn't make sense! Until I accept that the God who created all
things, the Almighty Father loves me so much that He wasn't willing to
let me suffer but instead would punish and kill His one and only Son
for my wrongs. His guiltless Son suffering in my place...it's over my
head! I can't fathom it!! 

All I know is that He did it and that now
the punishment for my sins has been paid for IN FULL! All I can do is
accept it, and rejoice that because I have accepted it I will never
experience hell, I will never experience separation from God! Thank
you Jesus for the cross!! For the friendship and love that it extends
and reaches to me! Rejoice! For He has risen from the grave and has
defeated death once and for all for all who will come to Him and
accept His free gift to us that cost Him everything!

This is an older blog post of mine but I find that it still holds a lot of truth. "Encouragement For The Broken Hearted"

Lamentations 3:17-41

17
My soul is deprived of peace, I have forgotten what happiness is;
18
I tell myself my future is lost, all that I hoped for from the LORD.
19
The thought of my homeless poverty is wormwood and gall;
20
Remembering it over and over leaves my soul downcast within me.
21
But I will call this to mind, as my reason to have hope:
22
The favors of the LORD are not exhausted, his mercies are not spent;
23
They are renewed each morning, so great is his faithfulness.
24
My portion is the LORD, says my soul; therefore will I hope in him.
25
Good is the LORD to one who waits for him, to the soul that seeks him;
26
It is good to hope in silence for the saving help of the LORD.
27
2 It is good for a man to bear the yoke from his youth.
28
Let him sit alone and in silence, when it is laid upon him.
29
3 Let him put his mouth to the dust; there may yet be hope.
30
Let him offer his cheek to be struck, let him be filled with disgrace.
31
For the Lord's rejection does not last forever;
32
Though he punishes, he takes pity, in the abundance of his mercies;
33
He has no joy in afflicting or grieving the sons of men.
34
When anyone tramples underfoot all the prisoners in the land,
35
When he distorts men's rights in the very sight of the Most High,
36
When he presses a crooked claim, the Lord does not look on unconcerned.
37
Who commands so that it comes to pass, except the Lord ordains it;
38
Except it proceeds from the mouth of the Most High, whether the thing be good or bad!
39
Why should any living man complain, any mortal, in the face of his sins?
40
Let us search and examine our ways that we may return to the LORD!
41
Let us reach out our hearts toward God in heaven!

Be encouraged! Going through a difficult time? Open His Word and start reading! He will speak to you! Jeremiah 29:12-13-"Then you will call upon Me and pray to me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart." Start praying and cry out to Him! He has promised that He will hear you, what do you have to lose? You have everything to gain! That's exactly what I've been doing when I begin to feel discouraged or begin to miss what I have lost and He has come through for me every time. He will strengthen you heart. Here are some scripture references to encourage. Please take some time and look them up.

Psalm 46:1-3
Psalm 18:2
Psalm 22:24
John 16:33
Matt. 11:28
Psalm 9:9
Psalm 27:14

Be encouraged! You are not alone in your suffering!


-Christian Fambrough

How many times have I lead worship for a service or study? Countless!! It's been 25 years since I picked up the guitar and began my ministry. And so many times I have missed real worship. So many times it has been about the music and quality of the music rather than simply worshiping my Savior. We have all heard Matt Redman's famous "Heart Of Worship" and I have sung that song so many times, (it happens to be the first song I ever learned to play on the guitar), and yet, even while leading with that song my heart sometimes is the furthest thing from worship. And I kick myself every time it happens and wonder why and how it happened again. 

Many years ago I was at a youth leader's retreat in the mountains with my church. I had been leading the worship for the retreat the whole weekend and there was one night that our pastor asked me not to play but rather sit with everyone else and worship to a cd. Such a foreign thing to me but intriguing at the same time. As the music played and the words were sung, I found myself in real worship, before a real God. In the quietest of songs is where I found myself completely vulnerable before the Lord. Where nothing else on earth mattered but saying such meaningful, heartfelt words to my Jesus. Somehow and somewhere along the way I had lost sight on what worship is all about. No guitar, not up front, simply before the Lord. Such a changing point for me in my walk and my ministry! That same night I wrote the words to my song “In The Quiet”…

“Here I am, on my knees, I've been here before, change, change all of me. I cry out to You, I cry out to You Lord. Make me new, revive my soul. I listen for You, I listen for Your voice, The beautiful sound, my love, my choice. You are holy, Your presence is overwhelming, I'm lost for words, nothing to say so I will sit in the quiet and wait. Here I am, on my knees, Here I am, all of me”.

Such a simple song but so much meaning to me. I still have trouble at times with this issue of not being completely focused but He is faithful and gives the strength that I need. Satan would love nothing more than to destroy the worship and praise of Almighty God in any way he can. Whether that be in relationships, jealousy, envy, unforgiveness, or just straight up sin in our lives, he will and does try to destroy it. But He that is in us is greater than he that is in the world. He alone gives us the strength and He alone is gracious, merciful, faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness!! Be real before the Lord and be quiet before the Lord. For it is there that you will find liberty, peace, joy, purpose, love, acceptance, and real, authentic worship.