Journey To Worship

Here’s the second part to our 10 Tips To Better Singing.  Click here if you missed the first post.

I thought we’d give you the list in a different and more powerful way.  Check it out!

5. Open your mouth when you’re singing.  Ken Taylor, a vocal coach from Orlando, points out that singers who keep their mouths mostly closed are likely tense in the tongue and are far from achieving maximum quality of tone. He likes the two finger rule. If you can fit two fingers between your teeth while singing (esp on open vowels like “ah” and “oh”), then you’re good. If not, open your mouth more.  For 7 more tips from Ken click here.

6. Stop using glottal attacks!  Cari Cole, celebrity vocal coach shares that glottals’ happen when the edges of the vocal cords bang together in over-closure. This results from poor vocal technique. The way to avoid it is to add a soft “h” to the onset of words that begin with vowels, i.e.; “hh-everyone”, “hh-“I”; “hh-always”. To read more of her excellent singing advice (way more than 10 more tips) click here.

7. Water Water Water.  Vocal coach Yvonne DeBandi stresses that we need to drink lots of room temperature water all day and not just when we feel dehydrated.  Because if we drink it when we feel dehydrated when we are singing the water will first go to the large muscles and not to the vocal folds.  For more help from Yvonne and at least 20 more tips click here.

To Be Continued…

A Lingering Spirit

Genesis 19:16 “And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the Lord being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city.” (KJV)

Joshua 24:15 “And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”(KJV)

Have you ever known that you should do something but you didn’t do it?  Everyone has.  But this is a lethal choice.

One would think that all that is necessary is for us to be made aware of the truth.  “Smoking is bad for you.”  “Pornography objectifies women and men.”  “Processed foods rich in sugar and various preservatives are strongly contributing to our obesity epidemic.”  “By beholding we become changed.” We know a lot but don’t seem to change our behavior.

In James 4 after giving admonition to among other things draw close to God and not be friends with the world he wrote in verse 17 “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.”  Our problem in finding worship that nourishes is often not just a lack of knowledge.  Instead it is the deadliness of knowing but not taking action.  I call it “deadliness” and “lethal choice” for a reason.

Lot was visited by angels that told him that the city he lived in would be destroyed and he must leave immediately.  But Lot lingered!!!!!!  The angels took hold upon him and his family and removed them from the city.  But the  sad truth is that there were consequences that Lot’s family received because they had hung out in the godless city of Sodom for so long.  They weren’t who they used to be when they were living with uncle Abraham.  I’m sure it wasn’t immediate but their hearts changed.  In fact Lot’s wife’s heart changed so much that she defied the angel’s command not to look back at the city they were fleeing.  She looked back and was transformed into a pillar of salt.

Don’t look back and don’t stay put.  Let me say that again.  Don’t look back and don’t stay put.  Our worship is to God.  Heaven is our destination.  Becoming like Him is our goal and a continuous process.  If we don’t take action to leave what we know is bad for us and if we don’t take action to stop doing what we know hurts us and others then we will be what we’ve been and have what we’ve had.  We won’t look like Jesus because we’ve been focused on the world.  David says in Psalm 51:5 “I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.”  If we stay where we are we will continue to be shaped by iniquity.  We have to leave to be God’s dream for us.

Abraham left in order to be God’s vision for his life.

Genesis 12:1Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:

2And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:

3And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

You and I must leave what’s familiar and what’s comfortable in order to find God’s best for us.  But God’s best for us also affects our family and friends.  Imagine if you made decisions everyday in the same way that Jesus made decisions.  If you did the same things Jesus did how would that affect the lives of those you work with?  I guarantee that everyone who you love will have a better life because you let go and let God.

Don’t linger.  A lingering spirit is similar to what the bible calls double-mindedness.

James 1: 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. (KJV)

If you ask God for something but don’t believe He exists or that He will hear and help you than you aren’t likely to receive your request.  Likewise if you know something that you should do in order to have a better outcome in your life but you don’t choose to do it, you most likely will continue to have the miserable results you have always had.

Take immediate action on what you know will improve your life.  Take immediate action on what you know will give God glory and create better worship.  And take immediate action on what you know will allow you to have a decisive and not a lingering spirit.

In order to grow we must learn to let go.

It’s been hard for me to observe my son trying to navigate life. Adults say what a warm, intelligent and loving boy he is. He has demonstrated his gifts as a singer and drummer. From the time he was young he has been surrounded by favor. One day we were waiting to be seated at IHOP and a man engaged him in conversation. Pleased with the dialog the man reached into his wallet and gave David a 20 dollar bill.

Despite his many similar special stories David has been teased and bullied for years. Because he is overweight children say the meanest things. And I can’t stop them. Christian school or secular school, it’s all the same. So when we are at the swimming pool of our hotel as we are travelling on our Journey To Wellness, and David asks the kids in the swimming pool to play Marco Polo and they do…and they all have a good time…David becomes my hero. He Let’s go.

He doesn’t let previous rejections keep him from reaching out again. And even when he’s playing with a group of kids who are not paying attention to him and including him, he still has fun.

In order for us to heal we must let go.  Bitterness destroys.  Forgiveness mends.

So today my son David has taught me to let go of past hurts and reach out for new potential.  Thank you,  David.

2 Corinthians 5:18-19 NIV All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

Matthew 28:
16 Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them.
17 And when they saw him, they worshiped him: but some doubted.

The real danger in our pollution of worship is that those who really need to see Jesus won’t even believe He exists.

People in the world are quick to pick up on a scam.  So when we walk one way and talk another they have already discredited our statements of faith.  You see they’ve had plenty of exposure to fake politicians and fake preachers.  Scandal after scandal has exposed that it’s much more important how you treat me when I don’t have anything you want than how you are when the lights are on and the camera is rolling.

So when it comes to our journey to worship and when it comes to Jesus, we dare not allow tradition or pretense to obscure God’s real son.  Jesus promised that if people could really see Him then they would be moved His direction.

John 12:32 “ And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.”

Jesus was lifted up on a cross so that all the world could see that God is love.  If God had said I love you but not done anything to back it up than most wouldn’t believe.  But God so loved the world that He gave His only son Jesus to die to pay for the penalty of our sins.  Not only that, but Jesus came and lived before us so we could get a better idea of who God is.  In I John 4:8 we read that “God is love.”  So if we were to really see God as he is we would be overwhelmed with His very nature.  God is LOVE.  Not lust!  He is not infatuation!  He is love!  So the mere essence of God being in our presence would woo us to His side.  And we would never want to leave Him.

This is why satan has worked so hard to confuse us.  He doesn’t want us to realize that God really is the love that we stand in need of.  So he maligns His character.  He accuses God of being harsh.  He says God wants to keep us down.  He told Eve in the garden that God wanted to keep us from being powerful like Him and that’s why he told them to stay away from the forbidden fruit.  And today God stands misrepresented by the myriads of preachers who present Him as a genie in a bottle to get the stuff we wish for in this life.

And by getting us to focus in on ourselves and getting more and more stuff, he succeeds in keeping us from loving others.  He’ll do anything so that we won’t lift up Jesus.

If we could just see Jesus we would worship Him.  But we have the TV on all the time to quiet are pangs of loneliness.  Is it any wonder we can’t hear His Holy Spirit whispering words of love and life to us?  But if we could just take a look at Jesus we would be overwhelmed by his love.  Phil. 2 shares:

“Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”

So Jesus was worshiped in heaven perpetually.  There was nothing He desired that He could not have.  He was the center of attention with His father.  But for some reason He thought it better to leave His throne and all that adoration and come down to earth to be disrespected and misrepresented.  He came to suffer and die after all the abuse to give an ungrateful fallen race an opportunity at redemption.  Oh what manner of love the Father hath given unto us that we should be called the sons of God!  And oh what manner of love that Jesus would become the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.   I’m getting excited right now in my seat!  I feel like doing something to express the overwhelming gratitude in my heart for His sacred and sacrificial gift.

Matthew 28:17 said and when they saw Him they worshipped.  That’s it!  We just need to see Him and everything else will fall into place.

Lord I need your presence everyday.  Lord I want to know you.  Lord I seek your face, for if I see you, I’ll worship!

I invite you today to focus on all the ways God has showed his love to you in the past week.  Write them down.  Then praise Him for them.  Lift up Jesus! Allow your shift of focus to bring awareness to God’s presence.  And if as a result God blesses you with joy in your heart and renewed courage and faith then by all means tell someone else to do what you just did…and don’t forget to share your testimony with us in the comment section below.

Today’s post is sponsored by The Griffiths Family Show