Journey To Worship

July 17, 2015July 17, 2015

Lessons Learned From My Sugar Fast

What are the lessons learned from my sugar fast?

1. Even after only one day you can begin to feel completely different about life based upon removing one element.

Please allow me to explain. As I went through the day I would come across moments of discomfort. Things didn’t get accomplished that should have. People lied to me who I thought I could trust. My kids wanted my attention when I had a ton of stuff to accomplish. I had more bills than money. Etc…(Can anybody else relate? If so please leave some of your stress triggers in comment section below).

When I usually would have grabbed a shake or stopped by Baskin Robbins or Drank a sugary drink or had some pie or cake, I instead had to make another choice about how to feel better in my moment of discomfort. I choose to work on this blog. Other times I choose to vocalize. Sometimes I choose to exercise. By making the commitment even for a short period of time to change my coping strategy I learned that my life would be better off without the addiction.

2. I’m missing a lot of flavor

When I have tasted food that I use to eat it suddenly now comes alive with amounts of flavor I never new existed before. And even though I know given the opportunity I will binge on sugar again I have hope to live more moderately. If you didn’t get a chance to please read my post Fight The Dangers of Sugar With 10 Day Fast about some of sugar’s negative effects and how a 10 day sugar fast can help.

3. Life should be focused more on what you can give than on what you can get

When I live my life focused on where I can get my next incredible treat I loose motivation to create greater service in my business or ministry. During this challenge highlights to me were when a former piano student of mine said that he would try to learn to play one of the worship songs I posted and sing it to encourage himself in his journey. I was thrilled when a young lady I went to college with eagerly commented that she wanted to know what to do next in our Journey To Worship Weight Loss Fitness Challenge. I was excited when one of my choir members talked about how excited she was with what she was learning on the blog and how she had subscribed and was encouraging several of her co-workers to do the same (You can subscribe on your left side).

I want to change someone’s life because of what I’ve said or done. I think that’s worship. Someone said that imitation is the greatest form of flattery. So when I imitate Christ by living to serve others I am saying that He is worth it…so much so that I’m patterning my whole life to be like his.

Phillipians 2:5 says “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” For the next 21 days I would like to invite you on a Journey To Change Your Mind.

Look for my first post on the 21day journey tomorrow. In the meantime take a moment if you didn’t get a chance to before to read about Dr. Caroline Leaf and what she has to say about mind conditioning in my post “I Don’t Feel Like It.”

See you tomorrow! 🙂

July 13, 2015August 16, 2015

Better Worship

What is better worship? I remember asking my parents if it was OK to sit up in the balcony with my friends for church. I was so excited when they finally gave in and said yes. They had always taught me to pay attention in service–they even taught me the game where you count how many times the preacher says “Jesus” to help me focus. But to sit with my friends in the back offered me escape from the boredom I was sure more than not people were feeling. Even then I wondered if there was a better way of meeting God for worship.

I stayed going to church as I grew up but started having a deeper interest in finding other ways to connect with God and others (see Worship That Nourishes)

In high school my freshman English teacher, Bruce Freeman, started a youth to youth ministry group called “The Light Company.” In the light company I learned about creating an atmosphere for fellowship. We often would use Ice Breakers (click here for an awesome list of 40 icebreakers or mixer ideas) as a way for folks to get to know each other better. Sometimes we would have something to eat. Than we would get into Bible study in small groups of 2-4 people where we would share about a Scripture. Then we would share with the larger group what we had explored in the smaller group. Everything was lead by a facilitator who often gave special insight.

He trained me to be a facilitator of small group worship. In my opinion there is nothing better. I really miss those gatherings to this day. It reminds of the description in the beginning of Acts of the early church. Let’s read about it:

The Fellowship of the Believers

42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. (NIV)

When you invite friends over to your house and play games don’t you develop a sense of closeness? Also, do you find that when you eat regularly with friends from work that you develop a strong bond? Well the early church had that bond. Today’s church often lacks that bond. This concerns me.

a meaningful context that isn’t informal for the sake of being cool but that is intimate for the sake of being real

The picture above is me holding my baby girl, Maia. I don’t want Maia to be turned off to Jesus by our practice of worship. I want her to find a way to connect with her Savior and with others in a meaningful context that isn’t informal for the sake of being cool but that is intimate for the sake of being real.

I don’t want my children to be bored by church. I want them to understand that Jesus isn’t boring–just our ritual of worship. So I’m on a mission to find better worship. Can you help me?

What is better worship for you?

Please share your comments below.

July 9, 2015August 16, 2015

I Don’t Feel Like It!

“But I don’t feel like it”

One of the great obstacles in my journey to worship is my feelings. I want to seek God’s presence. I want to study His word. I want to pray. I want to sing songs of worship to Him. But I don’t feel like it! I want to but I don’t feel like it. That’s our problem.

Our feelings come from our thoughts. According to Dr. Caroline Leaf, scientists have found that 75% to 95% of current mental, physical and emotional illnesses come from our thought life. Did you catch that? Your thoughts control so much yet we don’t have a class on thought control in school. I’ll come back to some more of Dr. Leaf’s findings in a bit but consider this. If my health and how I feel are largely due to my thoughts and my choices are often influenced by how I feel then don’t you think I should focus each day on determining my thought life as a top priority? Absolutely!

Here’s why. Dr. Leaf in her many books discusses that information comes into your brain and is then processed. When it’s processed it forms little trees in your head. So the information coming in is just that information. But how I choose to process it determines whether a pretty tree is formed or whether an ugly mass is formed. And whatever choices I make regularly forms larger trees. And so when situations arise and I have a choice to make I am more likely to respond according to the larger trees.

Let’s unpack this a bit. So let’s pretend I receive some news. My car has just thrown a rod and must be taken to the junkyard to be disposed of. Is this good news or bad news? If I say it’s bad news than I can be sad and fret over all the stuff I have to go through now that my car is gone. But if I choose for it to be good news than I look for ways to come up with money to get a new car and I can excitedly look online to see all the possible wonderful vehicles that I might choose from. One choice is depressing. Another is exhilarating. It’s up to me to choose which way I will perceive the same data that has come to me.

We as Christians have seen scriptures that hinted at this phenomenon before. Here are a few to help us get past “I don’t feel like it”:

James 1:2-4
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

When I have trials I can be sad and depressed. Or I can be excited about the fact that I’m getting stronger and better and God is trusting me with greater challenges which means I must be getting wiser and more like Him.

Hebrews 12:1-3
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

We can lose heart because of the stuff we find ourselves going through. I never thought I’d be overweight. Never imagined my children would have problems in school. Never imagined that my wife and I (or husband and I) wouldn’t get along…you know all the things we never imagined that we find in our lives. But we are told to consider Jesus who endured “such opposition from sinners” so we won’t get tired and lose heart. Jesus focused on “the joy” set before Him and not on the suffering that came along with pursuit of the joy. Is it any wonder that he would get up a great while before day and spend lots of time with His father?

We need to spend time in the presence of our heavenly father! We need to choose to process things the way He sees them.When we make this choice consistently we form a “Forest” of positive and healthy trees in our brain. When we are faced with a challenge or crisis we will tend to respond according to the bigger trees of our mind.

If I’m serious about worship then I must bring every thought into subjection.

Philippians 4:8 tells us, “ Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”

These instructions are so that we will be happy and healthy. These choices to build healthy thoughts will build a healthy life and healthy feelings…and healthy worship. Worship that focuses on me–my stuff, my feelings, my problems, isn’t worship at all. Remember to worship something or someone is to say that it or he/she is valuable. Worship that focuses on the nature of God will magnify all of his positive attributes. Worship that focuses on our creator will remind us that he is Holy, all powerful, and eternal. We will remember that he made everything by His own choice. After we worship in the right way–focusing on God, He will appear bigger and our problems smaller. He will be pleased. And we will be too.

So choose to magnify God. Think about Him as often as you would your lover or your favorite toy. Think about Him and all of his wonder. Then your feelings will change. And so will your perspective on the problems you face.

(Today would be a good day to sing “Beautiful”, “Where You Are” or “I Love Your Name“)

It’s important to me to hear your thoughts about what I’m sharing. This is a discussion so please leave a comment below…oh yes, and don’t forget to subscribe to www.journeytoworship.org below! 🙂

July 8, 2015

Fight The Dangers of Sugar With 10 Day Fast

On Day 3 of Our Journey To Worship Weight Loss Fitness Challenge let us consider the dangers of sugar. In all the reading I’ve done and in all the documentaries I’ve watched hoping to understand why I have such a hard time eating in a healthy way they have all agreed about the dangers of sugar. We all love deserts. When my mom wants to encourage me when I’m feeling down she will offer me something that invariably has lots of sugar in it. I’ve come to associate feeling better with having sugar. But research has shown that sugar is worse for us than we thought and hard to get away from.

The American Heart Association recommends no more than 6 teaspoons of added sugar a day for women and 9 teaspoons for men. One 12oz soda can have 9 teaspoons of sugar. Can you imagine how scary the way we are living is? And from a spiritual perspective can you imagine how difficult it is for us to make good choices and discern spiritual truths when our bodies are so out of kilter because of our sugar addiction?

On “CBS This Morning” Dr. Mark Hyman shared a startling discovery of recent studies of sugar’s effect on animals. The study revealed that rats found sugar to be 8 times more addictive than cocaine! 8 times! So is it any wonder that even though I pray with great sincerity I still struggle to let go of sugar?

Dr. Nicole Avena, author of “Why Diets Fail” and other books about the neuroscience of human food consumption shared some interesting facts. A recent study revealed which are some of the most and least addictive foods. The study points out that in nature an abundance of fat and an abundance of sugar rarely naturally occur. But this is the potent combination in the most addictive foods we face. The top 10 on the list are: Pizza, Chocolate, Chips, Cookies, Ice Cream, French Fries, Cheeseburgers, Soda, Cake, and Cheese.

I want to break free don’t you?

I’d like you to take 2 actions in our journey. For the next 10 days I’d like you to go on a sugar fast (I’m already on day 2 and feeling a whole lot better. I can actually get full–usually I feel hungry most of the time.) Please sign up for this 10 day sugar fast at this link:

The second thing I’d like you to do is to watch this amazing documentary which inspired the challenge entitled Fed Up. Below is the trailer. It’s free if you have Netflix. Otherwise the previous link gives other options for viewing. Please take the time. It’s worth it! You’ll learn about the dangers of sugar and a whole lot more.

Then after you watch it please leave comments below about things you learned that you didn’t know before that you think will help us in our battle for a healthier lifestyle.

Do it now! Don’t wait until a more convenient time or until you feel like it. I believe that God will bless your step of faith. As mentioned in the video yesterday the 4 lepers wouldn’t have found out that God had already defeated the enemy that surrounded their city if they didn’t have the courage to take action.

Please take action and I’ll see you at the next post where we will talk about important discoveries about our mind that will help us on our journey to better health and worship that nourishes.

July 7, 2015

Journey To Worship Weight Loss Fitness Challenge Day 2

July 6, 2015July 6, 2015

I start the journey to better worship by committing to a weight loss fitness challenge

As I begin this journey to worship I am committing to a weight loss fitness challenge. I am starting with my body and my mind. Weight loss and fitness have always been a struggle for me. So I’ve researched and I am ready to try a different approach. I want to lose weight by discovering what nourishes my body and adding more of that each day. I will walk daily and I will try other forms of exercise and see what works best for me and for my son. I’m going to make better choices about what I think. I know this is a big key for me because I can become depressed easily and quite instinctively comfort myself with unhealthy foods, especially those with lots of sugar.

Dr. Caroline Leaf has been an inspiration to me because of her work in teaching people how their brain works and how to create a healthier mind unlocking tremendous potential. I’ll be talking more about her in my next post.

But for now, please watch the video above where I talk about beginning the path to better health with a weight loss fitness challenge.

July 4, 2015August 16, 2015

Where You Are

There is nothing like seeing my daughter as she stands on the couch looking out the window crying because she so wants to be going with me. She doesn’t know where I’m going. She just knows she wants to be close to me. This is priceless! She can’t say much yet, but if she could I imagine she’d say something like this. “Daddy, please take me with you. I wanna be with you, Daddy. Where you are!”

In Psalm 15 David asks the question, “Lord, who gets to be with you where you are?”(my paraphrase). David shares some answers he had received from divine inspiration:

The one whose walk is blameless,
    who does what is righteous,
    who speaks the truth from their heart;
³whose tongue utters no slander,
    who does no wrong to a neighbor,
    and casts no slur on others;
⁴who despises a vile person
    but honors those who fear the Lord;
who keeps an oath even when it hurts,
    and does not change their mind;
⁵who lends money to the poor without interest;
    who does not accept a bribe against the innocent.

Whoever does these things
will never be shaken.

(Ps. 15:2-5)

Do you want to be in His presence? Does the thought of being in a room surrounded by a circle of loving friends, all singing “How Great Is Our God” or “How Great Thou Art” followed by prayers acknowledging God’s goodness and testimonies affirming His mercy give you a warm feeling. Better yet to be in the presence of the King of Kings as He is seated on His throne and join in with the angels crying “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord, God almight!” Does that inspire you?

Well the text says you can’t talk down about Suzie and her short skirts or condemn others caught in actions that don’t appear to be as wonderful as your own. We can’t take advantage of the poor knowing they have a hard time getting credit and giving them outrageous terms that they’ll never be able to handle repaying their debt. We can’t lie when people ask us how we feel about issues that have become controversial. And we’ve got to stop playing favorites in our actions if we want to be in the presence of God.

Below I’m posting a song I wrote. I believe in order for us to change the way we worship we have to change our environment. We have to change our thoughts. So I share this song and these ideas for you to meditate on. When you are driving or laying on your bed at night you can reflect on the scriptures, ideas, and songs that we’ve discussed and find that your new thoughts will cultivate new feelings and new decisions. I sing it with my friend Dana Holness. I hope you enjoy the song. Write me a comment and let me know what it means to you to be in God’s presence. Much love to you and happy listening!

Please subscribe at the bottom of the page. Thank you 🙂

// ]]>

July 4, 2015July 20, 2018

Worship That Nourishes

“The best worship pleases God and nourishes me”

Nourish: to provide (someone or something) with food and other things that are needed to live, be healthy, etc. (Merriam-Webster)

I am tired of worthless worship!

What is worthless worship? Worship that God does not enjoy. Worship that leaves me unchanged. Worship that leaves me in a passive state without inspiration or motivation to draw closer to God or demonstrate I care for others by my actions. Worthless worship has no spirit and no truth!

I am on a journey to worship. I want to experience Jesus! I want to make Him and His Father smile. I want to become like Them. I want to stay in their presence. And I want to offer this opportunity of experiencing Them to others so that they can enjoy life more fully as well. And so I am on a journey to find better worship. And the first realization I’ve come to is this: because we have worship focused on drawing the masses through entertaining them it is like fast food–tasty, full of damaging calories, and the cause of spiritual obesity and death.

At the time of the writing of this post there is an obesity epidemic in the United States. According to the CDC more than one-third (34.9% or 78.6 million) of U.S. adults are obese.
I personally have struggled with weight gain. When I am stressed I eat. When I am sad I eat. When I’ve just finished a performance I like to celebrate by eating and treating myself to something sweet or very flavorful. The result of my actions is that I have health challenges. High blood pressure and Asthma are just two of the things that have come into my life in a major way because of my being overweight. My singing voice has even been affected as well.

But what does this have to do with worship? I’ll get to that in a moment.

My family and I participated in a documentary about a lifestyle change called The Corrective Diet. We agreed to follow this diet for a month. The changes we saw were dramatic. After 10 days my blood pressure was back in the normal range without medication. None of us had to use our inhalers though we all have asthma. I lost 32 lbs. It was all so amazing!

But what caught my attention was this. I was eating as much as I wanted of the food that I was allowed to eat. So it was strange to me that I could eat so much and yet lose so much weight. The key I found was that I was getting the nourishment my body needed from the raw fruits/vegetables and juices that I was eating everyday. Along with this nutrition rich food I wasn’t having any processed foods or sweets which allowed my body to release the toxins that the fat cells had been protecting me from. You know that’s what our fat is for. To protect us from the toxins that we’ve eaten that would kill us if we had their full effect. The effect of removed toxins and increased nutrition was very noticeable. My voice improved. I slept better. I have sleep apnea and have to use a CPAP machine to keep my airway open as I sleep to make sure I have the oxygen I need. But even when I feel asleep without the machine on I didn’t snore as before with periods where I stopped breathing. All these changes occurred when I stopped eating what stimulates me and started eating what nourishes me.

I believe that so many people could stop being obese if they stopped having what stimulated them and started having what nourishes them. BUT I believe that this is an accurate and stunning revelation of the spiritual condition of many in America and in some other parts of the world. Worship has become about what stimulates me and not what nourishes me. Let me say that again. Worship has become more about what excites me and not about what heals me and draws me close to my creator. The result is that we have a form of Godliness but without the power. The worship experience that was meant to transform us and has done so for many generations has instead lost it’s power and lead to spiritual morbid obesity.

On this blog I will share my journey to find the worship of Jesus Christ the way he taught it and the way his disciples lived and shared it: The journey to a worship that nourishes.

Please join me on the journey by subscribing below!

And I’d like to give a special message of thanks to those who donate to this ministry. I can never say thank you enough!!!

July 4, 2015July 10, 2015

Welcome To Our Website

Welcome to our website, www.journeytoworship.org. Thank you for the privilege of your visit. My name is David Griffiths and I am on a journey to experience better worship. I am a singer and songwriter, a poet and preacher. You can listen to some of my music sung by my choir The Praise and Worship Experience here. But mostly I’m a soul in search of my Savior. I love God and people deeply. Some would say my heart is a very big heart.

I’d love the chance for us to share as we travel to a better understanding of who God is, what He loves, and how He chooses to encounter us. I’m on a journey to worship, sincere worship–deeper worship. I promise to share here in an honest way as I learn on the journey.

I started this journey many years ago on my own and found it lonely. I realize now that taking it with others will help us all learn more about ourselves, our God, and our worship. So thank you for this privilege and again I say welcome to our website!