I start the journey to better worship by committing to a weight loss fitness challenge
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJU57vz13jY
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.
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;
3 whose tongue utters no slander,
who does no wrong to a neighbor,
and casts no slur on others;
4 who 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;
5 who 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!
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oo6lx_4MBY
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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.
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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!!!
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!
