God gives us the power of imagination to affect the reality of our lives – including the physical reality of our body. This kind of Christian meditation brings the transcendent experience of God into your mind and into your body so that you can replace anxiety, insecurity, stress and tension with the better and truer imagination of God’s infinite and intimate presence and love for YOU.

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Relaxed diaphragmatic breathing uses your diaphragm and stomach muscles. When you belly breathe, you train your breath to go lower and slower. This increases your blood oxygen level, improves circulation to facilitate healing, lowers stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline, turns off your SNS to calm your body, and helps reduce pain volume if you deal with chronic pain.

Throughout your day you can check which type of breathing you’re doing—stressed versus relaxed—and catch yourself when your breathing gets stressed and shallow in your chest. The moment you notice that you’re chest breathing is the moment you can do a very quick short meditation to change your physiology, shut off your SNS stress response, and lower your anxiety dial by breathing lower and slower instead.

Your body is always responding to what your mind is imagining one way or the other. Like I said in the last episode about warming my hands by simply using my imagination. I was imagining holding my hands over a hot campfire. Then a few minutes later the temperature thermometer in my hand started rising..

The point is that this is always happening in your body. This is the power of renewing your mind that the Bible talks about. We’re not just renewing our mind but we are renewing our body by renewing and focusing our mind on true spiritual realities.

Let’s focus on recalibrating your body with spiritual reality. Let’s focus your imagination on feeling into your body the reality of what the Bible says is true about the presence and life-giving power of God with and in your whole body — every cell in your body. Right now in this moment.

Imagine a scene the Bible describes before the very throne of God in…

Revelation 4:8-10 (NIV)

Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying:

“‘Holy, holy, holy

is the Lord God Almighty,’

who was, and is, and is to come.”

Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:

Then…

Revelation 4:11 (NIV)

“You are worthy, our Lord and God,

to receive glory and honor and power,

for you created all things,

and by your will they were created

and have their being.”

We know from physics that your physical body is composed of atoms arranged differently into molecules to form different kinds of physical realities in your body. Different tissues. Cells. An atom is composed of a nucleus with electrons revolving around it. The nucleus of an atom is 200,000 times smaller than the diameter of the atom. The electrons are many times smaller than the nucleus. In other words an atom consists of millions of times more space than solid matter. Because atoms are in fact mostly empty space, most of your body is empty space. But we see it and feel it as solid. You can’t see the atoms because they are way too small. But they are very real. So if you imagine right now your body comprised of and full of unseen atoms — the DNA and RNA in your cells throughout your body — but there is mostly empty space between the atoms that comprise your body — when you use your imagination to see and feel your body this way, you’re experiencing something that’s very real but unseen. And that’s what you’re doing when you’re using your imagination to experience and feel God in you and always with you. You’re using your imagination to experience and feel the presence and reality of something that’s unseen but very real. Now it’s different because atoms are physical and God is spiritual. But as far as our imagination works it’s the same. We can’t see either but we can experience both in a way through our imagination.

So now let’s focus your imagination on experiencing the reality of what the Bible says is true about the presence and life-giving power of God with and in your whole body — every cell in your body. Right now in this moment.

Talking specifically about Jesus…

Colossians 1:16-17 (NIV)

For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, …all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 

Acts 17:28 — In him we live and move and have our being.

Romans 11:36 (NIV)

For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! 

1 Corinthians 8:6 (NIV) 

…There is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.

“for you created all things,

and by your will they were created

and have their being.”

When you see every atom in your body and every moment in your life this way — it will put everything in your life in perspective. Every atom in your body owes its existence and its current presence to the presence of God right now in this moment. You don’t create yourself. You don’t live for your glory. Your will. You exist because it was God‘s will for you to exist in his universe – forever. The forever God wanted to be your God forever. This is why he gave you you’re being. This is why you have your being right now in this moment. The forever God is your God forever! And that reality can put joy and gladness into your whole body right now in this moment.

“You are worthy, our Lord and God,

to receive glory and honor and power,

for you created all things,

and by your will they were created

and have their being.”

“For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, …all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”

“In him we live and move and have our being.”

This is a tremendous relief. Understanding this kills anxiety. The fight or flight of living for your own glory. Falsely believing your life depends on the perfection of your will. Your power.

You can just let go of so much anxiety and fear and insecurity and anger and fight or flight central nervous system living. Rest in God’s lordship. Power. Presence. Will for you. The reason he created you. 

So take a deep breath. Release your clenched muscles. Let go of the tension. Let your muscles soften. You can trust. You can depend on. Rely on.

Who can you share this podcast with? If you found this episode helpful, consider sharing it on social media or texting it to a friend you think might benefit from it.

Timestamps:

00:36 - 05:21 Body Meditation

05:43 - 22:32 Bible Meditation: Revelation 4:11

23:17 - 24:05 Prayer

Follow Dave Cover on Twitter @davecover

Follow A Bigger Life on Twitter @ABiggerLifePod

Our audio engineer is Diego Huaman.

This podcast is a ministry of The Crossing, a church in Columbia, Missouri, a college town where the flagship campus of the University of Missouri is located.