Christian Meditation for A Bigger Life with Pastor Dave Cover

In Christian meditation, we are re-aligning ourselves vertically. We're remapping our horizontal realities with a vertical view/perspective. Enabling us to embody that vertical perspective replaces anxiety and tension with a calm confidence.

If your podcast app is set to skip the silent sections, disable that in your podcast app for this podcast.

Psalm 144:1–2 ESV

1 Blessed be the LORD, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle; 

2 he is my steadfast love and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield and he in whom I take refuge…

Ephesians 6:12 NIV

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

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.

Follow Dave Cover on Twitter @davecover

Follow A Bigger Life on Twitter @ABiggerLifePod

Our audio engineers are Matthew Matlack and 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.

In Christian meditation, we are re-aligning ourselves vertically. We're remapping our horizontal realities with a vertical view/perspective. Enabling us to embody that vertical perspective replaces anxiety and tension with a calm confidence.

If your podcast app is set to skip the silent sections, disable that in your podcast app for this podcast.

Bessel van der Kolk (The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma)

“We all know what happens when we feel humiliated: We put all our energy into protecting ourselves, developing whatever survival strategies we can. We may repress our feelings; we may get furious and plot revenge. We may decide to become so powerful and successful that nobody can ever hurt us again. Many behaviors that are classified as psychiatric problems, including some obsessions, compulsions, and panic attacks, as well as most self-destructive behaviors, started out as strategies for self-protection.”

Psalm 143:3–4 ESV

3 For the enemy has pursued my soul; he has crushed my life to the ground…

4 Therefore my spirit faints within me; my heart within me is appalled.

Psalm 143:6 ESV

I stretch out my hands to you; my soul thirsts for you like a parched land.

Psalm 143:8–9 ESV

8 …For to you I lift up my soul. 

9 Deliver me from my enemies, O LORD! I have fled to you for refuge.

Psalm 143:11–12 ESV

11 For your name’s sake, O LORD, preserve my life! In your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble! 

12 And in your steadfast love you will cut off my enemies, and you will destroy all the adversaries of my soul, for I am your servant.

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.

Follow Dave Cover on Twitter @davecover

Follow A Bigger Life on Twitter @ABiggerLifePod

Our audio engineers are Matthew Matlack and 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. 

In Christian meditation, we are re-aligning ourselves vertically. We're remapping our

horizontal realities with a vertical view/perspective. Enabling us to embody that vertical perspective

replaces anxiety and tension with a calm confidence.

If your podcast app is set to skip the silent sections, disable that in your podcast app for this

podcast.

Titus 3:4–6 NIV1

But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous

things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal

by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior.

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.

Follow Dave Cover on Twitter @davecover

Follow A Bigger Life on Twitter @ABiggerLifePod

Our audio engineers are Matthew Matlack and 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.

In Christian meditation, we are re-aligning ourselves vertically. We're remapping our horizontal realities with a vertical view/perspective. Enabling us to embody that vertical perspective replaces anxiety and tension with a calm confidence.

If your podcast app is set to skip the silent sections, disable that in your podcast app for this podcast.

Psalm 143:1–5 ESV

1 Hear my prayer, O LORD; give ear to my pleas for mercy! In your faithfulness answer me, in your righteousness! 

2 Enter not into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before you. 

3 For the enemy has pursued my soul; he has crushed my life to the ground; he has made me sit in darkness like those long dead.

4 Therefore my spirit faints within me; my heart within me is appalled. 

5 I remember the days of old; I meditate on all that you have done; I ponder the work of your hands.

2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

1 Corinthians 1:30 NIV

It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.

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.

Follow Dave Cover on Twitter @davecover

Follow A Bigger Life on Twitter @ABiggerLifePod

Our audio engineers are Matthew Matlack and 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.

In Christian meditation, we are re-aligning ourselves vertically. We're remapping our horizontal realities with a vertical view/perspective. Enabling us to embody that vertical perspective replaces anxiety and tension with a calm confidence.

If your podcast app is set to skip the silent sections, disable that in your podcast app for this podcast.

Psalm 143:1–5 ESV

1 Hear my prayer, O LORD; give ear to my pleas for mercy! In your faithfulness answer me, in your righteousness! 

2 Enter not into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before you. 

3 For the enemy has pursued my soul; he has crushed my life to the ground; he has made me sit in darkness like those long dead.

4 Therefore my spirit faints within me; my heart within me is appalled. 

5 I remember the days of old; I meditate on all that you have done; I ponder the work of your hands.

2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

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.

Follow Dave Cover on Twitter @davecover

Follow A Bigger Life on Twitter @ABiggerLifePod

Our audio engineers are Matthew Matlack and 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.

In Christian meditation, we are re-aligning ourselves vertically. We're remapping our horizontal realities with a vertical view/perspective. Enabling us to embody that vertical perspective replaces anxiety and tension with a calm confidence.

If your podcast app is set to skip the silent sections, disable that in your podcast app for this podcast.

Psalm 143:1–2 ESV

1 Hear my prayer, O LORD; give ear to my pleas for mercy! In your faithfulness answer me, in your righteousness! 

2 Enter not into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before you.

Luke 18:9–14 NIV

9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ 13 But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ 14 I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

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.

Follow Dave Cover on Twitter @davecover

Follow A Bigger Life on Twitter @ABiggerLifePod

Our audio engineers are Matthew Matlack and 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.

In Christian meditation, we are re-aligning ourselves vertically. We're remapping our horizontal realities with a vertical view/perspective. Enabling us to embody that vertical perspective replaces anxiety and tension with a calm confidence.

If your podcast app is set to skip the silent sections, disable that in your podcast app for this podcast.

Psalm 142:1 ESV

With my voice I cry out to the LORD; with my voice I plead for mercy to the LORD.

Psalm 142:4–5 ESV

4 No refuge remains to me; no one cares for my soul. 

5 I cry to you, O LORD; I say, “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.”

Psalm 142:7 ESV

For you will deal bountifully with me.

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.

Follow Dave Cover on Twitter @davecover

Follow A Bigger Life on Twitter @ABiggerLifePod

Our audio engineers are Matthew Matlack and 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. 

The purpose of Christian Meditation for A Bigger Life is to help 21st-century Christians in the always distracted digital age — to connect with God with your whole being — including your body — and to wire into your brain the reality of that embodied connection in each moment. And I think most of us as Christians are often living unconsciously anxious and tense lives with a kind of disconnection between our body and mind, and disconnection between our body and God’s Spirit. Where our “Christian faith” has become almost exclusively about certain beliefs rather than an embodied experience with God’s Spirit who is always 100% present with us and in us in the NOW. So this is not a podcast where you can multitask while you listen. I’m not trying to give you new information or things to consider like other podcasts. I love those kinds of podcasts. But in this podcast I’m wanting to give you an experience. I want you to learn to reintegrate your body with your mind’s awareness so that you can notice the “red flag” when you feel tension or anxiety in your body. It’s a red flag that you’re experiencing a vertical disconnect with God. And I want you to experience what a vertical connection feels like through envisioning the unseen reality of God’s presence in this moment and his presence in your body by his Holy Spirit.

If your podcast app is set to skip the silent sections, disable that in your podcast app for this podcast.

Psalm 141:8 ESV

“But my eyes are toward you, O GOD, my Lord; in you I seek refuge; leave me not defenseless!”

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.

Follow Dave Cover on Twitter @davecover

Follow A Bigger Life on Twitter @ABiggerLifePod

Our audio engineers are Matthew Matlack and 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. 

The purpose of Christian Meditation for A Bigger Life is to help 21st-century Christians in the always distracted digital age — to connect with God with your whole being — including your body — and to wire into your brain the reality of that embodied connection in each moment. And I think most of us as Christians are often living unconsciously anxious and tense lives with a kind of disconnection between our body and mind, and disconnection between our body and God’s Spirit. Where our “Christian faith” has become almost exclusively about certain beliefs rather than an embodied experience with God’s Spirit who is always 100% present with us and in us in the NOW. So this is not a podcast where you can multitask while you listen. I’m not trying to give you new information or things to consider like other podcasts. I love those kinds of podcasts. But in this podcast I’m wanting to give you an experience. I want you to learn to reintegrate your body with your mind’s awareness so that you can notice the “red flag” when you feel tension or anxiety in your body. It’s a red flag that you’re experiencing a vertical disconnect with God. And I want you to experience what a vertical connection feels like through envisioning the unseen reality of God’s presence in this moment and his presence in your body by his Holy Spirit.

If your podcast app is set to skip the silent sections, disable that in your podcast app for this podcast.

I’m turning this meditation episode over to Scott Johnson, who leads us in a time of prayerful meditation.

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.

Follow Dave Cover on Twitter @davecover

Follow A Bigger Life on Twitter @ABiggerLifePod

Our audio engineers are Matthew Matlack and 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.

The purpose of Christian Meditation for A Bigger Life is to help 21st-century Christians in the always distracted digital age — to connect with God with your whole being — including your body — and to wire into your brain the reality of that embodied connection in each moment. And I think most of us as Christians are often living unconsciously anxious and tense lives with a kind of disconnection between our body and mind, and disconnection between our body and God’s Spirit. Where our “Christian faith” has become almost exclusively about certain beliefs rather than an embodied experience with God’s Spirit who is always 100% present with us and in us in the NOW. So this is not a podcast where you can multitask while you listen. I’m not trying to give you new information or things to consider like other podcasts. I love those kinds of podcasts. But in this podcast I’m wanting to give you an experience. I want you to learn to reintegrate your body with your mind’s awareness so that you can notice the “red flag” when you feel tension or anxiety in your body. It’s a red flag that you’re experiencing a vertical disconnect with God. And I want you to experience what a vertical connection feels like through envisioning the unseen reality of God’s presence in this moment and his presence in your body by his Holy Spirit.

If your podcast app is set to skip the silent sections, disable that in your podcast app for this podcast.

We know from the Gospels that Jesus was a morning person.

That’s why it was Jesus’ practice in…

Mark 1:35 (NIV)

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.

Whenever you get up in the morning, it’s a good practice to set aside some time to enter a kind of solitary place – maybe you’re doing this meditation in the morning. 

This is a solitary time for you to meditate — to become aware and sensitive to spiritual realities and impressions — to re-integrate your body with your mind and spirit, and re-calibrate your soul — mind, body and spirit — with the reality and the presence of God’s Spirit. 

In his book the ruthless elimination of hurry, John Mark Comer writes…

“I can’t think of a worse way to start my day then a text from my work, a glance at email, a quick scroll through social media, and a news alert about that day’s outrage. What I’m saying is, let prayer set your emotional equilibrium and scripture set your view of the world. Begin your day in the spirit of God‘s presence and the truth of his scriptures.“ 

That’s what we’re doing now in this meditation.

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.

Follow Dave Cover on Twitter @davecover

Follow A Bigger Life on Twitter @ABiggerLifePod

Our audio engineers are Matthew Matlack and 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.