Christian Meditation for A Bigger Life with Pastor Dave Cover

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

When the NT says our body is God’s temple, for us that tends to go in one ear and out the other. But if we really understand the meaning/image of that, it will transform your view of not just your body but your whole life.

While we discuss this, remember to continue your breathing and focus in part on feeling and relaxing your entire body.

We have to go back to the OT to the first day of the temple…

2 Chronicles 5:13-14 (NIV)

“The trumpeters and musicians joined in unison to give praise and thanks to the LORD. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals and other instruments, the singers raised their voices in praise to the LORD and sang:

(ESV) ‘For he is good,

for his steadfast love endures forever,’

Then the temple of the LORD was filled with the cloud, 14 and the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the temple of God.”

But because of Jesus’s physical, bodily birth, death, resurrection, and ascension, all those who look to him for their restoration/salvation experience the same thing OT priests did when they consecrated their body before entering God’s temple. That was foreshadowing symbolism of what Jesus would ultimately be and do for those who look to him. 

As the NT puts it in…

1 Corinthians 6:11 (NIV)

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (ESV)

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

Now, “you are not your own” because you didn’t make yourself. But what this verse is saying is far more comforting than just that. It’s saying that YOU have been “bought” out of being lost to the thorns and thistles and dust and death and swept away to nothingness in the end. You’ve been “redeemed” by Christ’s body. Your body is now bought with the price of Christ’s body and you now belong again to your Creator forever. 

And NOW you — your body — is God’s presence on earth.

Too often we adopt a very unbiblical and unchristian view of our body somehow being separate from, or at least unrelated to, our soul and our eternal connection with God. But the Bible teaches that your body is actually a vital part of your eternal AND present and intimate connection with God. 

Imagine/envision God 100% present IN you right now in this present moment. That’s what the Bible’s teachings are all about. Yahweh/Jesus present in your body in every present moment.

And it is a presence in your very body, because the NT teaches that in this very moment Jesus by his Holy Spirit dwells in your body as his holy temple. 

Jesus’s death and resurrection redeemed you out of nothingness and into his house and his glory forever. You are not your own, thank God! YOU belong! And so you are never on your own. God’s Holy Spirit is within your body. Your body has the security of the ownership and protection of God now and forever. So God’s very presence and glory is within your body. Which is why you can experience God’s presence and glory in your body. 

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 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.

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.

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.

So this podcast is to help you get good at consciously feeling your body, and then consciously feeling INTO your body the calming and non-anxious presence of God’s presence using your biblically guided imagination.

Our real beliefs at any given moment are always held in our bodies. Even if they are not really our beliefs, the reality we’re envisioning/imaging in our mind (imagination) lands into our body. 

So if we are anxious, whether consciously anxious or anxious but not really aware of it, that anxiety still manifests itself into our body. 

Anxiety is when we envision/imagine a fearful future of some kind. It could be an immediate future, like something unfolding in the present, or it could be something we’re imagining happening tomorrow or this year or far from now.

But usually when we are imagining a dreaded future, that imagination is missing ONE big reality — God’s infinite and intimate presence and purpose in our lives. 

But what if you envision Psalm 138 instead?

Psalm 138:7-8 is a poetic imagination of how David sees his reality…

What if you had a “right-handed” vision of yourself? Your life. Your present. This moment. Your future.

The biblical imagery/imagination of “the right hand” of God is a powerful meditation to replace anxiety and tension with a calm confidence that comes when you see yourself and your life and your past, your present, and your future in the larger context of all that God is for you in Jesus.

Psalm 138:7–8 ESV

Mark 14:61–62 NIV

Hebrews 1:3 NIV

Ephesians 1:18–20 NIV

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 engineer is Diego Huaman.

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.

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

Our real beliefs at any given moment are always held in our bodies. Even if they are not really our beliefs, the reality we’re envisioning/imaging in our mind (imagination) lands into our body. 

So if we are anxious, whether consciously anxious or anxious but not really aware of it, that anxiety still manifests itself into our body. 

Anxiety is when we envision/imagine a fearful future of some kind. It could be an immediate future, like something unfolding in the present, or it could be something we’re imagining happening tomorrow or this year or far from now.

But usually when we are imagining a dreaded future, that imagination is missing ONE big reality — God’s infinite and intimate presence and purpose in our lives. 

But what if you envision Psalm 138 instead?

Psalm 138:1–2 ESV

1 I give you thanks, O LORD, with my whole heart; before the gods I sing your praise; 

2 I bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word.

Psalm 138:8 ESV

The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O LORD, endures forever.

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

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.

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

The imagery/imagination of…

Daniel 5:23 NIV

But you did not honor the God who holds in his hand your life and all your ways.

What I’m most interested in for this episode is not necessarily Daniel’s rebuke to Belshazzar, but the truth that Daniel states. This is imagery the Bible gives you to envision with your imagination. That’s what Christian meditation is all about.

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 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.

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.

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

God’s steadfast love — enduring love — forever love is focused on YOU 100%, without being any less focused on anyone else, because he’s infinite. His love is infinite. No matter how much God’s love endures with you, there is an infinite amount forever available to you. As vast as the universe is, so too is the steadfastness of God’s forever love for you. 

Psalm 136:1–9 ESV

1 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever. 

2 Give thanks to the God of gods, for his steadfast love endures forever. 

3 Give thanks to the Lord of lords, for his steadfast love endures forever; 

4 to him who alone does great wonders, for his steadfast love endures forever; 

5 to him who by understanding made the heavens, for his steadfast love endures forever; 

6 to him who spread out the earth above the waters, for his steadfast love endures forever; 

7 to him who made the great lights, for his steadfast love endures forever; 

8 the sun to rule over the day, for his steadfast love endures forever;

9 the moon and stars to rule over the night, for his steadfast love endures forever.

Christian Meditation is a quiet time for you to use your biblically guided imagination to envision the reality of God’s steadfast, enduring, forever love filling your body as his temple (1 Cor. 6:19). Your body is a physical presence of God’s steadfast, enduring, forever love on earth. 

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 engineer is Diego Huaman.

My goal in this podcast — 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.

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

Psalm 131 tells us the peace and calm confidence and quieted soul that comes when we stop trying to be God over our lives. Which means we don’t have to understand everything before we can trust God to be our God. We don’t have to have all the answers before we can humbly submit to him. Rest in him. We can stop anxiously stressing and instead quietly rest in God’s loving, wise, sovereign arms. 

Psalm 131 ESV

1 O LORD, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. 

2 But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me. 

3 O Israel, hope in the LORD from this time forth and forevermore.

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 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.

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

Sometimes Christian meditation is a quiet time to refocus our mind and body on re-submitting to God in this moment.

Psalm 130:1–8 ESV

1 Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD!

2 O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy! 

3 If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? 

4 But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared. 

5 I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; 

6 my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning. 

7 O Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption.

8 And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.

David writes about the negative effects on his body when he was living out of sync with God.

Psalm 38:3–8 NIV

3 …There is no health in my body; there is no soundness in my bones because of my sin. 

4 My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear. 

5 My wounds fester and are loathsome because of my sinful folly. 

6 I am bowed down and brought very low; all day long I go about mourning. 

7 My back is filled with searing pain; there is no health in my body. 

8 I am feeble and utterly crushed; I groan in anguish of heart.

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

My goal in this podcast — 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.

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

What is something in your life that you’re wanting to happen, working to build, or trying to succeed in? It’s probably something that requires wisdom, careful thought and planning, and will likely require hard work. 

This is typically where anxiety, insecurity, stress, anger, and every other self-protective reflex come into the picture. 

For years this one principle has helped me greatly:

Psalm 127:1 ESV

“Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.”

If God is in it, he will build it. 

If God is in it, he will protect it. 

And if God is not in it, why do you even want it?

Question: Unless God is in it, do you even want it?

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 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.

My goal in this podcast — 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.

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

Psalm 126:5 ESV

“Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy!”

Psalm 126:2 ESV

“Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy.”

Psalm 121:1–2 ESV

1 I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?

2 My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.

Psalm 123:1 ESV

“To you I lift up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens!”

Psalm 124:8 ESV

“Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.”

Psalm 125:2 ESV

“As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the LORD surrounds his people, from this time forth and forevermore.”

Matthew 5:3–12 ESV

3 Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 

4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. 

5 Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. 

6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. 

7 Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. 

8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. 

9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. 

10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 

12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

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 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. 

My goal in this podcast — 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.

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

Psalm 123:1 ESV

“To you I lift up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens!”

Psalm 124:8 ESV

“Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.”

Psalm 125:2 ESV

“As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the LORD surrounds his people, from this time forth and forevermore.”

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 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.