Christian Meditation for A Bigger Life with Pastor Dave Cover

Christian Meditation is a quiet time for you to re-integrate and re-calibrate your mind with your body. And re-integrate and re-calibrate your mind and body with God‘s presence with you and in you. Remember the quote from the apostle Paul in Acts 17:28 – In him you live and move and have your being.

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

To begin, lie flat on your back or sit comfortably in a chair. Uncross your legs and arms. And close your eyes if you can. And just take a deep breath and begin to put your mind’s focus on relaxing your body. 

Christian Meditation is a quiet time for you to re-integrate and re-calibrate your mind with your body. And re-integrate and re-calibrate your body and spirit with God‘s presence with you and in you. 

The Bible tells us that often Jesus would get up early, while it was still dark, and go off by himself to a solitary place to be alone with God. And if Jesus needed that, so do we.

Christian meditation is a kind of solitary place to wake up your body and mind to your own soulishness. To come off the hurry and noise and come back to awareness. To become more aware of a truer reality — the truer reality of God with you and within you and all around you. To remember the quote from the apostle Paul in Acts 17:28 – In him you live and move and have your being.

C. S. Lewis, in his masterwork of satire, The Screwtape Letters, has the demons protesting against silence as a great danger to their destructive cause in a Christian’s life. In it, senior demon Screwtape calls the devil’s realm a “Kingdom of Noise” and claims, “We will make the whole universe a noise in the end.” Could that be why we let so much noise run rampant in our lives?

This is a quiet time for you to be in a kind of solitary place — alone with your own soul — away from the eyes of others and away from all the other digital distractions and noise. You are alone, and alone with God in this place.

Whenever I find a good passage in the Bible that helps me imagine — envision — something real about God’s presence in my life, I try to come back to it a few times in a row so that my brain can sort of wire that vision into my view of reality.

So let’s come back to…

Deuteronomy 33:27 (NIV)

The eternal God is your refuge,

and underneath are the everlasting arms.

This is all imagination. God doesn’t really have arms. God’s Spirit is giving you a picture to imagine — envision — so you can experience a spiritual reality that is truer than simply the collection of atoms your eyes see of the physical world. 

So use your biblically guided imagination to envision this reality as true for you right now. 

The eternal God is your refuge,

and underneath are the everlasting arms.

The eternal Most High God who is Lord over everything in the universe is your refuge right now in this moment. Underneath your body he is holding you in his eternal arms. Everlasting. Lasting forever. Envision this reality right now as the truest thing in your life.

Right now you are connecting with the one who from everlasting past to everlasting future is the God of all reality — the source of all existence — all around you is the miracle of existence — that anything exists at all is a visible miracle from God you can see everywhere every day! That YOU exist at all and have life is a miracle every day from God. 

The eternal God is your refuge,

and underneath are the everlasting arms.

Let this reality replace the unreality in your imagination of anxiety and insecurity and anger and tension.

This is imaginative language. So much of the Bible gives us imagination more than information. So much of who you want to be and what you want in life is empowered by your imagination. This is why fear and anxiety and insecurity always appeals to your imagination. Temptation to disobey God always appeals to your imagination. In some way you’re imagining a reality without God. Or a reality apart from all that God is for you every day.

That’s why most of the time the Bible is giving you imagination more than information. You just have to stop and envision it through meditation.

If you really want to live a life experiencing connection with God, God intends for you to use the power of your imagination. Imagining something that’s very real but that you cannot see yet in this Genesis 3 world.

The eternal God is your refuge,

and underneath are the everlasting arms.

God wants you to imagine this. Picture this. Your soul — all of who you are — body and spirit — completely held by God’s eternal arms right now. This is a truer reality you can’t see without seeing it with your imagination.

You may not remember the last time you were held in the arms of somebody who could protect you from your fears. Maybe that never happened in your life. But it’s happening now. You just have to see it using your biblically guided imagination. The eternal God holding you in his eternal arms as your eternal refuge from all real threats to your eternal joy and love and safety and flourishing.

That’s the image God wants you to have right now with him. Imagine your whole being – your mind and body – clinging to the arms of the eternal God underneath you. The one who is the source of all existence. The giver of all life. Eternal life. The one who inhabits eternity. And the one who always connects with you infinitely and intimately in the present moment. Right now.  100% focused on you.

Feel this image — your body held in the eternal arms of the I AM for your eternal refuge from the dangers you see and don’t see. You are being held — body and spirit — by the eternal God who created and sustains everything in this entire universe. 

The eternal God is your refuge,

and underneath are the everlasting arms.

He is your truest refuge. Nothing can get to you through his arms of refuge that he doesn’t allow out of his eternal love for YOU. You are held and you are eternally safe in his eternal arms.

The eternal God is your refuge,

and underneath are the everlasting arms.

Right now you are held by the one who from eternal past to eternal future is God — God over all existence and reality — the Lord of everything in this universe for all eternity. Every situation and circumstance in your life. Let this reality replace the unreality in your imagination of anxiety and insecurity and anger and tension. 

Quietly say to yourself…

The eternal God is your refuge,

and underneath are the everlasting arms.

Imagine the reality of God’s Spirit breathing his life-giving power and love into your body. Giving your heart its every beat. Your life depends upon God at every moment. There is never a moment when every cell in your body is not utterly dependent upon God’s life-giving Spirit. 

God created your body and loves your body. Feel God’s infinite and intimate love flowing through your whole body. Releasing tension and stress throughout your entire body. Calming your central nervous system. Softening your heart from a place of hardness and tension and insecurity and self protection, into a heart of humble tenderness, security, love, joy, and gratitude.

Deuteronomy 33:27 (NIV)

The eternal God is your refuge,

and underneath are the everlasting arms.

Right now your whole being — body and spirit — is held in the eternal arms of the eternal God. He is your refuge right now. He is your life. He is your eternal righteousness. He is your eternal salvation. He is your eternal love. Your eternal security. Your eternal protection.

Deuteronomy 33:27 (NIV)

The eternal God is your refuge,

and underneath are the everlasting arms.

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.

Christian Meditation is a quiet time for you to re-integrate and re-calibrate your mind with your body. And re-integrate and re-calibrate your mind and body with God‘s presence with you and in you. Remember the quote from the apostle Paul in Acts 17:28 – In him you live and move and have your being.If your podcast app is set to skip the silent sections, disable that in your podcast app for this podcast.To begin, lie flat on your back or sit comfortably in a chair. Uncross your legs and arms. And close your eyes if you can. And just take a deep breath and begin to put your mind’s focus on relaxing your body. Christian Meditation is a quiet time for you to re-integrate and re-calibrate your mind with your body. And re-integrate and re-calibrate your body and spirit with God‘s presence with you and in you. Deuteronomy 33:27 (NIV)The eternal God is your refuge,and underneath are the everlasting arms.Right now your whole being — body and spirit — is held in the eternal arms of the eternal God. He is your refuge right now. He is your life. He is your eternal righteousness. He is your eternal salvation. He is your eternal love. Your eternal security. Your eternal protection.Deuteronomy 33:27 (NIV)The eternal God is your refuge,and underneath are the everlasting arms.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 @davecoverFollow A Bigger Life on Twitter @ABiggerLifePodOur 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.

Christian Meditation is a quiet time for you to re-integrate and re-calibrate your mind with your body. And re-integrate and re-calibrate your mind and body with God‘s presence with you and in you. Remember the quote from the apostle Paul in Acts 17:28 – In him you live and move and have your being.

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

To begin, lie flat on your back or sit comfortably in a chair. Uncross your legs and arms. And close your eyes if you can. And just take a deep breath and begin to put your mind’s focus on relaxing your body. 

This is a time for you to meditate. To be quiet — free from all the noise and digital distractions in your life. This is a time for you to be alone. This is a quiet time to re-integrate your body with the rest of your soul, and re-calibrate your body and soul with God’s presence. This is an ancient discipline. A time to be intentional with your mind’s focus so that you can find a moment of rest. Of quiet. Of calm. Renewal. 

And the more you practice this kind of intentional relaxation in your body, the more your brain will be wired to be able to do it. And you will be able to do it quicker and easier. (You can do shorter versions of this kind of relaxation if you notice tension or anxiety coming on, or you’re trying to fall asleep at night.)

Christian meditation uses biblically guided imagination to experience your utter dependence upon God’s life-giving Spirit even at the cellular level. 

Remember the apostle Paul’s quote in Acts 17:28, “In him we live and move and have our being.” Imagine this right now in this moment — In him you live and move and have your being!

Listen to Paul’s phrase in…

Ephesians 3:16 (ESV)

“…That according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being.”

Imagine God’s Spirit in your inner being right now — 100% focused on YOU right now with his infinite and intimate love and care. 

Psalm 107:1

“Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!”

Endures forever. 

Remember Isaiah 57:15 says that Yahweh — the I AM — is the One who inhabits eternity. And when the One who inhabits eternity inhabits you and sets his steadfast love on YOU — that means his love is steadfast on YOU for eternity!

God‘s steadfast love endures forever — it is infinite and abundant. The more you receive the more abundant it is available. 

So imagine this — imagine God‘s infinite and abundant steadfast love entering into your body right now through his Spirit in your inner being. The more you receive the more that’s available. 

“Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!”

Meditate on what this promise from God’s Spirit is telling you. 

“I can rest in the goodness of the I AM — who is 100% with me/focused on me right now.”

“I can rest in his steadfast love for me in this moment.”

“God’s steadfast love for ME will endure forever.”

In every moment you can always say to yourself…

God is present. He is in this moment. And I can trust him.

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. 

Christian Meditation is a quiet time for you to re-integrate and re-calibrate your mind with your body. And re-integrate and re-calibrate your mind and body with God‘s presence with you and in you. Remember the quote from the apostle Paul in Acts 17:28 – In him you live and move and have your being.If your podcast app is set to skip the silent sections, disable that in your podcast app for this podcast.The Only One who inhabits eternityIsaiah 57:15 (ESV)“For thus says the One who is high and lifted up,who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:‘I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.’”Try to imagine eternity! Eternity past. Eternity future. The I AM is the only One who inhabits eternity.Isaiah 44:6 (NIV)“This is what the LORD says…I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God.”The first and the last — there is nothing outside of him!Forever there is no one else but the I AM. He is the source of all existence. The giver of all life. Forever. There is nowhere else for you to go for life. there is nothing apart from him that gives you your existence. Your life. Your ultimate joy. There is nothing outside of him. He is the first and the last.In John’s revelation when he saw Jesus…Revelation 1:17-18 (NIV)When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.”Jesus is repeating the exact same words about himself that Yahweh says in Isaiah 44:6. He is the one who inhabits eternity. And there is nothing that exists outside of him!John said when he saw Jesus as he truly is he fell at his feet as though dead. The sight of the one who inhabits eternity was overwhelming to him. But Jesus‘s first words were Do not be afraid.“Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.”Tim Keller writes:“Christianity may be the most body-positive religion in the world…God made matter and physical bodies, and saw that it was all good…In Jesus Christ, God himself took on a human body which he still has…and someday he is going to give us resurrected bodies.”So when Jesus says he died and is now alive forever and ever and holds the keys of death — he’s talking to you — he’s talking about your body. He’s talking about more than your body. But not less. Your body matters to God. So much so that Jesus died bodily and rose from the dead bodily so that he could do the same for your body forever. He has already destroyed all the ways that death affects your body even now.Think of Jesus‘ words as they apply to you in your life right now…Do not be afraid — do not be anxious — do not be insecure — do not worry — the one who died and rose from the dead has destroyed death for you and is bringing you into the eternal story of his resurrection. He is the Living One — the eternal one. And he holds all the keys. He holds all the keys to everything the real you — including your body — longs for forever. Whatever circumstance that is bringing you anxiety or fear or insecurity or hopelessness — Jesus holds the keys.

Christian Meditation is a quiet time for you to re-integrate and re-calibrate your mind with your body. And re-integrate and re-calibrate your mind and body with God‘s presence with you and in you. Remember the quote from the apostle Paul in Acts 17:28 – In him you live and move and have your being.

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

The Only One who inhabits eternity

Isaiah 57:15 (ESV)

“For thus says the One who is high and lifted up,

who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:

‘I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.’”

Try to imagine eternity! Eternity past. Eternity future. The I AM is the only One who inhabits eternity.

Isaiah 44:6 (NIV)

“This is what the LORD says…I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God.”

The first and the last — there is nothing outside of him!

Forever there is no one else but the I AM. He is the source of all existence. The giver of all life. Forever. There is nowhere else for you to go for life. there is nothing apart from him that gives you your existence. Your life. Your ultimate joy. There is nothing outside of him. He is the first and the last.

In John’s revelation when he saw Jesus…

Revelation 1:17-18 (NIV)

When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.”

Jesus is repeating the exact same words about himself that Yahweh says in Isaiah 44:6. He is the one who inhabits eternity. And there is nothing that exists outside of him!

John said when he saw Jesus as he truly is he fell at his feet as though dead. The sight of the one who inhabits eternity was overwhelming to him. But Jesus‘s first words were Do not be afraid.

“Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.”

Tim Keller writes:

“Christianity may be the most body-positive religion in the world…God made matter and physical bodies, and saw that it was all good…In Jesus Christ, God himself took on a human body which he still has…and someday he is going to give us resurrected bodies.”

So when Jesus says he died and is now alive forever and ever and holds the keys of death — he’s talking to you —  he’s talking about your body. He’s talking about more than your body. But not less. Your body matters to God. So much so that Jesus died bodily and rose from the dead bodily so that he could do the same for your body forever. He has already destroyed all the ways that death affects your body even now.

Think of Jesus‘ words as they apply to you in your life right now…

Do not be afraid — do not be anxious — do not be insecure — do not worry — the one who died and rose from the dead has destroyed death for you and is bringing you into the eternal story of his resurrection. He is the Living One — the eternal one. And he holds all the keys. He holds all the keys to everything the real you — including your body — longs for forever. Whatever circumstance that is bringing you anxiety or fear or insecurity or hopelessness —  Jesus holds the keys. Whatever it is that is causing you stress and anxiety — HE IS the one Who inhabits eternity, but he is also the one who is always 100% present with you in the present moment (without being any less present anywhere else because he is infinite). 

The Living One now lives in you by his Holy Spirit. 

Listen to this phrase in…

Ephesians 3:16 (ESV)

that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being.

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.

Christian Meditation is a quiet time for you to re-integrate and re-calibrate your mind with your body. And re-integrate and re-calibrate your mind and body with God‘s presence with you and in you. Remember the quote from the apostle Paul in Acts 17:28 – In him you live and move and have your being.If your podcast app is set to skip the silent sections, disable that in your podcast app for this podcast.Almost every desire you have and decision you make is activated by your imagination. This is why advertisers give you imagination more than information in their ads — because they know that it’s your imagination that drives your desires and your decisions. This is what it means to be human. We are created in the image of God. And in Genesis one, over and over, we see how God first imagined a reality and then made it so. We are beings of amazing imagination where we can create realities by first imagining.But we also experience unseen realities through our imagination as well. A parent away on a trip can imagine times with their young child, and imagine their faces when joyful or sleeping, and feel and experience the joy and love of that even while away. In the same way we can feel and experience the realities of an unseen God using the biblical images God gives us. When we don’t do that, then we are doing the opposite with our imagination. Using our imagination to see certain things as reality that are not reality. Like that God is not with you and that you are alone in every uncertain or anxious situation. We are using our imagination to see a current or a future narrative as real that’s not real, and it drives our anxieties and fears and our self-protective decisions.So today let’s meditate on…Isaiah 57:15 (ESV)“For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: ‘I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.’”“High and lifted up“ is a poetic synonym/parallelism to the word “holy.“ Holy means ultimate. The I AM is the most ultimate glory and power and beauty and goodness and love that there is. Holy is often in parallel in the Bible with words like radiant, splendor, glory.The way we live inside the reality of God‘s holiness is by having a contrite and humble spirit. We connect most with the one who inhabits eternity and whose name is Holy when we have a spirit that is humble and a heart that is contrite. Imagine being in the presence of the One who inhabits eternity — the One who has no beginning and no end — the One who is God forever in the past and the One who is God forever in the future. And he says you connect with him in this moment when your spirit is humble and your heart is contrite. So imagine your utter dependence and need of his life giving presence and power and renewal in you — the One who inhabits eternity reviving your body and spirit by his eternal and holy presence inhabiting you.. Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you. Deuteronomy 33:27 (NIV)The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.Psalms 90:2 (NIV)

Christian Meditation is a quiet time for you to re-integrate and re-calibrate your mind with your body. And re-integrate and re-calibrate your mind and body with God‘s presence with you and in you. Remember the quote from the apostle Paul in Acts 17:28 – In him you live and move and have your being.

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

Almost every desire you have and decision you make is activated by your imagination. This is why advertisers give you imagination more than information in their ads — because they know that it’s your imagination that drives your desires and your decisions. This is what it means to be human. We are created in the image of God. And in Genesis one, over and over, we see how God first imagined a reality and then made it so. We are beings of amazing imagination where we can create realities by first imagining.

But we also experience unseen realities through our imagination as well. A parent away on a trip can imagine times with their young child, and imagine their faces when joyful or sleeping, and feel and experience the joy and love of that even while away. In the same way we can feel and experience the realities of an unseen God using the biblical images God gives us. When we don’t do that, then we are doing the opposite with our imagination. Using our imagination to see certain things as reality that are not reality. Like that God is not with you and that you are alone in every uncertain or anxious situation. We are using our imagination to see a current or a future narrative as real that’s not real, and it drives our anxieties and fears and our self-protective decisions.

So today let’s meditate on…

Isaiah 57:15 (ESV)

“For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: ‘I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.’”

“High and lifted up“ is a poetic synonym/parallelism to the word “holy.“ Holy means ultimate. The I AM is the most ultimate glory and power and beauty and goodness and love that there is. Holy is often in parallel in the Bible with words like radiant, splendor, glory.

The way we live inside the reality of God‘s holiness is by having a contrite and humble spirit. We connect most with the one who inhabits eternity and whose name is Holy when we have a spirit that is humble and a heart that is contrite. 

Imagine being in the presence of the One who inhabits eternity — the One who has no beginning and no end — the One who is God forever in the past and the One who is God forever in the future. And he says you connect with him in this moment when your spirit is humble and your heart is contrite. 

So imagine your utter dependence and need of his life giving presence and power and renewal in you — the One who inhabits eternity reviving your body and spirit by his eternal and holy presence inhabiting you.. Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you. 

Deuteronomy 33:27 (NIV)

The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.

Psalms 90:2 (NIV)

Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

Right now you are connecting with the one who from everlasting past to everlasting future is the God of all reality — the source of all existence — the Lord of everything in this universe. Let this reality replace the unreality in your imagination of anxiety and insecurity and anger and tension.

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.

Christian Meditation is a quiet time for you to re-integrate and re-calibrate your mind with your body. And re-integrate and re-calibrate your mind and body with God‘s presence with you and in you. Remember the quote from the apostle Paul in Acts 17:28 – In him you live and move and have your being.If your podcast app is set to skip the silent sections, disable that in your podcast app for this podcast.

Remember the reality of what’s called neural plasticity – your brain is always rewiring itself constantly based upon how you use it — what you see, what you say, what you do, what you think and feel — neurons that fire together wire together — so if certain neurons have fired together a lot then they have wired together a lot and made what’s like a worn path in the snow where your brain gets really good at something that you repeat a lot — like playing the piano or playing guitar or typing on a keyboard — like we discussed in the last episode — sometimes your brain gets really good at feeling pain in a part of your body even though there’s no longer damage or harm there, or sometimes your brain gets really good at responding with anxiety or insecurity or fear or anger in certain situations or feeling threatened in certain situations because you have trained your brain through repeatedly responding that way in those situations. So certain kinds of meditation or mindfulness are a way of remapping your brain to your whole body to help it re-integrate and re-calibrate to your mind and soul. So when you focus on specific areas of your body you are remapping your brain to your body. And when you focus on relaxing and feeling (becoming aware of) your entire body like we do in this kind of meditation, every brain and pain specialist and psychologist I’ve read says it is calming and even resetting to your central nervous system. But in Christian meditation we go even further than that and also focus on experiencing, through our imagination, the reality of God‘s presence in your body as the Bible emphasizes in so many places. Remember — neurons that fire together wire together — and so your brain will get really good at remembering to feel your body and associating that also with remembering God‘s presence in your body and presence with you always. So that in times where you might usually feel threatened or typically get anxious or angry or stressed – doing a quick meditation to feel your body will also associate in your brain a remembrance of God‘s presence in you and his love and control in every situation. So in typical situations where you would normally worry or become anxious or insecure or angry or frustrated or even hopeless, instead you are reminded that God is present, he is in this, and you can trust him.

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 @davecoverFollow A Bigger Life on Twitter @ABiggerLifePodOur 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. 

Christian Meditation is a quiet time for you to re-integrate and re-calibrate your mind with your body. And re-integrate and re-calibrate your mind and body with God‘s presence with you and in you. Remember the quote from the apostle Paul in Acts 17:28 – In him you live and move and have your being.

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

Remember the reality of what’s called neural plasticity – your brain is always rewiring itself constantly based upon how you use it — what you see, what you say, what you do, what you think and feel — neurons that fire together wire together — so if certain neurons have fired together a lot then they have wired together a lot and made what’s like a worn path in the snow where your brain gets really good at something that you repeat a lot — like playing the piano or playing guitar or typing on a keyboard — like we discussed in the last episode — sometimes your brain gets really good at feeling pain in a part of your body even though there’s no longer damage or harm there, or sometimes your brain gets really good at responding with anxiety or insecurity or fear or anger in certain situations or feeling threatened in certain situations because you have trained your brain through repeatedly responding that way in those situations. 

So certain kinds of meditation or mindfulness are a way of remapping your brain to your whole body to help it re-integrate and re-calibrate to your mind and soul. So when you focus on specific areas of your body you are remapping your brain to your body. 

And when you focus on relaxing and feeling (becoming aware of) your entire body like we do in this kind of meditation, every brain and pain specialist and psychologist I’ve read says it is calming and even resetting to your central nervous system. But in Christian meditation we go even further than that and also focus on experiencing, through our imagination, the reality of God‘s presence in your body as the Bible emphasizes in so many places. Remember — neurons that fire together wire together — and so your brain will get really good at remembering to feel your body and associating that also with remembering God‘s presence in your body and presence with you always. So that in times where you might usually feel threatened or typically get anxious or angry or stressed – doing a quick meditation to feel your body will also associate in your brain a remembrance of God‘s presence in you and his love and control in every situation. So in typical situations where you would normally worry or become anxious or insecure or angry or frustrated or even hopeless, instead you are reminded that God is present, he is in this, and you can trust him.

This is why in this Christian meditation podcast we are always associating a kind of body relaxation and mindfulness with pictures the Bible gives us to imagine our embodied spiritual reality. And we use our imagination to see and feel this unseen embodied reality, and physically experience our embodied connection with God.

Psalms 104:30 (ESV)

“When you send forth your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the ground.”

Psalms 104:29 (ESV)

“When you hide your face, they are dismayed; when you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust.”

Imagine the Spirit sending forth his life in you and renewing your body.

The apostle Peter refers to Jesus as the author of life (Acts 3:15). So imagine the author of life indwelling your entire body as his Holy Temple (1 Cor 6:19) — even at the cellular level in your body — with his Life and Love and Power and Eternal Presence and Glory. 

Peter goes on to say later…

Acts 3:20 (ESV)

“…That times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.” 

Acts 17:28 (ESV)

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

Imagine your whole body being connected to God’s existence–creating, life-giving, eternal transcendence as the I AM. 

John 7:38-39 (NIV)

“‘Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.’ By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive.”

Imagine God’s Spirit in your inner being right now – strengthening your body. Strengthening your soul. Strengthening your life with the riches of his glory.

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. 

Christian Meditation is a quiet time for you to re-integrate and re-calibrate your mind with your body. And re-integrate and re-calibrate your mind and body with God‘s presence with you and in you. Remember the quote from the apostle Paul in Acts 17:28 – In him you live and move and have your being.If your podcast app is set to skip the silent sections, disable that in your podcast app for this podcast.

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 @davecoverFollow A Bigger Life on Twitter @ABiggerLifePodOur 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.