Summary:

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.

Matt Labash: “I miss what it feels like to not be overstimulated or provoked or moved to outrage, which we are constantly prompted to be. There is not much our society won’t ingest these days. We like at least two of everything, and supersized. But one thing we seem to have no appetite for is being bored even for a second. Letting our minds sit still, instead of wandering around in our pathology-driven media hellscape. …For the last decade or so, we’ve been too over-excited, over-provoked, and overstimulated.” 

With all our overstimulation — social media, news, movies, shows, even watching sports — it’s so easy to get stuck in a limbic state where we’re always in a kind of defensive or anxious mindset (even unconsciously). Without even being aware of it, our bodies are stuck in a low-grade tension, with our muscles tight, adrenalin flowing, our central nervous system on alert. Headaches, body aches, our mental health is kind of fragile. We’re a comment away from anger, feeling threatened, disrespected, getting into conflict. 

Christian Meditation is a time to quiet all that over-stimulating chatter and enter into a time of calm. A moment of Shalom. Learning to refocus your mind away from the crazy and into the truer reality that God is 100% present and 100% in control. And learning to use that refocus to recalibrate your mind and body with God’s Shalom. God’s calming, loving, peace-giving Presence. 

Notice to the imagination used in…

Colossians 3:1-2 (NIV)

“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.”

This is talking about heaven and earth as realms, not places.

So…

Colossians 3:5 NIV

“Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature (same exact Greek word construction as v. 2): sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.”

These are earthly-realm as opposed to Heavenly-realm desires (imaginations).

Set your hearts… Seeing with the eyes of your heart (Eph 1:18) – your imagination. Envision with your imagination a heavenly, transcendent reality so that you can experience this reality in your heart and mind and 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 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.