A Bigger Life: Episodes

Christian Meditation for A Bigger Life with Pastor Dave Cover

Christian Meditation can help refocus your mind and recalibrate your body to get the stress, anxiety and anger out of your heart and out of your body. Spend about 23 minutes to "be still" with God as each episode uses a different biblical image to e...

Recent Episodes

A Prayerful Meditation with Scott Johnson

11:52 | 03-07-2023

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A Meditation on the Restorative Power of a Solitary Place

16:46 | 03-02-2023

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 @davecoverFollow A Bigger Life on Twitter @ABiggerLifePodOur 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.

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A Meditation on Trusting God with Your Enemies in Psalm 140

16:11 | 02-28-2023

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 140:1–6 ESV1 Deliver me, O LORD, from evil men; preserve me from violent men, 2 who plan evil things in their heart and stir up wars continually. 3 They make their tongue sharp as a serpent’s, and under their lips is the venom of asps. Selah 4 Guard me, O LORD, from the hands of the wicked; preserve me from violent men, who have planned to trip up my feet. 5 The arrogant have hidden a trap for me, and with cords they have spread a net; beside the way they have set snares for me. Selah 6 I say to the LORD, You are my God; give ear to the voice of my pleas for mercy, O LORD!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 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.

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A Meditation on Developing a Transcendent Imagination with Colossians 3 1-4

18:05 | 02-23-2023

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.Many Christians don’t have an information problem when it comes to God. They have an imagination problem. Imagination is always how your life works. This is how we were created — to be people with powerful imaginations that can actually see unseen realities and then create them or experience them. Anxiety and insecurity always appeals to your imagination. This is what ultimately creates your anxieties. Stress. Worries. Insecurities. Fears. You’re trying to live inside an unreal imagination. But you live inside God’s universe. These hijacked imaginations enter and affect your body in real ways because it causes your life to be incongruent with reality.But Christian meditation allows us to recalibrate our lives with Reality by giving us powerful images and imaginations of God's word given to us by his Holy Spirit. By learning to use our biblically guided imagination we can experience unseen realities and actually feel these realities into our bodies and into our lives in a way that powerfully shapes our desires and our decisions in life-changing ways.Notice to the imagination in…Colossians 3:1, 3-4 (NIV)“…You have been raised with Christ…3 For you died (remember Paul said I’ve been crucified with Christ), and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”Your life — your identity — the real and eternal YOU — has already died and has been risen with Christ and is safe and secure and kept hidden with Christ in God.Using your biblically-guided imagination, feel these realities into your body right now:You have died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. You have been raised with Christ. Christ is your life. You will appear with Christ in glory when he returns and brings Heaven back to 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 @davecoverFollow A Bigger Life on Twitter @ABiggerLifePodOur 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.

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A Meditation on Developing a Transcendent Imagination

25:32 | 02-21-2023

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 @davecoverFollow A Bigger Life on Twitter @ABiggerLifePodOur 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.

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A Meditation on Replacing Entitlement with Appreciation

13:57 | 02-16-2023

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.Romans 11:36-12:2 NIVPattern of this “age” — this culture — one way we easily conformed to this “age” or culture is an attitude of entitlement. I deserve better/more. I’m owed. When that becomes the primary way of seeing yourself or your life — you will always have this back-burner belief of unfulfilled entitlement that heats up your anxiety in each relationship and circumstance. Insecurity. Feeling of threat. That you’re always owed more than you get/have. Always thinking you deserve better/more. Focused on all the ways you’re not being treated as you deserve. It’s the lens you put on through which you see almost everything. When you’re conforming to the pattern of this age that you deserve better/more, the life you’re shaping yourself to live is one of anger. Bitterness. Resentment. Jealousy. Joylessness. Lovelessness. Gracelessness. All anti-fruits of the Spirit. And all energizers of anxiety and tension and insecurity and self-protective guarding. Romans 11:36-12:1 says that YOU — the existence of YOU — this forever YOU — everything you have — is an undeserved mercy from God. Through God. Ultimately to be lived for God. 1 Corinthians 4:7 (NIV)“What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?”“In view of God’s mercy.” When that “view” is your lens through which you see yourself and everything in your life, it starts to take the air out of anxiety. tension. Insecurity. Anger. Resentment. It starts replacing joylessness with joy. A sense of appreciation. Love. Joy.Gratitude. Life is a gift, not an entitlement. Whatever good you have is undeserved. By God’s mercy. This transformed mindset will transform your brain’s wiring and transform your life.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.

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A Meditation on How Christian Meditation Changes Your Brain

29:33 | 02-14-2023

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.Romans 12:2 (NIV) …Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. The big principle of neuroplasticity is this: Neurons that fire together wire together.The longer you practice unchecked anxiety, the more you create and use and deepen the “anxiety pathway” in your brain. The more you use this pathway, the bigger and stronger it gets. The stronger this pathway gets, the more automatic your brain gets at producing more anxiety, even in situations that wouldn’t have produced it before! The good news has been in the Bible all along.Romans 12:2 (NIV) …Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Remember the context of this verse is Romans 11:36.In a perfect situation/response, you would be able to say that to yourself whenever you felt insecure or anxious. Daniel 5:23 NIVHe is “…the God who holds in his hand your life and all your ways.”But it’s super hard if our brain is already deeply wired to have an insecure, anxious, self-protective response. That’s why Christian meditation is the key to renewing your mind. It’s kind of like practicing your scales on piano or guitar.Remember the apostle Paul writes in…2 Corinthians 3:18 (NIV)And we all, who … contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.Contemplate the Lord’s glory and feel that image into your body. Fire these neurons together: feeling your body from within and imagining the Lord’s glory of Romans 11:36 and Daniel 5:23. Together. Then after practice, when you get into a situation/circumstance where you would normally feel threatened, respond by feeling the Lord’s glory in/with your body. Wire a new kind of muscle memory in your brain. 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.

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A Meditation on Feeling the Sensation of Security in Your Body

16:43 | 02-09-2023

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A Meditation on Transforming Your Life by Rewiring Your Brain

21:41 | 02-07-2023

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.Romans 11:36 - 12:2 (NIV)We now know that that verse is neurologically true.Neuroplasticity. Neurons that fire together wire together. We now know through recent neuroscience and advanced imaging technology that our brains are constantly re-wiring to match our experiences and our environment. And what we do, what we see, what we say, what we think, how we react or respond to perceived threats is always changing our brain in our neurons and connections between neurons. This is why we can get good at a new skill like typing on a keyboard or playing scales quickly on an instrument or playing a sport. And we can change our brains to get better and better at responding to perceived threats with stress and anxiety. Or we can get better and better at perceiving God’s presence in all his ruling power and goodness and steadfast love in those situations instead. All by being transformed by the renewing of your mind — the rewiring of your brain. The Bible has been telling us this all along even if neuroscience is only recently discovering it.“Being transformed by the renewing of your mind” is literally, physiologically, rewiring your brain — which in part happens through the practice of Christian meditation — to see each moment in your life through the lens of the reality of who God is and what it really means that he is always 100% present in each moment you face.And the fundamental truth with which to renew your mind is Romans 11:36, “From him, through him, and for him are all things.”Vs. the pattern of this age — “My life is my own. Living for ME.” Almost every cultural influencer in this age is going to try to convince you to shape/form yourself and your life after that pattern.But is it true? Is it real? Are you the creator of yourself? Is your life really from you and through you and for you?If you’re a follower of Jesus, deep inside you know the answer to that. And you need to actively renew your mind by meditation on the true answer — and if you do you will experience transformation instead of conformity. The other passages we’ve looked at:Revelation 4:11Hebrews 2:10 (NIV)Acts 17:25 (NIV)Acts 17:281 Corinthians 8:6 (NIV)Colossians 1:16-17 (NIV)Psalms 119:73 (NIV)Daniel 5:23 NIVWho 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.

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A Meditation on How Surrendering Your Body to God in Worship Transforms You

23:56 | 02-02-2023

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.Romans 11:36 - 12:2 (NIV)“For from him and through him and for him are all things. …Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.““Conform” — to shape your self according to a “scheme” — a model, pattern.“Be transformed” — to be changed into another form. Metamorphoses. It’s “passive” in the Greek, which means it’s something being do TO you. In 8:29-30, God is “conforming” (Greek: forming WITH) the image of Christ — glory, righteousness, beauty, power, eternal. So, Romans 12:2 is saying, “Don’t shape your self/life according to the model/pattern of this world (Greek: “age”), but let God re-shape you to what you were ultimately created to be — what Jesus came and died and rose from death to re-shape you into — his glory and righteousness and beauty and power and eternal transcendence. One is a downward spiral into a dead end. The other is an upward metamorphosis of eternal, glorious transcendence.“For from him and through him and for him are all things. …Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.“So even though being transformed is something done to us, we’re not totally passive in our transformation. We DO two things: 1) offer our body to God in worship, and 2) renew our mind. (We’ll meditate on the second one in our next episode).A huge part of transformation happens when you offer your body to God as your true worship. Your body even now is part of this transformation.The redemption of your body is the hope for which you have been saved (8:23-24).Feel this imagery — using your biblically guided imagination — into your body now.God’s Spirit even now transforming you as you’re offering your body to him as true worship. Feel that into 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 @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.

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