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
Imagining God’s Spirit Flowing Through Your Body Like Rivers of Living Water Part 2
19:35 | 07-07-2022
Imagine God’s Spirit flowing in and throughout your body like rivers of living water. That’s the very image Jesus gives in John 7:38. Christians 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.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. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.”Jesus said something similar when he was speaking to the woman by the well…John 4:14 (NIV)“…The water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”Psalms 16:11 (ESV)“In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”Imagine the fullness of joy being in the presence of God‘s glory and God‘s beauty and God‘s perfect love for you. Seeing the one who created this entire universe with your own eyes. Resurrected eyes in a resurrected body. Imagine this reality and feel it now into your body. The Bible’s bigger story is that Joy is the ultimate experience when Heaven returns to earth when Jesus comes back — we will have resurrected bodies of glory and power and true spirituality and immortality and we will live in the amazing presence of God forever.Jesus said all of his teaching has Joy as its ultimate goal…John 15:11 (ESV)“These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”That’s why in John 17, the night Jesus was arrested, when he is praying for his disciples and he is summing up the purpose of his entire life on earth he says…John 17:13 (NIV)“…So that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.”In the final words of the epistle of Jude in the New Testament, Jude says that the ultimate ministry of Jesus in your life is…Jude 1:24 (ESV)“…To present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy.”Joy is the ultimate reward in the kingdom of heaven. The joy that comes from being fully in the presence of God.Infinite pleasures in the hand of the infinite God. So using your imagination, take his hand now as your greatest possession. Take his hand now as your security. Your calm confidence. Your peace. Your Joy. Feel this into your body.Even now, consciously knowing that you are in God’s presence will begin to replace your worry and fear and anxiety and self-protective reflexes with his joy and the security of his presence. Use your biblically guided imagination to know and experience that he is at your right hand and you are at his right hand in Christ. Knowing right now in this moment that the forever God is your God forever and you are in his presence right now in this moment. He is the fullness of joy right now. In his hand is your greatest pleasure forever.So take hold of his hand right now in your imagination.
Imagining God’s Spirit Flowing Through Your Body Like Rivers of Living Water
26:28 | 07-05-2022
Imagine God’s Spirit flowing throughout your body like rivers of living water. That’s the very image Jesus gives in John 7:38. Christians 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.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. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.So imagine the Spirit of God flowing like rivers of living water within your entire body with his Life and Light and Power and Glory. Focus your mind on feeling your whole body from within. Imagine and feel God’s life and light and power and glory and love and presence flowing up and down your spine from your brain to your sacrum, and flowing through your veins throughout your entire body. Imagine your whole body being one with God’s life-giving, light-giving, power. Imagine God focused on you right now with his infinite and intimate love and wisdom. Say quietly to yourself, “The Spirit of God is in me right now. I am calm and confident in his presence and care.” Imagine and feel this reality all throughout your body for a moment. Remember, neurons that fire together wire together! Make it a habit of feeling your body and also feeling God’s presence in your body at the same time.John 7:38-39 (NIV)Whoever believes in me, …rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this he meant the Spirit…Jesus said something similar when he was speaking to the woman by the well…John 4:14 (NIV)“…The water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”So imagine this into your body right now — the Spirit of God being a spring of water in you that is welling up as eternal life.This is an image Jesus wants you to imagine as an unseen reality within you. So imagine this. The Spirit of God flowing within you like rivers of living water. The Spirit of God welling up within you like a spring of water of life. Feel this flowing all through your body. Replacing stress and tension with the transcendent presence of God‘s peace. Replacing anxiety with the calm confidence of God‘s presence. Replacing fear and insecurity with the renewing strength of God‘s eternal life. Replacing anger with the softening assurance of God‘s love. Imagine this.
God is Present in Every Anxious Moment from Psalm 118:6-7
25:18 | 06-30-2022
An intense awareness of God‘s presence is always the antidote to anxiety and insecurity. Christians 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. This is a time for you to be alone. And to be alone with God. 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.Your body is part of your connection with God. Your connection/oneness with God is both physical and spiritual. In him you live and move and have your being.So let’s bring spiritual reality into our meditation by looking at…Psalms 118:6-7 (NIV)The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid.What can mere mortals do to me?The LORD is with me; he is my helper. This is another example of a Meditation where the Psalmist is mostly talking to himself. This is the kind of meditation God‘s people have been doing for thousands of years. And it’s what we’re doing here. You’re talking to yourself and using your imagination to feel into yourself — in your mind and body — you are imagining the unseen realities of what God’s Spirit (through his word) is telling you is real.So say this meditation quietly to yourself –The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid.An intense awareness of God‘s presence is always the antidote to anxiety and insecurity. The logic of this meditation is that if Yahweh (The Hebrew name for God meaning HE IS) is with me, I do not have to be afraid. Nothing and nobody can do anything to me that doesn’t have to go through him first. And if God allows it then God is in it. And if God is in it he is with me and he is my helper in it.So remember that phrase we looked at in our last episode whenever you feel anxiety coming on in a situation say to yourself “God is present, he is in this with me, and I can trust him.”Psalms 121:2 (NIV)My help comes from the LORD,the Maker of heaven and earth.Psalms 125:2 (NIV)As the mountains surround Jerusalem,so the LORD surrounds his peopleboth now and forevermore.So always remember God’s promises of never, and forever. Deuteronomy 31:8 (NIV)The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”Hebrews 13:5-6 (NIV)…God has said,“Never will I leave you;never will I forsake you.”So we say with confidence,“The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.What can mere mortals do to me?”Never will I leave you. Never will I forsake you (Heb 13:5). The forever God is your God forever (Rev. 21:3ff). Timestamps:00:44 - 13:16 Body Meditation13:21 - 24:24 Bible Meditation Psalm 118:6-7Who 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.
Living Inside God’s Protection in Psalm 27:1
26:32 | 06-28-2022
Christians Meditation is entering a solitary place. If not physically, then at least let it be so mentally. This 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. This is a time for you to be alone. And to be alone with God. 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 for this podcast.Psalms 27:1 (NIV)The LORD is my light and my salvation —whom shall I fear?The LORD is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid? The logic of the imagery is that if this is the unseen reality your life is in — that Yahweh is YOUR light and YOUR salvation and the stronghold of YOUR life — then what is there to actually be afraid of? Of whom shall you be afraid exactly? Well, there are 1000 things actually. But none of them are stronger than the I AM, who is always surrounding you as your light/life, your salvation, your stronghold/fortress. Which means that none of them are really in control of things. When difficult things are happening to you, the difficult things are not in control of the situation. The One who is your Light is in control. The One who is your Salvation is in control. The One who is the Stronghold of your life is in control. The Almighty LORD of Heaven and Earth is ultimately in power over any other threat to you. There is that phrase — Fear God and you won’t have to fear anything or anyone else. The unseen reality always surrounding your life is that HE IS is your light — your salvation/healing/rescuer — your stronghold/fortress. There is nothing and no one else over you to fear.Whenever you feel threatened in any way – anxious in any way – feel tension in your body in any way – whenever you sense an overreaction in you to some social or work or family situation — you can say…“Lord, YOU ARE present, and you are in this, and I can trust you.“YOU ARE my light/life. YOU ARE my restoration. YOU ARE the stronghold of my life. You can rest in a calm confidence. You can replace anxiety with imagining the reality of God‘s presence and that God is in this situation and in this moment with you. You can replace all your multi-layered insecurities and the way they manifest themselves in your life and in your relationships and in your mind and body with the security that the God who created this universe is also 100% with you and focused on you as your light and your rescuer and your fortress. He is the stronghold of your life.“Lord, you are present, and you are in this, and I can trust you.“YOU ARE my light/life. YOU ARE my restoration. YOU ARE the stronghold of my life. You can just let go of so much anxiety and fear and insecurity and anger and fight or flight central nervous system living. Rest in God’s lordship. Power. Presence. Love. Release your clenched muscles. Let go of the tension. Let your muscles soften.Timestamps:00:39 - 14:27 Body Meditation14:28 - 24:57 Bible Meditation: Psalm 27:1Who 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.
Feeling God’s Light in Your Life in Psalm 27:1
35:37 | 06-27-2022
Christians Meditation is entering a solitary place. If not physically, then at least let it be so mentally. This 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. This is a time for you to be alone. And to be alone with God. 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 for this podcast.Psalms 27:1 (NIV)The LORD is my light and my salvation —whom shall I fear?The LORD is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid?This is poetry so it’s loaded with a lot of words of imagery. Appealing to our imagination.The LORD. Yahweh. HE IS. (HE IS) is my light. Life. Overcoming darkness and death.Genesis 1:2-3 (NIV)Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.Psalms 36:9 (ESV)For with you is the fountain of life;in your light do we see light.2 Tim 1:10 (ESV) …Our Savior Christ Jesus…abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.Psalms 56:13 (NIV)For you have delivered me from deathand my feet from stumbling,that I may walk before Godin the light of life.(HE IS) is my salvation. Deliverance. Rescue. Safety. Freedom. Prosperity. Of course what the world calls prosperity is very different than what the Bible calls prosperity. But ultimate salvation in the Bible is never about dying and going to heaven. It’s about living instead of dying. But more than that – it’s about living the life you were meant to live. A life of flourishing. Joy. Freedom. Security. This is the ultimate narrative of the Bible. Heaven is dwelling in the visible presence of God. God is Salvation, and God/heaven is returning to earth and we will have resurrection on a resurrected earth. This is salvation. But the layers of salvation are true for us even now. Even now there is salvation from our emptiness and our chaos and our darkness. Even now there is rescue. Healing. Life. Because the Spirit of God lives in you even now. Even now your body is a temple of his Holy Spirit. You have his life and his joy and his salvation inhabiting your body even now.(HE IS) is my stronghold. The stronghold of my life. The Hebrew word here for a stronghold means a fortified place. Often these were fortresses on top of a rocky cliff. So same idea as my “rock” and my “fortress” and my “refuge” in other psalms.Last episode…Psalm 62:6-7 ESVHe only is my rock and my salvation,my fortress; I shall not be shaken. …My mighty rock, my refuge is God.Timestamps:00:37 - 19:06 Body Meditation19:12 - 33:14 Bible Meditation: Psalm 27:133:17 - 35:19 PrayerWho 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.
A Christian Meditation on Interrupting Busyness with Silence
35:22 | 06-21-2022
This is a time to get away from all the mind distractions — all the focus distractions — of your phone and scrolling through social media or email or the news. This is a quiet time to re-integrate and re-calibrate your soul (mind, body and spirit) with the life-giving presence of God’s Spirit. That’s the purpose of Christian meditation. If your podcast app is set to skip the silent sections, disable that for this podcast.(Dr. Rachel Zoffness — MS, PhD, is faculty at the UCSF School of Medicine, where she teaches pain education for medical residents and interns, and serves on the steering committee of the American Association of Pain Psychology. She writes in The Pain Management Workbook):Relaxed diaphragmatic breathing uses your diaphragm and stomach muscles. When you belly breathe, you train your breath to go lower and slower. This increases your blood oxygen level, improves circulation to facilitate healing, lowers stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline, turns off your SNS to calm your body, and helps reduce pain volume [if you deal with chronic pain]. Throughout your day you can check which type of breathing you’re doing—stressed versus relaxed—and catch yourself when your breathing gets stressed and shallow in your chest. The moment you notice that you’re chest breathing is the moment you can do a very quick short meditation to change your physiology, shut off your SNS stress response, and lower your anxiety dial by breathing lower and slower instead.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.
A Christian Meditation on Making Solitude a Habit
25:09 | 06-16-2022
When you wake up in the morning, if you immediately go to your phone, you immediately go to your social media, you immediately check your email, or you immediately start reading the news or turn on the morning news shows on TV — the first thing you’re doing in the day is to download the weight of a very stress-filled and anger-filled world, and you are stressed and depressed by noon. If you wake up in the morning, and immediately surrender your central nervous system to the cacophony of modern life, and then you're off and running — you’ve already surrendered your day to a thought system based on anger and fear and insecurity that dominates this world.If your podcast app is set to skip the silent sections, disable that for this podcast.This is a time to get away from all the min distractions — all the focus distractions — of your phone and social media and scrolling through email or the news. This is a quiet time to re-integrate and re-calibrate your soul — mind, body and spirit — with the life-giving presence of God’s Spirit. That’s the purpose of Christian meditation.Let’s begin by lying flat on your back or, if it’s more practical for you at this point, sit comfortably in a chair. Uncross your legs. Close your eyes.And let's just take a deep breath.rWho 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.
A Christian Meditation on Rejoice Every Morning for Today in Psalm 118:24
28:28 | 06-14-2022
An important part of Christian meditation is to use your biblically guided imagination to see the better, unseen realities our lives are in, and to bring our mind and body into an integration with those spiritual realities. Otherwise we become a mind/body that’s fragmented and disconnected from spiritual realities, that's hijacked by tension and anxiety, anger, frustration, and fear.If your podcast app is set to skip the silent sections, disable that for this podcast.Psalm 118:24 ESVThis is the day that the LORD has made;let us rejoice and be glad in it.Contextually speaking this verse is prophetic of the day of Jesus’s death and resurrection for salvation, as well as the day of his return. Like the entire Psalm, this verse is layered with prophetic imagination.But it’s also a true principle all on its own…Psalm 118:24 ESVThis is the day that the LORD has made;let us rejoice and be glad in it.Like Paul writes in…Philippians 4:4 (ESV)Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.And…1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NIV)16 Rejoice always (shortest verse in the original Greek Bible), 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.Say aloud to yourself…“Because this is the day that the LORD has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it.”Timestamps:01:08 - 06:04 Body Meditation06:15 - 26:51 Bible Meditation: Psalm 118:2426:54 - 28:07 PrayerWho 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.
A Christian Meditation on Experiencing Your Whole Being as God’s Will
24:22 | 06-09-2022
Imagine a scene the Bible describes before the very throne of God in…Revelation 4:8-10 (NIV) Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying:“‘Holy, holy, holyis the Lord God Almighty,’who was, and is, and is to come.”Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say: Then…Revelation 4:11 (NIV)“You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.”We know from physics that your physical body is composed of atoms arranged differently into molecules to form different kinds of physical realities in your body. Different tissues. Cells. An atom is composed of a nucleus with electrons revolving around it. The nucleus of an atom is 200,000 times smaller than the diameter of the atom. The electrons are many times smaller than the nucleus. In other words an atom consists of millions of times more space than solid matter. Because atoms are in fact mostly empty space, most of your body is empty space. But we see it and feel it as solid. You can’t see the atoms because they are way too small. But they are very real. So if you imagine right now your body comprised of and full of unseen atoms — the DNA and RNA in your cells throughout your body — but there is mostly empty space between the atoms that comprise your body — when you use your imagination to see and feel your body this way, you’re experiencing something that’s very real but unseen. And that’s what you’re doing when you’re using your imagination to experience and feel God in you and always with you.Colossians 1:16-17 (NIV)Acts 17:28Romans 11:36 (NIV)1 Corinthians 8:6 (NIV) Every atom in your body owes its existence and its current presence to the presence of God right now in this moment. You don’t create yourself. You don’t live for your glory. Your will. You exist because it was God‘s will for you to exist in his universe – forever. The forever God wanted to be your God forever. This is why he gave you you’re being. This is why you have your being right now in this moment. The forever God is your God forever! And that reality can put joy and gladness into your whole body right now in this moment.“You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.”“For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, …all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”“In him we live and move and have our being.”This is a tremendous relief. Understanding this kills anxiety. The fight or flight of living for your own glory. Falsely believing your life depends on the perfection of your will. Your power.You can just let go of so much anxiety and fear and insecurity and anger and fight or flight central nervous system living. Rest in God’s lordship. Power. Presence. Will for you. The reason he created you. So take a deep breath. Release your clenched muscles. Let go of the tension. Let your muscles soften. You can trust. You can depend on. Rely on.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.Our audio engineer is Diego Huaman.
A Christian Meditation on Imagining God’s Glory in Your Body/Soul
25:53 | 06-07-2022
God gives us the power of imagination to affect the reality of our lives – including the physical reality of our body. This kind of Christian meditation brings the transcendent experience of God into your mind and into your body so that you can replace anxiety, insecurity, stress and tension with the better and truer imagination of God’s infinite and intimate presence and love for YOU.If your podcast app is set to skip the silent sections, disable that for this podcast.Today we’re going to meditate on…Romans 11:36 (NIV)For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.“For from him and through him and for him are all things.” We recalibrate our lives and our body with reality when we reintegrate how we see ourselves with the truth of this verse.Let’s use our imagination to feel the truth of this verse into our entire body and our soul.“For from him and through him and for him are all things.” And Acts 17:28 says, “In him we live and move and have our being.” Christian meditation uses biblically guided imagination to experience your utter dependence upon God’s life-giving Spirit even at the cellular level. “For from him and through him and for him are all things.”Use your imagination to feel God’s Life-Giving Spirit in your body. This is mysterious, but it’s also real. Imagine the Spirit that gives Life flowing through your veins throughout your whole body. This is the language of the Bible.Every cell in your body is given life from him, through him, and for him. This is reality. This is the realist reality in your life right now in this moment. And you can see this reality by using your biblically guided imagination.Your imagination is powerful enough to greatly affect your body. This is part of the power of our soul - body connection. Hand warmingAs further evidence that your imagination affects bodily processes, it’s actually possible to heat your hands—just using your imagination. I’ve actually done it! (You’d need a stress thermometer.) In the same way your beliefs and feelings and thoughts throughout your day are affecting your body. Perhaps putting unbelief into your body. Worry. Fear. Insecurities. Threats. Your anger fantasies. Your misinterpreted narratives of your relationships with people.But the opposite can be true too. You can put the truth of the forever God being your God forever into your body throughout the day as well.“For from him and through him and for him are all things.” “In him we live and move and have our being.” Use your imagination to feel that truth throughout your entire body. And with each breath out use your imagination to feel God‘s presence inside you giving life to every cell in your body.With your imagination on God‘s presence and in your body, you’re feeling a kind of transcendent sense of quiet. You’re feeling a sense of wonder at the God Who created the universe residing inside your body. Giving life to your body. And because Christ is in you you are one with God right now in this present moment.Romans 11:36 (NIV)For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.You live for God’s glory. And when you do, you glory in God’s glory. His glory becomes your glory forever. Like when we fee the “glory” of our sports teams. But when we focus on our own glory, that’s a dead-end kind of glory. Our lives get smaller. Less glorious. Because most people can see through it and we look ridiculous. When our own glory feels threatened — this is the voice of the false self. A false glory. This is often what brings anxiety. Anger fantasies.