This is a biblically guided meditation and relaxation to use any time you need to relieve stress and tension in your body and refocus and rest into God’s presence and promises. Important: If your podcast app is set to skip silent sections of the podcast, disable that now. We want to use silence as part of our meditation. You can flag these episodes on biblically guided meditation and relaxation for you to return to over and over as needed. Each episode is a little different, so you may decide to favor one or two episodes as better for you. But give all of them a try. If you know of someone who you think might also benefit from these meditation and relaxation episodes, please share this link in a text or email or on social media. Meditation is as old as the Bible itself. Our secular culture is recently embracing the benefits of “mindfulness” and meditation for developing mental and physical health. But the Bible has been there all along, for thousands of years (see the show notes to the January 4 episode). Biblically guided meditation imagines the unseen realities of God as your Source of Life and Joy and Significance, and speaks these realities to your soul – your whole self. Meditation is a time to listen and to speak to your whole person, including your body. Psalm 42:5 NIV “Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God.” Biblically guided Imagination / meditation speaks God’s truth and implications to our “soul” — to our whole self – body and mind and spirit. The biblical concept of the soul is your whole self – body, mind, spirit. That’s why there must be a resurrection of the body for salvation. Your whole body is part of you. You are your body. Embrace your body. The psalmist was aware his “soul” was downcast and disturbed within him because he listened to his body, mind, spirit. Then his meditation was to speak the realities of God’s presence and promise to his “soul.” So biblically guided meditation focuses on the inseparable connection between our body, mind, and spirit. It helps you experience your connection with God even at the bodily/cellular level. It focuses you on how your body depends upon God’s life-giving Spirit at every moment. This imagery/meditation can bring needed relaxation and relieve stress from your body and mind. To begin… Lie flat on your back or sit comfortably in a chair. Close your eyes. Try to relax your body by feeling the weight of every part of your body relaxing like falling water and being supported completely by whatever surface you’re on. Allow yourself to notice and feel how your body is supported. How you are being held from underneath. Your whole body is able to let itself be held. Begin to take in deep, slow breaths and with each exhale relax the muscles in your body a little bit more. Each slow, deep breath. Jesus said in John 10:27-30… “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. …And no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one.” Psalm 46:10 [God] says, “Be still, and know that I am God.” 1 Corinthians 6:11 …You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. Genesis 2:7 Then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living 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 https://twitter.com/davecover (@davecover) Follow A Bigger Life on Twitter https://twitter.com/abiggerlifepod (@ABiggerLifePod) This podcast is a ministry of https://www.thecrossingchurch.com/