On The Power Of Biblical Meditation

Keywords

Faith, Therapy, Biblical Meditation, Neuroscience, Mental Health, Spiritual Growth, Peace, Mindfulness, God's Word, Self-Understanding

Summary

In this episode of the Faith Filled Therapy podcast, Jo Hargreaves discusses the significance of biblical meditation and its impact on mental health and spiritual growth. She shares her personal journey with God's word, emphasizing the importance of taking scripture at face value and the therapeutic benefits of meditation. Jo explores the neuroscience behind meditation, explaining how it can rewire the brain and promote peace. She encourages listeners to integrate biblical meditation into their daily lives, highlighting its transformative power.


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Transcript

Jo Hargreaves (00:01.326)
Hello, welcome to this episode of the Faith Filled Therapy podcast. As always, there's been a real hiatus between the last one that I recorded in June and this one, but a few things have really given me a nudge to record this next episode. Number one was a really exciting email about having had 55,000 downloads, which for some people might feel like nothing, but to me, it feels huge. 55,000 downloads of this podcast. 55,000 listens.

And hopefully people who have connected with God's word, who have understood themselves better, understood their firing and their wiring, and that they make complete sense to God. So that has been a real nudge for me. And also just hearing from people about how it's really helpful. It feels really huge that as I'm sat here in my bedroom, in my pajamas.

just having eaten a curly whirly for breakfast. I mean, there's nothing particularly inspiring going on over here, but despite all of that, that actually what I'm learning in the field of neuroscience, what I'm studying with scripture can actually jump off the, not off the page, out of your earphones, out of whatever your device you're listening to, and it could be beneficial. I really, really don't take that lightly.

So if you are a previous listener, you'll know that I'm always sat with my disco diffuser, my disco ball diffuser whilst I'm recording a podcast and diffusing this morning in my household is frankincense and bergamot. Frankincense feels very biblical, doesn't it? It's just a bit intense on its own. So I've added a bit of bergamot, bit of citrus just to lift it a little bit.

I usually am in my office, but we've had somebody staying with us for a while and the office is also a spare room. So I am here in my bedroom in a messy desk, like I said, with my pajamas on. Having just had a curly whirly for breakfast, I must do better. I just opened my bag to get my iPad and there was a curly whirly there and discipline evaded me and I ended up eating it. And it's not even 10 o'clock in the morning.

Jo Hargreaves (02:09.944)
But anyway, there we are. This podcast is all about the power of biblical meditation and what meditating on God's word does for you in terms of your soul, your spirit, your synapses. There is nothing more powerful to me than sitting and reading God's word. But I've had to do some work here. I've gone through seasons, seasons of not being particularly interested in reading God's word.

seasons of really deconstructing God's Word and kind of not believing that just all the reasons why we don't have to believe that it's God's Word, that actually, you know, it's all of these things, this kind of deconstruction of God's Word, been there, done that, wasn't beneficial for me actually. It led me feeling really confused. It really robbed me of peace. I've come to the most peaceful conclusion now of...

Not having to kiss my brains goodbye, not having to indoctrinate myself or gaslight myself with God's Word, but actually just coming to the realization, I'm going to take this at face value. I'm going to believe that this is the living and active Word of God. There's ways that my human logic and my human wisdom could want to deconstruct that. But actually, every time I do that, it robs me of peace. When I sit with the Bible and read it,

and say, okay God, through your spirit speak to me, shape me, shape my soul, my spirit, my synapses, help my firing and my wiring. That's when I feel peace. That's when I really understand that God's word really transcends our human pride and logic and intelligence in inverted commas.

So I've come to a place with God's word where I'm taking it at face value and I've never felt more peaceful. Maybe you're not there. Maybe you're in a different season. Maybe it feels difficult to accept it. And I absolutely understand that. I still think the Holy Spirit can work and take verses, take ideas, take scriptures, take promises and land them in your everyday ordinary life that can comfort you.

Jo Hargreaves (04:29.208)
course correct you, direct you. So don't be under any illusion that whilst you may be sat scrolling Instagram, I am sat in my holy place reading God's Word. I still struggle with the discipline of it all. Sometimes I'm better than others, but I am, that is, it's something that I am working towards is getting a better rhythm of reading God's Word, particularly when I am,

I understand one from a neuroscience point of view, what it's doing for me. God's word is so incredibly therapeutic. It's the reading of God's word. Now you can get into all the caveats. I know for some people it's not therapeutic. I know it could be triggering. I understand all of that, but there's something about taking, taking, I'm sure there's a song about it. I take you at your word. There's something about reading the verses about his love is high and wide and deep and long and there's nothing.

In Romans, it tells us there's nothing that can separate us from the love of God that's in Christ Jesus, that can bring us peace, that can bring us a sense of safety, that can bring us a sense of being known and loved. And like I said, I know that isn't everybody's experience, but let me just unpack for you what happens when we meditate on God's word. I'm gonna go into Psalm one, because it tells us blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked.

or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither, whatever they do prospers. I love Samhain because it's so full of

therapeutic, it's so full of biblical truth, of course it is, it's so full of truth, it's so drenched with biblical truth, but it's also full of neuroscience, it's full of therapeutic, it's really therapeutic Psalm, actually, when we dig into it. Because what you meditate on, you magnify. We see it through this, that when we meditate on the law of the Lord day and night, we then become

Jo Hargreaves (06:57.41)
Like a tree by streams of water, yielding fruit does not wither, whatever we do prospers. So whatever you meditate on, you magnify. We see that from a biblical point of view, but it's so true and can be backed up through spec scans, neuroscience, and understanding of neuroplasticity. The Donald Hebb rule, the psychologist from, I think maybe the 1940s or 50s, who says neurons that fire together, wire together.

Essentially, the more you think about something, the stronger that thought becomes in your mind. And we get to choose what we meditate on. Reminds me of Philippians four verse eight, where Paul says to think about things, true, noble, excellent, praiseworthy, to think about those things. And there's some really brilliant studies that have been done with taking people who are struggling with anxiety, depression, OCD, and putting them in a control group, some of which just continued.

They continued to think whatever they wanted to think. Essentially, they meditated and ruminated on their own thoughts. And then another control group who meditated on positive thoughts. So we're not even talking about the weight of biblical truth here or spirit-drenched word of God. We're talking about people just meditating on things, just essentially positive thinking. And then obviously, I mean, to me it's quite obvious then the people who carried on in their own ruminations, they stayed the same, they even got worse.

people who spent, think it was maybe, it was under 10 minutes a day. I might've talked about this in a previous podcast. Those people saw a real improvement in their mindset, a reduction in anxiety, a reduction in depression. I'm not specifically sure with regards to OCD, but I'm pretty sure that there was a reduction in obsessive compulsive behaviors.

So what we meditate on, we magnify, what we think about really, really matters. I remember being right at the start of my Christian journey, early twenties, and reading good old Joyce Meyer. I know she's not everyone's cup of tea, but the battlefield of the mind, and it's brilliant. It was the first time I'd ever really understood. I don't have to think about what I think about. I can redirect my thoughts. I know now from a neuroscience point of view, that's called metacognition.

Jo Hargreaves (09:18.764)
the ability to stand outside of yourself, witness your thoughts and choose a better one. How wonderful. That's God's design. That's God's grace knitted into you. I say about neuroplasticity, it's God's grace knitted into you at a cellular level. That when we talk about being transformed, being renewed, being redeemed, even sanctification,

that can happen at a cellular level in order to be sanctified. It doesn't just happen to your spirit. It changes your thought patterns. It will change the wiring and firing of your brain. So Psalm one. I love this idea when it talks about being blessed. We're not like influence, influencer, hashtag blessed. It's not, it's the root, the root, the word Hebrew is asheray. Now there's probably some people who are like that is not how you say it.

let me tell you it's spelled A S H R E I I think or I R I E anyway, something like that. And it really means not a fleeting happiness. It's a deep rooted sense of joy. And I love that when we talk about meditation, the word here in this particular Psalm is horgor or it's written H A G H sorry, no, it's H A G A H and it's pronounced

Hoagor is in H-A-W-G-A-W. And it's got roots in agricultural language because it's like a cow chewing cud, because it's about chewing on something, dwelling on something. Hoagor is to murmur and mutter it under your breath. And I love that. I'm pretty sure I mentioned in a previous podcast, or maybe it was a podcast with somebody else, I have become, I think,

There's something wonderful about being over 40 and not really caring what people think about you anymore because I'm much more comfortable just muttering under my breath when I'm walking around town or walking around the shops. I'm horgoring to myself. Sometimes I'm saying, I have, I've spoken about this before because I talked about being in Psalm 23 and under my breath, I'm meditating on the law of the Lord. I'm meditating on it. I'm churning it over. saying, surely your goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life.

Jo Hargreaves (11:42.402)
I say it when I'm in a shop and I'm overwhelmed. I say it when I'm trying to ground myself. Surely, your goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Do you know, I think what keeps people stuck is thinking that biblical meditation is beyond them. It's for like a holy few who've really nailed this and they can sit there and transcend reality and just meditate on scripture.

That is not what I see from the biblical account of meditating on scripture at all. This is about taking the living and active word of God and integrating it into your everyday ordinary life. On the way to Aldi's, picking up the kids from school, sweeping the kitchen floor, sitting with your friends, whatever season of life you're in, in your singleness, in your marriages, in your friendship, whatever it is, is being able to take the word of God, take something that this Holy Spirit highlights for you.

Take a scripture, take a verse, take something that speaks to you and your situation right now and hog or churn it over. don't do it while you're running, do it while you're crocheting, do it while you're having a shower and shaving your legs. If you choose to shave your legs, give the caveat there. I mean, are there any men that listen to this podcast? If there is, I just kind of presume that this, that most women listen to this, but actually it's not true. I do hear.

I do hear men say that they listen to it. Actually, I heard an amazing story recently. In fact, I have my phone with me. Let me look at the message because I just loved receiving this. It said this, just wanted to share a joy with you. This afternoon, I had the privilege of praying a salvation prayer with a lovely guy called, and I won't give his name. He's been on an Alpha course. He's an NHS psychologist and psychiatrist or psychiatrist.

and he's been listening to your podcast. If you are listening, a huge, huge hello to you because that story brought my heart so much joy. Isn't it wonderful when we don't have to keep science and intelligence and thinking and understanding in one camp and then spirituality and God in the other, that we can submit all of these things.

Jo Hargreaves (14:02.324)
everything that we're learning about the brain, the wider nervous system, and we could submit them to God, the God who designed it, who planned it, who knitted us together. So if that's you, a huge, huge hello to you. I love that story. But the psalmist isn't telling us that meditation is about emptying your mind. It's about filling it, dwelling on God's truth until it shapes your whole life. I don't know about you.

I absolutely cannot be trusted to empty my mind. Some of the stuff that pops into my head sometimes, I've learned to deal with intrusive thoughts. I don't give them power anymore. I don't give them weight. There was a time where I honestly, I could make a joke about this, but it's honestly where I think, is that thought gonna cost me my salvation? That thought has just popped into my head in the middle of worship and it's so distressing, isn't it? Some intrusive thoughts can be so distressing.

I've learnt now just not to give them any power, to instead fill my mind with God's word. If something comes in, a thought comes in, I will just remind myself nothing can separate me from the love of God that's in Christ Jesus. If intrusive thoughts are a thing for you and you haven't listened to my podcast on that, do go and find there's a podcast on intrusive thoughts. And I hope that it just brings you a real sense of peace and grace, because I see that it really causes people distress.

But biblical meditation, it's not, we're not emptying our mind. Our brains don't work that way. Our brains need to be filled. Emptying your mind or attempting to empty your mind for me is like just leaving a toddler unattended. You can't do it. You can't do it. It just ends up with absolute carnage and you have to mop up afterwards. You have to fill it.

with the truth of God's word and your brain rewires based on what you repeat. So you get to choose and this is where we do get, we have to take some responsibility here. And I know it's difficult when our mind feels like a battlefield, but this is a hopeful narrative because if you constantly rehearse fear, shame, those pathways get stronger. That could be a hard truth to hear today, but it's a truth nonetheless.

Jo Hargreaves (16:24.29)
But the flip side is, the hopeful side is, because if you rehearse truth, love, hope, those get stronger instead. It's all to do with your reticular activating system, which is essentially your brain's filter. And so what you focus on, you'll see more of it. If you focus on God's goodness, you'll start noticing it more. And it impacts your default mode network. This is where overthinking happens. So meditation, especially biblical meditation, which is about filling your mind, helps

calm this default mode network and can pull us out of anxious loops and into a peaceful presence. Like I said, please don't see this as something else to add to your to-do list. Another thing you have to do to be a good Christian. It's not that it's a beautiful invitation to take something and bring it into your everyday life. You can chew it over, meditate on it, take a phrase.

You might want to bring it into a breath prayer, breathing in a scripture and breathing out a scripture. I've got in front of me, in fact, actually, I will link this in the show notes because if you, know loads of people know the Christian Post Company and Nick from the Christian Post Company, him and I have collaborated together. Well, I feel like I don't even understand how it's a collaboration actually, because Nick, bless you, you've done all the work. You've created this beautiful poster.

holy and whole. We created one before that had like gold foil on it. This one is, it's so gorgeous. It's floral and beautiful. It's got a huge hydrangea in the background. And it has the key verse that I anchor all of my work in. May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. So you might just want to take something like that and turn it into a breath prayer.

Breathing in, thank you God of peace and breathing out that you sanctify me through and through. Or breathing in, you're making me whole and then breathing out in my spirit, soul and body. You might just want to take that verse that when that narrative of I'm broken, I'm stuck, I'm so anxious, I'm so overwhelmed, that meditating, just taking that scripture and saying,

Jo Hargreaves (18:44.194)
that God is making me holy and whole in my spirit, soul and body. That is biblical meditation as well. That is taking scripture, biblical meditation. And what it does at a brain level is it interrupts an anxious thought loop. When we're stuck in that default mode network, the anxious thought loops, we need something to break us out.

When we're stuck in shut down or overwhelmed survival part of our brain, we need something to close that loop. I use this language with a lovely, lovely client the other day of, you know, people, I think it's on an Apple watch where you have to do enough steps to close your loop or enough sleep to close your loop. Often when we get caught in anxious states or depressed, numb states, the loop never closes. We just go round and round and round and round in a constant loop.

Biblical meditation helps you close a loop of overthinking, a loop of dysregulation and it all happens. Well, default mode network of the brain gets you grounded in your prefrontal cortex. Also, that's just reminded me, if this stuff floats your boat, I'm doing a webinar on the, it's on Thursday, but let me tell you what actual date that that is.

It is Thursday the 25th and I'm doing it with the very brilliant Dr. Lee Warren, self brain surgery. He's gonna talk about this from a brain surgeon's point of view. He's a disciple of Christ, he's a brain surgeon and we're gonna talk about this even more. But biblical meditation, doesn't mean, you don't have to gaslight yourself with God's word. You can.

Notice the state of your soul, just like David did in Psalm 42. You don't need to suppress it, but you do need to speak truth to it. You reframed it. David speaks about the state of his soul and then he reframes it. He goes on to say, I will yet praise him. It's not about pretending everything's fine. It's not about putting on a, I'm fine Christian smile. It's about giving your brain and your soul and your spirit and your synapses a new lens.

Jo Hargreaves (20:58.786)
that is rooted in God's word. And like I said at the beginning, some of us might have to settle our relationship with God's word. I know for some people, we interpret God's word through a lens of harshness, judgment. But I come back to love. Romans, nothing can separate us from the love of God that's in Christ Jesus. Ephesians, his love, high, wide, deep.

long and we know that when we focus on love our body creates oxytocin. Oxytocin negates the effects of cortisol which is what cortisol adrenaline we get flooded with when we're in a place of fear which is a beautiful biblical truth isn't it? Maybe I mention this on every single podcast it's my favourite thing I've ever learned and I really believe the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit showed it to me and then I went and researched it and said, Holy Spirit you were right! Well of course!

But the oxytocin negates the effects of cortisol. Perfect love casts out fear as we read in 1 John 14. So what you meditate on, you magnify. We can magnify our problems or we can magnify God's promises. I know that that sounds really quippy and a nice easy thing to say, but it's true. It's true. So I guess I ask you the question today, what are you focusing on? What are you going to choose to magnify? What scripture can you read that you're going to

Churn it over, mutter it under your breath, let you ruminate on it, meditate on it. If you know how to worry, if you know how to overthink, if you know how to catastrophize, then you know how to do biblical meditation. It's the same pathways, the same principles. It's taking something and churning it over, chewing it over, meditating on it, ruminating on it. And so I just want to pray. I want to pray, Lord, that you would keep our minds steadfast.

as you say, that those whose minds have stayed fixed on you, that we will know peace. Would you help us meditate on your word? Would you help us solve and settle some of our own issues maybe with your word in a way that doesn't feel like cognitive dissonance, but in which we can really honour your word and really see it for what it is, the living and active word of God. Would your word bring us peace to our spirit, our soul and our synapses?

Jo Hargreaves (23:24.13)
I pray that in Jesus' name, amen. Hey, I really hope this is helpful. It's always my heart that this is helpful and hopeful to you. Ways that you can keep in touch, you can come and join that webinar. You can sign up to Substack. I have a free version of Substack in which I send out newsletters and resources. Then I have the Faithfield Collective, which is a monthly subscription. This is a women only thing, controversial, think, even to say that statement in and of itself, but I'm saying it, it's a women's only.

subscription group, it's £22 a month. That works out as just over £5 a week. And we do a monthly call. We have a real time supportive community based in WhatsApp. We have Substack, stuff going on in Substack, the monthly group call. You always get a reserved place on the webinar. We do a monthly journal room. There's all kinds of things going on over there. So you can sign up to that via Substack. I'm going to put all of that stuff in the show notes. But bless you.

I'm going to be horgoring my way around meditating on God's word. Hope that you'll join me and I really hope that it will bring you peace, spirit, soul and body. In the next episode of this podcast, I'm going to be talking about what actually happens in your brain when you meditate on God's word. Talk about, we're talking about your amygdala. We talk the fear center of your brain. We're going to be talking about the default mode network, the reticular activating system, and I'm going to really land that stuff.

in a way that's easy to understand. I mean, it's very likely that you're listening to this and you know more about it than I do, but let me share with you what I know with always the hope that it's helpful and beneficial to you. Bless you and see you next time.