Inner Healing: Prescriptions For Medication And Meditation

Every day I work with people who experience physical and emotional pain. While I can’t prescribe their medication, I do prescribe meditation.

Woman meditating, with medication on her belly — Image generated by Gregory T. Smith on Open.AI

Bertha’s story:

A few years ago, I paid a pastoral visit to Bertha (not her real name) in the hospital. She impressed me by the way she bore up under the pain of her medical treatments. Bertha told me, “I heard the Lord say in my mind, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So, I began repeating it over and over in my mind, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you. I will never leave you nor forsake you. I will never leave you nor forsake you.’”

Bertha continued, “The doctor came in and told me that he was going to give me some morphine for pain. I told him, ‘If this is as bad as it’s going to get, I don’t need anything.’” She went on to tell me that she felt it was because she had been repeating this scripture that she had experienced less pain than the doctor expected she would have.

Hitting the Nail on the Head

Even though Bertha didn’t know it, she was practicing meditation—the repetition of sacred truth in the heart. Christians often call it “Scripture memorization,” when they repeat Bible verses over and over. The only difference between memorization and meditation is that the goal of the former is to get the Word into your head, while the goal of the latter is to get the Word into your heart. Either way, the process is the same—repeating a verse over and over, like driving a long nail into a thick piece of wood. Sometimes our hearts are a bit thick and wooden, and it takes repeated pounding to make God’s Word sink in.

Good for the Body and the Soul

Many people know that practicing meditation is good for the soul and spirit—but did you know that it’s good for the body as well? Healthline offers an article, “12 Science-Based Benefits of Meditation,” detailing such benefits as stress reduction, anxiety control, attention span, reduction of age-related memory loss, assistance with addictions, improved sleep, control of pain and hypertension, and more. Every day, science continues to prove the physical benefits of meditation. Christians would do well to adopt the practice.

Jesus’s followers often describe God as a Trinity of heavenly Parent, Child, and Holy Spirit. We believe that God created humanity in the divine image. That makes us a trinity of body, soul, and spirit—and a strong connection exists between these three. Meditation unites these three aspects of the human being, reintegrating damaged connections between psyche, spirituality, and physical health.

When Jesus healed a person’s body, He also ministered to their soul and spirit. By making the soul and spirit healthy, He also worked toward the well-being of the body. The goals of Christian meditation are holiness and wholeness—two words and two concepts inseparable from one another. Meditation was making my hospitalized friend holy, but it was also making her whole. Bertha was nurturing her soul and spirit, but God’s Word was also healing her body.

A Prescription for Meditation

I’m not a doctor, so I can’t write prescriptions for medication. But when people came to me for pastoral counseling, I often prescribed meditation. It makes a person holy and whole—inside and out. By no means am I against medication—it can do a tremendous job at controlling a person’s chemical needs in the body. But I’ve also found that meditation has some of the same helpful attributes, yet without all the side effects. This is not to say that people should not take helpful medication when they need it. God gave us doctors and pharmacists to help us through our medical problems. But I have known people who require lower doses because meditation has helped them so much.

Now, as a Behavioral Health Specialist, I’ve prescribed meditation for people in need of pain management, substance use disorder, hypertension, ADHD, PTSD, autism, anxiety disorders, and much more. When taken in tandem with medical and psychiatric care, meditation can assist medication to help a person reach a place of wholeness.

Bertha would tell you the benefits of meditation—the repetition of scripture—for both the wholeness and holiness of your being. Why not try meditation today? Take just a verse, a phrase, or even a word from the Bible, and use it as your short prayer. As you breathe deeply, repeat the Word slowly, over, and over in your heart. Invite it to transform you. Allow it to heal you inside and out.