Think Different: Q&A with Jennie Allen

What are toxic thought patterns and what does the Bible say about them? A Q&A with Jennie Allen Think Different: Q&A with Jennie Allen What if the greatest spiritual battle of our generation is taking place in the space between our ears? Does how we think actually shape how we live? What are toxic thinking patterns and what does the Bible say about them? Our friends at Bible Gateway sat down with Jennie Allen, Bible teacher and author of Get Out of Your Head: A Study of Philippians, and asked a few questions. If you're dealing with things like anxiety, worry, fear, shame, doubt, or self-condemnation, the Get Out of Your Head study with Jennie Allen could be the study for you! We hope you will join us for our summer OBS starting June 22nd. Here's Jennie with more... Why do you write, “The greatest spiritual battle of our generation is being fought between our ears”? Jennie Allen: What we believe and what we think about matters, and the enemy knows it! And he’s determined to get in our heads to distract us from doing good and to sink us so deep that we feel helpless, overwhelmed, shut down, and incapable of rising to make a difference for the kingdom of God. Even if we’re one of those who won’t be shut down and we’re loving God and people as we go, a million toxic thoughts haunt us each step of the way. What does the Bible mean when it says “take every thought captive” and “be transformed by the renewal of your mind”? Jennie Allen: My deep dive into the inner workings of the brain confirmed what the Bible says: we can take every thought captive (2 Corinthians 10:5). Not only can our thoughts be changed, but we can be the ones to change them. With each positive choice we make—stillness instead of distraction, for example, or community instead of isolation, or surrender instead of anxiety—we’re training ourselves to use the mind of Christ that we have (1 Corinthians 2:14-16). The more we make these positive choices, the more reflexive that approach becomes. We said that at first such a shift is possible through consciously, deliberately interrupting our spirals. But as we practice more, that shift becomes probable and then predictable and then utterly instinctive to us. Eventually we get to the place where we don’t even realize we’re interrupting our negative thinking in order to choose mind-of-Christ thinking, because the impulse has become so ingrained. What is the thought that can successfully interrupt every negative thought pattern? Jennie Allen: I have a choice. If you’ve trusted in Jesus as your Savior, you have the power of God in you to choose! You’re no longer a slave to sin, to passions, to lusts, to strongholds (Romans 6:18). You have a God-given, God-empowered, God-redeemed choice regarding what you think about. You have a choice regarding where you focus your energy. You have a choice regarding what you live for. We’re not subject to our behaviors, genes, or circumstances. We’re not subject to our passions, lusts, or emotions. We’re not subject to our thoughts. We have a choice because we’re conquerors who possess weapons to destroy strongholds. How does what we think reflect what we believe about God? Jennie Allen: Let’s say I tend to feel worthless and invisible. And let’s say I read Ephesians and learn that God says he chose me as an adopted child and I’m deeply loved (Ephesians 1:5). Even if I don’t overtly deny the validity of that premise, I still doubt it’s true for me. I nod at the truth, but I never fully absorb it and believe it to be true of my identity. Then let’s say I’m married to a spouse who’s typically distracted with work. I don’t feel seen in our marriage, which confirms my deep-seated fear that I’m indeed worthless and invisible. So even in the most inconsequential of arguments with my husband, I feel anxious and start to spin every time he’s short with me. I can’t see all that he has on his shoulders—I can’t empathize with his stresses—and my needs exceed his ability to ever meet them. Before long we’re full-on fighting constantly and don’t even know why. My husband now has become the enemy in my mind and can’t ever seem to say what I need to hear or be whom I need him to be. And the spiral of my thoughts has now invaded my relationships and robbed me of joy and peace. No human is ever meant to be the person who fills our souls or holds in place our worth. Only God can do that. But until I throw off the lie that God’s love isn’t for me, my emotions, decisions, behaviors, and relationships will remain twisted up in the mistaken belief that I’m worthless. When we begin to think about our thoughts, perhaps for the first time, we can stop the downward spiral. We can reset and redirect them. That’s our hope. Not that we’d wrestle each and every fear, but that we’d allow God to take up so much space in our thinking that our fears will shrink in comparison. How can our thoughts be wholly consumed by the mind of Christ? Jennie Allen: No self-generated declaration—loud and passionate though it may be—can accomplish these interventions. Instead, we need a complete transformation: our minds exchanged for the mind of Christ. We were not made to think more good thoughts of ourselves. We were made to experience life and peace when we think less about ourselves and more about our Creator and about others. “Seek first the kingdom,” Jesus said (Matthew 6:33). The greatest commandments? “Love God and love others” (Mark 12:30-31). Nothing there about loving yourself more. The only true self-help is for us as followers of Jesus to believe who we are as daughters and sons of the king of the universe and to know that our identity was secured by the shed blood of God’s own Son. When we believe that about ourselves, we think less about ourselves and more about the mission we’ve been given to love God and the people God puts in front of us, no matter our circumstances. What is a favorite Bible passage of yours and why? Jennie Allen: Romans 8. The answer is Jesus. ⁣With the chaos in the world and the chaos in our souls, we have no other hope. It’s Him. Your Turn Friends, You're invited to join our online community for the Get Out of Your Head OBS with Jennie Allen, based on her New York Times bestselling book. In this six-week study through the book of Philippians we'll learn to put on the mind of Christ. Freedom comes when we refuse to be victims to our thoughts and realize we have already been equipped with power from God to fight and win the war for our minds. Sign up today to learn more and get all the free resources and session one downloads!   LEARN MORE Stop the Spiral of Toxic Thoughts and Be Strengthened in Your Mind and Heart  GET OUT OF YOUR HEAD: A Study in Philippians Online Bible Study by Jennie Allen starts June 22   You can go through this study with our online community, or invite a few friends, co-workers, or family members and meet with them online or in small gatherings. Join now to receive: 1) FREE access to all 6 video sessions with Jennie 2) Jennie Allen’s Thought Assessment Guide 3) A free download of the first session of the study guide workbook 4) Beautiful Scripture printables of Philippians 4 verses  Watch the Video with Jennie    Watch Now Exclusive Savings for OBS Participants Get Out of Your Head: A Study in Philippians Save 40% off the study guide Regular - $14.99  Sale  $8.99 each + free U.S. shipping with code GRACE now through 5/31/2020  SHOP NOW   Are your thoughts holding you captive? Jennie Allen knows what it’s like to swirl in a spiral of destructive thoughts, such as I’ll never be good enough. Other people have better lives than I do. God couldn’t really love me. But Jennie also knows we don’t have to stay stuck in toxic thinking patterns. As she discovered in her own life, God built a way for us to escape that downward spiral. Freedom comes when we refuse to be victims to our thoughts and realize we have already been equipped with power from God to fight and win the war for our minds. In Get Out of Your Head, a six-session video-based Bible study, Jennie inspires and equips us to transform our emotions, our outlook, and even our circumstances by taking control of our thoughts. Our enemy is determined to get in our heads to make us feel helpless, overwhelmed, and incapable of making a difference for the kingdom of God. But when we submit our minds to Christ, the promises and goodness of God flood our lives in remarkable ways. 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