Let’s look at Jennie Allen’s “Get Out of Your Head: A Study in Philippians” part 1

To listen to this post click here.

Anybody ever tell you to “get out of your head”?

What does that mean? What does it mean that you’re in your head? What does that look like? How do you get out of your head what does that look like?

So I asked the world’s Bible -Google-what it means to get out of your head- “idioms by the free dictionary.com says getting out of your head means- manage to forget someone or something; to stop thinking about or wanting someone or something. As a Christian woman, I’m thinking (is this a bad thing that I’m thinking since it is in my head…?) I’m thinking… well, by that definition being in my head doesn’t seem so bad especially, if I were to say that I WANT to constantly be thinking about Christ and God’s Word. I want to be like the Psalmist who says 

Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day. Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the aged,  for I keep your precepts. I hold back my feet from every evil way, in order to keep your word. I do not turn aside from your rules,  for you have taught me. How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way. Psalm 119:97-104

Now I read this section of Psalms 119 to show how meditating on God’s law and His Word benefited the Psalmist. In fact all of Psalm 119 is about God’s Word and how it sanctifies and causes us to walk in faith, in righteousness, in humility, in joy, etc. But I will leave that discussion for a following episode.

But I think When people talk about getting out of your head or being in your head it implies that you are thinking negative thoughts, which affect your mood and behavior, that you should get rid of. Or perhaps it can mean you over think things, or are ruled by fear and anxiety.

Everybody experiences negative thoughts about themselves, about others, about life, and about the world in general. And women are especially prone to this due to our relational nature, and the hormonal by-products of our body. And this is also why women have a higher rate of being diagnosed with anxiety than men do.  Scientific American.com states: “The lifetime rate of diagnosis of anxiety disorders is higher in women, with 33 percent experiencing an anxiety disorder in their lifetime, as compared with 22 percent of men. Experts believe this difference arises from a combination of hormonal fluctuations, brain chemistry and upbringing: women more often feel responsible for the happiness of others, such as their children or their spouse.”(scientificamerican.com article titled: “anxiety disorders more common in women”-July 1st 2013).

And this is why Jenny Allen wrote her study “Get Out of Your Head: A Study in Philippians”. Her book claims to be a study in Philippians accomplished in six sessions. Miss Allen makes a claim that this is a Bible study or at least a study in the book of Philippians. Because of this, these types of studies are bought in bulk by Churches, to which the laity then purchases the book and attends the weekly study in Sunday School or separate Ministry classes.

I decided for this critique, to attend the classes along with reading the book. So this book took me a lot longer to critique because of the 6-week classes I attended.

I want to add a little caveat here-where I attended the classes is not my home Church. The classes were held for a women’s ministry under a Calvary Chapel Church. I myself no longer hold to some of the foundational teachings from Calvary Chapel. But I did grow up attending Calvary Chapel churches with my parents and later on with my husband. I had a very interesting Church Life as a child,teen, and young adult. But that’s a story for another time.

So having attended several Calvary chapels across the United States, yes, I said across the United States, I know what to expect in attending women’s ministry under these churches. And I want to say this: though I do not agree with some of their foundational understandings of biblical doctrine it is always a pleasure to meet with women,who like me, are in Hope of studying God’s word and diving deeper into it.

If you have actually been following me and listening to my podcast from the beginning which is not very long-then you have probably grasped by now, how important I feel doctrine is. Especially grasping right doctrine, understanding it, and how right doctrine affects what we believe, strengthening our faith in God, making life more joyful. And this is what Philippians is about: the joy of the Lord, the joy that comes, despite any circumstance, from knowing and understanding Christ and his word. So of course going into these studies I was intrigued as to how she would handle scripture and what ” getting out of our heads” had to do with having the joy of the Lord.

Now each session is to be done in a week which includes an introductory video, which we can watch at home (through an app called RightNow Media), we are then instructed to read the Scripture selected, answer the in depth questions, and end with weekly projects that she encourages us to accomplish believing they will help us absorb and live out the teachings we receive from this study. 

So now that I have laid all this out we can dive into session 1.

SESSION 1- INTRODUCTION SPIRALING OUT

In Mrs Allen’s introduction she starts out by describing the first time she taught on this. She had placed on a white board the question “What are you thinking about?” and underneath were sticky notes with certain topics to which she asked the women in the group to identify those that consumed their thoughts. Topics such as: other’s opinions, finances, news, holidays, etc. And what she discovered in this little experiment was that many of the topics chosen were negative versus the positive, those such as: choosing joy, strength, and good memories, etc. that remained on the whiteboard. And this is where she then introduces the “spiral”.

She claims that the spiral begins with assumptions, leading to emotions, leading to beliefs, leading to actions, leading to habits which have consequences: 

“Now, I’ve got to tell you, based on what these women indicated they were thinking about, I pretty much knew what assumptions they were making. Assumptions such as ‘if people knew how badly I’d failed, they’d never loved me and my worth comes from my ability to be perfect. No wonder I am not worthy of much.’ As a result of those assumptions, emotions surface: frustration, anger, despondency, hopelessness, embarrassment, inadequacy, shame. From those emotions, beliefs begin to form: I’ll never thrive in my career. I’ll never be good enough. I’ll never be accepted and loved. I’ll never get out of debt. We spiral down and down.

From those beliefs, actions are taken: we numb our pain. We will hide our fear. We will fake our happiness. We will ‘armor up’. Those actions over time form habits, which craft the lifestyles that shape our days. “(Page 11)

All throughout this study she will return to this Spiral over and over again, using it to describe how we can correct our thinking by applying the weapons she believes Philippians gives. We’ll get into those weapons in sessions 3 & 4. 

Mrs. Allen says “…we don’t simply need our spiraling thoughts to stop; we need our minds to be redeemed” that “the one who sets her mind on Christ, better yet realizes that she has already been given the mind of Christ, and therefore, is deeply and intrinsically motivated and moved by an entirely different source. Not only do I make Jesus happy, but I find my complete happiness in Him. These are truths that if we could only believe, would change everything”(pg 14-15).

She is completely right in this, our minds do need to be redeemed as Paul tells us in Romans 12:1-2: I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Let’s look at this verse before we dive in because, I believe, it has implications into what we’re going to be looking at as we go along in this study. So we can see what Paul believes is the foundation of spiritual worship- the renewing of our minds. Because we renew our minds we are able to test what is the will of God, and therefore present our bodies to that will, which is always good, acceptable, and perfect. But to renew our minds we must first believe the Gospel. We must first believe that we are great sinners who are enemies of God, yet while we were enemies God sent His Son to perfectly obey the Law, die on the Cross for all of our sins, and be raised on the third day conquering sin, death, and the devil. And He now calls all people to repent of their sins and put their faith and trust in His work, there-by giving us His righteousness and taking on our sins, so that we may receive the Holy Spirit and no longer walk in the flesh but in His Spirit. And now because of the Gospel we can have His Spirit and renew our minds in His Word. This is how our minds are redeemed. 

But first, Jennie wants to let us know why “redeeming” our minds is important.

Mrs. Allen warns us that “It  is possible to waste our lives if we never learn to take our thoughts captive. Your thoughts produce actions that echo out into eternity. If you shut down because of the noise in your head, untold generations of kingdom builders could be missed”(pg 15)).- Now, I get why she says this, because in a way she is right that our thoughts will direct our actions, but in all truth it is God that builds His kingdom, and that; through the proclamation of the Gospel (Rom. 10:14). The Gospel is a message that does not depend on our spiraling thoughts, and therefore the growth of the kingdom does not depend on me making sure I take every thought captive. But my sanctification does depend on my thoughts. And yes, our sanctification involves our love toward others, which affects those in and out of the Kingdom of God. But this is where I’m kind of starting to roll my eyes…

And so… she says we have a choice: the choice of living with these thoughts or the choice to no longer be a victim to our thoughts and fight the enemies of our minds. These are what she claims are the enemies of our minds; Self-Importance, Noise, Cynicism, Isolation, Complacency, Victimhood, and Anxiety (pg. 16). Now here’s my question: Should these things be considered ENEMIES? Or are they sins? That if we confess them and preach the Gospel to ourselves we may overcome them? Or is it like she says, that they are enemies, which make us not culpable, and therefore we need to develop strategies, aka weapons, to fight these enemies? These are just some of the questions I am keeping in mind as I go through her study.

“God gave you a choice…you are free to live as a child and therefore an heir of God.”(pg16)-once again will she point us to our sins and tell us to trust in Christ in which we have perfect righteousness making us children of God. Because we are in Christ, we are heirs. Our actions do not make us children but are a result of being children.

At this point I had this side thought: Since Philippians is about rejoicing in Christ, do we gain contagious Joy from following the example of Jesus or do we gain contagious Joy from meditating on Jesus and what he’s done leading to Joy in being like Jesus? I’m thinking especially of having Joy during suffering because we can count it all joy when faced with trials because Jesus faced trials. So then the joy comes not from following the example of Jesus but knowing Jesus and sharing in all his life?

In the first session she gives a background into the epistle written for the Philippians. A promising way to start a bible study. So I’m back to smiling at this point. She also encourages that Scripture will engage the mind and the heart, “the goal of the study is to dig deeply into scripture and uncover how it applies to your life to deeply engage the mind and the Heart”(pg7).

Now after a short 2 and a half pages of background into the epistle she goes directly into a project to explore our own thoughts. She guides us into completing what she calls a mind map, and then asks questions such as “ If you were to make one shift in the way you think, what would it be?”(pg.25). Seven pages are spent on thinking about and exegeting our thoughts. And that’s where my smile starts to slowly turn into a blank expression. But perhaps session 2 will bring back the smile.

To end session 1 she instructs us to memorize one of the most incredibly theological statements that expressed Christ humility and love for us. Philippians chapter 2 verses 5 to 11. And I heartily support this.

SESSION 2- MAKE THE SHIFT

“Are you ready for a Shift” Jennie Allen asks.

Do you ever wonder why some Christians, despite their circumstances, are full of joy? Or how Paul, writing from jail in Rome, can claim to rejoice in Christ even in the midst of his suffering?

These thoughts, she says, beg the question: “What are you looking toward that makes you happy?” (pg 32). This reveals what we are living for. And too many times these things, instead of making us happy, cause fear and anxiety. Why? Because we put trust in them to make us happy instead of God.

“You see, if God is good, and loving, and in control, you can put your head on your pillow even with chaos swirling and the people you love out of your control, because you know him and you know he has them, and he has you. He has all of it. Now, this is easier preached and harder lived, …Change is difficult and may come slow – after all, these are ingrained thoughts and entangled sins. But because we have been made new creations, we have the spirit’s power and a choice to make. Changing our minds is possible. We do not have to spin”(pg 32). -I love that she identifies this. Because she’s right, God has ALL of it. He is Sovereign over everything (Col.1:16-17). Just a study on God’s Sovereignty can ease most fears and anxiety that we women go through. So knowing God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit will affect what we believe, think and do. And I love that she identifies that thoughts that are the result of a lack of knowing God are entangled sins, but does she believe that? Will she show and proclaim how these thoughts are sin? For everything that is not from faith is sin (Rom. 14:23).

And so she say that “getting out of our own heads begins with understanding our position in Christ”(pg.38) and then quotes 3 Scripture verses in regards to our position in Christ: 1Corin. 12:27; 1Corin. 2:16; and 2Corin. 5:20. “The more we understand our position with Christ, in Christ, through Christ, the less we try hard and the more we surrender” (pg 39). Ok, so I agree with some of this, because she points to our POSITION in Christ, without knowing Christ Himself, as Paul said that he presumed to know nothing among the Corinthians but Christ and Him crucified, for this very reason (1Corin.2:2).

Just like all relationships one does not trust another person based on what OUR position may be in relation to them . But our security, belief, trust, and change of mind comes from getting to know that person. We come to know Christ by His Word. Just thinking I am in Christ’s body or I have His mind will not renew the mind. Without knowing Him we will not understand what those verses entail/mean. In essence we will not know how to be like him, that includes our thoughts.

Now this is where she describes the downward spiral we can get into if our thoughts are not set on Christ. And I will do my best to describe it for you as you cannot see the picture she has included. 

Imagine a drawing of an arrow that looks like a stretched out slinky. With each coil she has these 5 words. At the top there is the word “emotion”, which spirals down to the word “thought”, spiraling down to the word “behavior”, then to “relationships” and finally the word “consequence”. And this is how she believe our thoughts spiral downward. She then contrasts this spiral with one spiraling upward, with the same words, but “emotions” is at the bottom and “consequences” at the top.

Now I think her spiral is correct, but only for those who walk in the flesh. Our flesh is guided by our emotions and desires. But to walk in the Spirit is to be guided by the renewing of our minds as Paul said. To do this we must be studying God’s Word, there-by discerning God’s good and pleasing will, and walking in it. So our Spirit is not guided by our emotions, but by every thought that is made to obey Christ (2 Corin. 10:5).

Knowing Christ changes our admiration and love of him resulting in thoughts that are about him and trust him. Resulting in desires to behave and be like him in our knowledge, thoughts, emotions, and actions. Resulting in producing the fruits of the Spirit. Resulting in relationships guided by love and serving like Christ. Resulting in gospel centered life, gospel centered speech, peace, Joy, and  trust in God.

“This spiral starts with a stance of surrender towards God that reminds us we are His, He is working through us, and we have a choice. so, when we’re faced with the emotion that threatens to send us downward, we take hold of one thought : I have a choice.”(pg 42)-I would say the upward spiral should start with a foundation of Christ. Knowing him, reading and learning about him, faith in Him.  Then when our emotions threaten to send us downward we could take hold of this thought- I have Christ.

In this session she will introduce a study to which we are to read another passage of Scripture and answer these 2 questions: “Who Are You, Lord?” and “What do you want for Me?”. In each session that has this activity, I feel, is very lacking. Now, please know that I believe ALL Scripture is profitable, so I would never say that reading any section of scripture is useless. So that’s not what I mean by lacking. I believe that her choice of passage should have included the verses that came before or after as every single passage she asks us to read includes beautiful teachings on what God and Christ has done FOR us. I will explain this for each session. 

So for this session she has us read Rom 8:5-11. And remember we’re to ask what that passage explains about who God is and what He wants for us. Specifically, Rom. 8:5-11 goes into contrasting the mind set on the flesh verses the mind set on the Spirit. So I grasp why she included this passage. It really does reveal a lot about who God is and what he wants for us. But if she had included the verses starting back in verse 1 we would have read more about what God wanted for us that He PROVIDED, that Christ set us free from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,  in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (verses 3-4). The righteous requirement- that includes thoughts and emotions- was fulfilled by Christ, and any thoughts that are not a result of faith, Christ condemned and died for. Meaning all God sees are Christ’s thoughts (the mind of Christ), if we are walking, in faith, by the Spirit.

Mrs. Allen says, “The people who stand out to me are the ones who have chosen  to trust Jesus more than trusting their ability to make everything work out fine. These heroes of the faith are not subject to their own thoughts. They are not subject to their feelings. They believe in one chief aim and with every ounce of their power, they are working to think about Christ”(pg 42).

The question is: If Christ is what we should take every ounce of power to focus on, will He be proclaimed in this study? Paul proclaims Him in Philippians, but will Jennie’s teaching be focused on Him? Or will they be more focused on us and what we need to do to fight the downward spiral?

So, while we’re only in the beginning of this I had positive and negative things to say. So I got a bit of mixed emotions.There’s a lot more talk about Christ and she mentions being entangled in sins. She acknowledges that the problem is ingrained thoughts and entangled sins and her solution is reminding us that we were made New creations in Christ Jesus, have the spirit’s power, and can make a choice and because of this changing our minds is possible.

What I wish would have been discussed was to talk about repentance as changing our minds. In repentance we go from following the desires of the flesh to acknowledging that those desires are sinful and against God and agreeing that What God says in scripture is true. This is what the Bible talks about with changing our minds or renewing our minds. Repentance is at the foundation of that. Because we are at enmity with God denying him in our thoughts.For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.(Rom 8:7-8) By the spirit and by reading his word we change our minds or repent of this hostility and direct our thoughts towards acknowledging him and his ways.

 I’m encouraged by the Scripture study questions and her pointing to Christ, but am curious about whether she will identify certain thoughts and behaviors as sin (which she identifies as enemies of our mind), to which we should repent and trust in Christ and His atonement for those sins. And then I also question whether she will rely more on psychology than Christ as the weapons to fight the enemies of our mind? We shall see…

So until next time…  I pray you are in God’s Word.

MelbaToast