The Apostle Paul commands us to take every thought
captive. But what does that really mean, especially
in our day? With commercials coming on, radio
over here, TV over here, and you're bombarded
by information. How do we guard our thoughts
from the toxic things that enter our mind and
destroy our relationship with God? That's today.
Don't go away. Welcome to this edition of Living
on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Our mission is
to inspire Christians to be genuine followers
of Jesus and to empower them to be active disciple
makers in our world. Well, as many of you know,
Chip's our regular Bible teacher for this daily
program. But today he's passing the microphone
to his friend, Jenny Allen, to share her series,
Get Out of Your Head. But before she gets going,
Chip's here in studio now. And Chip, you wanted
to jump in here and talk a bit more about Jenny
and why you're so eager for our listeners to
hear from her. Well, for those that don't know
Jenny Allen, you need to get to know her. And
one of our commitments here at Living on the
Edge is we want the Bible to be relevant to every
audience, to every group, so we could take the
Word of God, put it in our hearts, and live out
our faith. I mean, we're committed to helping
Christians live like Christians. And when I see
what's happening in our culture, one of my personal
passions is for the next generation. And Jenny
is a teacher of God's Word. We happen to go to
the same seminary. She has a ministry to women
called the If Gathering. She's become not only
a great speaker, but an author. And I just wanted,
especially the women. to hear what Jenny has
to say, because they're being so bombarded by
toxic thoughts in the culture that we live in.
And I will have to say that, though I had women
in mind, it has been a great help to me, and
there's not a man that will listen to this series
that Jenny's going to teach for us that won't
walk away going, well, women may struggle with
that, but I do too. Great setup, Chip. Well,
I hope all of you will join us for each part
of this series because we really believe you'll
be encouraged by what Jenny's going to talk about.
One last thing before we get to Jenny, let me
encourage you to get our message notes. They
contain Jenny's brief outline, all the scripture
she references, and more. These notes will really
help you remember what you hear and maybe even
share what you're learning. Download them under
the broadcasts tab at livingontheedge .org. App
listeners tap fill in notes. Okay, if you're
ready, here's our guest teacher, Jenny Allen,
to kick off this series with her talk, Taking
Every Thought Captive. I believe in the power
of God to absolutely not just save our souls,
but change our lives. I've seen him do this for
other people, and I have seen him do this in
me. And I want to tell you a story about why
this project, Get Out of Your Head, is so important
to me. I believe we are at war. I believe that
the enemy is coming for us. And I'm sorry, if
you just clicked on this and you're like, what
is this? What enemy? I am a Christian, and I
believe the Bible, and the Bible is pretty clear
that there is an enemy to God, and there is an
enemy to us. And his desire is to kill, steal,
and destroy. And one of the main ways I'm watching
him do that in our generation is through our
minds. In John 8, it talks about the enemy, and
Jesus actually describes him and says he is the
father of lies, that when he speaks, he lies,
and that is who he is. And so I have watched
this person after person after person. has believed
these lies. And here's the thing, not even realize
that they are lies. That's the hard part. Eventually
you start to believe they're just true and you're
dwelling on them. And our minds are a mess. Our
minds are discouraged. Our minds are distracted.
Our minds are exhausted. And I believe there's
a way out. In fact, so many of you struggle with
anxiety and depression. So many of you struggle
with mental illness or somebody that you know
struggles with mental illness. And I want to
address this right up front, that mental illness
can be a physical issue. It can be a chemical
issue that needs medicine. And medicine is a
gift from God and counseling is a gift from God.
But I also believe there's another component
to this. And I want to start by reading a few
verses in 2 Corinthians 10. It's verses three
through six. For though we walk in the flesh,
we are not waging war against the flesh. And
I want to say this because I think some of us
stop at the obvious things. We stop at the physical
response and we stop at the emotional response
rather than realizing there is another thing
happening. And it is a spiritual war that is
waging against us. And it's not a flesh. There
was a season of attack that came that was quiet,
that was subtle, that I barely noticed, honestly.
And it came every night at 3 a .m. And it was
doubt that filled my mind and it beat me up for
month upon month. And the bad part was, is I
didn't even realize it was happening. I was at
war with the devil in the night and I never said
it out loud. I never told anybody what was happening
for 18 months. Now, fast forward, I finally do
mention it to people. And then second I did,
my first thought was, oh my gosh, I have been
under spiritual attack. duh. I mean, it was obvious,
but I didn't see it because I was not guarding
my mind because I did not live with this reality
that the enemy could be lying to me at any minute,
that at any minute he could be whispering a lie
to me that I thought was true and that I walked
in and believed in and built thought patterns,
toxic spirals around. And that's exactly what
happened. There was a cost. And it was to my
faith. And what a great strategic move of the
enemy to go after my faith. But everything shifted.
And I believe that every single one of you listening,
in some way, that enemy is as real to you. And
those lies are as real to you. in the middle
of this project. In fact, it was even before
the project began. I was walking outside. It
was a beautiful day and I was all by myself and
I was praying for our generation. I do this.
I pray for individuals, but I also pray for our
generation. I always think about us getting to
heaven together. And I think about all the people
I lead and the people the church is leading right
now around the world. And I just want us to do
so well in our time. I want our time to matter.
And as I was praying about our generation, God
brought to mind these enemies that are attacking
our generation uniquely. And I wrote them down.
I pulled over on the side of the track I was
walking on and I typed them up. And it was seven
things that I saw coming for our generation.
And we're going to talk about these seven things.
And I'm telling you, you know, it's everything
from cynicism to noise to victimhood. There's
a plethora of things coming for us. But I think
in our generation, we're looking at some unique
things that have plagued our minds and that has
robbed us of the effectiveness that we could
have. for the kingdom of God. I'm gonna give
you a lot of science in this season because in
my studies of the brain, you cannot deny the
power of God and the thing he built in our minds
when you read the science of it. It all backs
up the Bible. It's crazy. All of these truths
that the Bible says, like take every thought
captive, that we have power over our thoughts.
All of these truths. They are spelled out in
science. It's true. We can change our minds.
And I want to read you the rest of this verse
in 2 Corinthians 10. For the weapons of warfare
are not of the flesh, but have divine power to
destroy strongholds. Guys, in these verses, The
author of Corinthians, who's Paul, is saying
we have power to destroy strongholds. So many
of you are stuck in strongholds. That's why this
matters so much. It's not because of the little
bitty lie about your identity or about your worth.
It's because that lie over time adds up. And
so back to the science part, 80 % of our thoughts
are negative. 95 % of our thoughts, you thought
them yesterday. They're repetitive. And so we're
thinking repetitive, negative thoughts every
day of our life. And guess what those build?
Strongholds. They actually change our brains.
They change our chemistry. Our physical brains
change. Now, yes, I believe in medicine and counseling.
And no, I do not think you can just change your
thoughts and all of a sudden be out of mental
illness. But I absolutely believe that in disciplining
and training our thoughts, that it can eventually
over time change our minds. That's science. Not
just for those of us that believe in science,
but those of us that believe in God. He says
that... Our warfare is not of the flesh. It is
of the spirit and that we have divine power to
destroy strongholds. So something about the power
that God gives us, if you know the Lord Jesus
Christ, and if you don't, I hope by the end of
the season, you will. But something about knowing
the Lord Jesus Christ and believing in the power
of the gifts and the power and authority he's
given us, we have the power to destroy strongholds.
Now, authority, that is something that I didn't
realize that I had. most of my life. I was a
victim to my mind and I didn't understand that
God had given me authority over my thoughts and
I could change them. And I'm telling you, let
me fast forward to my story today and tell you
that there are still, in fact, last night I woke
up at 4 a .m., but let me tell you what I do
now when I wake up. I do not let the enemy have
an inch. I don't let him have a second of my
mind. I notice it now. I see when I start to
spiral or think negative thoughts about God,
about my life, and I interrupt it and I say,
no. Like, and I mean, y 'all, I've gotten all
charismatic in my bedroom. Like I'm waving my
arms and like, get out of here. Like I know what
I'm up against and I'm clear about it. And I
speak with authority over it because of the power
of God that I know is real and strong enough
to destroy it. And guys, I'm free. Like I wake
up at 4 a .m. and I'm no longer under the bondage
that I was under for 18 months. I am free and
I believe you can be too. Verse five, we destroy
arguments and every lofty opinion raised up against
the knowledge of God. That's what was happening.
Lofty opinions were being raised up against the
knowledge of God and every lie that you have
believed, every fear that you have had, every
worry and anxiety that you have had, these are
all opinions raised up against the knowledge
of God. Because if our knowledge of God was full
and complete, guess what? He is not a God of
fear. We would never fear. Fear is not of God.
It is of the devil. And every lie that we give
an inch, it will take a mile. It will take a
mile. And for some of you, it has taken years.
It has taken so much of your life. Some of you,
you're here praying for hope. And some of you
are like teetering on that edge of giving up
your faith. And I just want to say, I'm here
to fight for you. that there is an enemy and
that he is fighting for you. And I am here because
God loves you and because he also is fighting
for you. And that there are opinions raised up
every day in our minds against the knowledge
of God. And our God says that we have the power
to destroy them, to destroy strongholds. You're
listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram.
Jenny Allen is our guest teacher for the series
Get Out of Your Head. And real quick, if you'd
like to learn more about Jenny's popular book
that this series is based on, keep listening
after the teaching. Chip will join us in studio
with all the details, so be sure to stick around.
But for now, let's get back to Jenny's talk.
Paul says next in that verse that opinions raised
up against the knowledge of God, that we destroy
them. And then he says this. And we take every
thought captive to obey Christ. That's how we
change our minds. Romans says it this way. Do
not be conformed to this world, but be transformed
by what? How do we change? All of us want to
change. How do we change? And Romans says, by
the renewal of our minds. Guys, this is the crux
of our lives. Our minds. are the crux of how
we will live, who we will love, what we will
do with our lives. Our minds hold the power and
the key to our lives. I remember my daughter
did a lot of studies. She wanted to be a neuro
researcher. And so she basically was all through
high school and middle school. And she would
bring me all this stuff as part of what prompted
me to do this project. And she said, mom, what
we know about the brain today, the writers of
the scriptures would have said. the mind, every
time they said the heart. So that means that
a majority of the Bible is about our minds, that
every time it says heart, it also is talking,
the seed of our emotions is found within our
brains. And so when you think about our minds
and our hearts and how much of scripture is about
it, continually, it says, guard our heart, our
mind. It says, take captive our thoughts, that
this is an active. process, that we're not reluctantly
thinking about whatever the heck we want, but
we are actively fighting to believe truth, to
fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter
of our faith. He sets before us this call to
single -mindedness, to complete consumption of
God and His love for us and His goodness over
us. And as we fixate on Him, the things of this
earth grow strangely dim. That's like the old
hymn that you used to sing in Sunday school.
This is how we change. Verse six, being ready
to punish every disobedience when your obedience
is complete. This is warfare. And Paul knows
it. And that's why he writes that this is warfare.
And he speaks of things like destroying every
lie, every opinion. Y 'all, we have to take this
bull by its horn. And we haven't. Candidly, we
have not. You bring your friends together because
it's going to take an army of people surrounding
each other and saying, we're not going to let
each other believe these lies anymore, but we've
got to take this seriously. We've got to take
this seriously. I know some of you, you just
tuned in. You're like, guess what? Fun and happy
are on the other side of this. I'll tell you
that right now. Like I have never been more joyful.
I've never been more free. I've never been more
grateful. I've never been more peaceful than
I have as I have done war with this part of my
life. Proverbs 23, 7 says this, for as a man
thinketh in his heart, so he is. Y 'all, this
is our lives. The sum of our lives will be rooted
in what it is we think about. And we never think
about our thoughts. You think anywhere from 9
,000 to 60 ,000 thoughts in a day, in a day.
And when was the last time you even noticed what
it was that you were thinking about? So today
I want you to do something. I want you to pull
out a piece of paper and I want you to start
writing down your thoughts. And I'll tell you,
we're going to take you through a process. If
you want to go download it right now, we have
an anxious thoughts guide and we're going to
give you a mind map that you can fill out and
start to notice your thoughts. And you can print
a bunch of copies and put them by your bed and
just start to notice at night when you go to
sleep, what is it that I thought about today?
Notice if it's around 80 % negative because this
matters. This matters. Our brains are physically
changing depending on what we think about. You
think about what you're grateful for, your brain
shifts. You think about what you dread, your
brain shifts. And we can win this war. I believe
it. I believe we are looking at more freedom
in our generation than we have previously had.
And I believe that that can happen in our lives
individually as we actually believe truth. And
so I'm gonna fight for you to believe truth.
And I cannot wait to see what God is gonna do
through this. I do not want you to halfway engage
with this. We need people to fight for us. We
need to understand what it is to have these weapons
that God says have the power to destroy strongholds.
So we're going to war, y 'all. Come on, invite
all your friends. I mean, you could gather in
a living room. You can each get the book and
you can listen to this almost like a Bible study.
I hope that that's what this will feel like.
Invite your friends and let's see what God does.
I wanna pray for you. God, I want to thank you
for this community. I want to thank you for a
microphone. It feels like an honor. It feels
like a sacred, incredible honor that I get to
be in their ears, in their minds right now, and
that I get to fight for them to believe truth.
God, I do not take that lightly. I believe that
this matters more than we can understand, more
than I can understand. And I feel your love for
them. God, I feel that you want them to live
more free than they are right now. And I believe,
God, that almost all of them have been believing
some lie. They've been believing some lie that
has crippled them, that has made them afraid,
that has made them anxious, that has made them
depressed. And I believe, God, you want to set
them free. And so today, God, I pray. I want
to pray huge prayers, but I also want to pray
small prayers. I want to pray that they'll have
a glimmer of hope. I want to pray that that hope
would be real and realized. And the big prayer
I want to pray is that you would set them free,
that they would have their eyes opened and they
would see in a new way the enemy and what he
wants for them and that they would have nothing
to do with it. They would go to war. They would
fight better than they ever have. In Jesus' name,
amen. You're listening to Living on the Edge
with Chip Ingram. Jenny Allen was our guest teacher
for this program, Taking Every Thought Captive,
which is from her series, Get Out of Your Head.
Chip will join us in just a minute to share his
application for this message. Let me ask you,
what drives your thought life? What influences
the way you think? Is it anxiety, loneliness,
insecurity? Whatever it is, do you feel trapped
by it? Like no matter how hard you try, your
mind drifts back to these harmful patterns. In
this series, author and speaker Jenny Allen calls
out seven toxic thoughts that derail our connection
to God. Discover the powerful antidotes God's
given us to break free from these dangerous mindsets.
Join Jenny to learn what you can do to fight
and win the war for your mind. Well, before we
go on, here's Chip. Well, thanks, Dave. And I'm
joined here today with Jenny Allen, our teacher
for the series. And Jenny, thanks, first of all,
for doing this with us. You know, we are committed
to reaching the next generation. And God has
given you such a stewardship to reach especially
young women and young moms. But get out of your
head. First of all, that's sort of a crazy title
for a book. What are you hoping to accomplish
in this series? And maybe you could give us a
little bit of the behind the scenes. Like, where
did this series come from? How did it turn into
a book? And maybe most of all, what do you hope
God will do as our listeners hear this series
get out of your head? Thank you, Chip, so much
for having me. And yes, it is a crazy title.
But I believe everyone is resonating with it
because we know that we're all stuck in our heads,
right? I think the timing of this conversation
is so important because many, many people have
struggled with anxiety or depression or even
just fearful thoughts that maybe they don't feel
like are a big deal. And yet they are. And they're
holding us captive. And Jesus says that we are
to take our thoughts captive. They are not supposed
to take us captive. And yet we've been on the
defense with our thoughts and feeling like we
can't control them. And what scripture calls
us to is an offensive strategy, that we are supposed
to fight back, that we are given divine weapons
that destroy strongholds, 2 Corinthians 10 tells
us. I want to know what those strongholds are
in my life, and I want to know what the divine
weapons are that God's given me so that I can
fight back. And I hope and believe that so many
of you listening care about that too. So hopefully
this will massively encourage you that you are
not a victim to your thoughts, but we are actually...
given dominion over our thoughts. We're not given
dominion over everything we feel, but we're given
dominion over our thoughts. That's a place we
have the ability to control. So why wouldn't
we? Why wouldn't we fight back against the enemy,
which I believe this is one of the greatest battlefields
today of the devil. He hates us, and he wants
to destroy us, kill, steal, and destroy from
us. That's what Scripture tells us. So where
is he doing that? He's doing it in the crevices
of our minds. He's lying to us. Scripture tells
us Jesus clearly says he's a liar, that he hates
the truth, and he wants to confuse everyone with
his lies. And we've fallen for it, and I just
say we fight back. Great word, Jenny. And let
me encourage all of you listening to get a copy
of Jenny's book, Get Out of Your Head. You can
do that by going to livingontheedge .org or by
calling 888 -333 -6003. That's 888 -333 -6003
or livingontheedge .org. Well, Chip, before we
go, you wanted to wrap up this program by sharing
a few final thoughts about what Jenny shared
today. Well, thanks, Dave. And thanks, Jenny.
I really would say that this has been a passion
for me for a very, very long time. To go back
into my earliest years as a Christian, I think
the first at least two or three years, I thought
trying hard was how life change occurred. And
I had issues I could not overcome. I mean, I
struggle with lust. I struggle with pride. I
struggle with insecurity. And don't get me wrong.
I'm not saying that I've, you know, arrived in
all those areas. But I can tell you willpower
and willpower alone does not work. And what I
love about what I hear Jenny doing is she's going
to help us identify toxic thoughts. The enemy
came to kill and to steal and destroy. And contrary
to the movies or popular belief, he rarely does
it in really scary ways with, you know, like
super phenomena that you've never seen before.
His messages are lies, lies about us, lies about
God, lies about the future, lies about security,
lies about happiness, lies about things will
never change, lies about our past. Well, you'll
never overcome it. Lies, lies, lies. And what
I love is hearing from a young woman who's living
in a world that I don't live in, not just generationally,
but, you know, I've got a wife and I have a daughter,
and I see how women are bombarded by very specific
toxic lies, I think even more than the rest of
us. And so let me just encourage you, stay with
us on this journey. You can hear she's a very
passionate, dynamic teacher. holds to the scriptures.
She believes in God's Word. And I can't wait
to be on this journey with you as we listen to
Jenny teach. And at the end of the programs,
I'll be back to talk about my takeaways and maybe
a couple thoughts that I think will help you.
Looking forward to all that, Chip. Hey, before
we go, I wanted to let you know, Living on the
Edge depends on listeners just like you to help
us continue to encourage Christians to live like
Christians. So would you consider partnering
with us on a monthly basis so others can benefit
from this ministry? To set up a monthly donation,
call us at 888 -333 -6003 or go to livingontheedge
.org. App listeners, tap Donate. And thanks in
advance for doing whatever God leads you to do.
And lastly, would you stop for a minute and pray
for Living on the Edge today? We've never seen
a greater need for God's truth to go out than
right now. And by God's grace, Living on the
Edge has been able to provide encouragement,
teaching, and personal discipleship resources
to more people than ever before. So thank you
to those who support us with your prayers. God
is doing amazing things. Well, be sure to join
us next time as our guest teacher, Jenny Allen,
continues her series, Get Out of Your Head. We
live in the noisiest generation that has ever
been. No generation has had to deal with more
inputs than ours. So what does it look like to
shift the spiral? And we're watching the spiral
of an emotion hitting a thought, a thought hitting
a behavior, a behavior hitting a relationship.
And those spirals are going through our minds
all the time. And what God wants to do is He
wants to shift the spiral from a negative spiral
that's spiraling down. He wants to shift it to
one that's going up. one that is going toward
Him. But that interruption and that distraction
that constantly has you pulling away from God,
that distraction is our responsibility. We have
a choice to change the way we think, but we have
to choose it. Until then, this is Dave Drury
saying thanks for listening to this edition of
Living on the Edge.