Get Out of Your Head OBS Week 2 — Make the Shift

We have to figure out what it is that we love more than God. What is the thing we’re chasing? ~ Jennie Allen

What do you think about all the time?

A friend of mine spent about ten years absolutely obsessed with the goal of making a million dollars in a year in her business. Another talks non-stop about wanting to get married.. Both driven by this sense of not having what they want so badly. Can you relate?

The topics are truly endless. We can desire pretty much anything and get lost in the spinning pursuit of:

A house
A particular job or career change
The freedom to stay home with the kids
A boyfriend
Being included in a certain group or clique
A happier marriage
Kids who outperform others
A stellar reputation in the community

So often the things we’re after aren’t inherently bad. They’re good! But, it’s the ferocity of our desires, our passions, and our pursuits that can get us into trouble, right? When what we love or want most in the world is something we can lose, our hearts and souls are in a precarious place.

Yet when we’re 100% sold out for Jesus and only Him, we really can’t lose. Even when we everything goes to pieces, it’s still fundamentally ok because of Him. .

What started out as a truly noble goal went terribly sideways in my life.

Sometimes we can put good things in place of God. ~ Jennie

I spent so many years radically obsessed with keeping my marriage intact. Trying everything. Worrying and working on it every day like my life depended on it. Changing whatever I could change. Losing weight, listening more, saying less, having fewer opinions, submitting to anything and everything, giving extravagantly, heaping on praise, being more selfless, funnier, sexier, more pleasing in every way that I could think of. It became my non-stop fixation. And it broke apart anyway!

It took that terrible breaking for me to realize how, in fear, I’d turned my heart away from loving Jesus more than anyone or anything else and I needed to repent of that and realign my focus to Him again.

Anything we fixate on on this earth… it can be taken from us. ~ Jennie

Probably, the thing you fixate on, is also the thing you worship. ~ Jennie

Isn’t that humbling?

Jesus is the goal and the prize. He deserves my whole-hearted worship. Nothing else.

No matter what we lose in this life — opportunities, relationships, pleasures, jobs, money, prestige, reputation, friendships, possessions — none of it compares to Him.

If the aim is Jesus Christ, it doesn’t matter what the world takes from you. They can’t screw your life up. Because they cannot take your aim away. They can’t take God away from you. ~ Jennie

Go for God. Go hard after Jesus. Live for Him. Die for Him.

The rest will work out however it works out. For good or for bad.

We take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. — 2 Corinthians 10:5

HE is the One to think about.

All the time.

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. — Philippians 1:21

This week in your study:

1. Watch the video for session two on our study home page. Take notes in your study guide on pages 31-33 and then stick around for the conversation with our OBS community!
2. Grab your Bible and enjoy your personal study this week on pages 34-51.
3. Join the conversations about the study and in our private Facebook group.

Scriptures this Week

2 Corinthians 10:5
Philippians 1:3-4
Philippians 1:12
Philippians 1:13
Philippians 1:14-17
Philippians 1:18-21
Philippians 4:12

Prayer for the Week

Jesus, we love You. We want to live totally sold out for You. Kingdom minded and focused. Help us to set aside everything else that won’t matter eternally — possessions, money, things, anything we put ahead of You. Help us to get out of our heads and instead to remember in our spirits what actually is eternal. Help us to strive for what will last forever. We love You, Jesus. Amen.