Chris Grainger: 1:22

Welcome to the Land Within Us, a podcast serving Christian men who are hungry to be the leaders God intends you to be. I'm your host, chris Granger. Let's jump in. All right, guys. It's fun Friday time. We're going to get right into it, so let's go All right. You know we're going to start every episode with scriptures.

Chris Grainger: 1:37

This week, the scriptures in the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 30, just one verse, verse 19. It says this day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life so that you and your children may live. So, guys, go back and check out that spiritual kickoff episode where we unpack this scripture at length to just give you some ideas on how you can simplify and apply this one verse to your life. Okay, and this verse is very simple you have a choice. You have that choice every day to choose the path for blessings, to be a blessing to others or curses. And I pray, no matter what trial you're going through you know, either in a trial coming out or getting ready to go into one. We know all that Recognize the blessings, don't miss them. Blessings all around us, you know, even though you may be going through some difficult times, the blessings are real. Let's encourage you. Go back. If you need some more encouragement, some more just life spoken into you, go listen to that spiritual kickoff episode. If that doesn't give it to you, reach out, let's talk, get in our community. Let some of our Christian brothers in Christ that we have in our community right now, all over the United States and Canada, let them speak to you. Let them just fill you up with the truth that you're not defined by whatever that thing that you think that's going on in your life that defines you. That doesn't define you whatsoever. So, fellas, I just want to be a source of encouragement for you today.

Chris Grainger: 3:09

Alright, so now, if you missed the episode we had with Michael Reier, shame on you, I'm just kidding. Go back and listen to it, though. Seriously, that conversation with him was great. He's doing some wonderful things at Amigos International. So, fellas, I'm telling you, if you're talking about a way that you can be the hands and feet of Christ and purposely going out and serving, spreading the commission, just doing all the great commission doing all the things that God has called you to do, michael and his team, they're doing it. I mean, they are literally doing it. They're going into these villages, they're setting up digging wells, setting up schools, setting up churches, teaching evangelism, teaching life skills, and now they're on the cusp of actually starting to do medical and setting up medical facilities. Changing lives that's what they're doing. They're changing lives and they're pointing people every day to the good news of the gospel, the people that would not have an opportunity to hear this if it was not for their intentionality the way that it says Amigos International, but I will call it Amigos Intentional. These guys are being intentional about what they're doing. So go check it out Again.

Chris Grainger: 4:15

That episode was just great, just a fun guy. I mean, anytime you get to be around guys like that who just so amped up with their energy, it just feeds off of me. For guys like that who are just so amped up with their energy, it just feeds off of me. For one, I just get pumped up like I just need to do more, do more, do more and just recognize. You know what? Just do what God's called you to do. Now. Maybe he's calling you to go to Uganda. Then go, go with Michael, I'm telling you. But God's calling us to serve in different areas. Maybe you need to consider donating and supporting them monetarily. That's a legitimate need. Or there may be other ministries. Whatever those ministries are, whatever those opportunities are, lean in, be active and go.

Chris Grainger: 4:55

Now let's get into our tips this week. So we've got a health tip, a wealth tip and a self tip for our new listeners out there. The health tip is how to have stronger minds and bodies, got to take care of both. Wealth tip we need to be better stewards of our finances and our careers. And self-tip we just want to be ultimately doing a day serve our families better as husbands and fathers. This is important stuff. Again, none of this stuff that we teach at Land With Dennis is overly complicated, but it's hard. If you know what I'm saying, it's just like following Christ. No one said following Christ is going to be easy, but it's definitely better, all right. So now the health tip.

Chris Grainger: 5:31

I want you to think about this for a second. Start laughing, just start laughing and watch how spirits just get lifted up around you, because it's God's medicine. He gave us the gift of laughter for a reason. Yet there's many guys out there who suppress this. Proverbs actually tells us a cheerful heart is a good medicine, a good medicine. So we have that right here a cheerful heart laughing, making jokes. I'm always cracking jokes around our house. I just am. I'm always usually there inappropriate dad jokes, but either way, sometimes it gets a laugh out of my wife, but usually with kids it's always a win Because at the end of the day, laughter just boosts everything around you the environment but it also boosts your immune system.

Chris Grainger: 6:17

It's going to release some stress. So if you're stressed out, try to find something that makes you laugh. It's just overall a good thing for our health and we should be enjoying every opportunity throughout our days to try to find joy and laughter in our spirits being light. You know, I know there's some heavy stuff that's going on in the world around us and I know we shouldn't be laughing at all times. I totally get that. There's times where we need to have that face, that serious face. We have to be that leader. We have to just be stoic, but it doesn't have to be all the time, not all the time. So are you finding times in your day where you can let your guard down and laugh? If you're not, why not Start today? You'll never know how that can lift you up and pull you up out of that. Whatever it may be, you may be stuck in just by finding some time to laugh. All right, now your wealth tip. Think about this. Think about strategic partnerships Okay, particularly when we're talking about stuff like internet amigos because you need to find ministries and missionaries out there that align with the things that your values, which is what God's called you in your life and the vision for your life.

Chris Grainger: 7:37

But then you need to actually support them, actually support them. I mean it says the Philippians, right there, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel. It says Philippians 4, that not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except only for you, for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent aid to me more than once when I was in need. So Paul is just speaking to them right there, to the church of Philippi hey, you supported me, doggone it, I needed it, I needed it, you were there Because they believe. They believe in his mission, what he was doing.

Chris Grainger: 8:12

So choose missionaries and missions that align with you, your personal beliefs and what you're, what God's calling for you to do, what God's calling your church, and make it make sure that your contributions are going in the in the directions that are important to you, because if you target and you're intentional about that, I'm telling you, it's just it can make such a huge impact, such a huge impact. So don't think about this, as just you know, just write a check and be done with it for our church. No, be intentional about this. Think about okay, I totally get that tithing part, but when I want to support missions, where do I want to do with what God's blessed me with from a stewardship standpoint? Where do we want to be intentional about supporting? If you pray about it, you spend some time talking to God, I will guarantee you that he will show you, he will reveal to you where to support. Then take the step and actually do it. Okay, you got to take the step and actually do it. All right. Now our self tip. I want you to think about this.

Chris Grainger: 9:14

The power of prayer is so big. We talk about it all the time and try to think about making prayer more of a daily feature instead of a check-the-box item for meals and bedtime. Okay, because it says in James the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. We need to lean into that at all times. It's not just a destiny. At times I'm really big on praying before we eat, praying before bed, praying before you go to school. All those things are important with our family, with our kids.

Chris Grainger: 9:44

But it could just be, hey, you know what, let's just pray right now, no matter what. If the spirit hits you and you say, hey, I think we need to pray over this family. Spirit hits you and you say, hey, I think we need to pray over this family. There's power in that. I know my daughters have seen this. Or you know what, I don't know, but we just go pray. Do I do a great job at it every day? No, I don't.

Chris Grainger: 10:02

This is an area I need to personally grow in this area I need to personally grow in with my wife and making sure it's a commitment to where it becomes, that habit of where our children and my wife sees the very first, my first reaction to go to the Lord in prayer. My wife does a great job of this. I'll come to her all stressed out and tore up on something or something's not going right at work or the line or whatever it may be. Next thing you know, she's just she's starting hey, let's pray right now. She'll grab my hand or just pull me close, she'll just start. She's starting. Hey, let's pray right now. She'll grab my hand or just pull me close, she'll just start praying. And there is power in that. And our children, our wives, they need to see that Because regularly, if we are just regular about praying for and with our children and with our spouses, you're showing them what is the priority in your life.

Chris Grainger: 10:48

It's a strong relationship with God and how you choose to surrender to him first and foremost. That right there I'll tell you what if you turn to him in all habits and they see you turn to him in all situations, what an amazing habit you're building into your children in the next generation. All right, guys, that's your three tips. That's your health, wealth and self. So that laughing, remember, laugh, lift up those spirits. Wealth tip think strategically about the missions that you want to support and then go support them. That's self-tip. Make that prayer a daily feature, not just a check the box moment. Okay, really, lean into that.

Chris Grainger: 11:27

So our book of the week this week, guys we talked about it a little bit about from Dr John. It says Walking with God in god in broken places. We're actually going to be trying to have him on the show at some point. So hopefully we'll be able to connect and have with him. According to michael, he is a character, so I'm looking forward to hopefully, uh, getting that lined up to be able to share that conversation with you guys. It's a great, great book, for sure, about all the different ways of his ministry. He also has another book that I'll be talking about later with you guys. We'll make sure that's a feature book in the week of the future as well. So anyway, it's just great stuff for what they're doing in Uganda. It's just amazing the type of work that can be accomplished when you're doing what God's called you to do. So hopefully you guys enjoy that one.

Chris Grainger: 12:11

So let's get to our dad jokes here. Dad jokes of the week. This week is the first dad joke is why did the scarecrow win an award? Because he was outstanding in his field. I thought that was pretty good. Why did the scarecrow win an award? Because he was outstanding in his field. Number two why don't scientists trust atoms? Because they make up everything. Jeez Louise, everybody knows that. So let us know which one you like, fellas. Number one why did Scarecrow win an award? Because he was outstanding in his field. Number two why don't scientists trust Adams? Because they make up everything. So remember, eye rolls totally count. Let us know which one does the best with your family and if you have a dad joke, you like to submit it? Support at the lion withinus. Send that in as a dad joke. We use it. We'll give you a shout out on the show, as well as to try to hook you up with some free swag, just to say a thank you for taking the time to connect with us.

Chris Grainger: 13:05

Okay, so the question of the week this week is what's one step you could take today? You could take today, today, to serve those in need. This doesn't say tomorrow, or two weeks from now, or two years from now. No, it says today. Because I feel like too often Michael and I talked about this we put off for tomorrow, we put off to someone else what God's calling us to do. He called me to start this podcast. He's called me to start the community. He's called me to teach this leadership training. You know what. We'll keep doing it. And whatever he calls me to, next prayer for the good Lord willing, I will take that step of obedience, and I don't know what that is, but for you, if he's called you something to do something. What are you going to do Particularly to serve someone that's in need. Serve others Not serve ourselves or our family even, but to serve others. Now, think about that, pray about it, then do something about it. Okay, all right, guys, we'll share this stuff out with others. This is how we grow the show. You know, send a text message out to your buddies hey, check this out. I think you guys may like this or something like that. That goes a long way.

Chris Grainger: 14:08

Ratings and reviews big time stuff on you own for apple podcast. Go give us a rating, write a review. That that stuff does matter. Connect with us on YouTube as well. We have a YouTube channel. We try to put stuff out every day to give you some encouragement, just to give you some resources there to keep you prayed up and encouraged as you move forward. Of course, we're on Instagram, facebook, all those different areas. Linkedin you can connect with me. I do a lot of things on LinkedIn. You can connect with me. I do a lot of things on LinkedIn. I try to be available for other people.

Chris Grainger: 14:37

So, anyway, the lionwithinus is where you can get all our resources. The Lion Within Don't forget the. The lionwithinus you can get access to our community. You can start your day, your free daily SKO trial. You can all these different things we have within the Lion Within us SKO trial. You can do all these different things we have within the line within us. You can go to the new version and see all the different Bible devotionals that we write Close to at this point, 30 at this point by now. It's just, it's incredible the way God's moving and using some of these different resources.

Chris Grainger: 15:08

So lean in, go to thelinewithinus For one. We have some free resources that you would absolutely love. So far, it's just 30 days to unleash your line within. How do you do that? How do you make better business decisions regarding ethics in your decision making using the Bible? We have a free seven day course on that.

Chris Grainger: 15:28

So, guys, we have lots of ways we try to help people. Go check that stuff out and hopefully it will encourage you. All right, well, we'll see you next week, good Lord willing. We'll be here. We'll keep pushing forward. We'll keep doing what God's called us to do. So get out this weekend. Whatever you do, wherever you are, whoever you're surrounding yourself with, make sure you do all you can to unleash the lion within.

Chris Grainger: 15:52

If you're a man who's looking for greater spiritual guidance into how to become a better leader, finding resources that you can trust and then implement can be daunting. For me personally, I thought it was a lost cause and I decided to take the action, knowing that I wasn't alone. It was because of this wide gap that we created our Lion Withinist community, and the areas that we're helping Christian men grow are incredible. For instance, we've built ways for guys to lean in and grow through fun events like our daily spiritual kickoff, where you get that much needed boost directly from God's word, our Bible studies that always focus on how to discern and apply what we learn, and even our amazing forum where you can speak your mind without fear of getting shut down or judged by the extreme rules of modern day social media. On top of all that, we know that many men won't help overcoming issues and becoming stronger in many different areas. That's why we created several mastermind groups where the iron truly sharpens iron.

Chris Grainger: 16:52

Our community is about having a growth mindset, accountability, intentionality and transparency. In other words, just leave fake you at home and come to community just as you are. I fully believe what we feel. I see the impact it's making on men right now, and I would love to have you check it out. So start your very own 30-day free trial today to see how we can help you be a better leader. So if you're ready to take that first step, head over to thelinewithinus and get started. Your journey begins here. Visit thelinewithinus and I'll see you inside the den.