Chris Grainger: 1:22

Welcome to the Lion 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. Spiritual kickoff time. I'm pumped up, I'm excited because the SKOs I get more fired up and eager to share this than anything we do at the line. The interviews are awesome, the fun Fridays are fun, for sure, but the SKOs this is where I lean in and I'm trying to really help guys grow to be the leader that God has called us to be. And you know what.

Chris Grainger: 1:57

We do this every day within our line, within our community. Every morning, I go live in the community and do an SKO our Lion Within Us community. Every morning, I go live in the community and do an SKO, and we were talking recently about God being our refuge and we have to find our refuge right. Our refuge is in Him and obviously he provides that protection. And one of the members said that the Lion Within Us was his refuge and I broke down. His name is Adam. I broke down when he said that and because, guys, you need a refuge, you need a place to fight the spiritual battles, because the evil one is trying to take you out. I know he is, because he's trying to take me out every day. You got to have some brothers in Christ around you, so you know what. If this is something that you struggle with and that you need some help with, I highly encourage you to check it out and just see what the line within this community is all about.

Chris Grainger: 2:48

Okay, so now let's get into this one, because Proverbs 22, verse 6, tells us that we should train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Hear that verse. I think about that verse. All right, train up a child the way away she go. When he's old, he will not depart from it. All right. So now I want you to think about something.

Chris Grainger: 3:09

We need to embrace the God-given responsibility of fatherhood. I know that doesn't sit well with a lot of people these days, particularly if you start thinking about people who says you know you can't be a dad anyway. There's no such thing as a man or woman, but we way. There's no such thing as a man or woman, but we don't align. So I'm just going to talk to you guys. If you're still here with me, you're going to enjoy this, because this is showing us right here from every parent out there. But for dads, we better lean into this, this, this training, because this is underscoring the profound responsibilities that we have as fathers in shaping the spiritual, moral and ethical foundations of our kids. That's just it. In shaping the spiritual, moral and ethical foundations of our kids, that's just it.

Chris Grainger: 3:45

So this is a straight-up call to action. This is a proverb, not saying, oh, if you think about it, if you have time. No, it's saying do it, do it. We need to embrace it. We need to stop trying to do thinking other people can do this for us. We have to raise the children according to his principles and not delegate this role to others, because this is an irreplaceable role, guys, because this is one that quite often this is where I see a lot of guys tripping up we try to outsource it Because we're in an outsourcing world.

Chris Grainger: 4:18

Now, right, you outsource everything. I mean you outsource your dry cleaning, you outsource your lawn care, there's so many things, just from a personal standpoint. Then you get into a career, professional workplace. You're constantly trying to outsource stuff to make your job easier, just the way we are. I get it.

Chris Grainger: 4:36

Churches are there for a reason for sure to help Schools. Other community institutions are out there. They can provide support, they can provide guidance, right, but their primary responsibility, the primary one, is with us as the fathers and the mothers, because it's a misconception to believe that that church out there is responsible for the spiritual upbringing of your children. It's inconceivable to think about that. I don't care how awesome your pastor is Pastor Joby incredible, love him, listened to his sermons over and over and over all the time. There's no way he could be the spiritual leader of my kids, even if I lived in Florida and went to 1122 in person. Impossible. Why, that's me? That's me. God handpicked me to lead these four here. I got the one in heaven right now, but I got these four here that I'm responsible to lead, right, and I'm supposed to do that through the way that I lead my life, not something that some pastor tells them Now. Do I want pastors speaking truth to my children? Absolutely, I want that and I'm going to make sure that they are, because I'm going to watch, I'm going to listen. You just don't take stuff for face value, guys. You go in with your copy of the word too and you make sure they're teaching you right, right, and you better be praying over them as well and start thinking about this.

Chris Grainger: 5:59

Just training that we're talking about, that we see here in this proverb. It's a continual process. It's not a one-time event. Uh-uh, this is lifelong. This is daily, consistent, over and over, living it out, showing them, showing these principles, letting them see the principles, and so we're trying to ultimately instill it in them. This is ongoing effort.

Chris Grainger: 6:22

This takes a lot of dedication, boys. It takes a lot of patience, it takes a deep commitment to the well-being of our children. This means we have to be active in their lives. We need to be there, listen, understand the struggles, the stuff that they have going on, where they have these, maybe insecurities, and then give them wisdom and guidance, based off of your experiences, that will help them navigate these challenges. Because I'm going to tell you, if you don't do it, somebody else will. If they're listening and letting someone else influence their decisions, that you're making, you're missing your opportunity and, quite frankly, your God-given responsibility to raise them yourself. And these kids, they learn more from what they see than what they're told.

Chris Grainger: 7:07

Because you must exemplify this guys, the values that you want to impart, because if you say this you know what eating we better eat healthy, boy. I'm telling you, you better eat healthy. And all they see you do is just pound Hershey bars. Tell you what. That's not going to stick. That's not going to stick. You ain't going to land that one. Nope, you have to demonstrate it. That means you have to be a man of integrity. You got to be a man of humility. So when you screw up, you need to own it. I get it. You need to be a man of love. Your kids need to hear I love you over and over and over again. And you need to be faithful in everything that you do each and every day. But that consistent behavior, when you start coupling that with the moments that God's going to give you, those teaching moments, that's going to give you the chance to reinforce these lessons and double down with what you hope that your children carry to adulthood. Because, quite frankly, let's just be real Our goal as fathers is to render ourselves obsolete.

Chris Grainger: 8:00

It should be at least. I want my kids to know how to do stuff. I don't want them to always have to be dependent on dad. No, no, I want to be a big part of their life, absolutely. But I want them to be independent as they grow, as they seek Christ in all that they do, because that's what's going to guide them more and more.

Chris Grainger: 8:18

Now you may be thinking well, chris, here's my situation. I did all this stuff, man. I did the Bible studies, I did the devotions, I took him to church. I love my wife. I did all this stuff and they still strayed. We got to say to me. I'll just say I'm sorry, because despite our best efforts, guys, there may be times where the kids stray from the path that we set before them, and I know this can be such a distressing moment for any parent out there.

Chris Grainger: 8:49

But this proverb gives us a promise of hope as well. It says when he is old, he will not depart from it. So this is saying that we're going to plant the seed in our children. Right, that seed's going to be there, even if they're wandering. They may wander from time to time, but that seed's there and you need to be steadfast in prayer, you need to trust in God, you need to give it to God first and foremost. What did Abraham have to do with Isaac? He tested him and Abraham was willing to just. You know what. He's yours, god. We have to do that as well. Hannah, she did this. Just give it. Just give it to you, right? So the opportunity.

Chris Grainger: 9:28

So I'm saying you may have these instances in life where the kids stray, and when that happens, the best thing you can do is hit your knees and just pray to the Father that you've shown them, that you've guided them, and for Him, for the Holy Spirit, to convict and direct them, and you better just keep loving them, that unconditional love that we have as fathers. It can't be replaced with anything. You've got to offer them guidance. If they come to you and ask you for guidance, offer it to them. But that prayer has to be fervent, it has to be continual. You need to be praying for their repentance. You need to be praying that they return to the Lord and don't lose heart. Don't lose heart. Trust God's timing. His timing is perfect. He's just never early. In many cases, I'm just being real he's never early, but his timing is perfect and his ability to bring our children back to the path of righteousness. That's pretty incredible when you actually start thinking about it.

Chris Grainger: 10:30

So when you start thinking about this whole Proverbs 22.6, this is just a good reminder. Maybe you needed this reminder today of your critical role as a father, of what that means as a spiritual and moral development of your kids. Maybe you needed that reminder that you can't outsource it right. Stop trying to outsource it right. This is nothing that your brother, that crazy uncle, can do for you. Uh-uh. No, you can't outsource it. You have to embrace it and look for opportunities. If you look for opportunities to train your kids, I'll tell you what he is going to give it to you. Right, and it has to be ongoing. You can't just be like you know what it's Saturday. I get to train my kids because it's Saturday, but Monday through Friday I'm busy. I just stepped on some toes. Good, somebody told me the other day look, chris, when you talk, I feel like I need to wear steel toes. All right, well, put them on, bro, because it ain't me. If you're feeling that way, that's the Holy Spirit.

Chris Grainger: 11:26

Lots of times we confuse conviction with anger. I'm not trying to make you angry, but I am trying just to reveal things to you. And look, I convict myself with this stuff. I get it. My family devotion time has not been what it needs to be. I put more time and effort into teaching for the church than I have been teaching my kids, and that's a gap there. God revealed it to me.

Chris Grainger: 11:48

Guess what I leaned in Last night. I sat down with Judah, my son, for the first time in a long time and we just read this little story Bible. And we just read two little stories. And you know what I make that commitment. I told my wife I'm going to do this, we're not going to stray from the path. So look, as awesome as you may have it going right now, it's easy to get trapped and to slip, and if you slip, it's okay. Get back up, lean back in, because this promise this verse gives us is pretty awesome. And if we commit to raising your children in the way they should go, you know what, Knowing that your efforts are guided by God's grace man, that can yield some amazing fruit. So the question I want you to think about is who is responsible for your child's spiritual growth? My prayer is, after going through this 10, 11 minutes right here, hey guys, that you recognize that that responsibility is on you and that's your kickoff Now, if you think you're hearing all this stuff about spiritual growth, and how do you do this?

Chris Grainger: 12:56

Guiding the Holy Spirit, guiding you and unleashing the line within. You're trying to figure out what this actually looks like. What are you talking about, chris? This only is available when you surrender your life to the Lordship of Christ. That's step one. So I need you to know you are made in the image of God. You may think you're pretty jacked up. You know what. That's just where you're wrong, because God, he made you just the way he wanted, and what you may think is a flaw he sees as a perfection. And we are made in the image of God. That's you out there listening, my brother or sister.

Chris Grainger: 13:31

Now we also need to recognize that because of the fall, when sin entered the world, that separated us from God. So we're not holy and righteous. No, we're made in his image. We're not holy because of sin, nature and sin entered. So now there's this gap between us. Who are these sinners and that's anything that separates us from God and a holy and righteous God. And when we compare ourselves to God, we all fall short. We just do Because, let's face it, he's God and we're not. But guess what? We recognize we have this gap and there's nothing we can do to cover the gap.

Chris Grainger: 14:09

You can't pay your way, you can't pray your way. You can't go to church, you can't just be a nice person, because hell is full of nice people who missed the salvation of Jesus Christ. So you can't earn your way in for eternal life and salvation because, let's face it, everybody out there death rate still hovering around 100% Something's going to happen. What do you do? You need a Savior, you need a Savior, you need a Savior, and that Savior is Jesus. He left heaven on that rescue mission for us Came, was born a virgin, fulfilled the prophecies, did all the teachings, did all the miracles, did all the things, guys, that he was called to do, that he was sent to do intentionally as the Son of God, and then went to the cross to pay the ultimate penalty for our sin. And that's what happened. They killed him. Jesus died on the cross.

Chris Grainger: 15:01

But here's the deal. The reason Christianity is such a big deal and such an amazing movement out there across the world and it changed the world Jesus did is because when they killed him, they put him in the grave. He didn't stay there, he died on that. They put him in the grave, he didn't stay there, he died on that cross, went in the grave dead, walked out alive, he overcame death. So three days after that crucifixion he rolled the tomb away and right up there he did some more teaching. He showed them and he told them that he is the way, he is the truth, he is the life. No one comes to the Father except through him. There is no other name that has been given to man by which we must be saved. He is it, he is the only one. So we recognize. Okay, jesus, you are the way.

Chris Grainger: 15:51

I'm a sinner. There's this gap, but you've given me this free gift of salvation. How do I get it? You have to accept him and confess him as Lord of your life, and this is the hard part, because Lord of your life means Lord of everything, not just on Sunday. That means Lord of your life every day, all the time, when you're awake, when you're at work, when you're at home with your kids, it doesn't matter. He's Lord of your life everywhere you go. He's got to be Lord of your finances how about this one, guys? He's got to be Lord of your bedroom. He's going to get to do stuff that you want to do. You need to make sure you honor and glorify God within the confines of marriage. The way he designed, I'm telling you it changes everything. It's just a big commitment. That's the best decision you'll ever make in your life.

Chris Grainger: 16:40

My prayer is that, if you're listening to my voice right now and you've never accepted Christ as your Savior, that you take the step today. Don't put off doing business with God today for tomorrow, because you know what he's ready to work with you right now. You may be like well, chris, I'm on a treadmill at a gym. There's no way I can step crush right here. I look ridiculous, bro. What are you worried about everybody else for? Stop the dog on a treadmill, have some alone time with God and ask him to be your Savior. I'm going to pray for you right now. I'm going to pray for you right now, and that is my prayer that if you feel that little stirring conviction that you pray with me, that you ask Jesus into your life, accept him as Lord of your life and move forward.

Chris Grainger: 17:21

So, father, I just pray for that listener right now who's hearing my voice and maybe they're having a tough time. They've never accepted you as their Lord and Savior and they're ready to move forward, god. So I just pray that you just give them assurance, just give them joy, let them feel the peace that passes all understanding, that comes from having that relationship with you. God, I just pray you just be with them right now as they make this critical decision to call you to move forward, to surrender their will, for your will to become your son or your daughter. I just pray that they know at this moment that they are a royal priesthood, that they're these ambassadors for you, lord. I'm so excited for them. So, god, just give them wisdom, give them encouragement, give them discernment to see the attacks of the evil one that are going to come. For what they are, I just pray you just let them just keep leaning in and growing as the Holy Spirit just manifests itself within them. Because now they have this imputed righteousness, lord, they recognize there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. They are not fit. There's no more of this idea of being not fit for use. Uh-uh-uh, we're all fit for use and we're here to be used to honor and glorify you. We love you, lord. We praise you in Christ's name, amen.

Chris Grainger: 18:40

So if you just accepted Christ as your Savior, I want to hear from you. Send me an email, chris, at thelionwithinus. I want to send you some free resources to get you hooked up with some. You know you have a really cool PDF out there for 10 scriptures. You need to start fighting like a lion. Also just want to find out where you're at no-transcript. So again, chris, at the lion withinus, if you want to send me a note, we'll love to connect with you there.

Chris Grainger: 19:07

Okay, so again, head over to the lion withinus this today. Guys, check out what we've got going on lots of devotions. We actually put a lot of resources out there recently. So far it's different categories. So maybe if you're dealing with finances or you're dealing with some pornography issues or you're dealing with your struggling and what's your parenting, we've tried to categorize a lot of the content. We have to help just put it into in front of you in a way that hopefully we're encouraged and just give you that little bit of inspiration that you're looking for.

Chris Grainger: 19:33

Okay, so again, come back on Wednesday. Got a great guest on Wednesday, so excited for this. This could be a good old Florida guy looking for, looking for for you guys to be able to meet him, to have his, to hear his story. So be sure to check that out. And again, the lion withinus we have our discipleship mastermind groups that are wide open. They're cranking fellows. If you're looking for the opportunity to plug in with a fellow group of like-minded believers who are going to push you, who are going to challenge you, or you can work on some practical things in your life to get better, this is where we do it. It's Cypress Ship Mastermind Groups. Okay. So, guys, have a great day, Get after it. Reach out to thelionwithinus and look, keep unleashing the lion within.

Chris Grainger: 20:14

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 line within this 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 form, 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: 21:14

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. This is thelinewithinus, and I'll see you inside within.