Chris Grainger: 1:24

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, it's a fun Friday episode, let's get right into it Now.

Chris Grainger: 1:36

This week has been all about I'm just a guy and doggone it. I have hopefully shown you how, yeah, you're just a guy, but if you take that step of obedience and follow him, wonderful things can happen. So the scripture of the week this week was actually Exodus 3, verse 11. It says but Moses said to God, who am I? That I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt. Again, I unpacked that one at length, guys at length, on this spiritual kickoff episode. Didn't really dive into that one too much inside the meat episode this week.

Chris Grainger: 2:05

But we looked at Moses, we look at Gideon, we looked at Isaiah, we looked at Jeremiah, we looked at Peter. We gave you five guys right there, five guys. From a scriptural standpoint you would think they're all like in the hall of fame. Right, they're Jordan, like they're a no brainer. They're your Derek Jeters, your Babe Ruths. They're the types of guys you know. Those guys were hanging. They were doing what they were called to do.

Chris Grainger: 2:30

Yet for each one of them, we looked at Scripture directly that showed you their insecurities, their fears, their inadequacy, how they felt. I'm just no good whatsoever. I thought just no good whatsoever. And I thought it was important as a Christian leader, as a man, to at least expose you to some of those scriptures If you've never heard about before, because it's easy to get into Peter and think like, well, peter's, this is, this is Peter we're talking about here. Or Isaiah Look at the prophet. Isaiah or Moses are crying out loud. Yet If you don't go back and look at the whole narrative of the story, you miss some things that are important. And for men, as leaders, it's important to see where these guys came from and what they struggled, what they had to push through and persevere, to come out, to be obedient and do what God's called them to do. And I'm telling you, your story could be just as impactful.

Chris Grainger: 3:25

All right, so again, don't listen to the last two episodes. Highly encourage you to. I'm just a guy, I get it and look, I want you to lean into that. So now let's get to our tips of the week this week. So our health, wealth and self for our new listeners. Our health is mind and body. Wealth is career finances. Self is being better husbands than dads. Your health tip I want you to consider just what a prayer walk can do for you.

Chris Grainger: 3:48

Prayer walk, what you basically do is you can find exercise with spiritual growth Sounds like a win-win combination. This is it. Obviously, we need to be praying continually as we go. We never stop praying to the Lord. He never ceases. It's over and over and over all the time, because we want to have that connection with Him. Incorporate that with a little bit of walking. A little bit of walking.

Chris Grainger: 4:09

Maybe you're one of these guys who has trouble staying awake while you pray. You start praying and you're nodding off, right. Well, combat that. Combat that and start going directly, directly fellas, bringing prayer life into your walk right here. And I'm telling you, if you start doing that, if you start leaning into that and embracing that, it's going to do so much for you. You may find that you actually enjoy those walks a whole lot more just because you're spending time with him and you're inviting him in it. You may even find that you'll be able to, on these prayer walks, that the Holy Spirit will have opportunities to speak to you like he never has before, because you're actually slowing down and intentionally spending time with him. It's pretty cool, right. So, again, walking is just great for you. Anyway, we're supposed to be active. We're way, way, way just too easy lifestyles that we have going on right now, but if we just take those times to to start praying daily, which we should be doing, and add a little bit of movement to it, there's power there.

Chris Grainger: 5:15

Now we're also going to look at here and Proverbs I'm sorry for our wealth tip. I want you to consider this one verse in Romans 8, romans 13,. Verse 8, rather, oh, no, no, nothing to anyone except to love one another, for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled their law. I want you to think about this. You know we're pretty big on being good stewards. I want you to consider debt free lifestyle, but more personal debt. Okay, because I'm really shifting my mindset on a lot of this other debt that's out there, because there are ways where you can do, from a stewardship standpoint, utilize some debt in different scenarios I've been taught that with some different scenarios myself but your personal debt you can't. That's just going to hold you back. This is your student loans. This is your credit card. This is your car payment or your truck payment all the personal items. Got to get rid of that out. Let's be good stewards. Now again, the bar slave to rent the lender. I totally get the Proverbs right there. I totally get Dave Ramsey and everything that they teach at Ramsey Solutions. I mean, I've taught FPU for years For people that are trying to get out of debt and set up on a good plan.

Chris Grainger: 6:36

Moving forward, you can't beat it. It's fundamental, one-on-one stuff. But I'm telling you, moving forward, you definitely. If you can't, you may always have I'm always in a mortgage or you may have that mindset, but think through how can I get the personal debt, the personal debt behind me? And that means you got to just hammer down, hammer down and just get it done initially and then, once you get there to that debt-free moment, celebrate like no other. All right, there's your wealth tip. Now your self-tip this week. Guys, good reminder right here Date your spouse. Okay, and you heard me.

Chris Grainger: 7:18

Guys, I've talked about this in the past before, but you need to have these regular nights, not just to go out on a town with her, but to connect from a spiritual intimacy standpoint, because the last thing that the evil one wants is for your marriage to thrive. He wants your marriage to fail. He wants your marriage to be another statistic. He wants you and your wife to be as divided as you possibly can be. He never wants you to come together with intimacy. He never wants you to be on the same page. He constantly wants you to create this tension and division between you, because if he can cause a ripple between you and your spouse to the point where you guys have to head down the path of divorce, he wins.

Chris Grainger: 7:54

And I am sick and tired of Satan winning, particularly in the guys that I'm trying to help and, as you know, my buddy, jd, over at Uncovering Intimacy by the way, his podcast is probably one of the greatest podcasts out there when it comes to dealing with a Christian marriage standpoint, and JD's also a wonderful member of our community. He's always helping us grow and he'll tell you over and over again you better be dating, you got to be dating Right and almost like we feel like with our spouses, we treat them like a wild animal that we hunt and we're going to do all we can do to, to, to, to go on that hunt and to get that right, to get that animal and take it out and for them to be able to bring it home. And then we just mount it and put it on the wall and, you know, look at it from time to time. No, it's not how it works. No, we should be pursuing them at all times Flirting, touching, kissing, making your kids say ew, like if your kids never say ew because you guys are kissing, that's a missed opportunity for one.

Chris Grainger: 9:03

But seriously, they need to see that intimacy. They need to see that it's okay for mom and dad to come together with the covenant and just be flirtatious. That's a really good, healthy thing. Particularly, if you have daughters, they need to see how you, as a man, treat your wife, because then you're going to start laying these things, you're going to start putting this stuff in their mind, their mindset of what they should expect, of how they should react. And I'm telling you, once you start doing that, guys, it's going to change things. It's going to change things because your daughter, she is paying attention. She's paying attention to you because you're whether or not you believe me or not you're putting in her mindset what she should expect from a husband. You just are, and we start thinking of it that way. Oh, what am I doing to, to, to, to love my wife. How am I saying that? How am I showing that? How am I showing that? How am I demonstrating that? Man, it's got such a big opportunity to make a good influence on them. And for you guys who have sons, you're showing your son how they should be treating their future spouse. And what does that look like? I mean, this is big deals and I'm telling you, dating your spouse has to be part of your overall bigger plan and the bigger narrative.

Chris Grainger: 10:33

Okay, now the book of the week. Let's just recap those tips real quick. Got ahead of myself. So the health, wealth and self. The health tip you know that prayer walks. I think the prayer walks are really good, beneficial. The wealth tip try to eliminate the personal debt, personal debt, and again, we're not going trying to, I'm not trying to influence you one way or the other down how the path you choose to take from a debt standpoint other than the personal debt. I know that's no good for you. And the self tip is to date your spouse.

Chris Grainger: 11:04

Okay, so now the book of the week this week. Let me grab me a copy. The book of the week this week is called the Titus 10. Okay, now I got this book from a buddy, jason he. He he's part of a local church group here in Wayne in Raleigh, North Carolina, and he told me about his, his group, his men's group, is going through this book. It's written by this guy named Josh Smith and I thought this was just an incredible book because it really walks through 10 qualities that are seen directly in the book of Titus and the way that they tie this down to manhood today is incredible. It goes through dominion, gospel, identity, assignments, uh, character, mission zeal. I'm telling you highly encourage you to get this one. This is one he said. It took them quite a long time just to walk through the book because the conversations were so fruitful, we're so deep, because guys are craving this kind of stuff. So I appreciate you, jason, for sharing that with me. Guys, I highly encourage you to get this book Again, thelinewithsanus book. You'll see all the books of the week that we have out there for you guys and add this one to your library, okay.

Chris Grainger: 12:26

So your dad jokes of the week this week. Let's get to our dad jokes. Our first dad joke was why was the math book sad? Because it had too many problems. So there you go. That was why the math book was sad. Number two biblical joke right here what kind of man was Boaz before he married Ruth? Hmm Well, he was ruthless. So there you go. Thank you to my man, doug out there, for giving me that dad joke. Anytime Doug gives me a dad joke, it's a good day. So why was the math book sad? Because it had too many problems. And what kind of man was Boaz before he married Ruth? Ruthless. So there you go, fellas. Remember, eye rolls totally count when it comes to dad jokes. If you have a dad joke you want to submit support at theliowentonus, send it in. We'll hook you up with some free swag and we'll give you a shout out on the show.

Chris Grainger: 13:11

All right, so now question of the week this week how do you respond to God's call, despite your doubts? Now you answer. This question matters. How are you going to respond? You're going to have doubts. Everyone's going to put the doubts there, no matter what, particularly if it's something God's calling you to do, because the last thing he wants you to do is to actually doggone it. Do it. You have a choice to make. Are you going to respond to obedience or are you going to coward? And I'm not trying to make light of this or a pick or anything like that. I'm just telling you choose obedience, choose obedience, take the step, do the thing. Whatever you do, align it to God and then just you know what, let them fall where they fall, and that's my encouragement to you today.

Chris Grainger: 14:02

So I hope you guys enjoy this stuff. I hope you enjoy the Line Within Us. I certainly just love making these episodes, love doing writing and I love our community. I'm just going to be honest. If you haven't joined the Line Within Us community, or if you haven't even looked at it, what are you waiting on? We put so much work and effort into this. I'm not even trying to create some level of pity, no, I'm just saying I'm just real. We put a lot of effort into this. We have a discipleship journey that is clearly defined and will help you be the leader God intends you to be. It's going to give you some things to chase after. It's going to challenge you. It's going to definitely make you think None of it matters if you don't hop into a community and check it out.

Chris Grainger: 14:41

So the lionwithinus is where you go to find out all about us and how to get connected. So, the lionwithinus, start your free trial, see what it's all about. Try it for a month and see. You literally have nothing to lose whatsoever. So, the lion within that us give us a rating or review for the podcast. That stuff helps, for sure. And if you're a business leader who wants to, you need help integrating your faith into your career. The lion within that us slash leadership check out our summit leadership development program. I'm telling you, guys, this is where we drive to plow. We go deep in this and we'll help you grow If you choose to take action, all right.

Chris Grainger: 15:21

So, guys, have a great, great weekend, preferably good little will. We'll be back next week with some more episodes for you. Thank you so much for the support. If you want to be a monthly donor, that would be phenomenal Just jump on that. Or one time donor, whatever you want to do, jump over to the line within that US slash donate. You'll find ways that you can support the show, what we're doing, how we're serving, if it serves you in any way. I would just tell you this Just keep praying for us. If you can't help us monetarily, just pray for us, pray for what we're doing, lift us up in prayer and just thank you so much for just the encouragement and the way that you just show up every week, and that's really cool to me. Thank you so much. Have a great day, great weekend. You know what's coming out there. Keep unleashing the lion within.

Chris Grainger: 16:11

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 the iron.

Chris Grainger: 17:11

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 with them.