Chris Grainger: 1:01

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 is your fun Friday episode. Let's get right into it, fellas. Okay?

Chris Grainger: 1:14

So Scripture of the Week this week has been in the book of Psalms, chapter 25, so the 25th Psalm, looking at verses 4 and 5. It says show me your ways, lord, teach me your paths, guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God, my Savior and my hope is in you all day long. Guys, what beautiful scripture that is for us. This is why we do scripture every week, fellas, because we have to make sure that we are in God's word. More importantly, that god's word is getting into us so that we can walk it out. And, guys, I'm very passionate about this, just trying to take things and simplify it down again, the theme song at my wedding was simple man from leonard skinner. So there you go, but I'm just trying to find ways to simplify and apply god's word into my life, and I like to try to help other guys do that as well. So if you need help with that, the spiritual kickoff episode go back two episodes in your podcast feed. You'll see the SKO for this week. Check it out. There may be some things that I said there that would encourage you, fellas, to just learn how to apply God's word. And I'm so thankful for DJ Hernandez who came on our show this week. Guys, if you missed that, it would be the last one in your podcast feed right now.

Chris Grainger: 2:29

And just a cool story, dj. He went on the IM circuit recorded his story of how God moved his life. But a couple of things just jumped out to me. We had to be super aware of isolation, loneliness, those two things. Now, dj had all the right stuff. He had the background, he had the Christian family, he had the right friends. All these things happened, were in his life. Rather, he had isolation and loneliness still attacked him because he pulled back.

Chris Grainger: 3:01

And we pull back and we try to do life alone and tell God I got this, I don't. Basically, you're saying I don't need you. God, this is what happens. If you try to fight the devil in the dark. He's going to kick your butt every time. It's just true. He just is. That is where he is the most effective. However, if you say you know what. I'm not going to fight you here. I'm going to expose this to the light because he can't stand the light. And right there is where he loses the power, he loses the influence, he loses strength.

Chris Grainger: 3:33

And it can be hard, particularly if you're going through a difficult season right now. So if you're hearing my voice and you're listening to the lay with us right now and you're in a season of loneliness or isolation, I just want you to know this is not what God desires. You have to fight back, you have to push back, because isolation and loneliness will destroy you, and we know the evil one has three things in mind for us steal, killal, kill, destroy. That's everything good in your life. He just wants to take it out. So I beg you, I implore you, I'm just asking from a genuine caring heart If you're struggling with isolation and loneliness, reach out to us. Here's my email chris at DelilahWithinus, just send me an email. I would be honored to just reply back, to hop on a call, just to try to speak some life, some encouragement into you. And again, this is why we built our community. If you feel like you're isolated, you're alone, you don't have anybody around that you can really talk to and you're alone and you don't have anybody around that you can really talk to. If you don't have a band of brothers or some brothers in Christ that can actually encourage you and speak life to you, I guarantee you'll find them within the Lion, within Us community. Just head on over there now, thelionwithinus, and you can get started with that right now. All right, so let's get into it.

Chris Grainger: 4:59

Fellas, for our fun Friday episode, we always like to do some tips. Now for the lion, we kind of focus in three areas health, wealth and self. And that health is mind and body. How do we take care of that? Wealth is how do we be the best stewards of our finances and our careers that God desires. And from a self standpoint it's not selfish, but it's just a self is how can we improve as husbands and fathers? Simple stuff, right, so we need to get into it.

Chris Grainger: 5:29

So for this Fun Friday episode, I'm going to do a new three-prong approach Show, teach and guide, all right. So for the health tip, we're going to talk about show, okay. Now I want you to show the evil one that you mean business, okay. And you do that by reading God's word, and you have to read If, if you're going to fight the evil one daily and you are you're going to get attacked daily. I don't know if you want, if you end up fighting daily, but if you're going to stand firm against the pushback of the evil one, you got to fight him daily and you show him that you mean business by getting into God's word.

Chris Grainger: 6:09

And and so many dudes put it to the side, they just do and they never, they never touch it outside of a Sunday. I know for a fact that there's people in churches that leave their Bible and their car so that they don't even have to think about it on Sunday morning. It's just going to be there and I'm just like what are you doing? What are you doing? You wouldn't just leave your kids or animals or groceries for the week just in your car. No, you wouldn't. But we'll leave the most valuable thing car no, you wouldn't. But we'll leave the most valuable thing. That we have, god's Word to the side and we expect some pastor for 30 minutes or an hour on a Sunday to fill us up Blows me away. No-transcript doesn't make any sense to me.

Chris Grainger: 7:09

So as a Christian leader, as a man, you need to show the evil one that you are going to stand firm against whatever crap he throws your way, and you do that by getting into God's word every day. Well, chris, I don't know how to read the Bible. Then jump into the line within this community and we'll help you. Or check out our devotions and we'll give you some insight there. But you have to do this. You cannot outsource spending time with God. The dudes that think they can do that are getting destroyed, and most of them don't even know it. So show them. So show him. Show him, take care of that mind. Get into God's word. Now for a wealth tip teach. Let's think about that. Teach.

Chris Grainger: 7:59

Find a financial mentor, someone who's further along than you, to help teach you about your finances or the decisions that you're trying to make. Because you look for mentors in other areas of life all the time, right? Maybe you look for mentors from a marriage standpoint and you see this older gentleman maybe it's been married 30, 40, 50 years and you learn from them, right? Or mentors at work, and they're excellent at their craft, and you ask questions and you learn from them, right? Or mentors at work, and they're excellent at their craft, and you ask questions and you learn from them because you want to get better.

Chris Grainger: 8:38

What about finances? What about finances? And I know we think, well, that's a little bit. That's just different, chris Is it really, and not just the financial professionals, which there is value? There for sure, you can find insight around your finances from people in your life right now. They don't have to be a CPA. Find the person. Here's some insight.

Chris Grainger: 9:15

Find a person who has achieved A level of financial success that you respect and that you recognize. Ask them To give you, to show you. What would you do in my situation? I'd love to. I see what you're doing, how you stewarded what God's given you, and I want to follow a similar path, because people love to teach. They just do, and this could be the step that you need for a major uplift, just by asking the question Teach Now, self-tip Guide, guide. Don't do. Okay, there's a difference there and, as I add, this is hard. This is so hard Because you want to step in and do stuff for your kids, but that is not serving them well, because your job is to guide them so that at some point you may be out of a job.

Chris Grainger: 10:30

My buddy, ryan Mickler, says we need to render ourselves obsolete, and when you say that to a man, that cuts you to the core. But think about this If you're trying to just be your best friend with your kids from the get-go, you're just friends and buddies and you're not guiding and directing them, they're not going to know how to do anything on their own. You're doing a disservice to them and I get. At some point you may be out of a job, but if you do it correctly, you're putting yourself in a great position to enjoy a relationship with your son or daughter that they're going to be capable individuals who are equipped to face the challenges of life, and you're the one who aided them along the way. That should get you pumped up.

Chris Grainger: 11:23

So the whole idea of doing for them instead of just guiding this is where lots of dads you know why we get it wrong. Here's why I get it wrong. Maybe this resonates with you. I don't have patience. I'm too doggone busy to guide, because to guide takes time. If it takes time, then I'm taking time away from other stuff that I need to do. Thus I'm always behind. Therefore, I don't take time to guide. Sound familiar.

Chris Grainger: 11:54

If you're saying no, you're probably lying to yourself. That's okay, but at some point that guidance is a commitment and it is. It's a whole lot easier just to do it. There's stuff we have here on the farm all the time and it's a whole lot easier just to me say I got it Versus. Here's how you do it and let them try it, and it may jack it up the first few. Here's how you do it and let them try it, and it may jack it up the first few times, but you know what? The more and more you start releasing and letting go, the more equipped they're going to become, and that should bring you a sense of joy, such a sense of joy. So think about that guidance the next time you're with them. And how can you put yourself more in a guidance counselor type of role versus the? I'm just going to do it, just get out of the way.

Chris Grainger: 12:55

All right, guys, there are your three tips your health, wealth and self. Go, show that evil when you mean business. Go kick his butt getting God's word. Teach that financial person who's achieved financial success and ask him to teach you. And guide, guide your family. Don't do it for them. All right.

Chris Grainger: 13:14

So the book of the week this week is actually called Principal Centered Leadership. It's a book by Stephen Covey, the guy who wrote the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. So, fellas, go check this one out. I don't have a copy here with me. It's in another area that I just couldn't get to today, obviously, Stephen Covey Leadership Principles. This one was recommended to me by my mentor, so go check it out. All right, and, by the way, if you're looking for a book of the week, if you're looking for something good to read, check out thelinewithinus slash book. You'll see all the books each and every week. Guarantee you'll find some good reading right there.

Chris Grainger: 13:50

All right, so dad jokes, let's get into our dad jokes, guys. Dad joke number one parallel lines have so doggone much in common it's a shame they'll never meet. So there you go, that's number one. Number two I used to play piano by ear, but, man, now I started using my hands. So, fellas, let me know which one you like.

Chris Grainger: 14:15

Number one, number two I know they're both terrible this week. That's okay. That's kind of the point of dad jokes. Parallel lines have so much in common it's a shame that they'll never meet. And number two I used to play piano by ear, but now I use my hands. So, fellas, remember, if you use this with your wife, be careful. But if you get an eye roll, check the box. And let me know if you check the box, because that is what it's all about. Get those little chuckles and little grins. If you get a sigh or something like that from your kids, hey, good job. And, by the way, if you have a dad joke you want us to use on the Lion Within Us, send it over, chris at thelionwithinus with your dad jokes. We'll give you a shout-out and hook you up with some free swag for just taking the time to share it to help us here on the show. All right.

Chris Grainger: 14:59

So, question of the week this week, fellas, we talked about a couple times is how do you seek Notice I say you, not your neighbor, but how do you seek God's guidance daily? What are you doing? How are you spending time with him and asking him and listening and responding to what he says? If you're not, let that maybe that's a little indicator some things you need to adjust, all right. So, guys, thank you so much for listening. Come back next week. We'll have some more episodes for you, preferably Good Lord, will it? And just thank you again.

Chris Grainger: 15:33

If you can give us a rating and review, share this stuff out with others and then head over to thelinewithinus Join our community stuff out with others and then head over to the line within that us. Join our community. I'm going to be straight up Just join the community, start your 30 day free trial. See what it's all about. Guys, we put a ton of effort into that. We got lots of things happening inside the community all the time. Every day there's something happening. Then also, fellows, we have mission trips and retreats and lots of ways we try to connect guys together. So the linewithinus is how you find all our resources Okay. So get after. Have a great day. Thank you, guys so much. Have a great weekend and remember to keep unleashing the lion within.

Chris Grainger: 16:16

I don't know about you, but I used to find Mondays really rough.

Chris Grainger: 16:19

I would find myself trying to reset for work, trying to get my bearing on the family calendar, trying to find time for my own spiritual growth and development, and often I found myself overwhelmed or just flatly ignoring aspects of my life that I know are meaningful to me.

Chris Grainger: 16:35

What I learned was that if I had immediate access to important and impactful spiritual topics and reflections to start my week well after the allure of a Sunday sermon has passed, I would set my whole week up to be more meaningful and for the opportunity to make a true impact. If you think that getting such a boost would help your week to get started on the right foot, we would love for you to sign up for the Weekly Roar, which is our newsletter that is produced by the Lion Within Us. Each week, we'll deliver a powerful reflection and practical steps to help you apply Scripture with clarity and purpose, all being rooted in light and truth. So in just a few minutes, we hope to arm you with insights for living out biblical leadership with confidence and strength, and maybe even have a little extra bounce in your step. If that sounds useful, head over to thelionwithinus slash ROAR to sign up today. That's thelionwithinus slash ROAR to get your weekly RO up today. That's the lion within dot U S slash R O A R to get your weekly roar today.