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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 spiritual kickoff time. Let's get into it, okay? So this week we are in the book of Colossians, the third chapter, the 13th verse. Okay, it says bear with each other and forgive one another. If any of you has a grievance against someone, forgive, as the Lord gave you Love. That verse, fellas. Now let's see how we can simplify and apply it to our life. And again, spiritual kickoff. Fellas. We love these episodes and we do this Monday through Friday in our Lion Within Us community, and we do it completely for free. We don't put the content anywhere else. It's an opportunity for you to get a little daily dose of encouragement. You can even join us live on the live feed, and if you can't make the live feed, the videos are there. Head over to the LionWithinus. Get started today with your free, daily spiritual kickoff.

Speaker 1: 1:54

Okay, so we need to understand what scripture. First of all, we need to know where it is. I know it's simple, but we don't want to just fly by stuff, so we need to understand where is the book of Colossians. So that is your new Testament, okay, and it's you're going to find it after Philippians. Now, if you get the first Thessalonians, get to 1 Thessalonians. Stop, just back up a little bit. It's right before that. This week we're going to be diving into one of the devos that I wrote, or the Bible studies that I wrote for the Bible app.

Speaker 1: 2:24

I'm just a guy fighting for my marriage. It's done relatively well. The message is out there. Guys seem to be enjoying it. I'm encouraged by the feedback For this particular spiritual kickoff episode.

Speaker 1: 2:38

This verse matters because it gives us a direct insight into conflict resolution. Okay, and uh, I'm just going to share some brutal, honest type of reflections here today. And and so my wife and I you know, we, we don't fight, ok, we have discussions. That's what we call discussions, like we do. That's just at least, that's what she calls it.

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And it kind of threw me off the first time, and for the longest time, though, to be fair man, I really thought that a healthy marriage had no conflict, had no conflict, and whenever we would have these arguments or discussions, they were flags or signs, and I thought they meant that we were broken or we were on a fast track to just be on another divorce. And when we had our first kind of major disagreement I really panicked and the fear that I had didn't come out from nowhere. I mean when I, when I grew up, I didn't see my parents argue a lot. They just didn't. And I know they had conflict they must have but they handled it behind closed doors and that really gave me a perception that healthy families just don't argue. And I carried that into my adulthood.

Speaker 1: 4:01

And then on top of that, a pile on top of that, I walked through a failed marriage. You know the pain that goes there. And from that failure I was really determined to avoid conflict wherever I could. And I recognize now that that was a mistake. And maybe you're in that place right now and you're convinced that conflict is a sign of failure. But I'm recognizing this to be true, guys, is that the strongest marriage, the most God-centered marriage? You're going to have disagreements, you just are. And that's not a failure in our marriage. That's just the result of the human nature that we live in humanity. And conflict is not the enemy. It's how we handle the conflict that determines the strength of our relationship.

Speaker 1: 4:54

And when I think about marriage, it's really an ongoing discussion between two people and let's just be frank about this. At times those two people are going to disagree. That could be things you know where you send your kids to school or where we're going to spend Thanksgiving this year. But whatever that is, there's going to be tension and it's inevitable. But it's not something that should be fearful of, because these, in fact, are opportunities to grow and to strengthen your marriage. And I've learned a couple of things as I've tried to approach conflict. I'm still learning, guys, but the first thing is that I have to learn how to have these difficult conversations in a solution-oriented way. So that's a big difference than just trying to have a fight for a fight. Then number two got to learn how to ask for forgiveness and then extend it freely when it's needed.

Speaker 1: 5:54

And as Christian men, we have to think about Do we or do we demonstrate rather forgiveness in our marriage? Like our goal should be the chief forgiving officer in our marriage. Let's just be real about this. So is that the chief? Do we want to be that forgiveness guy or do you want to be the avoidance guy?

Speaker 1: 6:17

And if I'm honest, I spent a lot of time avoiding because it's safer, it's cleaner, it's less emotional. But avoidance doesn't really resolve anything, does it? What does avoidance do? Let's just be real. It just delays it and then it can amplify it if we don't, if we're not careful and I've learned the hard way that unresolved tension can create distance Because lots of times when I look back over my marriage and the painful moments that we've had in it, they're really not caused by the conflict itself, but really by my failure to confront whatever it was with humility and grace. So if I'm choosing the silent treatment which I do a lot because I'm just a big punk right Instead of speaking up, that doesn't serve. If I just choose to sit and stew instead of forgive, that doesn't serve. In those moments I'm allowing my emotional distance to grow between me and my wife. It's not healthy, fellas.

Speaker 1: 7:27

This verse reminds us forgiveness changes everything, and forgiveness doesn't mean we're just going to sweep it under the rug. No, we're not just going to pretend nothing happened, but it's a bold choice as a Christian man to offer grace instead of holding a grudge. It's release over resentment. Can I see what we're talking about here? And Jesus gives us an example forgive us that the Lord forgave you. He didn't wait for us to apologize, and he didn't use our wrongs as leverage either. Notice that he paid the price and he extended the mercy, and that's a model that he gave us and that's our call as men.

Speaker 1: 8:07

So I'm telling you, if your marriage is in a tough season or if you're feeling stuck, start with forgiveness. Show it to her, because you'll be amazed how much healing and peace can flow just from one little decision to forgive as you have been forgiven. So the question to really think about is how do you typically respond when conflict arises in your marriage? I don't know if this verse has helped you or not, but it says bear with each other and forgive one another. If any of you has a grievance against someone, forgive as the Lord forgave you. That's a good reminder for us guys.

Speaker 1: 8:53

The heart of that forgiveness, guys, really comes down to submission. It's submitting to something greater than us. That starts with submitting our life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. If you haven't done that, if you haven't asked him to be your Lord and Savior and confessed everything to him, then today's your day, because this world we live in at the beginning it was a perfect design and God loves you so doggone much.

Speaker 1: 9:30

And the reason you feel this tension now is because of the result of the fall, because sin entered the world and we have this great divide between us and God. Because he is holy, he is set apart. And we have this great divide between us and God because he is holy, he is set apart and we are not, and there's nothing we can do to overcome that. So, in essence, we need someone to do for us what we can't do for ourselves. And that's where Jesus comes into the picture, because he left His throne in heaven for you and for me, for the whole world, to redeem us, to pay the penalty for our sins. He went to that cross. He did just that and ultimately, the fundamental difference between Jesus and all these other religions that are out there is that Jesus overcame death, because without the resurrection there's no hope. So he defeated death. So if death can no longer have a hold, from a fear standpoint, on us, what can the evil one do to us so we recognize that he overcame death?

Speaker 1: 10:53

He is at the right hand of the Father right now. He is the way, the truth and the life, and it starts by confessing him as Lord and Savior. If you've never done that, I would just invite you to do that right now. Invite him into your life, particularly if you're listening to this week and your marriage is really on the rocks. What could be missing from your marriage? Quite frankly, if you're not a believer and she's not a believer Christ. You may get lucky and your marriage survives without Christ at the center. But, trust me, it's just going to be that luck. But if you want bless and abundance and joy and gentleness, that comes when you put Christ at the center of your marriage. You pursue Him, she pursues Him. Together you run your race. So if you haven't confessed Christ as your Lord and Savior, let's just do it right now. Let's take care of that box today.

Speaker 1: 11:59

So, father, just thank you for today. I'm praying for that one man who's listening, who just recognizes that their marriage is in shambles and it really starts because they've never submitted to you and in this moment they recognize that, lord, they need you more than anything in this world. I pray that you just comfort them, put some people in their path. That's going to encourage them. I'm just thankful for this most important decision that they're making to submit to you and to follow you. It's in your name we pray. Amen, all right.

Speaker 1: 12:36

So if you just submitted your life to Christ, look, I want to hear from you because I got some resources I want to hook you up with. So send me an email. It's the easiest way. Chris at the line with N dot U S Okay, shoot me an email, send you a bunch of free resources. Also want to find out where you're located, because we'll make sure that you get plugged into a local church and at least help you start the process of what to look for. You know green flags, red flags, all that fun. You know fun stuff and would love just to hop on a call and just have a conversation to hear how you got to this moment. So, shoot me an email. Love to connect. Yeah, let's come back on Wednesday. We're looking forward to unpacking this whole marriage idea of fighting for our marriage and building strong marriages. Again, the evil one is absolutely doing all he can to destroy marriages these days. We're going to push back. We're going to stand firm because we know that's what God's called us to do. So look forward to seeing you guys next time. Come hang out with us, give us a rating and review that helps.

Speaker 1: 13:33

Thelionwithinus is where you find all our resources guys. You'll get our Bible plans that we have on the Bible app. You can start your daily spiritual kickoff. You can join our community. It's a super fun way to get connected with some Christian guys. Or, if you're ready, if you're that guy and you're ready to really level up and see if you have what it takes to be the leader that God intends you to be. Our leadership masterminds is where it's at fellows, and that those groups are rocking. Those groups are rolling. So if you're interested in a small group of band of brothers to walk with you on this discipleship journey, the Leadership Masterminds, go check it out, all found at thelionwithinus. Have a great day, guys. Get after it. Thank you so much for listening. Keep unleashing the Lion Within.

Speaker 1: 14:16

I've got something big to share.

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We're making a major shift because we know the battle is real and it's time more men had access to the support they need.

Speaker 1: 14:24

For too long, guys have been trying to carry the weight alone pressure at work, tension at home, wounds from the past, in a world that demands strength but offers no place to rest. We see it, we've lived it and that's exactly why we built our community. It's a stronghold, a place where warriors can find rest, truth and a band of brothers standing beside them. And starting now, we're making it easier than ever to step in. We've lowered the barrier to just $15.99 a month. That means, for less than the cost of a drive-thru lunch, you can join a brotherhood that's centered on Christ and built for growth. Inside you'll find access to our daily spiritual kickoffs every Monday through Friday, our Lion Lunches, our Bible Studies, our Friday Forge Gatherings all that and so much more. Every man needs a stronghold, and you don't have to fight alone. If you've been waiting for the right time to jump in, this is it. Go to thelionwithinus and join the community and see for yourself what happens when iron truly sharpens iron.