Welcome to The Line 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, fellas, it's your spiritual kickoff episode of the week, and it's Thanksgiving week. So I'm super pumped to be here with you. A little bit different scripture for Thanksgiving, but uh hang with me. Hopefully it'll make sense here in a little bit. James chapter one, verses two and three. Consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. I love those verses, guys. They happen to be my life verses, and I recognize I had never done a SKO on these verses. And I'm picking, choosing Thanksgiving week for a reason. So we'll we'll talk about it as we go. But for the SKO, we're gonna focus on God's Word. That's really what we're gonna be focusing on. I'll tell you more about what's coming up on the next for the meet episode this week, here towards the end. But for this, for this right now, let's just focus on the word and see how we can simplify and apply it to our life. That's what it's all about. That's what the lying is all about. So again, guys, this is um these verses mean so much to me. And we need to first of all know where they're at. They're in the New Testament. James is in the New Testament, he's a half-brother of Jesus. It's after Hebrews, it's before 1 Peter. That's where you're gonna find it, okay? And again, if you enjoy the spiritual kickoff episodes each week on the podcast, we do them Monday through Friday in our community for free, live. You can hop on with me directly. We're reading God's word, we're unpacking God's word. If you can't make the live feeds, we put them out in a recording format when we're done. And it's all free, guys. It's the way we just try to encourage you, open it up to you. It's called the daily spiritual kickoff. So head over to the lionwithin.us. Right there, you'll see the daily spiritual kickoffs at the top of the screen. Click that and get started, okay? So now, these verses. Crazy. Because how are we supposed to find joy in the storm? And I mean, it's Thanksgiving week. Everybody's is excited, everybody is thinking about gratitude and reflecting and family. But can I just be real? Sometimes giving thanks is hard and can feel impossible. Maybe when life hits you hard, maybe you get your health hits or finances are crumbling, or you just have a fractured relationships, or man, the worst of all, maybe you're mourning someone who isn't sitting at the table this year. In those moments, it's hard to be grateful. I'm just being honest. But this verse is the verse that God gave me as my life verse. I used to think it was a cruel joke. Like, really, God, seriously? Uh, this one? But he's like, yeah, man, consider all joy when you can encounter various trials. And uh trying to find joy in that. But I can tell you with with full conviction, this verse has been proven to be true to me over and over and over more than anything in the Bible. And uh I'm gonna unpack this week why I mean that. But for for right now, looking back, I can recognize that the growth that I've that I've ever had happens in the middle of the grind in the hard seasons of life. For me personally, walking through a divorce, losing my daughter, and we're gonna be talking about it more, but literally having my ankle completely almost knocked off my foot altogether. It's crazy. Those were the moments that tested everything I claimed to believe. And you know what? Those were the moments where I grew the most. It's through those storms that God stripped away any illusion I had of control and forced me to fully rely on him. And every time I hit the bottom, man, he was there. He is steady, he is faithful, he's strong. And the only hope I can offer you right now is through the testing of your faith, that's when we really grow. Because let's just be honest, boys, if it's always cupcakes and rainbows, you wouldn't need any faith. Anybody can be thankful when everything's working out. You have enough money for the end of the month, and your wife aren't fighting, your kids are obeying, you know, your things are going good at work, it's easy to be faithful there. But when you're in the middle of the storm and things are coming at you faster and you can take them, man, I'm gonna tell you what that's where you're gonna figure out if you're gonna be able to stand. And we're not unless it's built on Christ. And James throws out this word, I just think it's super interesting. Endurance. He says it's gonna produce endurance. And think about that. Endurance is not passive, it's not a soft word. It's built through resistance, right? You don't develop endurance by sitting on a couch eating Doritos, right? Just don't. You build endurance by pushing through something hard. So if you want, maybe you've ever ran like a 5K or a marathon, or you've ever done a Murph, or you got a really tough workout that makes you question your sanity, that endurance is how showing up over and over and over gets you to a point where you can complete that stuff, right? Well, it's the same principle with your faith. Spiritual endurance is built through testing. Every trial that we face is an opportunity to spiritually grow stronger, to have a deeper trust in God that can't be shaken by circumstances because circumstances change, guys. They just do. So life's gonna come at you hard. And it's tempting to say, why me? Let's just be real. I better reframe. Sorry, Lord, what are you building? What are you building in me? Because that's gonna help you redirect it. And if you're in a trial right now going into Thanksgiving, man, I am so sorry. That sucks. Can I just say that? That just sucks. I'm sorry. I'm sorry that it's not working out the way you hoped it would. But I'm praying you hear not just my words, but well, not just my voice rather, but the words that matter from God's word. Man, you're not being punished, bro. You're being refined, you're being sharpened, you're being strengthened, and your faith is growing right now in this season, even though it doesn't feel like it by leaps and bounds. And that's worth being thankful for. Because God uses your pain to produce endurance. We see it. James tells us this directly. And that endurance produces strength, right? And that strength helps shape your testimony. And then other people are gonna see that. They're gonna see his goodness working through you. So if you're a plate is full right now, going into Thanksgiving because your heart feels empty, thank God, man. Not for the trial, but for being with you as you go through it. Because he's not done. So Thanksgiving, finding joy, not look for the joy in the stuff that's not easy. But look for joy in what's eternal. Because you're being made stronger, you're being forged. And I want you to have a good Thanksgiving. I do. I want you to think about all the good things God has given in your life. We're gonna give you some things to think about this week as you work through Thanksgiving. But consider it all joy. No matter the situation. Because I'm just telling you, as someone who's gone through some very significant trials recently. And look, the next episode, the meet episode this week, I want to unpack that trial. So last week, if you listen to the to the podcast, I shared with you about a mountaintop moment. Being down at the conference in Florida, serving alongside Pastor Jovi, encouraging, praying, just just being a support mechanism for 3,000 plus guys. And then when I got home in the period of 12 hours, I went from the mountaintop to the valley. And I'm gonna unpack that for thanks for a Thanksgiving episode because I've learned a lot through it. And I'm still learning stuff through it. I'm still dealing with it. But I think it's worth sharing to potentially encourage you, particularly for you guys right there, right now, who are dealing with some pretty heavy stuff in life. So our question of the week this week is how do you respond when joy, uh with joy, when those trials hit? And it's not a matter of if, but when they hit. It's going to happen. What is your response? All right, fellas. So look, finding joy in trials is also only possible when we're walking with the Lord. So if you're not walking with the Lord right now, if you've never surrendered your life to the Lordship of Christ, you're missing such a great opportunity. Not only because you know the promise of eternity and to be with him and the power of the Holy Spirit, but but guys, you'll never, if you have a desire to learn scripture and to read God's word and to understand it better, you're never going to understand it on your own gifts and talents and abilities. You'll get to a certain level for sure. But what changes the game when it comes to understanding the Bible and applying the Bible is the Spirit. Union with the Spirit. Because that union is what's going to create the relationship that's going to reveal new things to you as you go. And if you've never made a public profession of faith of Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, today's the day. Like take the step for today. Call on Jesus as Lord and Savior and let others know. Okay? And it starts with, first of all, just a full submission and understanding that you are a sinner. You are a sinner in need of a savior. And then after that submission comes believing that Jesus is the Son of God and then confessing Him as Lord. It's that simple. It really is that simple. And thank for this Thanksgiving week, I'm keeping it super simple. So just understand that. We don't need someone to to to coach us up to be better. No. You can't overcome your sin. You need someone to step in and do for you what you can't do for yourself. And thankfully, Jesus did that. He did that for us. He did that for you. He did that for me. And it's him, he's waiting right now for you to turn to him. Particularly if you're in that trial. Because the only peace that you're ever going to find this side of heaven comes through the relationship with Christ. Guys, I I've lost a marriage. I've had to hold my lifeless daughter in my arms. I've found myself in the hospital very recently questioning a lot of things. And in all those moments, I still was able to find joy, not because of the circumstances. The circumstances all absolute terrible. I can find joy because of my relationship with Christ. That's not fake, that's not superficial, that's not, you know, trying to share some prosperity message. No. It's just what I've experienced. And the same could be true for you. But it starts with confessing Him as Lord and Savior. So I simply just want to pray with you for that one guy right now who's listening. You're in a trial. You don't know how you're going to get through it. But you know you need help, you need support, and you're hearing for the first time the good news of the gospel, and you're ready to respond. So let's pray. Father, I just pray for that one guy right now who's really struggling. And thanksgiving is he doesn't have a lot to be thankful for. For that guy, Lord, I just pray you just put comfort around him. Ease his spirit. Let him know that he is loved, that you love him, that you are with him. You recognize that he is in the storm and that you're not going to leave him. You're not going to forsake him. So we love you, Lord Jesus. We praise you in all things, in all circumstances. And I pray, God, that you just put a hedge protection around this man right now. And we pray all this according to your will in Christ's name. Amen. All right, brother. So look, if you just accepted Christ as your Savior, I want to hear from you. I want to encourage you, particularly if you're in that trial that we talked about, send me an email, Chris at thelionwithin.us. I'd love to hear from you. I got some resources I'd like to send over your way, lots of resources that we've built to help guys with. So just send me an email. I'll get connected with you and we'll go from there. Okay. So look, Wednesday's episode is going to be a little bit different. I know it's the day before Thanksgiving, but look, this is a story. I share this not because it's easy. I share this because I try on the lion to always just be authentic, to be real, to be transparent. I think that's why a lot of the guys enjoy it. So I'm going to share this story with you on Wednesday. I hope you listen. Hope you come back. Thelionwithin.us is where you find all our resources. Guys, get a copy of the book. I've already talked about that. Unleashing the lion within, found on Amazon. Would love for you to get a copy of that. Head over to the lionwithin.us, start your daily SKO, join the community, put in an application for the mastermind, all the ways we help, guys. Guys, you know how that we do this stuff now. Head over to the Bible app. Open the Bible app. Search for The Lion Within Us. We got over 50 studies, dudes. I mean, I'm writing daily for the Bible app, and I never know who it's going to touch. I just know God's using it in a mighty way. Therefore, I'm going to keep leaning into the gift he's given me, and hopefully it encourages you. All right, guys. We'll see you next time. Give us a rating review. Have a great, great rest of your day. Just keep unleashing the lion within. If you've ever opened the Bible and had the thought, where do I even start? Brother, you're not alone. I've had those moments all too often. And I found that having a guide was helpful. And that's why we created the I'm Just a Guy series on the Bible app. They're short, they're honest, and they help you read scripture and walk it out. And these plans speak to the real stuff that we're wrestling with as men, like marriage, anxiety, loneliness, shame, pornography, and so much more. Now do this all without pretending or piling on a bunch of self-help nonsense. And lots of guys are using them in their small groups, and they're helping to spark honest conversations and take simple next steps in their discipleship journey. So if that sounds helpful, check them out at thelionwithin.us slash U versions. That's Y-O-U-D-E-R-S-I-O-N. Or just open up your Bible app and search for the Lion Within Us. And it's my hope that these reflections will encourage you in just a few minutes to help you walk with him all day long.