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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. Spiritual kickoff time. Let's get into it, okay? Scripture the week this week is in the book of Psalms, the 37th one, the fifth verse. So just one verse. Commit your way to the Lord, and then it's a semicolon. Trust in him, and he will act. Beautiful verse, lots to think about. So we're going to see if we can simplify and apply this to our life. Again, guys, I know I sound like a broken record. Monday through Friday, in the lion within us. We call it the daily spiritual kickoff. Very simple. The model's super simple. You know what the model is? I read scripture. And then I try to encourage guys with how they can apply it based off what the Holy Spirit has shown me. So if you enjoy the SKO episodes of the Lion Within Us podcast, like if you're listening to this right now and you have any sort of enjoyment of it, we do it Monday through Friday at the Lion Within Us, guys. This is just what we do. We try to encourage guys. So head over to thelionwithin.us. You'll see a little link that says daily spiritual kickoff. Click on that, open it up, join. It's free. Get connected. Guess what, guys? We don't put this stuff anywhere else. We're not trying to put it on YouTube or make it go. No, none of that stuff. It's all about serving you guys. So it's all right there. We house it. You can join us live. We do it every day every morning. If you can't make the live, many guys watch it throughout the day. So it's just it's there for you to consume, to be encouraged as you go. All right, guys. So let's get into this verse. So I need to think about first thing. Where is Psalms? Okay. Well, it's in the middle of your Bible. So usually if you open your just boom, open your Bible towards the middle, you're likely going to land in Psalms somewhere. Okay. Now, if you get to Proverbs, you went a little bit too far. Or if you get to the book of Job, you're too far back the other direction. So that's where you're going to find Psalms. Okay. And what I thought was interesting with this Psalm is it is extremely difficult to live out.

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Because it says it's very simple. Commit your way to the Lord, trust in him, and he will act. Got it. Okay. Short, simple, extremely challenging, particularly for guys to live out day after day. And this really cuts straight to the tension that most of us carry as men. We say we trust God, but then we still try to be God. Are you feeling me on that one? We say we trust him, but we still try to be him. And because I've lost count of how many times I've said, you know, I'm committed. I trust you. And then only a few seconds later, I want to take the steering wheel back. Because why? This stuff gets done, right? It's almost instinctive. And I'm not telling you guys that I'm just being 100% transparent here, right? Pressurizes, circumstances tighten up, deadlines start looming. And what do we have to do? What do we think we have to do with all those circumstances? Act, act, act. I'm telling you, scripture is very clear right here. I'm not trusting him most of the time. I'm trusting me. And Psalm 37, 5. It's the roadmap, guys. And it can be broken down into three words. Commit, trust, and act. In that order, okay? And maybe we need to just walk through it. And this is what we're gonna do. So first of all, commit your way to the Lord. Those three words are enough to stop grown men in their tracks. I know they are. They've stopped me. Because commitment in this verse isn't passive. It's not saying, okay, God, bless the plans I've already made. You see what that see what that is? That distinction there? This is surrender. This means yielding. This means letting go of our way long enough to ask, all right, Lord, what is your way? And that's hard because your way or my way means what? It means my preferences. It means my ambitions. It means my strategy. It means my agenda, right? So what we're seeing right here is we're acknowledging that what I desire may not align with what God desires. His ways are going to always be better. But here's the hard part. Maybe just this hard part for me. They're not always obvious. Isn't that crazy? They're not always obvious. So commitment means starting with God and not asking him to catch up later, if you know what I'm saying. It's coming to the crossroads of a decision and you say, All right, Lord, not my will, but yours be done in everything. Okay? And and and most of us um it's not that we get stuck here because we don't love God. That's not it. You guys love God. We get stuck here, I think, at least I get stuck here, because I love control. And I'm just being honest. And and I I absolutely love the thought of control. And that's something that uh I have to surrender all the time. I have to surrender. So that's the first step. Commit your way to the Lord. Then you have to trust in Him. Okay. And and trust, fellas, is where the battle gets exposed, right? So if commitment is surrendering direction, then trust is surrendering the outcome. Think about that. Trust means we got to put our confidence in someone that's not me. And that's hard. Because we've been conditioned to what? To fix stuff, to solve stuff, to carry the load, right? But I keep coming back to this truth. Either we trust God or we don't. Either we trust God or we don't. There's not middle ground here. Every time we're saying I trust that I got this, we're basically saying, I don't trust you, God, right? I mean, that's very blunt, but it's very true. And it's also a dangerous path. Not because God is harsh, because self-reliance, fellas, never leads to peace. It leads us to being exhausted, anxious, and frustrated. And trust, and also hear this, please hear this. Trust isn't the absence of action. It's the absence of self-dependence. It's when we release the outcome of God, the outcome rather, into God's hands before we ever put our hands on the work. So that's trusting. So committing, trusting. And what's the third component? Remember act. Because it says, and he will act. And this is the part that guys struggle with the most, at least I do. And this is interesting. It's not because God acts, but we struggle with it because we're not the ones acting first. Right? It comes down to pride. Because so many guys, I mean, I mean, I'm right here. I pride myself on productivity, on taking the initiative, on drive. And waiting on God can, quite frankly, sometimes feel like I'm failing. But quite often, his direction doesn't begin with a command to move, it starts with a command to wait. And waiting puts us in a posture where we have to do something that we all hate. Let's just be honest. Patience. We have to be patient. Patience is not passive either. It's when we put that trust into motion. It's obedience stretched out over time. It's believing that God's timing is not just better than ours, but it's perfect. And how many times, think about this, have you prematurely acted because you were tired of waiting? I know I have. It's too many times to count. And every time the Lord is reminding me, look, bro, if you if you just wait, you see what I'm doing. And I'm like, I know. But I mess up again. And the beauty of this psalm right here is that when commitment and trust, when they're in the right order, right? Commitment and trust, God's going to act. It doesn't say might act or could act. It says he will act. And that's a promise that we can't outwork, we can't outperform, and we definitely can't outrun it, guys. So there's a lot in this little verse. It's a very simple verse with complex execution. And the simplicity of the verse, guys, is disarming. But the execution is anything but. Commitment requires surrender. Trust requires dependence. Waiting requires patience. And yet, this place where God forms men into something stronger, steadier, and more Christ-like, this is it right here. And if you're like me, you often feel the pull to take things in your own hands. I know I do. I gotta do this. Please remember, when we stop trying to be God, we finally give God room to be God. He's just gonna do it. Take him out of the box. And this is not about inactivity. This is about posture, right? And this is a verse that teaches us how to align our hearts before we engage our hands. So I'm just encouraged by this, and hopefully you are too, to commit your ways to him, to trust in his wisdom, and to watch him act in ways that we just can't, and that we never could. So if you're encouraged by this, ask the question. Here's the question to think about. Where is God asking you to wait right now when you know you want to act? I don't know what that answer is, but whatever it is, lean into it. Don't squander it, don't waste it. And look, if you don't have Jesus as your Lord and Savior, I just want to take just a minute just to encourage you to accept the greatest gift that could ever be given to you here on earth, and that's the gift of salvation. Recognizing that you are a sinner in need of a savior, recognizing that Jesus is the Messiah, recognizing that you need to confess him as Lord and Savior of your life. There's no amount of bootstrapping you can do, guy, to earn your way to heaven. You may try. And I get it, man. You feel like you can, if you can just be good enough, that's gonna be good enough. No, it doesn't work that way. It does take you doing something bold, and that's putting your trust in something besides you. I can't make you do it. I can only point you to him. I have saved zero people because people can't save people. God does a saving. All I can do is encourage you. If you're in a season of life right now where things are just tough, maybe financially you're upside down, maybe in relationships they just ain't going good. Maybe you're and your kids not talking. Your job, it's just not going well. Whatever the thing is, we all have stuff. The only peace and encouragement I can offer you comes through a genuine relationship with Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. So you have a decision you have to make. Whether you're gonna try to just keep doing it on your own, the way you've been doing it, or are you gonna surrender your life to Him, turn over the reins, and follow Christ. And this is my prayer that that's what's exactly what you do. Again, I can't make you. I can simply encourage you and point you to him and pray that you take the step. So if you're ready to take that step and confess him as Lord and Savior, let's pray together right now and invite him into your life. So, God, whoever's listening, I know there's probably one man who's listening right now who's recognized that their way is just not working, God. I pray you put people in their path right now that are going to comfort them as they are confessing to you as Lord and Savior. This is this is scary work. The evil one is not gonna be happy with their decision. So I just pray you just encourage them, keep that conviction just moving in their life, equip them as they as they move forward. And I just pray, God, that you just uh let them feel that peace that passes all understanding, through that relationship with you. We love you, Lord. We praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. So look, if you just accepted Christ, touchdown, first of all, let's go. It doesn't get any better than that. Shoot me an email, though. I'll I got some stuff I want to send you just straight up. Just want to send it over your way. Chris at thelionwithin.us. That's my email address. Got some scriptures, some verses, some other resources. I just want to send you. All right. I just want to put that in your hands, get you equipped. Uh, if you're not at a church, let me know. Happy to give you some things to consider when you're looking for a church, how to get plugged in there. And also, man, I just want to come alongside, give you a high five encouragement, and pray for you. Just pray with you. So love to reach out. So please let me know. Love to hear from you, okay? And uh, other than that, the stuff that we're doing can all be found at the Lion Within. So that's T-H-E, LionWithin.us, okay. Connect with us there. Daily Spiritual Kickoff, Weekly Roar, uh Lion's Den Community, which we waiting on there, guys. We'll put in an application for the leadership mastermind. All those things. You can also get a copy of our book, Unleashing the Lion Within, which can be found on Amazon. So go open up your Amazon app right now, type in unleashing the lion within. Go ahead and add about one or twenty of those copies to your. I'm just kidding. But seriously, if you want to buy some extra for your buddies, hand them out. They're a great conversation starter. It's got a dope image on the lion on the front, fellas. Can't go wrong. Okay, so all that can be found at thelionwithin.us again, Amazon, Unleashing the Lion Within. And the other place where I spend a lot of time, the Bible app. Open up the Bible app from you version, the number one Bible app on the planet, over a billion downloads. Search for the Lion Within Us. You'll find our page there. And on that page, guys, all of our plans. I mean tons and tons of plans to walk right alongside with you with scripture to encourage you, to equip you, to inspire you, to help you take God's word and apply it to your life. It's all found at the Lion Within Us. All right, fellas, again, open up that Bible app, connect with us there. I'm telling you, the next episode, you don't, I mean, I'm gonna say this for all the episodes, but seriously, you're not gonna want to miss this one. We're talking about a country music star who's turned his life. He's he's just completely bought in, gave it all to Christ, and this dude is doing some incredible, incredible work in the music industry. Honored to get to meet him, got to meet him in Florida, got to hang out, get to have a chance to shake his hand. And we're just like, you know what, we got to work together on the podcast. We made it happen. This is gonna be a really great conversation, guys. You're gonna be encouraged by, inspired by, and you're gonna leave with a really awesome tune as well. So, anyway, guys, get after it. Have a great day. Thanks for hanging with us. Give us a rating and review. If you like what we're doing, you want to support the show, the lionwithin.us slash donate. Be a monthly supporter of what we're doing. Guys, love give us, you know, just connect with us on all of our platforms. If you search on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, The Lion Within us, you'll find us there. All right, guys, get after it, have a good one. We'll see you next time. Keep on leashing the lion within. Let's just say it out loud. Marriage is one of the greatest gifts that God can give a man, and one of the most consistent places where we can feel unsure of what we're doing. Even the strongest marriages have moments where you look at your wife and you think, you know what? I love you. I'm so committed to you. But right now, I have no idea what I should do next. And that's why we launched something new inside the lion within us community. It's our very first support group, and it's for husbands, and we're calling it committed and occasionally confused. This isn't just a place for men in crisis. Though if you're there, hey, you're welcome. This is for any man who refuses to coast and wants to take his marriage from good to great. So inside you'll find an active chat and a feed, honest conversations, and brotherhood that says, you're not alone. We've been there. Let's bring this to God and grow. And we're also doing a monthly couples night where your wife is invited because we're not letting the world set the agenda for our homes. Now, if you want access to this support group, it's very simple. Go to thelionwithin.us and join the Lion's Den. Okay, that's the LionWithin.us. Start your 30-day free trial of the Lion's Den community, and boom, you have instant access to the committed and occasionally confused support group. We'll see you inside the den.