Welcome And Spiritual Kickoff

Proverbs 15:22 And Daily Rhythm

Conversation Versus Real Counsel

Why Yes Men Stall Growth

Build Trust Before The Storm

Trials Are Coming So Prepare

Godly Counsel Through Jesus

Prayer To Surrender To Christ

Resources Sharing And Next Steps

Health Stronghold And Free Trial

Chris Grainger 1:09

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, this is your spiritual kickoff episode. Let's get into it. Okay. So the scripture of the week this week is Proverbs 15, verse 22. So 15, 22 says, without consultation, plans are frustrated, but with many counselors, they succeed. So we're going to see how we can take this scripture, simplify, and apply it to our life. Reminder, we do this Monday through Friday, guys, at the Lion Within Us. It's called a daily spiritual kickoff. I love doing this every day. It's just a great way to encourage you guys in the Word. We read the Word, take some reflections from it, and we go from there. So it's a good way to get your day started. Many, many guys have added this as part of their daily routine now. I even can't make it live. I got lots of guys who watch the videos later. It's our free way that we serve you. It also gives you access to our day, our prayer request space, which we have a weekly prayer call. We'd love to be to have you just be a part of it, just to be encouraged and be lifted up, okay? So the the LionWithin.us is our website. Go there, check that out. Uh click on daily spiritual kickoff and get going. Okay. So we're in Proverbs for this episode. And first thing we need to understand is where is the book of Proverbs? So it's in your Old Testament. It's not New Testament, it's Old Testament. Uh it's right after Psalms and before Ecclesiastes. So it's it's about midway of the Bible, maybe a little bit to the left, uh, but that's where you're typically going to find it at. One practice we talk about at the Lion every day, and I'm I remind the guys, every day in the spiritual kickoff episodes that we do, the SKOs in the lion, is whatever the associated day of the month is, read that proverb. So for instance, this if it happens to be the 15th of the month, read Proverbs 15. That's where we're at for this episode, right? The 17th day of the month, read Proverbs 17, right? So it's just an easy way to kind of get into some scripture on a regular basis, and you will be blessed by the more and more time that you spend in Proverbs. Okay. So what we see right here, we're going to talk about this idea of being built before the battle. Okay, before. Because one of the common gaps that I see, and I get to talk to a lot of guys, it's just God has blessed me there. Uh it's not a lack of ambition that guys have or intelligence or even effort. Uh, so many guys I'm talking with, they just don't have counsel. They do not have genuine counsel. And very few guys have a circle of guys where they can be fully authentic, transparent, vulnerable. You just named a word, right? And that absence quietly holds us back. And it holds us back in more ways than we're than we realize. And we and it's not that we don't have people around us, right? There's people everywhere. There's conversations everywhere. But conversation and counsel are not the same thing. They're just not. And quite often, what I've what I found, even in my own life, is yes men. Um and that happens because we have a tendency to want to gravitate towards what feels safe, right? And and yes men are guys who are just gonna go with the flow. They're gonna affirm just give you affirmation to what you're thinking or your instincts, uh, they're gonna avoid the friction. Uh and and sometimes, just be transparent, this comes from a good heart. I'm not saying these guys are necessarily bad, right? But we're in a world now, nobody wants to offend anybody anymore. Everybody, nobody wants to rock the boat, right? So but if everybody around you agrees with you all the time, growth is impossible. And I have seen this firsthand in the church. One of the main reasons I have uh just an issue with the church we were in for a long time is just the pastor's this way. He surrounded himself by yes men and refused, refused to listen to any counsel and thus why so many bad things are happening. Guys, meaningful growth requires truth. It just does. Meaningful growth requires truth. And that truth is not always comfortable. It's not. And we when we surround ourselves only with people who affirm our choices, we eliminate the very feedback that God often uses to course correct our lives. Then what happens? When things don't go our way, we get mad, we get frustrated, we start pointing fingers, we start blaming our circumstances, or even worse, we blame God. Well, I can't believe God's doing this to me. But this proverb challenges us, it forces us to ask a harder question. Did we seek counsel or did we just look for agreement? You see how that works? Because the work happens before the crisis, guys. What if instead of simply re reacting in the middle of a battle, you did the hard work before things went off track? Because that's when counsel matters the most. Think about like football. Most of the the listeners, you guys, at least if you you don't, if you don't like football, you know about football, right? Games ain't one on uh game day, guys. No. They're one in practice. They're one, they're one in a the film review, in the weight room, and the hours when no one is watching. Those environments build individual strength for sure, but more importantly, they're building collective strength, right? When the guys are in the weight room together, when the guys are reviewing the film, when guys are in practice, right? They're developing trust and communication and shared vision. All right, this play is going to equate in this. I'm gonna do this on this play, you're gonna do that, and at the end, we'll have a great result. That's when things start clicking. And you can see when a team's not together, when they don't trust each other, when they're not spending that time, it falls apart, right? And also you can see when a team that does put that work in and trusts in each other and has that counsel and puts that that that it's not just surrounding their sales by guys who want to say the stuff that makes them feel good, that team is successful and the game becomes fun. And life is the same way. In the middle of a storm, that's the worst time to try to build a relationship, man. It's just not that it's just terrible timing. Counsel is forged ahead of time through intentional connection and shared commitment. That's how I formed it in my life. Not while I'm in the middle of it. When you're in the middle of it, you need that counsel. And it's also one relationship at a time. Because I I recognized this was a gap. And I didn't like the effort. What I liked was the structure, right? And having that trusted counsel. And that was one of the driving forces behind literally starting the line within us. It was. And by God's grace, what began as a personal need, has now fulfilling a and been a blessing to many other men. Men who find a place to be known, find a place to be challenged, find a place, yes, to be supported, but not affirmed with everything they think. To hear the hard truth spoken in love. You don't believe that, come to one of our line lunches. We're willing to say some hard things. And at the end of the day, I'm not even if it if the line is not for you, fine. Go find what it is. So long as it's a God-honoring group, that's what's important. But think about this. You must build effective consultation around you. It doesn't just happen. It's not just gonna magically manifest. It starts with one relationship at a time. So look, if this is a gap in your life, I get it. It was. It was one for me too. Reach in. Just just just just not reach in, geez Louise, reach out, lean in. How about that? The line with dentist, guys, I'm telling you, it's full of guys who want to support you, walk with you, encourage you, challenge you, push back, right? And and when it's right, be that trusted counselors that scripture's talking about. And you may you may find your own personal board of advisors, men who are willing to say the hard things, not tearing you down that way, but trying to help build you up to be the man that God has called you to be. Fellas, this is why we start our leadership masterminds because these groups get together on an intentional basis, and it's a big part of what we do. Because at the end of the day, plans don't fail because men lack talent. They fail quite often because we try to do it alone. So we've got to take the time to build the council now before the battle comes. And I'm just, you know, hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the battle's coming. It's coming. Maybe you're in a season of life where you know you don't have many trials. Praise the Lord. But remember, we only have three seasons. Either in a trial, coming out of a trial, or getting ready to go into one. And in those, you need to have abandoned brothers. You need to have trusted counsel. And if you need support, I just implore you. Go to the linewithin.us and see how we're serving, how we're trying to encourage. And ask yourself this question. Who right now in your life speaks hard truth to you with love and consistency? Not somebody just gonna burn a bridge and leave, but I mean consistently shows up and cares for you. If you're like most guys, that number is very small. If it exists, if it exists at all, this is what we want to help you with. Now look, we do wise counsel and guidance only through the power of the Holy Spirit. Because we're not looking for opinions. The world has plenty of opinions. We want godly counsel, and you get godly counsel by surrendering your life to a lordship of Jesus Christ. If you've never done that before, if you've never said, you know what, Lord, I need you, if you're just trying to do this thing called life on your own with your own knowledge and understanding, and you're missing the opportunity to truly have the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit because you're just never taking that step. I just encourage you, today is today. Like quit trying to do this by your own on your own power and abilities, because at some point you're gonna run out of steam. You're just are. We all do. We all do. But the power of God working in you and through you, man, that is incredible. And it starts when you submit to him and recognize that this was a beautiful world that he designed at the very beginning when God created everything. But because of sin, what happened in the garden, there's a fall. And we've been separated from God. So we got a holy and righteous guy, and we have us. And the problem is we try to close that gap by just being a nice dude or being a good dude, whatever that thing is, right? Helping little old ladies cross the street or giving money to a charity, whatever that thing is, man. But the problem is we can't close that gap on our own. And we can't get into the comparison game either. We start comparing our walk with other people's walk. Because it's easy to win that game. Like, you know, we live pretty close to a prison. If I compare myself to the dudes that are in prison on death road, I'm feeling pretty good about myself. You know, I haven't killed anybody, wanted to several times, never did it. You know what I'm saying? So we compare ourselves to worldly standards, and it's easy to do that. Maybe you do it with your neighbor or people in your family. I don't I don't know who you compare yourself with. Stop. Stop. The comparison should be to a holy and righteous God. And guess what? When we do that, when we actually do that, every single one of us falls short. Every single one of us falls short. There's not a single person who can be on equal playing field as God. And so we have this gap of sin in our life, and we can't overcome it. So what do we do? Well, we need somebody to do for us what we can't do for ourselves. We don't need to be coached up. We need a savior. I mean, there ain't no coaching here. We need a savior to come in and do for us what we can't do. That's what Jesus did on a rescue mission for us, lived a perfect life, fulfilled all the prophecies, showed the miracles, the teachings, all the stuff that Jesus is that he did. Well, I mean, just on a side note, like how awesome would it be just to win to be able to be a disciple hanging out with Jesus and seeing this firsthand. But anyway, I digress. But man, I'm a little bit jealous of Peter and James and John, to be honest. But anyway, so Jesus did all that. And then he went to the cross to pay the penalty for our sin. And he paid it in full, completely in full. There's nothing left. There's nothing left on a ledger. Uh, there's no there's nothing left on the bill. Like, no, Jesus paid it all. And he died. He died on the cross. He didn't faint or go to sleep or none that silly stuff. He actually died. So, and he died, and the story ends there. Man, he was just a good dude. But the story doesn't end there. They laid him in a tomb, yes. He laid in it for a weekend. It's like Airbnb for Jesus. Because then he came out three days later. He rose, he overcame death. Do you get how big a deal that was? Like, I've overcome some things in my life. Some hell things, some some things in my family. Like, but when your boy is dead, your boy's dead. That's just it. Like, I ain't overcoming that. There's no coming back from that, right? Jesus did. He resurrected. He walked. Then he ascended to heaven. And I don't know about you. I'm hooking my my my wagon to that. I'm following that. Because I don't know anything, anything on this earth that gives me assurance of eternal life. Nothing. There's no bank account, nothing that gives me uh the the power of living forever with God. But Jesus does. He is God. And he has sinned. And what it takes is that admission and understanding of our sin nature, our belief that he is the Messiah, he is the Son of God, and confessing Him as Lord and Savior. That's it. And I just Lord over one day, every day, every area, from the bedroom to the boilroom to the ball field, baby. And wherever He's wherever you're at, that's what He's called you to. He is with you. So my prayer is if you're hearing this message and the God and you're finally, it's clicking. You recognize you've never taken that personal step. Maybe you've gone to church your whole life, but you've never fully surrendered your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Today is the day. And I just want to pray with you as you make this most important decision that will literally change everything. So, Father, for that one listener, and I don't know who they are, but you do. And you're with them, and you're talking to them right now, you're convicting them, and they're taking that step of obedience. They're confessing you as Lord and Savior of life. They recognize their sinners in need of a savior. They also recognize there's nothing they can do to overcome their sin, and they believe that you are the Messiah, that you are the Son of God, and they are confessing you as Lord, Lord. I just pray for that man right now. Because he is entering the battlefield. The blinders are falling off. He is literally putting on the armor of God right now. That armor is never going to be taken off. And I pray he uses it in a mighty way. I pray his protection over him. Protect him, God. Keep him safe. Give him encouragement when the evil one pushes back because we know he will. I just pray for his strength and his resolve. We love you. We praise you. And I'm so thankful for this man who made a decision today. We pray all this in your precious name. Amen. All right. Look, if you just accept the Christ as your Lord and Savior, like touchdown, let's go. Speaking of touchdown analogies, right? Send me an email though, Chris at the lionwithin.us. That's C-H-R-I-S at the lionwithin.us. I want to hook you up. We've got some resources, some PDFs I want to send your way just to get you started. Also, I just want to give you a virtual high five. Maybe hop on a call, pray with you, just give you some encouragement, speak some life into you, and just be a support system for you. Okay. So I'd love to hear from you. Let me know which podcast you listen to, and I'd love to uh hear from you there. Uh other than that, guys, come back on Wednesday. We'll have a great episode on Wednesday. Looking forward to getting this message out as well. Remember, the lionwithin.us is where you find all our resources, guys, from the daily SKO to the Lion's Den to our leadership mastermind to our live events to connecting with us on the Bible app. All the wonderful things that God is doing in a mighty way. It's just been incredible. The journey's been amazing. I don't know where God's taking it. I know one thing, he's doing something mighty. We have a we have a weekly roar. I don't talk about that very much, but we got tens of thousands of people who've signed up for the weekly roar. And they get this weekly newsletter from us. And it's just an encouragement to get your your week started. So look, lots of ways to get started. That we even have a Christian leader assessment. Man, we got some cool stuff on the website. So just go there, check it out, uh, share it with others. This is how we spread the word of the lion within us. Is we just we're prolific, we're consistent, we're putting content out on a regular basis, but we need you to share it. Hey, connect me with your men's discipleship group. Like whatever that looks like, whether it's a senior pastor or associate pastor or a men's leader, let me know. We're trying to do more and more men's events, uh speaking and engagements. Love to talk to you about that to see how we can serve, how we could help. Uh the I'm Just a Guy series has been a phenomenal success on the Bible app. So we'd love to do that for you and your group. Maybe there's a couple of topics. You just let us know. We're flexible. I would love to come personally serve and just uh hopefully be an encouragement to you and your group. So reach out. Yeah, you can either send me an email directly or support at thelionwithin.us. Both of those are monitored on a regular basis, and we'd love to connect with you there. Okay. Give us a rating and review if you don't mind, fellas. That'd be awesome. Again, again, the big thing though, share it out. Just hit that little share button, send a text message out. That'd be awesome. Okay. All right, guys. Have a great day. Get after. We'll see you next time. Remember to just keep unleashing the lion within. It's time to stop neglecting the body that God gave you. And we're done making excuses and watching discipline slip. So we decided it's time to rebuild strength the right way. And we have our Health Stronghold Support Group, which is a dedicated space inside the Lion's Den, specifically for men who are ready to stew their bodies with discipline and purpose. Look, this is not just for guys trying to lose weight. Let's just clear that up. This is for guys who know that energy affects how you lead, your habits affect how you lead your family, and discipline affects your calling. And most guys don't need another workout plan or some extreme diet ideas. They need strongholds. They need to have a place where they can hear other men say that I fall into. I want consistency, not shortcuts. So inside our health stronghold, you're gonna find real conversations around physical health and discipline, honest discussions about habits, setbacks, and progress, and encouragement for men pursuing strength. This comes with a monthly call with one of our trusted guides as well. So look, it's not about vanity, it's about stewardship. It's a place to train without shame and pursue strength without comparison. You don't have to impress anybody. You don't have to have it all figured out. You just gotta show up. So the health stronghold is found inside the lion's den. And you can start a 30-day free trial today. So if you're ready to stop drifting, head over to thelionwithin.us. That's thelionwithin.us. And hop inside the lion's den. Start your 30 day free trial and get started today at thelionwithin.us