Chris Grainger 0:02

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, fellas, spiritual kickoff time. Let's go. Let's go. Now, this week, what our scripture is, is in the book of Psalms, okay? It's the 40th one, and we're going to look at three verses. And I know we only were supposed to do one or two, but look, this these three just naturally go together. Okay. So it's verses one through three. It says, I waited patiently for the Lord. He inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction out of the Maori bog and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He puts a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Meaning we'll see in fear and put their trust in the Lord. Guys, that is some powerful scripture right there. So now we're going to dig into it. We can see how we can simplify and apply this to our life. And we do this Monday through Friday at the Line Within. It's called the Daily Spiritual Kickoff. So

Psalm 40 And The Pit

Chris Grainger 0:57

if you need a little bit of spiritual boost, something a whole lot better than any stinking thing you get at Starbucks, go to thelinewithin.us, the linewithin.us. Start your daily spiritual kickoff. You make it'll be called daily SKO. That's what it means. Okay. It's free, fellas. It doesn't cost you anything. Get you into our platform. We have this daily SKO we do every day. If you can't see it live, don't worry about it. The videos are put there for you. This also gives you access to a free gift. So if you're in the continental U.S., we'd love to mail you a free gift. So go claim your free gift and it gets you into our prayer request space. So if you have items we need that you'd like to have us praying over, and we know you do, go get in there. We have a Monday, every Monday, we have a prayer huddle. It's what we call a prayer warrior huddle. We'd love for you to be a part of that. And that's all part of the free daily SKO. Okay. All right. Let's get into the scripture, guys. Where's the book of Psalms? Let's think about this. We don't want to take this stuff for granted. Okay. I know most of you guys know, but not everybody does. And it's okay. Okay. Well, the book of Psalms is in your Old Testament. Okay. You know, normally if you open up your Bible about midway, you'll you're getting you're real close. You may have to flip back to the left just a little bit. If you go to Job, if you find Job, you got it. If you know where Proverbs is, okay, Proverbs, Psalms comes right before that. Okay. So right before that. So if you get to Proverbs 1, just back up a little bit. You'll be in the book of Psalms. Okay. All right. Now we're going to be talking about in this one so far as the scripture, how we go from the pit to the rock. Okay. And we need to have a little bit of context. We need to think about like the scripture itself. Who wrote it? First of all, King David wrote it. Okay. And this is he's writing not from a place of theory. It's not theoretically written. David's writing from experience, right? Because he wasn't a stranger. The fear, failure, pressure, being isolated. He felt, you know, he had these moments, guys, where he felt like his life was sinking. Like his life was in quicksand. I don't know if I don't know if you guys have ever felt like that before. Like there's just, I'm here, I'm stuck. I mean, look what he says right here. I'm in the pit, the Maori bog, okay? So this is a man right here. We can see saying directly, I'm stuck, I'm sinking, and I can't get out of

From Sinking To Standing Secure

Chris Grainger 3:11

them all. How many of you guys feel like that right now? That you're stuck. You're sinking. And there's just nothing you can do to get out. Because I'm telling you, all the guys that I get to talk with, and it's a lot of them, God has blessed it in a mighty way. This is a common theme. This is a common theme that we're seeing over and over and over. And then you kind of get to the hardest part, fellas. Waiting. I mean, look what look what the scripture says. It's not what Chris says. What does the scripture say? I waited patiently for the Lord. Seriously? I waited patiently for the Lord. If we're honest, bro, we love the outcome. We hate the waiting. I know I do. You guys know. I mean, I'm you're not going to catch your boy praying a whole lot for patience, right? Until I know this God doesn't, I mean he's going to get me the way, right? But that's it. We love the outcome. We hate the waiting. Because the waiting feels like what? It feels like silence. It feels like we're being just uh inactive, right? Or sometimes the waiting can feel like, man, God, are you are you even seeing me down here? Are you please? Hey, I'm over here. And let's just be honest, man. As dudes, what do we want to do? We want to fix it, move on, and

Waiting As Active Trust

Chris Grainger 4:27

solve it. That's it. I want to fix it. I want to move it. I want to solve it. I want to, I want to keep things moving. But David, right here, shows us something in this phone. Waiting is not being weak. What waiting really is, is trusting in action. Or you could call it active trust. So it's saying, all right, God, I don't see what you got, what you're doing here yet. But I'm gonna trust you anyway. And that's really hard. I'm not trying to minimize this. This is really hard to do. And it takes time. And in that, in that whole process, you may find you're just gonna have to cry out to God. I mean, we see it right here in this scripture. You don't believe me? What did he say? He inclined to me and heard my cry. So God didn't ignore him, he didn't dismiss him, but David did what? David cried out. He didn't just keep it bottled up, he cried out. And when in doing that, God leaned in. He leaned in. That means your frustration, your confusion, your anger, the fears, all that, God can handle it. He can handle it. We don't have to bottle this stuff up, fellas. We don't have to stay silent or put on the tough suit, right? Or isolate and not tell anybody how we're feeling. Nope. We don't have to do that. Because scripture shows us right here clearly, distinctly, directly, real strength comes when we cry out to God. Not pretending like we're

Cry Out Instead Of Isolating

Chris Grainger 6:07

fine. We have to stop pretending. Then look what the shift right here, from the pit to the rock, okay? We see this little shift. It says, He drew me up and set my feet upon a rock. Now, notice don't fly by this. Notice who does the work. Not David. He's in the pit. God does the work. God lifts, God rescues, God secures. And here's the key, fellas, that we need to think through all this. Life, just because we're following God, doesn't always get easier. That's what the the world has done a terrible job of selling this the wrong way. That's prosperity gospel messaging, and it's just wrong. But I will tell you this it may, while it may not get easier when we're following God and do what He's called us to do, it does get better. It just gets better. Because when we're with God, we have footing, we have direction, we have stability. And that stuff

Let God Do The Lifting

Chris Grainger 7:07

right there, fellas, matters. So the storm may still be there, but we're not stinking, we're not sinking anymore. Right? We're just not. Because we have our confidence and our faith in him, which is so much bigger than anything in this world. And then we see a new song that comes after the struggle, right? What does he say in the scripture? And he put a new song in my mouth. That didn't come before the pit. No, it came after the pit. So think about that. After the waiting, after the struggle, after the rescue, all that stuff right there, that's when the song comes. And here's what you need to recognize, fellas, that your story, the story of your life, the tapestry of your life is your testimony, right? And here what and here's why your testimony matters. And the scripture tells us many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord. Okay. So your your breakthrough, your coming through these seasons, these seasons rather, these trials, is not just for you. It's for your family, your friends, the people in your life, your the men watching, your brothers, right? And when they see your faith in the struggle, your endurance in the waiting, your trust

Your New Song After The Struggle

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in God, your resolve, your persistence, your endurance, it points them to you? No. It points them to him. It points them to him. And that's where the hope comes from, fellas, because hope, we have to recognize this. Hope is cannot be tied to our circumstances or outcomes or timing. Hope is found in who God is. That's the difference. Because if we have our hope in results, then we're gonna lose that hope when things get hard. But if we have our hope in God, we can bro. We can endure anything. So let's let's see how we can really kind of boil this down. Let's make this real. Just a couple points to think for you for us to think through, guys. Give you a quick little roadmap here. We've got to stop rushing the process. Gotta remember that he controls the timeline. We don't, right? That's trusting God in the waiting. Two, we've got to cry out. We can't just shut down. We've got to be able to talk honestly to God and recognize He can handle it. Number three, we've got to recognize He's the one doing the work. It ain't us. It's Him. Four, we've got to stand on the rock daily. I mean, staying grounded in the Word on a consistent basis. That's the stability we're looking for, Bills. Why do you think we call it a daily SKO? We want to give this guy God's word every day. Then number five, we're going to use our story. Bro, don't waste the pit, man. Don't waste a pit. Someone else needs to see what God did through you. They just

Five Steps For The Waiting

Chris Grainger 10:01

do. They need that because they're going through it right now. So every man, here's the ultimate reality. Every man will face a pit. Every will. We will. You guys hear me talk about we're the inner trial, we're coming out of a trial, or we're getting ready to go into a trial. But sustain that thing? No. There's a way out. Because God is in the business of hearing cries, of lifting men out of the pit, of setting men on the godly ground. So we've got to recognize if we're in the waiting right now, don't quit. Don't quit. Because the same God that heard King David in this psalm that we just unpacked, he hears you. He hears you. And he's building in you right now. And what he's building is so worth it, bro. It's so worth it. It's so much better than anything we can imagine. So, fellas, I don't know if the scripture like this, if you think about it in a new way, in a new light now, my prayer is that you do. We know lots of you guys listen to the spiritual kickoff episodes, and we love that, right? But my prayer is not to hear my reflections, but that you're letting the Holy Spirit minister to you and reveal to you what He's trying to show you. And our question this week, we're going to talk about in the Lion where are you struggling to trust God's timing right now? That's okay if you're struggling to trust his timing. Got to remember, God's timing's perfect. He just ain't never early. That's just the reality. At least that's what I've recognized to be true in my life. But his timing is perfect. If you need help, if you need encouragement, if you need uh brothers in Christ that will walk with you, we're here. And also, fellas, to be able to have that level of discernment and understanding what God wants for you in your life, you have to have the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit inside of you. And that comes by having Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior. Right? Not just something that we call out to when things, you know, we don't, there's nothing else to do, but might as well pray. That ain't what we're talking about. We're talking about having a deep, abiding, personal relationship with Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. If you've never done that and you're listening to the Lion, God's working on you. I can tell you that. If you've made a disparate to the podcast and you haven't lit and you haven't do not have a personal relationship with Jesus, hey, I can tell you what, somebody, for some reason, cares about you to an immense degree. And they want you to hear this message. They want you to know that you're made in the image of God. That although you may look in the mirror and see some jacked-up flawed dude, what

Who Is Jesus To You

Chris Grainger 12:44

God sees is someone who is created in his image, fearfully and wonderfully made. Right? That's who God sees. He doesn't see your what you perceive as flaws. No, he sees perfection. God loves you. We were made in his image. Now, here's the thing though. Although we're made in his image, we still have a sin nature. Okay, and the sin is anything that separates us from God. So after Adam was formed in the garden, go back to Genesis 1, very beginning. He's with God in the garden, right? Then sin enters, and then that does what? It separates him and Eve from God. So we have this separation. So we have this gap now between a holy and righteous God and us, right? And the issue, particularly with dudes, the main issue with guys is we try to control stuff, right? So we try to close this gap by just being a nice person. Like just being good. We feel like if we're good enough, then at some point we'll we'll overcome the sin in our life, and then we should be good. So if something unfortunate happens and I die, well, I'll be I'm gonna go to heaven because I'm a good person. It's like, wait a minute now. Are you telling me you think you can overcome the sin in your life by the good works that you that you do? And God's like, well, yeah, well, no. The Bible tells us the penalty of sin is death. So, no, there's nothing you can do to overcome the sin in your life. You can't coach your way out of this, boys. Or I wish you could hire a coach and do that. It doesn't work that way. You may be able to do that for sports and for other professional things, but it you can't hire a coach to overcome a sin. We have a sin problem, and the only way to overcome that is we need a savior to do for us what we can't do for ourselves. And that is where Jesus enters the scene. Who literally left heaven on a mission for us to save us, to redeem us from our sin, who was born of a virgin, fulfilled all the prophecies, did all the teachings, the miracles. Jesus showed us that he is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes with Father except through him. He is it. Then he willingly went to the cross. Think about that. Would you willingly die for someone else? Maybe for a child or something, but for anybody, this is what Jesus did for the whole world. For God so loved what? The world. This is what he did. He went to the cross. They crucified him. He died a horrendous death on the cross. His perfect blood ran for you and me because blood covers sin. That's it. We had to have a sacrifice, and Jesus was it. He was a blood sacrifice that covers our sin. And he paid the penalty for the sin of the entire world. He put that on. It's what he did. Now, Jesus died. He didn't faint or pass out or go to sleep, none of that stuff. But Jesus died on the cross. They laid him in a tomb. Okay. Now, if the story ends there, fellas, like that's just a sad story, bro. I mean, maybe Jesus was just a nice guy, but if it ultimately ends with him being in the tomb, what are we talking about? Why are we still, you know, what does that matter? There's lots of guys who've just died. Well, it doesn't end there. While they laid him in a tomb, that thing was like an Airbnb to Jesus. He just needed that thing for the weekend. That third day he rose. He defeated death. And I don't know about you. I'm hooking my wagon to the guy who defeated death. That's it. I'm going to run with him. I'm going to follow him no matter what. Because he tells us the promise of eternal life. But it comes after we have that deep relationship with him. It comes after we recognize the need of a savior. It comes after we believe that Jesus is the Messiah. And it comes after we confess him as Lord of our lives. And that's the step you have to take. That's kind of where we're at in this whole conversation. Who is Jesus to you? Because I got, here's the deal. I got four kids. Love them. Beautiful wife, beyond blessed. I can't, my kids, rather, can't get to heaven on my faith. I can do all I can to point them to God. I can do them all I can to teach them and instruct them. But at some point, their faith has to become their own. They have to determine what that looks like for them in their life. Right? My teenage daughters, we're wrestling through a lot of this stuff right now. We're having some great conversations, but it's hard. Their faith has to become theirs. So you can't, you know, we can't do this for others. This is a personal decision and also a personal relationship that you're going to have, or either not have, with God as your Savior. My prayer, my hope is that with the Lion, the things that we do is that we're pointing you to that. We're guiding you. We're helping you get down that path to make the most important decision you'll ever make. And that's confessing Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. And that's where you're at right now. So if you're listening to the Lion, you're going to have that relationship. You just heard my presentation of the gospel is very simple. And you recognize, you know what? Things that you're saying, Chris, that's just right. I'm a sinner. I recognize there are a lot of sin in my life. And I believe, I really believe in my heart of hearts that Jesus is the Messiah. He's the Savior. He's my Savior. Somehow it counted for me. I don't know how it counts for me, but I I believe that. And at this moment, I'm going to confess him as Lord of my life. And I'm going to do whatever it takes to follow Jesus. That's where you're at. You're in such a good spot, bro. You're in such a good spot. Because God can do a whole lot with a man who has a posture just like that. That posture of submission. The posture of submission to him. Man, that can change your whole life. Because that means your faith has now become, it's your faith, your own, and you're following him. And then when the man does that, get out the way. Get out the way. Well, as the evil one just picked up a new adversary. Bro, welcome to the game. So look, if you were ready to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, I want to pray with you right now. You're like, Chris, man, are you kidding me? Like, this is not a church. Like, yep, well, you're right. We are not a church. Nowhere in the Bible says you got to be sending a church to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior. That's not there. This is a personal relationship. This is a personal decision that you get to make. So you could be on a treadmill. You could be on a trail. You could be in a car. You could be at work. I don't know where you're at and listen to the blind. But wherever you are, if you don't have that personal relationship with him, now's the time. If you feel that conviction, pray to prayer. Let's say the thing, let's take the step that he's calling you to do. So, Lord, I don't know who's listening right now. And they feel like you're talking directly to them through me. But I know one thing, there's somebody. There's somebody. And I pray, Lord, as they're saying this prayer, they recognize that they are a sinner in need of a savior. They recognize their

Prayer To Receive Christ

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path, their way has not been the right way. And they're and they are repenting. They're repenting and they're turning to you, Lord. They believe that you are the Messiah, the Savior. And they're confessing you as Lord of their life, Father. They know they bring nothing to the table, but their heart. Their heart for you. And they're giving it to you, Father. So I pray for that one person right now that you just build them up, strengthen them, encourage them. For the lies and that the evil one's gonna just start throwing at them, the darts that are gonna start flying at them out of seemingly out of nowhere. Now that they've made this decision, Father, I just pray for strength and encouragement. I just pray for our hedge protection around them. Thank you, God, for what you did for us. Thank you for what you did for this one person right now who has now stepped their feet firmly on solid ground. We love you, Lord. We praise you. We pray all this according to your will in Christ's name. Amen. So look, if you just accept Jesus, your Lord and Savior, touchdown, let's go. I'd love to hear from you, okay? We've got a bunch of resources. We just want I just want to give them to you. Just want to email them to you, connect you with them. So send me an email, Chris, and that's C-H-R-I-S at the LionWithin.us. Then just send me an email. Love to connect, get hear from you. We'll get you hooked up, we'll get you connected, and we'll go from there, okay? So we want to walk with you. We want to be an accursor to you. And if you uh if there's anything we can do is to serve and walk with you, it would be an absolute honor, okay? So look, the next episode, guys, it is absolutely phenomenal. I'm not gonna, I'm not even gonna lie. It's just a great episode. So hopefully you're gonna enjoy it that when it comes out. Other than that, guys, the lion within.us is where you find all our resources, uh, daily SKO, Lion's Den, Leadership Mastermind. That's the three things that we put put a lot of effort into. Grab a copy of Unleashing the Lionel on Amazon. Okay, you can go get a copy, hard copy, or an audible copy, or there isn't there there is even an ebook version of it, fellas. So go get a copy of our book. We'd love for you to check that out. And the big thing, guys, we all we talk about over and over and over open up the Bible app. It's the number one Bible app in the world, over a billion downloads. Open up the Bible app, and when you go Open up the Bible app, fellas. Uh, you search for the line within us there. You'll find our page, follow our page, and then you'll see the plans that we have coming out on a consistent basis that are served, that that are put right out there rather to serve you, Christian

Resources Reviews And Marriage Prayer Guide

Chris Grainger 22:15

men who want to be the leaders, he intends us to be. So all that's found on the Bible app, fellas, great ways to connect to get connected there. If we can help you in any way, again, the linewithin.us is where you find us at. You want to give us a rating and review, that would be huge. That would be extremely helpful. If you would like to talk to us about speaking at your upcoming men's event, whatever it could be big, small, it doesn't matter. If this and if there's something that you think the line would bring value to, we'd love to chat with you about it. Okay. So the linewithin.us, all the resources there's fellas, there are all sorts of ways to get connected with me, our team. We would love to hear from you, okay? Anyway, have a great day. Get after it. Thank you for hanging out with us. We'll see you next time. Keep on leashing the line within. If there's one habit that can change a home, it's this when a husband prays with his wife, not because it's a magic formula, but because it recenters your marriage under God's authority and care. And let's be honest, a lot of guys want to do it, but most don't know how to start without it feeling awkward. Maybe you've tried it before and it felt forced, or maybe you've never tried it because you don't even know what to say. Or maybe you're thinking, man, I'm not a pastor, I'm just a guy. And that's why we created this guide. It's our how to pray with your wife. Simple guide. It's biblical, it's practical, and it's designed to help you start praying with your wife in a way that actually feels natural. So it's a five-section guide, and it gives you a simple framework to get started. Okay, it makes sure everything is grounded in scripture, and it also has a powerful PDF that you can pull up whenever you need, especially when things get off, because they're gonna get off. That's normal. So this is all about reclaiming your marriage and reclaiming the spiritual leadership reigns of your home. Because praying with your wife is one of the strongest ways to fight for unity, to build trust, and to write the ship when life starts to pull you off a course. So if you're ready, get access today at the lionwithin.us slash guides. That's thelionwithin.us slash guides, and start unleashing the lion within at home by leading your marriage through prayer.