Chris Grainger 1:34

Welcome to the Lion Within Us, the podcast serving Christian men who are hungry to be the leaders, God intends you to be. I'm your host, Chris Stranger. Let's jump in. All right, fellas, spiritual kick off time. Let's get into it. Okay. So the scripture of the week this week is Psalm 32, but looking at just one verse, three, four, and five. So Psalm 32, verses 3 through 5 says this When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy on me. My strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord, and you forgave the guilt of my sin. And look, I'm recording this in the heat of summer too. So that's a little verse right there about being sapped in the heat of summer. Your boy's feeling that right here. This North Carolina summer is brutal.

Welcome And Scripture Kickoff

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But anyway, we're going to get into this one. We're going to see how we can simplify and apply this scripture to our life. We do this again, Monday through Friday at The Lion Within Us. It's called a Daily Spiritual Kickoff. So if you like these episodes where we unpack verses, hey, I guarantee you would love what we do at the Daily SKO on the Lion Monday through Friday. And the cool part about it also, we give you a free gift. So if you're in a continental US and you're listening to the podcast and you're enjoying it, bro, just go get your free gift. That's just sign up for the daily SKO just for that. And on top of that, on Mondays, we have a prayer meeting. So we'd love to pray for you and be intentional about that. So all that's found at thelionwithin.us, guys. Okay. All right. First thing we need to understand about this verse is where is it? Okay. We don't want to assume anything when it comes to the Bible. So when you in the Psalms, that's Old Testament. Okay, Old Testament. And it's going to be after Job and before Proverbs. And typically you'll hit the Psalms about midway of your Bible. Okay. Somewhere in there. You might have to go back to the left just a little bit, depending on your Bible and the print. But that's where you're going to find it. Okay. And Psalm, there's 150 of them, but this is Psalm 32. Uh, and this is a very personal and transparent psalm written by King David. Okay. And I think it this is powerful because it is so personal and transparent. Okay. Because that's what people connect with, right? When the raw emotions are real. Because he, King David, right here, he's not writing as someone that is unfamiliar with failure or shame or the way to sin. No, no, no, no, no. He's

Finding Psalm 32 And Context

Chris Grainger 4:00

describing in Scripture, again, he's describing Scripture rather as a man after God's own heart. Yet he also experienced these the devastation of moral failure, of hidden sin, of brokenness, and the crushing emotional toll that follows that. So this matters, man. When you look at scripture like this, this matters to think about that because contact is a big context, rather, is a big deal. And because too often we assume that mature faith somehow removes the struggle. Like, well, man, look how long he's been wrong with the Lord. He don't ever deal with nothing. Wrong. Wrong? Because we see right here, King David's honesty reminds us that even deeply faithful brothers in Christ and sisters in Christ can find ourselves trapped between the weight of what? Guilt and shame. That's it. And the energy that is used here in Psalm 32 is impossible to ignore. It's just impossible. It says, when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. Can you feel the exhaust, just how exhausted he is in those words? I mean, can you feel those words? Because David's describing silence as something that's physically draining. It says his strength was sapped in the heat of summer. Again, what this North Carolina summer is brutal. But right, it just takes the energy out of him. When I go out and I work on the farm, you know, it's just, it's just pulled out of you. There's only so much you could do, you got to stay hydrated and all that. And this is what David's saying, because what he's saying also is like the weight of the sin that he was trying to hide and the emotions that he was bearing, these were not just uh spiritual things that he was battling, but

How Hidden Sin Drains You

Chris Grainger 5:51

they started to impact him physically, his entire being. Like his peace disappeared, his strength diminished, and internally he felt like he was rotting. Guys, you know what that feels like? Like you just feel like, I mean, you guys know what fruit looks like when it's rotting, and it starts from the inside and it manifests out, right? It just rots. This is what for King David, right here, the shame that he was dealing with, this is what that tends to do. And shame, something we got to think about, guys. It thrives in silence. It just does. And it grows in those hidden places. And the longer we keep that stuff buried, particularly as guys, the more destructive it becomes, right? And if we're honest, we've seen all know what happens when bitterness and guilt and anger or some unresolved pain issue just gets left untreated. People get hard. They just they build up a barrier. They become cynics. They become and they don't have they they lose compassion, they lose joy, and then hurt begins spilling onto everything and everyone around them. Hurt people, hurt people, bro. That's that's just simple. And you ever notice how bitter people often over time become more bitter? Like it just, it's like the old snowball effect. It just keeps going and getting bigger and bigger. But that rot is internal, it starts inside. And that's what's fascinating about King David here, because he doesn't describe freedom arriving through pretending or minimizing or or or hiding the sin of his life better. No, no, no, no. Freedom begins the moment he acknowledges what's been buried. Because look, look what the verse says. Then, then I acknowledge my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. Guys, that's the hinge, that's the turning point because that's where the light enters into the darkness. And I often thought about how plants respond to light, right? Think about it, fellas. If you take a plant inside a home and you just leave that into isolated into a dark room long enough, what's gonna happen? It's just gonna start withering, it's gonna die. Like the color's gonna fade, the strength's gonna disappear, it's just gonna kind of just uh just uh look blah, right? Because slow life is slowly gonna be draining away from it. But what happens when you, oh man, I can't believe I put that in there. And you pull it out and you put it in the sun again, right? Nutrients start flowing, restoration starts becoming possible, right? But it only happens when you take that first step, right? And so let's think about this spiritually. When

Confession Brings Light And Freedom

Chris Grainger 8:33

we hide sin, it's suffocating us in the darkness. But confession is is it's like what that what the dying, what the dying plant does in the light. Confession starts to heal us in our spirits. And perhaps one of the one of the great misunderstandings that a lot of Christians deal with is that somehow we got to uh get ourselves together before we can bring our struggles and honestly before God. And I'm just like, what are you talking about? What are you talking about? Because Psalm 32 shows us the exact opposite picture of that. David's freedom here didn't come before the confession, it came afterwards. Forgiveness followed the acknowledgement. And that's so important, guys, for us to think about because the shame in our life tells us hide it longer, fix it yourself first, don't let folks see what's what's really going on. And if you bring this out, you're gonna be rejected. But yet, God, the loving Father that he is, already knows what we're carrying. His desire is not for a more polished appearance, but for a surrendered heart that's willing to step into the light. And confession is not about informing God of something he doesn't know. Don't think about that. It's about humbling ourselves enough to stop hiding. God knows it, guys. We just got to humble ourselves before him. And the beauty of the gospel is that when sin is brought into the light, darkness, that power is taken away. That doesn't mean that consequences instantly disappear. And it doesn't mean that healing happens overnight, but it does mean that freedom begins possible, becomes possible rather, because shame no longer controls the narrative. And the more birthday candles I have on my cake, guys, the more I realize how exhausting hidden shame is. And King David's words here resonate because they're they're describing something deeply human. Silence eventually crushes us from inside out. So if we recognize that to be true, flipping on its heel. The opposite has to be true, then, right? Because there's incredible freedom waiting on the other side of honesty. Not because we suddenly became worthy or because we earned grace, but because God delights in restoring what shame tries to destroy. That's what happens. Psalm 32 is that reminder, fellas, for us. It reminds us that confession is not a weakness. It's one of the bravest things that God can do. And perhaps if more of us stopped hiding and started bringing our wounds, our failures, our addictions, our fears, and the shame we carry honestly to God, you may actually experience the freedom that you've been searching for all along. And there is some powerful truth in these couple verses right here. Because the same God who saw David and his failure is the same God who met him with forgiveness and restoration and grace. And he's offering that for you today. So verses like this are so, so important. So important. And fellas, my question we got to wrestle with this week is where are you allowing shame to keep you isolated and silent? We have to really to get our heads wrapped around that, fellas. Because is that whatever that the areas are, whatever the answer that is that question. You have to answer that question for yourself. I can't answer that question for you. You know the recipe now to move it forward. And once you're walking with the with Christ, and you bring that shame, that sin, when you expose it to the light, power goes away. Now you also need to be walking with Christ and surrender and have Him as your Lord and Savior of your life. If you haven't done that, then that's a step you need to consider taking as well. Because I don't know why you're listening to the Lion. Maybe for some reason you're curious. I mean, I said it's great that we have a lot of curious guys out there. But the question is, have you fully surrendered your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ? And if you can't

The Question Shame Forces Us

Chris Grainger 13:11

resoundly say yes to that, that's okay. You're here and you're listening. But look, this faith is a personal deal. King David was a man after God's own heart, but he fully surrendered to him. He humbled himself before God. And look, it starts by just understanding who we are, that we're made in the image of God. And that's who you are, bro, because you may look in the mirror, you may see nothing but the shame and the condemnation and all the the mistakes that you've made in your past. And that's what you reckon, that's what you identify as. And you're just like, man, there's there's no way. There's no way. God can't forgive me. Chris, you don't know what I've done. You don't know how I've ruined my marriage. You don't know all the things that I do on my computer when nobody's looking. You don't know about all these terrible financial decisions I've made. Whatever it is, right? Whatever

The Gospel And Surrender To Jesus

Chris Grainger 14:03

these lies are. And we're just like, we take ourselves out the game. We put ourselves on the bench. And God is just like, what are you doing? What are you doing? Because we're made in the image of God. It tells us in scripture, at the very beginning, when he formed Adam, he blew into his nostrils, and Adam said face to face. He was made in his image. He was face to face with his creator. And that's who we are. That's what we have. So we're not a mistaker. God didn't make mistakes when he put you together. No, he knit you together in your mother's womb. And he knows everything about you. And he ultimately wants a relationship with you. But all the problem is we do have a sin nature. We have an issue with sin, okay? And that's anything that separates us from God, right? So stop trying to clash rake sin. So we have an issue with sin. And what we've been told, what the world tries to tell us, is that we just have to overcome the sin in our life, we just have to be a good person, help enough people and do enough good deeds. And then that will earn a right standing with God. And it's like, wait a minute, but your buttercup, I think you kind of missed the whole point. No, that's not going to do it. You can't overcome the sin of your life with good deeds. The penalty of sin is death. So no, it doesn't matter how many old ladies you help cross the street or how many charities you give to, or how many times you go to church, or how often you read your Bible, none of that stuff earns your salvation. And it's like, okay, well, what in the wild world of sports does then? Like if we got a sin issue and I can't do anything to overcome it, what am I supposed to do? Hey, you're in a great spot, bro. Because now you're starting to realize there is nothing you can do. What you need is somebody to come in and do for you, but you can't do for yourself. You need a savior. You need a savior. That's Jesus. This is Jesus. This is what he did. He came on the mission to rescue us from our sins. So thankful he did that. He was born of a virgin, fulfilled all the prophecies, did all the teachings and the signs and the miracles and everything to show us, without a shadow of a doubt, that he is the Messiah. And then they took him. He willingly gave himself up to go on a cross to pay for the for the sin, the sin that we have in the world. He paid for it all with his perfect blood. Jesus never sinned, ever. He never made a mistake. He's the perfect Son of God, the perfect Lamb that takes away sin of the world. This is Christ. And this is what happened to him on the cross. He didn't faint or pass out or go to sleep. He died. And if the story ends there, the narrative ends there, then yeah, he was just a good guy, a nice prophet. But it doesn't. They took him, they laid him in a tomb for three days. And then on that third day, he rose. He overcame death. And that is who we worship. That is what we put our trust and our hope in because we believe it to be true. The tomb is empty. Praise the Lord. And that's why Christians, we should be the most joyful people, is because we serve a risen Savior. And right now, He's at the right hand of the Father. And he tells us the access to eternal life and to the kingdom and to glory with Him forever is through Him. It's through confessing Him as Lord of our life. And that if that's where you're at and you've never done it, it's okay. Everybody's faith journey looks different. It just does. I don't care if you're 13 or 83, it doesn't matter. God ain't done with you. But you can't get in on the relationship that he has with someone else. So you're not getting in on your prayers of your mom or your dad or your kids or your grandparents. It doesn't work that way. This is a one-on-one, a man-to-man decision to make. Who am I following? Do I serve me or do I serve God? And through if you're to the point now, like Fisman, I want to serve God. Praise the Lord, hallelujah. I want you to serve God too. Then you better admit you're a sinner. First of all, recognize that you've got a sin issue. Then believe that Jesus is who he says he is. And then at that point, just confess him as Lord of your life, bro. Just confess him. And I'm willing to go through a prayer right now with you, just to pray as you confess him as Lord of your life. And look, you don't have to be just sitting in a church pew or some special type of camp or something like that just to accept Christ. No, he's ready. He is ready to accept you right now. You just have to take the step of obedience. He's asking you to and surrender. So let's pray. So, Lord, that one listener right now, I don't know who they are, I don't know where they're at, I don't know what they're doing. But for some reason, the gospel is it's just pricking their heart right now. I just pray that if they are hearing it, maybe they're understanding it for the first time and and really understanding how it's about that personal relationship that they will have with you. Maybe they don't have that right now, God, and that's okay. But they're confessing you right now as Lord and Savior of their life. They're turning it all over to you. They're repenting, they're believing they're coming to you, God. Maybe this the struggle that they've been battling in life has just gotten to be a little bit too much to bear. And I get it, God. This is life is hard. We're so thankful for you for how you're ready to forgive us and how you love us. When we don't deserve it. We all fall short of your glory. And you're here for us all the time. I just pray for this

Prayer And Next Steps By Email

Chris Grainger 19:51

person. I pray for their I know you hear their prayer, but I pray you got a hedge protection around them. Because the enemy is not happy right now. He's gonna he's gonna push back. I just want to pray strengthen them. In Jesus' name that we lift up this prayer. Amen. So look, you just accepted Christ. Touchdown, let's go, first of all. I want to hear from you. Send me an email, Chris at the lionwithin.us. I'd love to send you uh some resources to get you started on your discipleship journey. You know, you're starting a new walk now. The blinders are off, you have new eyes that are open. I want to walk with you. I'm not trying to push anything on you at all. I just want to give you something to be an encouragement to you in your walk, okay? So send me that. Love to give you a virtual high five as well. And hey, if you're in North Carolina, I give you a real high five. So check that out, guys. Okay. Now look, the lionwithin.us, guys, is where you find all our resources, all the different ways we serve. We have the weekly roar that comes out every Monday. So if you want to hop on that newsletter, we would absolutely love to have you be part of that, okay? So the weekly roar. Then we also have, guys, the daily SKO. So if you get that, that's free. We have the Lion's Den. Start your free trial of the Lion's Den. Or maybe you want to put in an application for the mastermind. Another thing you want to think about, guys, are the events. Guys, we have lots of events that are happening through the line within us. God is opening up some doors for opportunities for us to be at conferences and speaking and things like that. So go check out the events. We even have a placeholder up. Well, if we don't have an outlet, it's going to be up very soon. A placeholder for the 2027 Reclaiming the While men's retreat. Okay. So, guys, that's a big deal. Uh, we want to make sure we get you guys locked in for guys that want to come to that. Again, this is just one of our that's our big annual

Resources Reviews And Bible App

Chris Grainger 21:37

retreat we do every year. So alignwithin.us is where you find all those resources. If you listen to the podcast, we would please, I would ask you, give us a rating and review. If you listen on Apple, give us do that. If you listen on Spotify, leave comments. You know, we we really are trying to push Spotify more. If you listen on YouTube, comment it up, guys. All that stuff helps. It just helps uh the algorithms put the line within us in front of more people on a regular basis. So it's kind of like when you finish watching this or listening to this, like, hey, you may also like X. We want to be part of that X, and that happens when you engage with it, when you share it, when you comment with it, uh comment on it, rather. That really does help. So it's not, it's it's not, we're not asking you to do something that you don't believe in. Share what you actually thought, what your thoughts are, but please share. It does help, okay? Other than that, open the Bible app up, check the Bible app out. Uh, go when you open up the Bible app, search for the Lion Within Us. You'll see us there. Start following our plans, and you'll get updated every time a new plan is released. And I'm trying to work on those plans on a consistent basis, guys. Okay. So thank you for listening. The next episode is going to be phenomenal. I'm telling you guys, phenomenal. You don't want to miss it. So come hang out, listen, share this stuff out. Thanks for hanging out today. We'll see you next time. Just keep on leashing the lion with that. It's time to stop battling pornography, lust, and temptation alone. We're done sitting on the sidelines, seeing shame win, and hearing from guys that are fighting private wars with no backup. So we decided it's time to fight back. We have our sexual integrity support group, which is a confidential space inside the line's dead. For men who are ready to step into the light and pursue real freedom. This isn't just for guys in crisis, by the way. It's for any man who's tired of the cycle, who's tired of living in secret, who's tired of saying, this is gonna be the last time. Look, most guys don't need another app or some rules. They need some brothers to come alongside them to say you're not the only one. This doesn't define you. So look, inside our group, you're gonna find a confidential, judgment-free forum to engage and ask questions. You'll

Sexual Integrity Support Group Invite

Chris Grainger 24:02

have honest conversations without commendation, and you'll also have a monthly call with a trusted guy. So look, this isn't just about stopping pornography. It's about becoming a man of integrity, a man alive, a man who lives in freedom, not secrecy. And you don't have to clean your stuff up first to come. You just have to step in. Start Sexual Integrity Support Group is down inside the Lion's Den. And you can start that today with a 30 day free trial. So if you're ready to stop fighting alone and need that extra support, start your 30 day free trial right now at thelionwithin.us. That's thelionwithin.us. And step inside the Lion's Den.