Scripture And Ways To Connect

Chris Grainger 1:34

Welcome to the Land 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, meet episode time. Let's get into it. So, scripture of the week this week is Mark 9, verse 24. Immediately the boys' father cried out and said, I do believe. Help my unbelief. That's a powerful verse right there, guys. I took some time I unpacked that verse, add a link in our spiritual kickoff episode. So go listen to it. And if you enjoy the spiritual kickoffs, we do them Monday through Friday at the Lion Within Us. It's called a Daily SKO Spiritual Kickoff. Get it? Guys, it's a free way we serve you. Go to thelionwithin.us, sign up for that. Also gives you access to our prayer request space where we do prayers every Monday. We have a prayer group going. We have a prayer feed and forum that's 24-7. Prayers are being lifted up on a regular basis, guys. And if you're in the continental U.S., we have a free gift we'd like to offer you up as well. So again, that's all found at thelionwithin.us. And so fellas, this is going to be a great episode. I really enjoyed it. Uh I enjoy all the episodes for sure. But this this is we connected in a great way. So this is Ryan Mayer, and he taught he wrote the book, The God Work Trusting, Restoring Faith in a Good God. And since 2001, he has used technology to reach people for Christ. And it's just he's just proclaiming the goodness of God. He was one of the very first Christian influencers on Instagram. He created, if you guys ever use the Bible lock uh screens app, where when you you know you have your lock phone on your screen, it pops up a Bible verse. Ryan made it. Okay, so I mean he's he's co-led popular social media ministries like Trust God Bro and her true her true worth, which is reaching well over 500 million people every month. So uh he's got a really popular broadcast channel on Instagram called the Prayer Channel. He's got four million people right there just every day praying for us. So him and his wife Brittany, they invest so much of their time in sharing the gospel and equipping and empowering God's people for just digital evangelism. Uh this is the world we live in, but he's using it for good. So they have two kids, they live in Michigan, they got a little girl and a little boy, well, eight months, eight-month-old little boy. So had a lot of fun with with Ryan. And he gave just me a lot of personal advice uh throughout it and at the after post-recording as well. So I'm just very grateful for him and the time he took with me and that support he's given to Ryan. And and guys, I think you're gonna really enjoy this one. So if you're going through a tough season of life, hey, Ryan really breaks it down to the important things to what worth focusing on and spending time with, and hopefully you'll be encouraged with this. So sit back and enjoy this conversation with my friend, Ryan Mayer. Ryan,

Meet Ryan Maher And His Mission

Chris Grainger 4:23

welcome to The Lion Within Us. How are you doing? Thank you so much for having me, Chris. I really appreciate it. Man, I'm looking forward to having this one, buddy. It's been on my calendar for a while and and uh really enjoyed going through your your book and resources here. But before we jump into all that fun stuff, man, tell something to the listeners out there who may not know you, a fun fact about

Street Magic And Gospel Openings

Chris Grainger 4:43

you that is uh not that well known, perhaps.

Ryan Maher 4:47

Okay. Um I love street magic tricks. I'm uh once upon a time in uh in college, I spent about a thousand bucks learning street magic tricks, like David Blaine style. So I really got into that, and I just thought that was fun. I was like, either that guy is possessed or he's not, and I have to learn how to do that because it's pretty cool. Um and I don't think he's possessed that I know of. Um but he he uh all the tricks that he did on his specials and stuff like that. I got to learn about it. Yeah, like the levitation stuff. Yeah, that's that's uh it's an illusion. But yes. Yeah, it's not that's not he's not really levitating. So people are like, yep, he's he's uh he's possessed if he's if he's literally levitating, but it's it's definitely an illusion. So yeah, that's that's one little fun fact. Um don't do it as much these days, but it's kind of like riding a bike, you know. You don't once you know how to do it, it's like it's in me. So sometimes at get togethers, it it comes out, you know.

Chris Grainger 5:51

So what's your go-to trick if like if you're at the party and you gotta pull one out your out of your back pocket, what's your go-to?

Ryan Maher 5:58

Yeah, well, I always ask if if there are cards there, then I'll do card stuff. If there's not, then I can, you know, grab a coin or do something, you know, really good with all the kids. You know, I have a five-year-old daughter, so she gets to see it all the time. But um if I have cards, I'll do what's called the two-card Monty, which is if you guys have heard of the three-card Monty, you throw the cards over top of each other and you have to follow the one card, and then they they trick you. This is using two cards, and David Blaine did it a lot in his special where he'd have people hold two cards and they'd look at them, and they were, you know, the queen of hearts and the uh queen of diamonds, and then he would do some stuff and sw swap them, and and then they'd think, oh, it's gonna be this, and then they turn them around and it's two aces, you know, and they're just like, what? You know, because it that those the aces weren't even in play the entire time. So yeah, it's just kind of fun. And and I I would use it actually for evangelism uh once upon a time. After I learned, I would we would go out and and do like little evangelism things and like college ministry, and um one time we went to spring break and we were handing out tracks, like the four spiritual laws tracks, you know, just telling people about the gospel. And I found that kind of awkward at times, especially on the beach, you know, people are partying on the beach and and I'm walking up fully clothed, and I'm like, Hey, you want to read this book? And they're like, But if I if I had cards and I was like, Hey, can I show you something cool? They you some people are like, What are you about to do? Um, but some a lot of people were a lot more receptive to that than just me saying, Hey, and then I would do one trick where I did not expect to talk about magic tricks today, but here we are. And uh I would do one trick where they I would have them, you know, select a card, but I would be forcing them to select the card I wanted. It's called a it's called forcing a card. And I would always force them to pick the king of hearts, and Jesus is the king of hearts. There you go. And then I would do I would do a magic trick where um I'd have them shuffle into the deck, and then the king of hearts would keep coming back up to the top. And so I would have the patter, is what they say in in you know the magic, you know, magic trick, you know, community is what you say when you're doing the trick. So I always talk about Jesus, you know, and he would keep keep coming back to the top and how he rose from the dead and all this stuff. And and so I would it was just a cool lead-in to talk about Jesus.

Chris Grainger 8:23

Um that is so cool, man.

Ryan Maher 8:25

Yeah. So that's a little fun fact.

Chris Grainger 8:27

That's awesome.

Ryan Maher 8:28

Yeah.

Ryan’s Salvation And Early Discipleship

Chris Grainger 8:28

Well, share us, share with us a little bit of your discipleship journey.

Ryan Maher 8:31

How did you come to know the Lord, Ryan? Yeah, so my sophomore year in high school, uh, which was in 1997, um, I grew up I grew up Catholic and went to Catholic Church on and off. Our family was the family that would go, you know, Christmas and Easter, and sometimes not even not even on Christmas and Easter. We had we had different stretches where we went for a little bit and then we stopped and we would, you know, we would be inconsistent. But um my sophomore year in high school in 1997, I had an uncle um at Thanksgiving who just pulled me aside and we were all hanging out after eating. And he just tapped me on the shoulder and I was like, Oh, hey. And and he had a Bible in his hand. And uh literally I was like, Where'd that Bible come from? And he he just was like, Hey, do you know what the Bible says about salvation? And I said, No. And uh he just proceeded to share the gospel with me right there randomly, felt very random to me. Um but he was just really just wanted to share the gospel with me, and he just walked me through a couple different verses, and and I always joked with him, I joke him with him now, that I was probably the easiest person to share the gospel with because I was just ready to go. He was like, uh, you know, you don't have to do anything to earn this, it's a free gift. And he showed me Ephesians 2, 8 and 9, and you know, uh John 3.16, Romans 10, 9, all the all the verses that you would, you know, suspect that someone would say. And he's like, Would you want to accept that free gift? And I literally said, I I don't have to earn it. There's nothing I can do to earn this, I can just accept it, that what Jesus did for me. He said, Yeah. I was like, who wouldn't want to do that? That sounds that sounds like a sounds like the greatest deal ever. And so I prayed with him and I remember my grandma lived across the street from my house that I grew up in. And so I just walked walked home that night and looked up at the stars, and I just kind of knew something was different. And that kind of sent me on my journey to with God to pursue a relationship with him and um just went from there.

Chris Grainger 10:41

That's very cool, boss. I mean, from there who were who were your primary guests that were discipling you in the early days of your of your journey.

Ryan Maher 10:52

So uh you know, early on it was uh it was my uncle Dan, the one that witnessed to me. He he got me my first Bible, um, a couple different Bibles. He got me a really nice one with my name in engraved on it, nice leather one. Yeah. Premium premium genuine. This was like a $200 Bible. This was a really nice one. I don't even I don't even know if you can get Bibles like that anymore where it's like, you know, authentic, genuine like cow skin, you know. Um and uh so he he was instrumental in the early days, and then he would just he just kept feeding me tons of uh material. You know, I didn't really have a community at that time. I think I went to his church early on. He went to a Baptist church, um, and it was right when the world was trying to get me. And I was in high school, so I was starting to get in the more popular crowd at crowd at school, and um you know, the first time I ever went to a party um where there was alcohol there was the day before I was going to his church. So it was like I accepted Christ and then started getting the like right at the same time. So it was like both sides were vying for me at the same time, I felt like. And um yeah, I remember I went to this party and the first time I ever had a drop to drink and uh was thrown up all night long, and then in the morning went to his church with a suit on, and I and I really started my prayer life there because uh I didn't want to throw up at church. Um that was a good lesson. It was my first lesson uh about all that kind of stuff. But um yeah, from there I just I I uh his big influences at the time were uh Dr. Charles Stanley from In Touch Ministries in Atlanta. So he became a a staple for me early on. So I listened to a lot of his stuff, a lot of his books, um, a lot of his teachings, and and I just dove into the Bible, to be honest. Like um, became a student of the Bible. And uh and then from there I I had different ministry influences. I got involved with Campus Crusade for Christ in college. Prior to that, I was involved, we we had a student ministry in high school called Student Venture that we were involved with and started meeting other Christians. Um one of the guys that I talk about in the book is uh was my buddy Brett. Um his father was the I think the Midwest director of Campus Crusade for Christ, and so he he was my first Christian friend. And um through him I met a lot of other believers that became good friends with and kind of built a core base of of friends, you know, in high school. Um and that kind of just set me on my journey. I I I was involved, I've been involved with ministry since 2001, um, either working in or for or um consulting for or just doing ministry

Building Digital Evangelism With Consistency

Ryan Maher 13:44

since then.

Chris Grainger 13:45

So um yeah, I mean it sounded like you did some some I guess cutting edge stuff from with the social media so far as leaning into that with with sharing the gospel. Maybe share with how how did you get started with that? How did you know God was calling you down those paths?

Ryan Maher 14:05

Yeah, I I've always been a uh well not always. I I had the opportunity to work for a ministry, um, like a local ministry, um, in 2001, and they they were just a kind of small mom and pop shop type place that they needed a lot of help. They they I was like I was the young guy who was kind of like an intern, and I was I I was doing everything from like helping them with like publishing books to making websites to graph design to all and I got to teach myself all of these things using the internet. Um and I got to I got to have this base of just learning learning technology and and and for me it was a dream come true because I was like when when I accepted Christ, I was like, you know what would be amazing is to have ministry be my job and my life. Where because some I always felt bad because I was like, some guys have to go out and they have to do a different job, and I'm like, I w I want to do this all the time. So I just want to make enough money to live um and and do things that I know are gonna build the kingdom. And obviously you can build the kingdom being a businessman or or or an entrepreneur or whatever, you can do there's a million different ways to do it. But for me, I was like, it would be so cool to be able to work in ministry. Um and so I felt felt honored to do that, and I got uh essentially all the ministry experience and got paid to learn how to be a technology person, and I really blossomed into that during that time. And then when it came to when the iPhone came out many years ago, um I was one of the again, I was a technology guy, so I was like, I'm all over this. And then they had the app store, and I was like, man, it would be so cool to make an app. And I had, you know, uh when the when the iPhone came out where you could have uh something on your lock screen, um, instead of having something random, I was like, you know what would be cool is to have Bible verses and quotes that I felt like would encourage me because the average person looks at their phone anywhere from 150 to 300 times a day, and it's probably getting worse, you know. And so the amount of times we look at our lock screen is is in it's crazy. Um so having something on your lock screen that is meaningful, I found to be really helpful to my for me. If I want to memorize a verse or have a quote that is really like encouraging, so I started making all these lock screens, you know, Bible verses, and I think I had just read um Joyce Meyer's Battlefield of the Mind book, which was really instrumental in terms of like you know, guarding your mind and um you know, to what I would call up new to renew, but up new, bring your your your mind higher. And I wanted to do that, so I was I was really into that. And so I started making all these lock screens and started sending them to friends, and I'm like, hey, do you like this idea? Would you use this as your wallpaper, you know, on your phone? And a lot of people were like, Yeah, this is cool, you know, I'm down. And so I made a website for it that you know was doing o okay, you know, people I was I'd send people to it. And then I I I was just dabbling around trying to figure out how to make an app. And the first version of the app was absolute absolutely atrocious. It was basically a website inside of the shell of an app, but it worked, and I submitted to the app store, and I was it was a miracle. And when I pressed send, and I was like, I was like, uh it worked. Sweet. You know, it was it was a it was a miracle. Um, because I really had no idea what I was doing. I mean, I was I was like googling how do how do you do this. And and then since then I've I've remade the app multiple times as I learned you know how to do it uh properly. And um through that, through having that app in the app store, I started putting that content on social media. And right around the time that I launched my app called Bible Bible Lock Screens, um, which is still in the app store, um, it has devotionals and different things like that in it now as well. Um I mean I put the content on on Instagram because Instagram had just kind of started rising to fame a little bit, getting more popularity. And I always joke that I have a screenshot in the app store of Bible lock screens and Instagram right next to each other as the top free uh photography apps is what the category it was in at the time. And I always joke that one of them got acquired for a billion dollars, and it wasn't mine. It was it was Instagram. Um so um, yeah, so it but but it through having that app and through putting the content on social media, I learned a little bit more about how to add value on social media and grow an audience, and I just kind of became more of a social media person uh in a in a in a ministry way. Like I was I wasn't doing it so I could get, you know, I don't know, like some people were like, I want to be an influencer. I just wanted to help people with Bible verses and quotes and things that were encouraging me. So I was like, this is a photo-based social media platform. It'd be cool to put the content that I'm making that's Bible-based on that platform so that people could be encouraged. And I ended up meeting my wife because of that. I got uh recruited uh by Life Church based out of Oklahoma to help them with their social media ministry, um, which I I actually still um am involved with them now. And it's just been really cool what God has done through all of all of that. And again, it wasn't like some mastermind idea that I had, I'm gonna do this or what. No, it's just God was leading me to like, hey, add value here, put this out there, and I just learned. You know, I feel like God was helping me learn how to do social media and how to reach people, and and then when new features would come out, I would jump all over it where I'm like, oh, okay, we could do this. And I I got to the point where you know what people would say think negative things about social media or the internet, and and I always look at technology as a tool. It's like a hammer. Right. You know, the internet is a hammer. You it could be used to build or it can be used to crush. You could build a hospital or you could destroy with it. I mean, there's there's kids going on social media every day who are having a really hard time because they're they're consuming the wrong content. I'm trying to show up as a contributor and contribute to the platform in a way that's gonna be life life-giving. And I just got a message the other day. We have a we have a um Instagram broadcast channel that has a lot of people in it. Um it's at like 4.1 million people in this broadcast channel that receive a daily prayer every single day. And they get a push notification. So that many people getting a push notification. Um and it and what uh what the message said was just, you know, thank you so much for um you know putting this content out on this platform because there's so much other content on here that is not life-giving, you know, and and that's really why I I I feel called to do it because I feel like the Apostle Paul would be all over this if he was like, wait a minute, I I can just pull out my phone and go live and and and a thousand people can see me. You better believe people from every nation can see me, and I can teach right now. So I I try to do Instagram lives, I I try to go on there and add value, make videos, um, we have these, we have these prayer channels. Um we found out the other day that it's it's the most popular Instagram channel on Instagram, period. Just prayers every day. Just the one prayer a day. And and God has done some amazing things just through that. Just because when you s when you send a prayer like that every day, it's just like two paragraphs on different topics, has this has a scripture in it. Um, but the the daily, the daily bread, the daily consistency of that. Yes. Um, because people ask me, like, how did you grow it? How did you how did you grow an audience that that size? And it's like, I'm just adding value every day. Rinse and repeat every single day, and the snowball effect of that, because I make it in such a way where it's very shareable. It's small, it's not this super long thing that people are like, oh, that's overwhelming. No, it's two paragraphs. It's like a devotional thought prayer for the day. And people share it like crazy. Like, I think right now, about 800,000 people shares per month of those prayers. So that that snowball effect is why it's grown so much, is just people are sharing it. And and then and then the people that are uh on their audience, they think that the person who's sharing it is like the prayer person every day. And then they they're like, Thank you so much for the prayers that you're sharing, and they're just sharing it from this main source. And I tell people all the time, copy and paste it, use it in any way you want, you know? And I just want it to get out there, I want it to help people. So it's really cool how God has evolved it um over time, and just I believe that if you if you're willing and you and you and you're consistent, willing and consistent, because a lot of people are willing for like a time. You know, I've seen a lot of people start broadcast channels and they do it for like ten seconds, and then they're like, Oh, it this wasn't a r you know grave success right at the beginning, and they just stop. The way that you grow on social media is consistent. Add value consistently over time. And if you do that, you'll you'll help a lot of people and you'll grow an audience if that's what you're into.

Chris Grainger 23:45

Yeah. All right. Thanks. Thanks for sharing that. We're

Break And Book Resource From Chris

Chris Grainger 23:47

gonna take our first break, guys. We'll be right back. If you're like me, you don't need another book just sitting around collecting dust. What I enjoy is something to help guide me when my feet hit the ground in the mornings. And that is why we put together Unleashing the Lion Within. It has honest stories, scripture you can apply, and simple steps to help you lead at home, at work, and everywhere in between. So if you've been s feeling stuck or scattered lately, you may find this resource encouraging. Read a few pages. Take one step and watch what God does with your obedience. Hey, and if reading's tough for you right now, no problem. The book is also available in audible version, so you can listen on the go. So if this sounds interesting, check out the LionWithin.us slash book or search for unleashing the lion within directly on Amazon. So there's no pressure here, just a resource that many guys are finding helpful. So grab the format that fits and take your next step. Ryan,

Why Men Need Truth All Week

Chris Grainger 24:57

you're definitely doing some incredible things there. I mean, you mentioned that you had a connection with Life Church. I I as well. I'm a author and a creator for Bible app. Awesome. That's how I connect with so many guys and you know all over the world through their platform. And so it's just really cool to see how it seems like people are leaning in and they're searching for truth these days. And you know, the consistency thing, uh, we're big on that as well. We drop Monday, Wednesday, Friday every week on the show, and we're very prolific with that. And and I think that's where a lot of guys lose steam. They're looking for that instant win. The instant win is not worth. It's just that it's that consistently showing up, people knowing that you're going to be there, but you're providing truth. And it sounds like that's what you you've built a lot of your model around.

Ryan Maher 25:43

Yeah, and I I love I love what you're doing. I love the fact that you're you're you're putting yourself out there, you're adding value, and you're doing it throughout the week because you know, you think about I had the opportunity to to preach uh and teach at our our local church uh this weekend, which was a huge honor because um I haven't done too much of that yet, and and I feel like God's you know growing me in that. And you know, people go to church and they they hear the word on on Sundays, and then you have the whole rest of the week. So I always joke that my wife and I and the stuff that we do, we're we're the rest of the week. You know, you're the rest of the week. You people are getting their daily, you know, their their Sunday bread uh at church, but you know, they they need it every day, and sometimes it's easy to you know, schedule-wise or habit-wise to not be in the Bible as much as we should. And so to have somebody kind of guiding you through is such a blessing. And I know when I when I was when I accepted Christ and I was you know going to different resources, you know, podcasting wasn't really around at that time, but man, it would what a blessing that it is now. What a what a blessing that people can get get this kind of encouragement on a regular basis and a consistent basis, and and they can go to a trusted source like you, where they will just you're gonna be they know that you're gonna be there time after time. They don't have to worry, like, are you just gonna fall off the face of the planet? You're like, I like this guy, you know. And I've seen people that I'm like, oh, I really like their content, and then they just stop. And I'm like, well, right, and I've been that guy with different things. I've had a couple of podcasts where it's like I did it for a season, and you know, now that they have it where you can say it's season one, season two, that that kind of helps, but still um people are looking for it, you know, week after week, and uh I think it's great what you're doing.

Chris Grainger 27:31

Amen, Bo. Amen. I mean it the work matters, and and it really does. So hats off to you as well. And then you know that led you to the project that we got connected on this, which is your new book, you know, that came out, the the God Work Trusting, and kind of just lay us on lay it for our audience. What what did God put on your heart to tackle this topic in in the manner in which you did?

Loss And The Questions That Follow

Ryan Maher 27:53

Yeah, I I um so about 20 years ago I lost my mom to addiction. I got a phone call. I was just hanging out with a buddy, um got a phone call from my sister that said that um that my mom had passed away. And I kind of expected to receive that phone call at some point because I knew that she was she was struggling, and and I felt like I kind of lost my mom a couple years before she actually passed away. But it still hurt all the same. And it, you know, this is my mom, and I was always a mama's boy growing up. I love my mom. And so I lost my mom, and then earlier that year I lost my that buddy that I told you about, uh my buddy Brett, my first Christian best friend. I had joined the the military, I was in the army for eight years, and joined with my three best friends, and one of which was Brett. And he uh, you know, after September 11th, he uh we we all were on high alert. We all thought we were leaving when that happened, uh, because I was in from 2000 to 2008, so I'd been in for like a you know a little bit over a year.

Chris Grainger 29:09

Thank you for your service, by the way.

Ryan Maher 29:11

Oh, thanks. And so I was military police and he was infantry, and then the two other buddies were military intelligence. And I I was when I selected my job, I was like, military, I could have picked whatever I wanted. I was like, it could have been a military doctor, that would have been fun. But uh, or military intelligence was just looking at a bunch of maps, and you know, it just didn't look very fun. But the military police was like firing every weapon you can imagine. So I was like, uh that one sounds cool. I'm like, you know, Mark 19 grenade launchers and 50 cal machine guns, that sounds a lot more fun. So uh but long story short, is my buddy Brett, he used uh out of the four of us, he was the only one that deployed uh to Afghanistan uh in 2005. And they were, you know, regularly rotating units over there, and my unit was a headquarters company, and they so they only took certain elements they needed to go over there and operate as kind of like the brains of that particular operation. And so they took his uh platoon or comp I uh yeah, his platoon, I believe. And the whole time he was over there, it was actually very mild. Like he he was a radio operator, even though he was infantry, he was just a radio operator in the green zone, which is the safe place, you know, like the base. And they uh they they came in there one day and they said he was about to come home. He'd been there over there for almost a year. They came in there and they said, Hey, who wants to go out on this mission to, you know, just go do this quick thing and get out of the green zone for a minute? And he was like, Ooh, ooh, ooh, you know, I want to go. He volunteered. And uh as as they were out there, uh, they were in a they weren't in a Humvee, they were in a just like a pickup truck. And Afghan, which is weird. And Afghanistan was is is to this day the the most heavily mined country in the world from the Russian conflict from before. And long story short, they either hit uh a landmine or an IED. Because they you can't like you can't even r run off in the grass. Like if you were a kid in Afghanistan, you can't even go in the grass. It's so heavily mined. Like it's crazy. Um and some of them are so old that you just don't know. So you just you did people just don't go run off and off the road. They stay on the road. And they went off-road for a minute and hit what they think was a landmine or an IED, and they all four died instantly. And so I I had that happen both of those losses in the same year. And, you know, and my buddy was 23 years old, had his whole life ahead of him, loved God, loved to share his faith. And so I after that happened, I had a lot of questions for God. Like, why did you allow this to happen? Where were you? And I really I really struggled to figure it out, you know, be and like a lot of people do, and I blamed God for a a good season. And I I I was angry, you know, because bang bang, two losses very quickly. And so that led me on a journey to just figure out what I believed about God. You know, there's a book here, um, I have it sitting right here somewhere. Um it's right here. It's uh A. W. Tozer. You guys are probably familiar with with him, but A.W. Tozer, this has all three of them in there, but his book, The Knowledge of the Holy. Great book. Um he has a quote in there that's really famous, and it's about what you think about God. And he said, What comes into your mind when you think about God is the most important thing about you. And because it's the lens through which you're gonna see life. Right. You know, the way you see God is like how you almost see everything. You know, it affects everything. And I really I I ended up diving into the Bible and and really trying to figure out God's character. And I got to the point where, you know, fast forward to today, I get people DMing me, direct messaging me through Instagram and all the different platforms, telling me about the pain and suffering that they're dealing with and asking for prayer. You run a prayer channel with that many people, people are constantly asking for prayer. Like, hey, can you send me a prayer? Can you pray for this person? This person's in the hospital. So I see it like nonstop. And I made this resource, I wanted to have this uh because I wanted to have uh a resource to hand to people that had gone through it like I went through it. And you know, some of the I joke with my wife and and uh our friends because they're like, hey, for your first book, you really uh you really picked a softball to to handle, like a really easy, you know, evil sin and suffering, and you know, dealing with the the problems of pain, you know. Um not saying I have it all figured out, but it it it was a five-year process of putting this together to try to put something together that I felt like it would be like me sitting down with someone in a coffee shop and walking them through my story, my journey, what I came to find out about the character of God, seeing things through the life and heart of Jesus. You know, uh the Bible says, if you've seen uh when when the disciples asked Jesus, they said, Hey, show us the Father. Like basically, what's the Father like? And Jesus said, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. Right? Jesus is the image of the invisible God. He's the radiance of his glory, is what the what the word says. And so we f for the first time ever, we have this picture of God that we've never had before. You know, we get to see what he's like, we get to see how he would be. And so I wanted to have this book. I wanted to have it as a resource to be able to hand to people. I'm buying tons of my uh tons of copies of my own book because I because the public, you know, I published it with uh Worthy Publishing, and so I don't get them for free. I I'm buying them to give them out like we went at the church yesterday. I'm just giving out books or you know, you know, uh, because I it looked for me, it's an investment. If I know that someone's suffering, if I know that someone like there's people at the church yesterday that had just lost a son, and I'm like, they are in it right now. They have all the questions that I had right now. And I I tell people, I want you to be prepared, I want your faith to be prepared to handle the circumstances of life, because if you're not prepared, it only takes one sickness, one diagnosis, one breakup, one tragedy, and you might be knocked off your faith for good. If you if you're not anchored in the character of God, what does the Bible really say about him? Is he good? Is he not? Is is he love? Is he light? You know, the Bible says he is he is light and in him is no darkness at all. Do we really believe that? Because if if you're not anchored, then man, it doesn't take much. The enemy and and I have a chapter in there, it's chapter one actually.

God’s Character Under Attack

Ryan Maher 36:35

I talk about character assassination. The devil, since since Genesis, has been on this character assassination campaign to discredit God. Because early on in the garden, you know, it says there you may he said you may eat freely of all the garden. There's only one tree, the the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And the day that you will you eat of it, you will surely die. And then the devil shows up and he immediately says, Did God really say that? No. He just knows that when you when you eat of that tree, that that you'll be like him, knowing good and evil, and he doesn't want that. So the first literal thing out of the devil's mouth is casting doubt on God's character, his motive, you know, like like he's holding out on you. Right. So to get us to think about God in a lesser way. So you know, it goes back to that quote. What you think about God is the most important thing about you. What enters your mind when you think about him? Do you think he's he doesn't have your best interest at heart? And so looking at what the enemy has done, he he's not only was he there at the beginning doing that, he's doing it massively even now. Trying to get people to blame God and push away from him. Because if if you blame God for stuff, you're not gonna draw near to him. You're not gonna, you're not gonna die to yourself. Why would I do that? You know, if if I feel like the character of God is is not up to par anyway, I'm like when Ephesians 5.1 says to be imitators of him, I'm not gonna be an imitator of him. He doesn't seem that great. You know, and and this is this is what the enemy does. So I I the message I gave yesterday was don't blame God. And I talk about freedom in the in the book. There's a whole chapter on freedom that, you know, in Deuteronomy, God said, I set before you life and death, blessings and curses, therefore choose life. The average person makes about 35,000 choices per day. 35,000. Like, what am I gonna wear today? Am I gonna am I gonna be early or am I gonna be late? Am I gonna have uh you know chocolate or vanilla ice cream? You know, all the little, all the little ones. Some of them are like routine. Am I gonna drink coffee today? I'm like, that's that's an automatic one. Of course I'm gonna drink coffee. Um, but that's a choice. All these little choices stack up, and God honors those choices. Um what's his name? Um, author uh John Eldridge. He's the one that did Wild at Heart, which I'm sure your audience might be familiar with. Great book. Um, he has a book called Moving Mountains, and it's a book on prayer, and and he he talks about the idea of free will and choice, and he calls it the dignity of causation, that God has given us the dignity to make meaningful decisions that have in giving us say so. We get to make choices that affect others that affect the world. And that's pretty wild if you think about it, because I don't I don't know about you, but I've made some bone-headed decisions that have affected other people. I've been in relationships where I've done stuff that have affected other people. And but then we blame God for stuff. We blame, you know, I I have people that reach out on again on direct message and they'll say, like, hey, please pray for me. Um, so-and-so broke up with me. I I don't know what God's doing. Our our almost our default is if you're a believer and you don't really have this sorted out, is if something happens, we assume that God wanted it to happen. Right. Just because it happened doesn't mean that God wanted it to happen. Because God's given us the power to make choices. That's right. It's kind of it's kind of crazy. Um, and I believe that before the foundations of the world, before before God created anything, he decided in his wisdom and you know glory to make a creation with the ability to choose, human beings with the uh ability to choose. And so God's not a micromanager, he's not micromanaging my life or your life. I kind of wish he would, actually. That would be great, because uh I would never make a bad decision. I would never have a bad day. I would never everything would be great. Um, but he's not a micromanager. I I have a chapter in the book called Sovereign, not controlling. He doesn't control, he doesn't control, but we you it's like a a king, a king of a kingdom. King sets rules, he sets policies, he he enforces certain things, but he doesn't come into your living room and and stop you from watching a certain TV show. You know, he's not he's not he's not over your shoulder like preventing you from making bone-headed decisions. You know, he honors he and he holds us accountable for our decisions. That's why that's why he can say the penalty for sin is death. Because you have a choice to choose. And so um, all that to say, you know, our choices matter, and um what you believe about God really matters, and and I believe that a lot of people don't don't really have that sorted out in their hearts and minds, and and the enemy is an opportunist. He will jump all over that the moment something bad happens in your life. Ooh, see? God blame him. And as soon as we do that, we will push our push him away, and we may never return. I've seen too many people, that's another reason I did the book. I've seen too many people just fall away because something happened. You know, it's it's it's pretty much the number one atheist argument is you know, if God is all good, why is there evil in the world? If God's all powerful, he can't be all good. If he's all good, he can't be all powerful, right? Right. So, and I think it's an I think it's a huge roadblock for um evangelism as well.

Chris Grainger 42:39

It definitely is. It definitely is. And you guys, when we'll take our last break, we'll come back with Ryan.

Break And Leadership Mastermind Invite

Chris Grainger 42:47

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The Lie Of Everything Happens For A Reason

Chris Grainger 44:14

Ryan, speak to the men out there that are listening right now. You know, if there is a common lie that the enemy uses to distort what we know to be true about God, uh particularly when things don't go our way, you know, when bad things happen in life, like what happened to you and your best friend. Like what what is that common lie that you think that uh we fall for too often?

Ryan Maher 44:36

Well, like I could I could say a few, but one of them one of the most common ones is everything happens for a reason. Because when a Christian says that, they bel they they say everything happens for a reason. They'll say that there's a reason that God made it happen. And again, that that goes back to the assumption that just because it happened, that doesn't mean that God wanted it to happen. You know? Uh if something happens, it could it could have been that somebody made a horrible decision, and you were on the receiving end of that horrible decision. Doesn't mean that God signed off on it and said, you know what? Stamp of approval, go ahead. You know? And some people they'll even mention Job, and we could talk about that. But um, you know, the some people say, well, well, the devil had to ask for permission. Well, actually, if you hear what God said in response, he said, Yeah, he's within your power, because in fact, First John five nineteen it says that we are children of God and that the whole world is under the control, power, and sway of the evil one. The whole world. It's what we're within his power and there's a spiritual battle going on. But even for the for the for the enemy, some people say, well, the even the enemy has to go in and ask for permission. You know how I know that's not true? Because I have freedom and I don't have to ask permission to do evil. I don't. Dev the devil definitely doesn't. Whether they're having a conversation or not. Whether and some people think that that's an allegory or that's a whether that's a literal conversation or allegorical, um I'll leave that up to people to do their own due diligence. But I don't have to ask permission to do evil, and neither do you, and neither does anybody listening. And so just because something happened doesn't mean God wanted it to happen. And so keeping that in mind, that's why when God says to to do his will, um, it matters. Jesus, when when the when the disciples asked Jesus, they they said, Lord, teach us to pray. This blew my mind when I saw it. He said, Teach us to pray. And he says, Okay, the sure, here's the Lord's prayer. Um and he goes into it, he says, Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. On earth as it is in heaven. Right? And I was like, wait a minute. So Jesus is telling us to pray for God's will to happen on the earth. That seems like a very interesting thing to say if that always happens no matter what, anyway. That would be like the implication there is that to pray for that because it doesn't automatically happen. You know, we are we get to pray for God's will to happen, and then we get to be the hands and feet of Jesus and help do his will on earth. It's not just, you know, his you know what I mean? And and I that hit me in such a way where I was like, man. Because if it didn't mean that, then it would have been like, can you imagine Jesus saying, hey guys, make sure to pray for the sun to rise in the morning? Right. Yeah. They'd be like, Lord, are you feeling okay? It always rises in the morning. That doesn't make sense. But he's saying, pray for God's will to happen on the earth, because we know in heaven, his will is always done, but here it's often not done. Because and the way we know that is is is sin his will? No. Sin is not his will, and we do it nonstop. There's you talk about billions of people on the planet, we live on a battlefield. I I think of the military analogies because I was in the military. I'm like, we live on a battlefield. We're born in and born into a battlefield. And and if you if you sit back and you think that God is controlling everything, that he's responsible for everything that happens, then why first of all, why would you pray? Why why pray? Right. If if God is moving both sides of the checkerboard or the or the chessboard, then prayer wouldn't matter. Because whether I pray or whether I don't, his will happens, right? Right. Makes no sense. But but what if what if my prayers actually matter? What if in when it when in Daniel, where he was praying for 21 days, he prayed, and it took 21 days for the the angel to show up. And the angel shows up and he said, You know, sorry, I'm I'm late. I heard you on day one, but I was I was being resisted by the prince of Persia, which we know is like a territorial demon. Right. And but he kept praying with persistence. The Bible tells us to pray with persistence. There's something about that. The Bible's screaming at us to pray without ceasing, to be devoted to prayer, to pray with persistence. The parable of the persistent neighbor, the parable of the persistent widow. Pray with persistence. Because there's something about that. It does something. When we pray, things change, when we pray, God moves, angels move. And we get to enter into the spiritual battle through prayer and through action. Right. That's why following the will of God and doing the will of God matter so much. Because we get and we get and that's why the Bible calls us co-laborers with him. We get to be co-laborers with him. We don't we don't get to sit on our hands and just act like, oh, whatever you say, Lord, it's like, no, he's like, I need some soldiers. You know, I need some people to rise up and and and do his will and be the body on planet earth. And we get to be that. So there's another chapter in the book about the spiritual battle and prayer, because I feel like if you don't have that figured out, then you're not going to participate. You're going to be like, you know, God's will always happens, right? And so I might as well go sit on the beach somewhere and have a have a drink or something. I don't know. Just sit back with a with a with a little umbrella in my glass, you know. Um, but that's that's not what God's calling us to.

Trust As Real Faith In Action

Chris Grainger 50:39

No, not at all. No, and I love also how you talk about trust being more than just belief. Maybe unpack that a little bit. That that really struck me when I read that.

Ryan Maher 50:50

Yeah. Um so trust or the word faith, I feel like the word faith a lot of times is is more of a a difficult word for for us in our language because we know what trust looks like. We know what it looks like to trust another person, or you go on a plane and you trust the pilot and you trust a chair when you we're both sitting in chairs right now. Uh I'm trusting this chair to hold me off the ground. We know what that's like. And the Greek word for for that, for faith, is the Greek word pistis. And and actually the it actually means trust. So faith really is trust. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. You know, to to trust God. It it's real it's really what belief and faith is. It's it's it's every time I pray, every time I I cast my anxieties on him, I'm trusting him. It's a mini act of trust, it's a mini act of faith. Every single time I I turn I I do His will instead of my own, I'm saying, I trust you. I trust that your way is better than than the way that seems right to a man. And you know, the the goal is to look at God. That's why the book is literally called Um The God Worth Trusting. Because if you don't see him as trustworthy, you know, it's the same thing. If I if I think his character is less than, I'm not gonna lean in. I'm not gonna give him my heart. For a first of all, for a man, it's like that sounds like a that doesn't sound like something the guys are really like, oh, I'm gonna give you my heart. You know, I'm gonna trust you. You know, um, you know, that's that's not something that we're necessarily great at, uh, probably in our in our struggles at times. And so um yeah, I don't know if that answers your question, but it totally does, man.

What Ryan Hopes The Book Does

Chris Grainger 52:46

I'm really curious too for your putting a project like this together. I mean, 17 chapters, everything you put out here, what's your ultimate goal? Well, when a when a guy speaks sp specifically to men out here, when a man finishes reading this, what do you hope that uh you know is the outcome for him and his disciples and his personal discipleship journey?

Ryan Maher 53:09

That's a great question. The subtitle, so it's it's The God Worth Trusting, Restoring Faith in a Good God. A good God. Um that's what I want. I want if somebody doesn't know where they stand with God, I want them. There's a chapter on trusting God with your eternity. So that I wanted this, I'm a I'm an evangelist at heart as well, and I want I wanted this to be a book where if you're just starting your faith journey, you could you could start it and and build a firm foundation on trusting God, knowing his character, knowing who he is, knowing that you can give him your whole life, and that you will be prepared for the storms of life, because it's not if the storms come, it's when the storms come. You know, and I always tell people, like, if you haven't gone through something, you will. And I want you to be prepared for it. And I want you to, I want you to be that um, I want you to build your foundation on on the rock. I don't want it, I don't want you to be able to be swept away. And so for those who have have I I had a vision. I feel like as I was wr um writing the book, God gave me a vision of a it was it was of a woman reading the book. And she was just weeping. Weeping. And and it and it just it just it just tore me up because I knew what God was saying is that that God was going to use this to to bring people back to him. And I think more than anything, I want I want to I want people to restore their faith in a good God. I want them to see him as a good God, their heavenly father who loves them, like the the father in the in the parable of the prodigal son, how you know he was looking for his son. His son had gone away and was coming back. He was already there look like searching for him. That's the heart of our God. That that emulates the heart of our God. That he he's not mad at you, he's not he's not disappointed in you, he wants you back. He wants you to know him, he wants you know that this is eternal life, that they may know you, the the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom you've you whom you have sent. That's what it's all about, to know God and to know his character. Man, if if if you know that, if you get locked in with that, then you can withstand a lot. You can deal with the storms of life. You can you can be a soldier for him. You can be in the battle because you are anchored. You have your armor on. And that's what I want. I want this to be uh uh hopefully a foundational book that brings people back if they've if they've wandered off. And so far it's it's playing out that way, and I'm I feel very blessed. Um I I really don't have uh some grand thing of like, oh, I want this to be. I I want to reach as many people as I can. And every person that I find out, if I'm like if somebody knows somebody that just went through it, please give them the book. Please give them a copy. I'm giving I'm giving copies to people. I I I told my wife, I'm like, we have a budget now to buy these books from the publisher because I don't get them for free. I have to, I have to get them and I have to give them away to people. Um, and I'm not I feel really weird because I'm not I've never set out to be like an author person, you know. Um it just kind of evolved that way. And so I don't like the idea of selling. I don't like to be sold to as a as a guy. I'm just like somebody walks up to my door and is trying to sell me something. I'm like, I don't think I don't want it. I didn't ask for it, you know. So I I have a I'm trying to do my best to come on podcasts or put stuff on social media where I'm just teaching or sharing about this topic. And oh, by the way, there's a book, you can check it out, and and and hopefully that blesses you. And and so far it has. And um, because I don't want to be like book, book, book, book, book, book, get the book, get the book. I'm like, I I want to help people, I want to minister to people. That's what I that's my heart. So Amen.

Lightning Round On Life And Sports

Chris Grainger 57:09

Well, you're doing a great job with it, Ryan. Hats off to you. We're gonna do all we can to support you for sure. Before we wrap up, we'd love to do a quick little uh lightning round with you if you've got just a few minutes just to have some fun here at the end. All right, well, let's let's let's go. So, what do you what do you enjoy doing for fun? Any hobbies, Ryan?

Ryan Maher 57:28

Wow. Um lately I've been enjoying going to different parks. Uh I've never really been a park person, but like state parks. I live in Michigan, so um, and specifically in Waterford, Michigan, which is about an hour northwest of Detroit. And I'm originally from Indianapolis, but my wife, when we met, her family lives out here, and uh Waterford is just filled with lakes. So I'm trying to take advantage of this time where it's like in Michigan in the summer, it's great. And uh in the winter, it's that we're it's the last place you want to be. Go find another place to be. Um it's miserable. But in the summer, it's great. You know, lake life and um just going and being at different public beaches and stuff like that, you know, uh at the lake has been such a blessing. And um, I'll just go there and have quiet times and I'll go there to work. Thankfully, I have you know, I can I work remotely, so I can go there and I can just be in my car working and go out and go for a walk. And I'm just enjoying that a lot and just spending time with my family in those settings. I have two little kids and uh my wife and two little kids, so we've been just soaking it up this summer.

Chris Grainger 58:36

It's been really that's awesome, bro. That's awesome. Now you're an Indiana guy, so is that who are you pulling for before your sports scene? You're staying loyal to your state, or are you shipping up in Michigan now?

Ryan Maher 58:47

Yeah, so this is gonna be disappointing to probably everyone uh listening, including you. Um I I love sports, I love playing them, but I I just it's it's no it has become it I just it I look at it like a movie. You know, if I've I you know like I I'm I'm entertained and I enjoy it if I happens to be on or I I'm at someone's house, but but I'm at a point where I'm like, I just other than watching Steph Curry, I like watching Steph Curry play basketball. I've been a I've been a big you know, Indiana basketball. Um and Indiana, I know Indiana did crush it this last year, and so everyone was like, Yay, Indiana, and I went to Indiana University. So um I can say yeah, yay, Indiana football. Um, but on a day-to-day basis, like if anyone asks me like who's doing what, I'm like, I couldn't tell you one player on anybody any team other than like a couple of pro teams, but yeah, you go. So it's it's disappointing. Yeah. It's all good. It's all good. Yeah. Well what about what what are you about? What what what teams are you into?

Chris Grainger 59:53

I mean, I'm I'm kind of with you. Like I I'm the Braves, and but then I grew up a race fan and I worked in NASCAR for a while, so I followed some of that stuff. But then the guy that I really pulled for, he just recently tragically passed away. So anyway, I'm just I'm with you guys. I watching a good game. I don't really get wrapped up into it. I'm not one of these guys who loses sleep on a Saturday morning afternoon if my you know my football team doesn't do well. So uh I'm just too busy with my four kids in the farm and the ministry and living life, yeah.

Ryan Maher 1:00:23

Yeah, that's that's good. I I had I had a friend uh who would punch holes in the wall if the Colts lost. So it's like, no, I'm I'm not going there. No thanks. That's it. It sounds miserable because I'm like, just to have everything riding on somebody, you know, and then guys get into like fantasy football and stuff like that. I'm like, that, you know, it's like you're gamifying it. Gamifying a game, you know, it's I can see how that'd be fun.

Chris Grainger 1:00:48

Yeah, and then I see what's happening right now is where I'm trying to coach a lot of young men around this whole uh sports betting. I mean, it's it's just destroying us. Yeah, and it's just another uh piece of rot that is that is capturing the hearts of men. I'm like, gosh, we got we gotta stop, we gotta put an end to it, you know.

Ryan Maher 1:01:07

So anyway, that's just you know what they should do is instead of sports gambling, just every time your team wins or loses, so either way, you just invest some money in the stock market or something. There you go. Instead of like just getting rid of it and losing it, won't you invest it? And it's like then you can watch it grow. It's gamify it that way, you know?

Chris Grainger 1:01:25

That's right. It's amazing.

Ryan Maher 1:01:26

It's amazing.

Chris Grainger 1:01:27

Yeah. Well, you talk I love your book. Uh and speaking about trusting God. So so what is your favorite thing about God, Rob?

Ryan Maher 1:01:34

Oh my gosh. Um I would say the fact that he is love. I have it, I have um the first icon that I had for my app, Bible Lock Screens, it had a it had a phone with a wallpaper on it that said God is love. The fact that God loved us so much that he gave his son to die for us, and that he literally is love embodied is is the coolest thing in the world to me. Is that he is love. And so what does that look like? I mean you know and all the fruits of the spirit, you know. I think of when you think of the fruit of the spirit, those are not only things that we're supposed to do, but that's characteristics of him, the fruit of the spirit. And so he's just so good and I feel like we're spoiled that we have a God, like if you really get it, it gives you it gives your life a purpose. He is life. He is life, you know, and I it's like I get to I get to be a part of that. You kidding me? Pretty awesome. Yeah. What's your least favorite thing about the evil one? Probably probably how probably how um cruel he is to the degree that it's not only not only is he evil, but he's like evil on steroids. He's evil he's he's kick you while you're down and step on your neck and and just and um you know, they talk about like cr chronic versus acute, you know, like some t some things happen suddenly and some some things happen over time. He's patient. He'll he'll kill you over time. And and in a very cruel way. Uh death by a thousand cuts. He's okay with that either way. So he he uh he's not in a hurry. Um and and he's and his whole thing is kill, steal, and destroy. So um and he's brutal. So that's that's my least favorite thing, and he's persistent. Yeah.

Final Takeaways And Where To Find Ryan

Ryan Maher 1:04:06

What do you what do you hope the the listeners remember the most from our time together today, Ryan? I would say that God is good, that he is love, that he is light, and in him is no darkness at all. You can trust him, you can give him your life. And you know what? Jesus said, in this life you will have trouble. He didn't promise us all sunshine and rainbows. So we can expect to have some trouble. But we have a God who is for us, he's with us, and if if I know that God is with me, man, I can walk through the storms of life. If I'm it's like it's like a little boy. I have a I have an eight-year-old son, or an eight eight-year-old, eight month-old, an eight-month-old son. And just you know, holding his little hand, if he's got me with him, he's got all the confidence in the world. Because because daddy's daddy's with you. I'll I'll I'll I'm gonna I'm gonna lead him and guide him the best of my ability. But if I'm with I have God with me. Stay close to him for your whole life. Don't give up. Keep going. And uh he'll he'll see you through.

Chris Grainger 1:05:36

Well, Ryan, this has been great. Where where do you want to send the listeners to connect with you and to get a copy of the book and things like that?

Ryan Maher 1:05:43

Yeah, um if you're on Instagram, you can connect with me on just by typing in my name. Uh it's it's Ryan.meor, M-A-H-E-R. Um, and we have that prayer channel, which if you're looking forward to having something sent to you every morning, um, love to have you on there. It's it's uh in the top of my bio. It's kind of like a sub-feature of an Instagram account. And um the book is pretty much available anywhere, which I thought was the coolest thing. I've always heard people say it's available wherever books are sold. So I can say it's available wherever books are sold. You can go online, they got it at Barnes and Noble. Barnes and Noble has been a great partner in this as well. They've they've had the book at almost every location nationwide, which uh blew me away. Um or you obviously you can get on Amazon pretty quickly as well. So yeah, just type in the name of the book and you can check it out. Amen.

Chris Grainger 1:06:37

Thank you. Thank you so much for coming on, man. Really enjoyed the conversation, having you on. And uh anything else you'd like to share today before we wrap up?

Ryan Maher 1:06:45

I'm just so grateful for the opportunity and I love what you're doing. And I love that you have a heart to minister to men because I feel like we need it, I need it, and what a blessing that is. So thank you for doing what you do. Thank you for the opportunity and the privilege to come on here and uh to share a little bit about what God has been doing with me. And I hope and pray that it is a blessing to everyone who's who's uh been listening. Thank you so much. Amen.

Closing Encouragement And Next Steps

Chris Grainger 1:07:14

Thank you, buddy. All right, guys. I told you that was going to be a great one. I'm so thankful for Ryan for coming on and for sharing. So be sure to go get a copy of his book. Uh just again, the the way he what what he uns what he shared with us and the way he unpacked the truth. Phenomenal. If you're going through some tough seasons of life, hopefully you're encouraged by by this. And and the question of the week this week really aligns. You know, where are you struggling to trust Jesus right now? You know, if you're going through some kid pain, or maybe some financial pain or some marriage pain, or maybe just physical pain, like with your body, it's so easy to stop trusting God. But I'm telling you, bro, don't do it. Lean in. He is there, he hears you. He's not gonna turn his back on you, he's not gonna forsake you. And resources like this from Ryan are so vitally important. So, guys, go check it out. Go also to thelionwithin.us, check our website out, share the podcast out, give us ratings and reviews, all that stuff matters, fellas, okay? Big deal. Help us out there. Maybe you want to support the lion within us, you can go to the lionwithin.us donate. Support our ministry, guys. Right here, we're doing the work, and hopefully you're being encouraged by it. And if you are, we would ask for your support, okay? Other than that, check out our lines then, our leadership mastermind, our daily strip to kickoff. Open up the Bible app. You'll find us right there on the Bible app as well. So we'll have all these different ways we try to serve, guys, found at the lionwithin.us. So we'll see you on our next episode. Have a great day, fellas. Get after it and just keep unleashing the lion within. 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 lion's den 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. And freedom is possible. So look, inside our group, you're gonna find a confidential, judgment-free forum to engage and ask questions. You'll have honest conversations without condemnation. And you'll also have a monthly call with a trusted guide. So look, this isn't just about stopping pornography, it's about becoming a man of integrity, a man aligned, a man who lives in freedom, not secrecy. And you don't have to clean yourself up first to come. You just have to step in. So our sexual integrity support group is found 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.