Get ready to fuel your Friday with a dose of encouragement and actionable wisdom straight from the heart of Scripture. Have you ever felt the sheer joy of God's presence pulsating through your life? That's the electric spark we're igniting today as we unpack the profound message of Zephaniah 3:17, diving into how the verses we've memorized can actually transform our daily walk. Alongside me, Nick Adams, the author of "Being the Dad You Wish You Had," shares his treasure trove of insights on fatherhood that promise to reshape your world.
As men, we navigate different seasons, seeking guidance to conquer obstacles while remaining steadfast. Discipleship Masterminds is the environment where you not only receive invaluable insights to overcome challenges but also gain profound guidance on the path to becoming the leader God uniquely designed you to be.
Get ready to fuel your Friday with a dose of encouragement and actionable wisdom straight from the heart of Scripture. Have you ever felt the sheer joy of God's presence pulsating through your life? That's the electric spark we're igniting today as we unpack the profound message of Zephaniah 3:17, diving into how the verses we've memorized can actually transform our daily walk. Alongside me, Nick Adams, the author of "Being the Dad You Wish You Had," shares his treasure trove of insights on fatherhood that promise to reshape your world.
As men, we navigate different seasons, seeking guidance to conquer obstacles while remaining steadfast. Discipleship Masterminds is the environment where you not only receive invaluable insights to overcome challenges but also gain profound guidance on the path to becoming the leader God uniquely designed you to be.
Test test. Welcome to the Lion Within Us, a podcast serving Christian men who are hungry to be the leaders God intends you to be. I'm your host, chris Granger. Let's jump in. All right, guys, it is fun Friday time. I'm excited to have you here, so let's get right into it, ok?
Chris Grainger:
So the scripture of the week this week we've been in the book of Zephaniah, chapter three, verse 17,. Verse 17 says the Lord, your God, is with you, the mighty warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you and his love. He will no longer rebuke you but rejoice over you with singing. So, guys, go back, unpack that one verse in our spiritual kickoff episode this week. Hopefully you got a chance to listen to that. Give me some feedback, because I'm really the whole point of the spiritual kickoffs is to help you simplify and apply that one verse to your life, because it's one thing to know the verses. It's a whole nother situation when you start applying it to your daily walk. That's the point of the SKOs. That's why I put so much emphasis and really just lean in with lots of resources for the SKOs so that you guys can get a lot from it to start applying it to your daily walk, because it's not just about head knowledge. We got to start walking this stuff out. Okay, now we made the tie from that one verse right into this week.
Chris Grainger:
So far as being intentional fathers, right, you can be a warrior that leads your family. You've been called for that. So we brought in Nick Adams. Being the dad you wish you had was the book that he wrote, and some of you guys may be like me and you had a phenomenal dad, but you still want to improve. You still want to just keep elevating your game as a father. Hey, nick, went through some stones with us, some principles, if you will, that I think. As we think back and look at them and consider the ones that we unpack together, there's a lot of areas in our life that we can really make a big difference. For instance, the power of being, just the power of being present. That is so important and we need to recognize the power that we have right there.
Chris Grainger:
And he talked about a fun one, just being lovable. I mean, you don't think about being lovable as a guy like I don't want to be lovable. At least I feel that way. Right, look, our kids, our family. We need to be open. They need to be able to come to us and give us the hug. They need to come to us and know that they are loved by us and we're not just taking it for granted that we love them. You know you would never say I love you to your wife on your wedding day and not say it anymore. Right, probably not going to be married very long. No, it needs to be every day. They need to hear it.
Chris Grainger:
As a father, you have to do that. And then we have to create that unconditional atmosphere of love and support right where they just feel safe. You of love and support, right when they just feel safe. You want your kids to feel safe around you when you walk into the room. You want them to feel that peace, that assurance, not conflict, not anger or strife or turmoil, whatever. You got going on right, no, no, no, no bitterness. And you have the ability as a father. No one else has the ability like you do, to make the impact on your family and your kids. You have the greatest impact. Use that carefully, but don't miss what I said right there. Use it. Okay, all right, guys.
Chris Grainger:
So now let's get into our tips of the week for our Fun Friday episode. Every week we do a health, wealth and self tip and for you new listeners out there, the health tip is how do we have better minds and bodies? Just creating them to be stronger. Wealth is taking care of our career and our finances. We have to be good stewards of what God's given us and self is. We got to be better husbands and guess what? Better fathers, so we're going to be leaning into this. Better father, so we're going to be leaning into this. All right. So now I want you for a health tip, for you guys that work out.
Chris Grainger:
You know, you guys know I love working out. I try to just stay active, just to keep up with my kids. Plus, it just makes you feel good to work out. Maybe you started lifting weights and a lot of times when you start lifting weights, it can be, you know, maybe you wake up some muscles. You don't want to go back. I totally get it right. It can just be tough.
Chris Grainger:
So get a roller. Lots of times they have these in the gym, but if you don't have one, you can pick one up. They're a couple inches in diameter, but they're very effective. They're usually about 12 to 16 inches long. What you do is. You just use that to work those muscles out. Then you can adjust how much pressure you put on. I know for me with with the roller, I love to put it on my lower back. It really helps just kind of alleviate some pain. Sometimes your quads are hurting your thighs, your calves, whatever it may be. That the roller you just you need to put that, that weight on it and just work that muscle. It really gets in deep and helps relieve. You know, during. I'm also going to tell you right now, someone who does this while you're doing it. It sucks, okay, because there's a lot of pain while you're doing it, but after the relief comes, that blood will rush in. That will start giving you some relief to it. I'm telling you, just take the time to stretch and a roller is a great tool if you will, if you've never used it before, to really alleviate some of those pains that you may be having from exercising. Okay, so really consider that as you move forward Now for our wealth tip, think about this establish a mix of setting and forgetting investments.
Chris Grainger:
Okay, you need to have those, you really need to have those, and and you have some that you, some areas of your, your investment portfolio that you want to actively manage, for sure, but where you can set and forget, do that, automate it. I'm big in automation. You know. Automate your savings and your investment accounts, particularly if you have long term goals. Put it out there for your retirement accounts and college funds. All that stuff's important to kind of know what's going on. But at the end of the day, the money you send there, you want that just to be budgeted and taken out and just sent straight to it. You don't want to have to think about that.
Chris Grainger:
Okay, now we start thinking about debt repayments and the emergency funds and things like that. You know that's a different strategy. But automation that just going to do it for you. You can automate things. So every year, you actually increase the amount of your contribution. That's a big deal, right. And when you start doing that, you're automatically increasing it. Hey, you're taking advantage of those investment vehicles to a whole new level, and this really aligns with the way Scripture talks about being a diligent steward and diligently saving.
Chris Grainger:
So think about do you have set it and forget it investments in your portfolio. If you don't, it's time to get some. Okay, put that in place. Talk to your financial advisor, whoever it is that's out there that helps you with your resources. Heck, we got guys within the line within us that can help with this as well. So, again, set and forget it. Love loudly. Okay, love loudly, man, not just with your words, but with your actions. It says in 1 John 3, 18, let us not love with our words or speech, but with the actions and in truth, so that if we recognize God's word to be true which, if you're listening to the line within us, I surely hope that you do, and we need to start showing it Active expressions of love, spending that quality time that Nick talked about, right, offering that encouragement. I mean truly looking for the ways to offer encouragement.
Chris Grainger:
I know for me with my oldest now she's doing a lot of chores in the barn, helping out. I try to always be super intentional about thanking her for the wonderful job she does, even if it's not always up to the way I would do it. Hey, she's out there, she's busting it right. You know she feels a hay bag. Hey, thank you for doing that. Hey, she mucked a stall. Great job on mucking this morning. Hey, you took care of bringing in all the horses or feeding them, whatever it may be feeding chickens, filling up water bowls, whatever it may be.
Chris Grainger:
Encourage them, just speak that love loudly, let them know it. You know, embarrass them at a softball game or a baseball game. If you have boys, whatever it may be, hey, let them know that you are their number one fan and that you're not cheering for that last name, you're cheering for them. That's what it's about. They just need to know that. Our house right now it's crazy. We have these littles running around, we have our older girls who are 12 and 13, and it's a fun time. It can be very loud at times as well, but I'll take that loud house any day of the week. You know what it can be chaotic, but every now and then it's okay for dad to get loud too, not in a bad way, but in a loving way.
Chris Grainger:
All right, guys, there are your three tips your health, wealth and self-doubt. Health tip again get that roller, start rolling those muscles out. That wealth tip think about those areas that you can set and forget it. Okay, you need to have those investments in there. And then self-tip love loudly. I mean seriously, love loudly.
Chris Grainger:
Now for our book of the week right here. No, it looks a little banged up. That's because I actually read it. It says being the Dad you Wish you had, five Big Stones for Effective Fatherhood by Nick Adams. Get this anytime. I can enjoy authors like Nick. First book he wrote, just not trying to change, be this huge bestselling author or anything like that. Of course I hope he will be, but he's just trying to share a good, simple message out there that's going to encourage lots of guys just like us listening right now to be better fathers. So pick it up. It's a great resource. Again, you can go to the show notes here for this episode. We'll have a link to it there for you to get your own copy. Okay, again, amazon's the only place you can get that, and by the time this comes out, he may be done with the audible book, the audio version, rather. So check that out.
Chris Grainger:
All right, now for our dad jokes. We always got to have some dad jokes here, fellas, okay. So the first dad joke this week is why don't skeletons fight each other? Because they don't have the guts. I mean, come on now, that's why they don't fight each other. A skeleton ain't got no guts. So number two what do you call fake spaghetti? It's an imposter. Come on now, let's get real with it. So, number one why don't skeletons like each other fight each other? Rather, they don't have the guts. Number two what do you call fake spaghetti and impasta? So there you go. Fellas Again. Eye rolls count. If you have a joke that we need to use on the Lion, within it's support at thelionwithinus, send it in. We'll give you a free resource for hooking us up with a cool dad joke, and if we use it on the show, we'll give you a shout out Okay, all right.
Chris Grainger:
Now question of the week. This week is what is the single most effective action you can take to become an exceptional father Exceptional father, because that's who you call to be Not just mediocre but exceptional. And I know you can do it. So I just want you to think through. Think through the stuff that Nick and I spoke about at length, and how can you apply some of those principles into your journey to be an exceptional father? And guess what? This ain't going to happen overnight. I wish I could tell you it would. I wish I could flip the switch. Boom, you're an exceptional father. It's a journey, just like discipleship. It's a journey, just like discipleship. It's a journey, but to take the first step today. Maybe take the first step today just by not getting angry.
Chris Grainger:
I know so many guys, including me, struggle with anger. We have to learn and when that anger is manifesting it's usually a result of something else, an insecurity in our life or something that's going on that our response to the ones that we love is usually out of a response for the ones that have hurt us. We just got to be careful, so use those words in ways that will build up and encourage the ones that you love. So, guys, I hope you enjoyed this one this week. I mean, talking about being a father is so important as a reminder, if you're needing help being a father, you need to hop into the Lion Within us community, and that's thelionwithinus. Click on the resources to join the community.
Chris Grainger:
Guys, this is where we do stuff, this is where we lean in, because you need to get into a mastermind. Yes, you need to get into a community just to see the things that we're doing, to help encourage others, just to give you that daily support, right, but you got to have a group of guys that you can be open and real with. Hey, my relationship with my kids sucks. They hate me right now and I don't know what to do. If you don't have a place where you can ask that question without any fear of judgment right or coming back on you, then our line within this community is waiting for you right now.
Chris Grainger:
Because that's what the mastermind groups are all about Open, authentic, transparent. You have to be that. You have to be just willing just to lean in, be willing to receive that feedback and just talk about what's on your heart, because the evil one is trying to destroy your marriage, he's trying to destroy your family, he's trying to take you out everywhere you turn. You need some brothers in Christ that you can lean in, that you can be open with, and we accelerate that process with our mastermind groups and with what we do within the community. So if you think like you know what Chris, that kind of sounds interesting, check it out. I just encourage you start your 30-day free trial, hop into a mastermind meeting or two. See how it serves you well. If it doesn't serve you well, get out. That's okay, because the last thing I want is a guy staying in a community that doesn't serve them. But I'm telling you I've seen it firsthand with guys that right now they're going through some stuff, and the fact that they got their band of brothers within the Lion Within community is serving them well. So, again, that's thelionwithinus.
Chris Grainger:
Go check all that resources out, fellas. We have everything there that you need to get started. Okay, you can get our devotionals on the Bible app. Wherever you get podcasts, you can listen to our show. Youtube. We have a YouTube channel that's growing pretty well, doing some great things there. Obviously, we're on Facebook and Instagram. All that stuff right. But at the end of the day, connect with us inside our community. So that's thelinewithinus. We'll see you there. That's where I hang out every day. If there's any way we can serve you, love to hear from you and if you like the hat I'm wearing, let me know, because we're thinking about putting another order in for these hats and there's been a lot of interest, but would love to get your feedback. All right, guys, get after, have a great day. Good Lord willing, we'll be back next week with some really good episodes that will hopefully encourage you, inspire you, just give you that hope to be the leader God intends you to be. So get after it, have a great weekend and remember, keep unleashing the lion within If you're a man who's looking for greater spiritual guidance into how to become a better leader.
Chris Grainger:
Finding resources that you can trust and then implement can be daunting. For me personally, I thought it was a lost cause and I decided to take the action, knowing that I wasn't alone. It was because of this wide gap that we created our line within this community, and the areas that we're helping Christian men grow are incredible. For instance, we've built ways for guys to lean in and grow through fun events like our daily spiritual kickoff, where you get that much needed boost directly from God's word, our Bible studies that always focus on how to discern and apply what we learn, and even our amazing form, where you can speak your mind without fear of getting shut down or judged by the extreme rules of modern day social media. On top of all that, we know that many men won't help overcoming issues and becoming stronger in many different areas. That's why we created several mastermind groups where the iron truly sharpens the iron.
Chris Grainger:
Our community is about having a growth mindset, accountability, intentionality and transparency. In other words, just leave fake you at home and come to community just as you are. I fully believe what we've built. I see the impact it's making on men right now, and I would love to have you check it out. So start your very own 30-day free trial today to see how we can help you be a better leader. So if you're ready to take that first step, head over to thelinewithinus and get started. Your journey begins here. Visit thelinewithinus and I'll see you inside with them.
