586. When Two Become One - Fun Friday

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Marriage requires warriors, not spectators. As Christian men, we face an enemy actively working to destroy our most sacred relationship, yet many of us lack the practical tools to defend what matters most. This episode tackles the heart of marital conflict through the lens of Colossians 3:13, offering actionable wisdom for men hungry to lead their marriages with strength and grace. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to the Lion Within Us, a podcast serving
Christian men who are hungry tobe the leaders God intends you
to be.
I'm your host, chris Granger.
Let's jump in.
All right, guys, fun Fridaytime, let's get into it, okay?
So Scripture of the Week thisweek has been in the book of
Colossians, 3, 13th verse bearwith each other and forgive one
another.
If any of you has a grievanceagainst someone, forgive as the

(00:25):
Lord forgave you.
So, guys, we took some time tounpack that at length in our
spiritual kickoff episode and,as a reminder, we do that Monday
through Friday.
It's in the Lion Within us, sohead over to thelionwithinus,
start your subscription today ofthe daily spiritual kickoff.
Okay, now, this whole week'sbeen about marriage and
strengthening our marriage.

(00:45):
Again, this was a, a Biblestudy that we had put on the
Bible app and if you're notconnected with us on the Bible
app, highly encourage you to dothat.
We put tons and tons of contentout there.
I try to write one to twostudies a month, okay, so that's
kind of the cadence that Istrive for.
It doesn't always happen, butwe have this whole series called

(01:07):
I'm just a guy and I'm justreally enjoying the writing with
that.
So you can find all that on theBible app.
It's all free and it's alsoeasy ways to connect with us
from that, directly at the linewithin us.
Okay, so just go check thatstuff out.
And for this episode uh, or thelast episode rather, we took a
lot of time to just talk about,I'm just a guy fighting for my

(01:30):
marriage, and marriage can behard, and the evil one is trying
to do all he can to destroy ourmarriages.
Fellas, we just got torecognize that to be true first
and foremost.
So I tried to give you somepractical reflections in that
last episode.
So go back and listen to it.
Hopefully you'll find some goodtakeaways.
It's a super short one, by theway, guys, but it's full of
insight, so hopefully you'regoing to find that encouraging.

(01:51):
Okay, now for our fun Friday.
We do a health, wealth and aself tip.
Okay, the health isstrengthening our mind and body.
Wealth is being better stewardsof our finances and our careers
.
And self is how do we improveas a husband and a father?
Ok, now, from a health tip,think about mental space before
you dive into an issue.

(02:12):
Ok, because we talked aboutconflict a lot in the spiritual
kickoff episode too.
But with conflict and trying toto resolve stuff, timing
matters, ok.
So if we try to resolvedisagreements, if you're
mentally drained or just you'rejust too emotionally charged up,
that rarely is going to giveyou a good outcome, guys.

(02:32):
So maybe you need to step awayjust briefly, decompress, pray,
reflect.
Maybe you need to take a walkor hit a workout in you know, or
just open your Bible and spendsome time in the word.
What you're doing is you'reallowing your thoughts to settle
and your emotions to beprocessed, and then you're less

(02:56):
likely to react, particularly ina defensive manner, the way I
usually do and you're morelikely to respond thoughtfully.
And if you do this, guys, youcan pave a way for a healthy or
more respective conversationwith your spouse.
So, whatever that means,whatever that mental space means

(03:16):
for you, be aware of it and putit in place.
All right, wealth tip Don't letwork steal from your marriage.
Okay, so success at work.
We should try to never let thatcome at the expense of our
marriage.
And it's easy to justify onething after the other Just

(03:37):
meaning, or this meaning, orthis engagement, or this PO,
whatever it is, meeting or thismeeting, or this engagement, or
this PO, whatever it is, butconsistently choosing work over
her is going to create somedistance and at some point maybe
even resentment Boundaries.
We always we talk about this alot but notifications and
cutting those off and puttingyour phone to bed and all that

(03:57):
stuff, these habits.
Really what you're doing isyou're communicating love, value
and your presence with her isimportant and your career, it
may reward your hustle, but yourspouse needs your heart, so
protect that time fiercely, guys.
Seriously, no job title orbusiness card is worth a

(04:22):
neglected relationship andultimately, a failed marriage.
All right Now, self-tip Leadwith listening, not lecturing,
because when you get into aconflict, man, it's so easy to
jump into fix it mode.
I'm a fix it fiend, this is,this is.
I struggle with this the most,but like most of the times,

(04:43):
particularly in my marriage, shedon't need a solution.
She just wants to be heard andif we lead by listening, that's
a powerful form of humility andwe're showing her love and that
means we've got to set aside ourpoint and we may have the
answer.
We may just camp on that for awhile to just understand hers

(05:05):
and reflect that listening backsay stuff like all right here,
what I'm hearing you say is thisbecause you're building trust
right there and you're reducingany defensiveness that could
come up.
And if you listen well, guys,you lead well.
This is when your marriage withyour kids and it work period
everywhere.
It's not weakness, guys.

(05:27):
This is how you serve and leadin action and your family will
notice the difference.
So those are your three tipsHealth create that mental space
before you get into discussingissues.
Wealth don't let work stealthat marriage time.
And self lead with listening,not with lecturing.

(05:49):
Okay, so the book of the week Idon't have my copy here, but
it's a search on Amazon our Q&A,a day, three-year journal.
Okay, what it gives you is athree-year journal and the way
it works is you have 365 pages,obviously.
Then you have year one, yeartwo, year three, the thoughts

(06:11):
are, you reflect, you have hispage and her page.
You're writing that daytogether.
Then, as you come back aroundfor the next year, you get to go
back and read what you wrote.
You know the previous year andso forth for three years and
when you're done, you have athree year capture of your

(06:32):
thoughts and your reflections asa couple.
So it's just a fun littleexercise to do.
Okay, all right, now dad joketime.
So first dad joke this week isI used to be addicted to soap,
but I'm clean now.
I like that, that's pretty good, all right.
But number two when two vegansget in an argument, is that
still called a beef?

(06:52):
I'm telling you, those both hit.
So let me know which one youlike.
Number one, number two I usedto be addicted to soap but I'm
clean now.
But when two vegans get in anargument, is it still called a
beef?
So if you like either one ofthem, if it gets an eye roll, if
it gets one of these shoulddefinitely get a reaction from
your spouse.
Let me know If you have a dadjoke that we haven't used that
you think we should use supportat thelinewithinus.

(07:15):
Shoot that over to us.
We'll hook you up with somefree swag.
Give you several times is howyou typically respond when
conflict arises in marriage.
You have several different ways, now that we've talked about
specifically on the lion thisweek, to help you if conflict

(07:37):
arises not if, rather when.
When conflict arises right,it's going to happen.
So now you can come at thiswith a more biblically based
thought process to hopefullyfight for your marriage.
All right, guys, I shared thisstuff out with others,
particularly this week.
If you got guys, buddies, whoare married again, the episodes
are relatively shorter this week, but it's all packed with

(08:01):
information.
Hopefully it's going toencourage you, encourage your
marriage, and give you some tipsand trips and ideas to
strengthen it in all thesedifferent areas.
Okay, so I'm praying for youguys.
Head over to the lion withinusagain.
The lion withinus Don't forgetthe V in the URL and let's
connect there.
Daily spiritual kickoff, ourcommunity, our leadership,

(08:23):
masterminds, all the differentways that we're serving guys.
Fellows, I'm telling you signup for the weekly roar.
That's our weekly newsletter.
It's not a junk thing, fellas,and we literally I'll write this
, it's from my heart, justtrying to encourage you.
So the weekly roar is an easyway to get connected with us.
We have a Christian leaderassessment.
It's free.
We have a 30 days to unleashyour line within course.

(08:45):
It's free.
Guys, we got so many ways thatwe are serving you.
It's all found atthelionwithinus.
All right, guys, have a greatweekend, get after it, keep
unleashing the Lion Within.
I've got something big to share.
We're making a major shiftbecause we know the battle was

(09:06):
real and it's time more men hadaccess to the support they need.
For too long, guys have beentrying to carry the weight alone
pressure at work, tension athome, wounds from the past and a
world that demands strength butoffers no place to rest.
We see it, we've lived it, andthat's exactly why we built our
community.
It's a stronghold, a placewhere warriors can find rest,

(09:27):
truth and a band of brothersstanding beside them.
And starting now, we're makingit easier than ever to step in.
We've lowered the barrier tojust $15.99 a month.
That means, for less than thecost of a drive-thru lunch, you
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(09:50):
, our Friday Forge Gatheringsall that and so much more.
Every man needs a stronghold,and you don't have to fight
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If you've been waiting for theright time to jump in, this is
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Go to thelionwithinus and jointhe community and see for
yourself what happens when irontruly sharpens iron.