October 27, 2025 • 25 mins
Ever notice how a single interaction can hijack your whole day—and your head? We open 2 Corinthians 10:5 and make it practical, showing how to take anxious thoughts captive with a clear, simple framework you can use under pressure. From the grit of a teenage job at a service station to the raw nerves before surgery, we map the real terrain where irritation, fear, and doubt try to take over, and how to answer them with truth.
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Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_00 (00:02):
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, fellas, spiritualkickoff time, let's get into it.
New week, let's go.
All right, so the scripture thisweek is in the book of 2
Corinthians, the 10th chapter,the fifth verse, says we destroy
(00:23):
arguments and every loftyopinion raised against the
knowledge of God and take everythought captive to obey Christ.
That take every caught thoughtcaptive.
That's a very crucial part.
Salient, it's big.
We're going to kind of dig intothat today, okay?
So this is what it's all about.
If you're new to the Lion WithinUs, the spiritual kickoff
(00:43):
episodes, what we do, we try totake God's word, simplify, and
apply it to our life asChristian men.
It's that simple.
And if you enjoy the spiritualkickoff episodes every week, we
do this Monday through Fridaywithin our Lion Within Us
community.
So Monday through Friday, youget a little bit of a spiritual
boost every day.
Cool part is we even give thisaway for free.
(01:05):
So this is something we just tryto give guys to just be an
encouragement to them.
8 15 Eastern every morning, I golive, I do this uh uh reflection
for the guys.
If they miss it, no harm noharm, no foul.
You're able to see therecordings.
We post those and we don't postthem anywhere else.
So this is exclusive behind thescenes content, guys.
So if you enjoyed the LionWithin Us podcast, if you
(01:28):
enjoyed The Lion Within Us onUVersion, if you're wherever
you're connecting with us at,head over to the LionWithin.us.
Start your free daily spiritualkickoff experience today, or
consider joining our community,and that comes with a daily
spiritual kickoff too, so youget it all, okay?
All right, so now as we divedive into this, we need to first
understand where is the book of2 Corinthians, okay?
(01:48):
That's dead joke with rightafter 1 Corinthians, okay?
Is it this is New Testament, allright?
It's just New Testament.
This is not Chronicles, this isa Corinthians, okay?
So we need to make sure weunderstand that.
And this gets before you get tothe epistles, so before you get
to Galatians, you get to 2Corinthians, okay?
So that kind of gives you aframework of where you can
expect to find it in your Bible,okay?
(02:08):
This week we're gonna reallydive into the topic of anxiety,
and that's really what we'regonna be unpacking and trying to
encourage you guys with.
And we know it's uh it's ananxious world out there, it's a
stressful world out there.
There's so many ways that theevil one is trying to take us
out.
And uh anxiety has beensomething that personally has
been a battle for me for quite along time.
(02:28):
I it it comes, it goes, but it'salways has a uh it raises its
head, it's always there at somepoint, right?
So maybe you struggle with thattoo.
So verses like this are reallyimportant.
And when I started thinkingabout this particular topic, and
by the way, this is on theUVersion Bible app as well.
So if you want, if you're reallywrestling with this and you want
(02:50):
to work through a uh anxietystudy, go check out that that's
that study on the Bible app.
But uh I worked in the publicsector for a long time.
I did when I was really from thetime I was 14 to probably 20,
uh, I really worked in thepublic sector.
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And I'm gonna tell you what,that that time of my life shaped
me the way no classroom evercould.
Like it, I mean, nothing againstmy high school.
It was fine.
You know, we learned the stuffwe needed to learn.
But I there was nothing Ilearned quite as much as working
with the public, man.
I'm telling you.
And at this teenager, I landed ajust a golden job.
It was at a service station.
(03:32):
It was called Little Buffalo.
And uh, you may not even knowwhat a service station is, you
lost you listeners out there,because so basically what a
service station was was it was aplace where you would pull up to
the gas pump.
And when you did, uh uh youwould run over this little hose.
And when you would run over thehose, a bell would ring, and
there would be guys that comeout to pump your gas.
(03:53):
There would be guys that cameout to uh, I would wash your
windshield, check your oil.
You want me to check the air andyour tires, like all that stuff,
right?
We also would, you know, wewould clean the windows and they
just have small talk.
There's just uh many times justtalking, just having a
conversation.
I even had some customers whereI would bring them, you know, uh
snacks and stuff like that.
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If they if I knew they wanted acoke and some peanuts or
something, I could do that.
It was really cool.
And uh, we would do likemechanic work and tires and
stuff like that as well.
But it was just a uh it was agreat experience for the most
part.
But it didn't take me long tounderstand which customers that
I enjoyed seeing the most.
And then it didn't take me longeither to make me know which
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customers made me cringe themoment that I saw them roll onto
the site, right?
And um and some customers werevery encouraging, and I mean
extremely encouraging.
They would bring me presents andjust conversations, they'd sit
down there and shoot the breezeforever, you know, and other
customers not so much.
And I have story after story ofpeople taking advantage of my
(05:01):
kindness or simply justcriticizing my work when they
had really no idea what theywere talking about.
And what really surprised me asI started reflecting on and
thinking about it was not justhow they treated me.
Uh it was how those interactionsand engagements with those
(05:21):
people affected my thoughts.
I'm telling you, buddy, this isreal.
Around difficult customers, mymind would absolutely be filled
with irritation and anger.
You know, I start thinking aboutstuff.
I've I start I start thinkingabout stuff that I shouldn't be
thinking about, you know, aboutwhere I'd like to take them,
stuff I like to do to them.
(05:42):
Uh, you know, what would happenif we were in a dark alley by
ourselves?
I mean, it was bad stuff, right?
Then I start thinking about whathappened to one of the customers
that I do like.
You know, well, for them, it wasthe opposite.
I would, I would think about,okay, what else can I do?
What else can I do for them tomake them have a better day, to
serve them better, just to justto be a uh a light to them.
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I mean, I it it was really uhinteresting how there were some
customers I could absolutelyjust throttle, and then some
customers that I would doanything in the world for.
I'd give the shirt off my back.
I mean, I I had stories afterstories and where we're where it
in the same day I wouldexperience that.
I would experience a customerwho he shows up.
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I remember this guy, he showedup on right when we opened, he
was a dump truck driver, and heonly wanted me to work on his
truck.
Period.
He wouldn't let anyone I'm a 16,17-year-old kid.
This is a 40, 50, something yearold man, and I've developed
developed that level of trust inhim that he didn't want anyone
else to touch his truck exceptme.
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You know, kind of like a notsure if it was the best thing
because that was some hard workon that truck.
But then I had guys who wholiterally would come down there
and they would see that I wasworking, and they would ask me
when I would be off so that theycould come back when I wasn't
there to do something as simpleas oil change or something.
I mean, as a 17-year-old kid,that that hit you hard.
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That really hits you hard.
And I started thinking aboutthat thing, and there was an old
story I heard one time so far asthose thoughts.
And uh it's a it's an Indianwise tale, and it and it's
basically about two wolves,okay?
And it says the wise chief wastalking to a young man, and he
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said, you know what, insideevery guy, there's a battle
between two wolves happening atall times.
One is good and one is evil.
And about that time, the youngguy said, Well, all right,
chief, well, which one of thewolves wins?
And he simply just sat back andsaid, You know what?
The one that you feed.
And that hit me hard.
Because too often I feed thewrong wolf.
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Let's just be real.
I start letting, particularlyback then, when I was a
17-year-old punk, I was lettingexternal external circumstances
dictate my internal dialogue.
And that's dangerous, bro.
That's very dangerous.
And scripture is telling usright here in this verse that
Potter growing in Christ is thatwe have to take those thoughts,
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particularly the negative ones,captive.
And for me, I was like, allright, I started thinking about
that verse.
How in the heck do you do that?
Well, two simple things.
First one is just out the gate.
We got to start recognizing thatwe are actually in a battle,
okay?
Not every thought is from God,okay?
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The enemy is very subtle.
And he likes to plant theselittle lies, these little
doubts, or or destruction.
Where and when we least expectit.
And you can bet your bottomline, buddy, when you're tired,
when you wore out, when whenyou've had a long day, he's
gonna hit you the hardest end.
Because you're you're at you'rethe weakest, you're the most
vulnerable.
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When you're prayed up, wellrested, fed, bro, you're ready
to battle then.
But when you're tired, becareful.
And then the second thing I hadto really start wrestling with
is discerning the source.
Okay.
So if that thought that's comingto mind brings life or hope or
conviction, or if that thoughtglorifies God, well, that thing
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is worth exploring and keeping.
But if it brings shame or fearor condemnation or selflishness
type of thinking, that's fromthe evil one.
Okay.
And when we start trying to justwrestle between those two, what
makes really this difficult isour ability to justify our
behavior through that internaldialogue, right?
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We start talking to ourselvesand rationalizing it to
ourselves.
And this is why we have to startcreating a space, bro.
We got to start creating a spaceto reflect and to pray.
And this is hard because we'reso stinking busy.
And we need that time to reflectand to pray and to kind of step
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away from a situation so that wecan determine what is from God
and what is an attack from theevil one, right?
And what is what do we need tobe focusing on that aligns to
him the most?
And I'm gonna tell you what,buddy, the evil one is a
stinking master liar.
He absolutely is.
And he's not gonna come out herewith the with the red flag
saying, hey, here I am.
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I'm trying to trick you, tripyou up and lie to you.
I want you to fall in this trap.
No, that ain't what he does.
What does he do?
He whispers.
He whispers with that sound justenough, close enough to the
truth to let it in.
And he'll start distorting stuffand taking stuff out of context.
And I'm telling you, or addingto scripture or taking away from
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scripture.
I'm telling you, bro, that's whywe have to, as Christian men, be
committed to memorizingscripture, be committed to
praying, being committed tohaving accountability partners
that actually are going to checkus and not just pat us on our
back and tell us it's okay,you'll get them next time.
But no, we need some guys thatare gonna check us, okay?
And we have that.
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That is how we start trainingour mind to filter out what's
real and reject what'sdestructive.
And I'm gonna tell you, buddy,you can't control every thought.
You can't control every thoughtthat enters your mind.
But you doggone sure can controlthe thoughts that stay.
You have the ability to do that.
Now, is it easy?
Heck no, it's not easy.
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We're not called easy.
This is a war that we're in.
And if you have an anxious mind,the way I my mind often works, I
get it, man.
It's like, what is it ever gonnastop?
My only encouragement to you isthe more the host, the harder
you lean into God, the sharperyour sword is gonna be so that
you can go on the offensive whenthose evil thoughts do come in.
(11:45):
And I'm telling you, if you soif you guys are working in the
public now, you know what I'mtalking about.
Like, it's a crazy world rightthat we live in.
I mean, I had public people comein as a 16, 17, 18-year-old kid
completely just trying to takeadvantage of me, stealing from
me, uh, degrading me.
But those instances still I gotto see more times and
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opportunities for God to reallyshine through and for me to see
how how He how He is in everysituation.
Whether it's helping that farmerwho's who's who's you know uh
got a flat tire to to a a youngkid who's finally got a new car
and he gets a new set of tires.
(12:31):
I mean, I just I got to see allthose different types of
moments.
And it's really cool when Ireflect on it and think about,
you know what, that's that'ssomething that uh that everybody
gets a chance to do.
I do think everyone personallyneeds an opportunity to work
with the public at some at sometype of uh point in their life.
(12:51):
It definitely I I I wouldn'twant to go back, to be honest,
but it was something that shapedme greatly.
And it's maybe if you had a ajob like that or experience like
that, you can reflect and youcan remember about it as well.
So uh anyway, it it has a chanceto impact our thoughts, and
that's what we're gonna betalking about this week.
Okay, so the thing the questionwe want to think about for the
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entire week for us is what kindof thoughts are you feeling the
most right now?
So are they thoughts of of uhshame and condemnation and and
fear, or are they thoughts of ofstrength and power and glory for
from God?
And and look, you're gonna haveboth of them happening
throughout the day at you knowdifferent times.
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You wake up and you're allprayed up, you're ready to rock
and roll, and then something youget a gut punch.
Next thing you know, you know,nothing but fear and
condemnation starts coming in.
And it's in those moments wherewe have to have those it is
riddles to combat the lies ofthat stinking evil one because
he is not gonna stop, guys.
He is relentless, he is a punk,and he's gonna do all he can to
throw you off.
Like right now, as I'm recordingthis, I'm recording this two
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days before my surgery for myankle.
And my legs propped up here, ithurts, I'm in pain.
I'm uh there's lots of fear andanxiety over the doggone surgery
itself.
Like, how's it gonna work?
Is it gonna do well?
Like, you know, even that thelittle stupidest lies, like
you're not gonna make it throughsurgery.
Like, I did it's just ridiculousthe type of stuff that the evil
one will plant in your mind whenyou're going through a trial.
(14:18):
But I know at some point this isgonna be stronger.
I'm gonna be back.
And what I'm trying to figureout really is how can I honor
and glorify God through thissituation?
It's been unfortunate, it hasnot been fun, but how can I
honor and glorify God throughthis situation?
And that's what I'm gonna focuson.
And that redirect has beenhelpful.
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And maybe that redirect is gonnabe helpful for you right now if
you are in that trial, okay?
So, look, if you listen to theshow long enough, you know every
spiritual kickoff episode, wewant to take the opportunity to
just share the good news ofJesus with each and every
listener out there because weknow not every single one of you
are are believers in Christ.
Like I like the hope that mostof you are, and probably
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statistically speaking, most ofyou probably are.
But 100%, no way.
There's no way.
So if you're listening to thelion, and somebody maybe just
shared this podcast with you,you don't even know why you're
listening to the lion.
All of a sudden, you just thishas just popped up in your feed
as suggested or whatever.
Thank you, all right, for takingthe time.
And you're here for a reason.
I just want you to maybe you'rejust listening because you're an
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anxious person.
Hey, I get it, bro.
I get it.
That anxiousness that you'refeeling when you look in the
mirror, God sees perfection.
Because you are created in theimage of God.
And the Bible tells us thatdirectly.
Scripture shows us you're not amistake.
The things that you think areflaws, God sees as his perfect
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design.
All the way back to Adam, whenGod first made creation, like he
spoke everything into existenceuntil it came down to Adam, and
he actually formed him with hishands and breathed the breath of
life into his nostrils.
And that's how the first man wascreated.
And when Adam sat up, he wasface to face with his creator,
and it was awesome, bro.
It was it was incredible.
It went great in the Bible forlike two ages, and then sin
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entered the world.
All sin is something thatseparates us from God.
That's an easy way to rememberit.
And it fractured thatrelationship.
So you go from in the garden ofGod to you're separated now.
And now we have this gap, thischasm between us and a holy and
righteous God.
And the problem is most guysthink that what they need to do
to actually close this gap isjust do stuff themselves, right?
(16:28):
This is where, you know, quitefrankly, some of some other
religions get into troublebecause they really focus more
on the works.
You know, we start, well, I justneed to pray this prayer, or I
just need to read this verse, orI just need to help this person,
or give to this charity, or dothis thing, or do that, or do
this.
I'm telling you, that's adangerous path.
Because at that point, you'retrying to earn your salvation.
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You see how silly that sounds?
Like there's nothing you can doto earn it.
Why?
Because the penalty for sin isdeath.
You can't earn this yourself.
Because how good is good enough?
Like, I talked to so many guys.
Well, I think I just need to begood to get to heaven.
All right, buttercup.
Well, how good is good?
Like, what's the line?
Like, that sounds verysubjective versus concrete.
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Okay, this is what the truepath.
And that's where most guys gettripped up.
Well, I don't know.
I'm just hoping I'm just hopingthat enough so I'll be good
enough, and it's just gonnacount.
I'm just here to tell you, hellis full of good people.
It just is.
No one wants to ever sit thereand tell you the truth, but
you're listening to the line.
I'm gonna actually just behonest with you, hell is full of
good people.
So it's not about our our deedstrying to earn our salvation,
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and it doesn't work that way.
What we need is someone to comein and do for us what we can't
do for ourselves.
We need a savior, okay?
So that's what we're that's thethat's the need that we have.
We have to first recognize thatneed.
So, okay, the second question isokay, who is the savior?
Great question.
Jesus.
Jesus is that savior.
The Bible tells us he leftheaven on a rescue mission for
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us and was born of the virgin,fulfilled all the prophecies,
did all the teachings, had themiracles, all the things that
Christ did when he was with us,showed us the the new way, this
new covenant with him.
And then he did something thatyou know, outside of all the
miracles and stuff, that stuffis amazing.
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But he willingly went to thecross to pay the penalty for the
sin of the world.
Jesus did that.
He didn't get forced into it, hewillingly gave himself up and
was crucified on a cross anddied.
Didn't fall asleep, he didn'tfaint or pass out, he died on
the cross.
And they took him off that crossand they laid him in a tomb.
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They wrapped him up, you know,laid him in a tomb, rolled the
stone in front of the tomb.
That's where he was.
But for Jesus, this was like anAirbnb.
He just needed it for three daysbecause on that Sunday morning,
that first Easter morning, thestone was rolled away and the
tomb was empty.
Because he overcame death.
You see, Jesus paid the penaltyfor our sin.
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Yes, he he he he paid thepenalty of death, but then he
overcame it because he is God.
And at this point, he is theway, the truth to life.
No one comes to the Fatherexcept through him, and it's
Jesus.
There's no one, no, no othername.
No other name.
He is the only name, the nameabove all names, guys.
And that's what we celebrate.
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That's why we're not wearing,like when we go to church on
Sundays, like we're going to afuneral wearing a bunch of
black.
No, we're excited.
We're going to celebrate theliving Savior, the Messiah.
That's worth getting pumped upabout.
Like that should really stirsome emotions inside of you.
So now we recognize that Jesusis the Savior, the Son of God,
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and that we are sinners in needof a Savior.
So what do we do?
Well, there has to be a momentof surrender.
Okay, and it first starts withjust admitting first and
foremost that you are a sinnerin need of a savior.
And that is the hardest part,quite frankly, for so many
people.
We have people out there whostruggle with stuff, right?
I just got this going on andthat going on.
Very rarely do we have peoplewho are actually authentic
(20:03):
enough to say, you know what?
No, uh, this ain't a struggle,this is a sin.
I am not doing what God wants meto do, and I know it.
So that admitting is hard.
Then you have to believe thatJesus is the son of God.
He's it.
There's no other ways.
Oprah's wrong.
There's not multiple paths toheaven.
Jesus is the only way.
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So once you admit, then youbelieve that he's the son of
God, you got to confess him asLord and Savior of your life.
You actually have to dosomething.
Like you can't get into heavenon your mom or your grandma or
your dad or your or your cousinor your brother.
You can't get on their faith.
You can't get to get to thatheaven line and say, Oh, I'm
with him.
It don't work that way.
The only way that works is whenif it's Jesus.
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Oh, I'm with him.
I put my faith in that guy.
At that point, that's whenyou're you're fully uh uh are
saved and that salvation uh isprovided for you.
But it takes action.
It takes this is a personalrelationship.
God just wants He has a littlerelationship with others, He
wants relationships with youdirectly.
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So look, if you've never hadthat moment where you fully
surrender your life to theLordship of Jesus Christ, and
you're listening to the linewithin us right now, and you
feel like something is stirringand like God's working on you,
what are you waiting on, man?
Like, let's go.
Let's pray together right now.
You may be like, well, Chris,I'm I'm not even in a church
right now.
I'm not somewhere, I can't justdo this, just listen to a
(21:29):
podcast.
I may be walking down the roador or driving or or or uh doing
a workout in the gym.
Like, there's no way I can dothat.
Yeah, why not?
You're putting God in a box,bro.
Stop.
Stop putting God in a box.
He can absolutely, absolutely doanything he wants, wherever he
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wants, whenever he wants,however he wants, because he is
God.
So if you feel like right now isthe time to surrender your life
to the Lordship of Christ, let'sjust pray together, invite him
in, and then you can experiencea peace that passes all learn
all understanding.
Because if you're experiencinganxiety the way most people are,
the only peace that I can offeryou comes through that
relationship with Jesus.
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So, Father, that one listenerwho's ready right now to confess
you as Lord and Savior, we justlay them at your feet.
We pray that you hear theirprayer.
We are so thankful that you do.
We know you do.
We recognize that you do.
It's amazing that you do.
And we thank you, Lord, forloving us the way you love us,
for loving us right here wherewe are.
I just pray, Lord, for that onelistener once now that they've
surrendered their life to you,that you just put people on
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their path that's going to helpguide direct and walk with them
on their new journey towardsyou.
It's in your name.
We pray.
Amen.
All right.
So look, if you just surrenderyour life to Christ, I touch
down.
Let's go.
I want to hear from you, okay?
Shoot me an email, Chris attheliamwithin.us.
That's my personal email.
Send that email over.
I'm gonna hook you up.
We got several uh free downloadsI want to send over to you to
(22:55):
get you started with verses youneed to that you should consider
uh memorizing, just someresources to help you get going.
And then I just want to jump ona call and just give you a
virtual high five and a fistbump and just pray with you.
Pray uh blessing over you.
If you need help finding achurch, we can help you get
directed in that as well.
But just I really just want tobe an encouragement to you.
(23:15):
That's it.
So again, send me an email.
We'll love to hear from you,okay?
So this week we're gonna betalking a lot about anxiety.
I'll unpack that devotion that'son the Bible app around anxiety
on how uh so many guys out thereare really struggling with this.
This is something that uh wecan't just ignore uh any longer,
okay, guys.
So, anyway, guys, hope you havea great day.
(23:37):
I really appreciate you takingthe time to listen, uh, to lean
in, share this out with others,give us a rating and review.
Everything we do, guys, can befound at thelionwithin.us.
That's the easiest way to getconnected to us with all the
stuff that we're doing on thelion within us.
We have lots of fun ways fromour community to all the
different resources that we haveavailable.
Okay.
All right, guys.
So get after it.
(23:57):
Have a good one.
Thank you so much for listening.
And remember just to keepunleashing the lion within.
He's a stronghold.
And you don't have to fightalone.
To get started, visitthelionwithin.us.
We'd love to welcome you in.
That's thelionwithin.us.
I'll see you inside.
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, fellas, spiritualkickoff time, let's get into it.
New week, let's go.
All right, so the scripture thisweek is in the book of 2
Corinthians, the 10th chapter,the fifth verse, says we destroy
(00:23):
arguments and every loftyopinion raised against the
knowledge of God and take everythought captive to obey Christ.
That take every caught thoughtcaptive.
That's a very crucial part.
Salient, it's big.
We're going to kind of dig intothat today, okay?
So this is what it's all about.
If you're new to the Lion WithinUs, the spiritual kickoff
(00:43):
episodes, what we do, we try totake God's word, simplify, and
apply it to our life asChristian men.
It's that simple.
And if you enjoy the spiritualkickoff episodes every week, we
do this Monday through Fridaywithin our Lion Within Us
community.
So Monday through Friday, youget a little bit of a spiritual
boost every day.
Cool part is we even give thisaway for free.
(01:05):
So this is something we just tryto give guys to just be an
encouragement to them.
8 15 Eastern every morning, I golive, I do this uh uh reflection
for the guys.
If they miss it, no harm noharm, no foul.
You're able to see therecordings.
We post those and we don't postthem anywhere else.
So this is exclusive behind thescenes content, guys.
So if you enjoyed the LionWithin Us podcast, if you
(01:28):
enjoyed The Lion Within Us onUVersion, if you're wherever
you're connecting with us at,head over to the LionWithin.us.
Start your free daily spiritualkickoff experience today, or
consider joining our community,and that comes with a daily
spiritual kickoff too, so youget it all, okay?
All right, so now as we divedive into this, we need to first
understand where is the book of2 Corinthians, okay?
(01:48):
That's dead joke with rightafter 1 Corinthians, okay?
Is it this is New Testament, allright?
It's just New Testament.
This is not Chronicles, this isa Corinthians, okay?
So we need to make sure weunderstand that.
And this gets before you get tothe epistles, so before you get
to Galatians, you get to 2Corinthians, okay?
So that kind of gives you aframework of where you can
expect to find it in your Bible,okay?
(02:08):
This week we're gonna reallydive into the topic of anxiety,
and that's really what we'regonna be unpacking and trying to
encourage you guys with.
And we know it's uh it's ananxious world out there, it's a
stressful world out there.
There's so many ways that theevil one is trying to take us
out.
And uh anxiety has beensomething that personally has
been a battle for me for quite along time.
(02:28):
I it it comes, it goes, but it'salways has a uh it raises its
head, it's always there at somepoint, right?
So maybe you struggle with thattoo.
So verses like this are reallyimportant.
And when I started thinkingabout this particular topic, and
by the way, this is on theUVersion Bible app as well.
So if you want, if you're reallywrestling with this and you want
(02:50):
to work through a uh anxietystudy, go check out that that's
that study on the Bible app.
But uh I worked in the publicsector for a long time.
I did when I was really from thetime I was 14 to probably 20,
uh, I really worked in thepublic sector.
(03:11):
And I'm gonna tell you what,that that time of my life shaped
me the way no classroom evercould.
Like it, I mean, nothing againstmy high school.
It was fine.
You know, we learned the stuffwe needed to learn.
But I there was nothing Ilearned quite as much as working
with the public, man.
I'm telling you.
And at this teenager, I landed ajust a golden job.
It was at a service station.
(03:32):
It was called Little Buffalo.
And uh, you may not even knowwhat a service station is, you
lost you listeners out there,because so basically what a
service station was was it was aplace where you would pull up to
the gas pump.
And when you did, uh uh youwould run over this little hose.
And when you would run over thehose, a bell would ring, and
there would be guys that comeout to pump your gas.
(03:53):
There would be guys that cameout to uh, I would wash your
windshield, check your oil.
You want me to check the air andyour tires, like all that stuff,
right?
We also would, you know, wewould clean the windows and they
just have small talk.
There's just uh many times justtalking, just having a
conversation.
I even had some customers whereI would bring them, you know, uh
snacks and stuff like that.
(04:13):
If they if I knew they wanted acoke and some peanuts or
something, I could do that.
It was really cool.
And uh, we would do likemechanic work and tires and
stuff like that as well.
But it was just a uh it was agreat experience for the most
part.
But it didn't take me long tounderstand which customers that
I enjoyed seeing the most.
And then it didn't take me longeither to make me know which
(04:36):
customers made me cringe themoment that I saw them roll onto
the site, right?
And um and some customers werevery encouraging, and I mean
extremely encouraging.
They would bring me presents andjust conversations, they'd sit
down there and shoot the breezeforever, you know, and other
customers not so much.
And I have story after story ofpeople taking advantage of my
(05:01):
kindness or simply justcriticizing my work when they
had really no idea what theywere talking about.
And what really surprised me asI started reflecting on and
thinking about it was not justhow they treated me.
Uh it was how those interactionsand engagements with those
(05:21):
people affected my thoughts.
I'm telling you, buddy, this isreal.
Around difficult customers, mymind would absolutely be filled
with irritation and anger.
You know, I start thinking aboutstuff.
I've I start I start thinkingabout stuff that I shouldn't be
thinking about, you know, aboutwhere I'd like to take them,
stuff I like to do to them.
(05:42):
Uh, you know, what would happenif we were in a dark alley by
ourselves?
I mean, it was bad stuff, right?
Then I start thinking about whathappened to one of the customers
that I do like.
You know, well, for them, it wasthe opposite.
I would, I would think about,okay, what else can I do?
What else can I do for them tomake them have a better day, to
serve them better, just to justto be a uh a light to them.
(06:06):
I mean, I it it was really uhinteresting how there were some
customers I could absolutelyjust throttle, and then some
customers that I would doanything in the world for.
I'd give the shirt off my back.
I mean, I I had stories afterstories and where we're where it
in the same day I wouldexperience that.
I would experience a customerwho he shows up.
(06:27):
I remember this guy, he showedup on right when we opened, he
was a dump truck driver, and heonly wanted me to work on his
truck.
Period.
He wouldn't let anyone I'm a 16,17-year-old kid.
This is a 40, 50, something yearold man, and I've developed
developed that level of trust inhim that he didn't want anyone
else to touch his truck exceptme.
(06:48):
You know, kind of like a notsure if it was the best thing
because that was some hard workon that truck.
But then I had guys who wholiterally would come down there
and they would see that I wasworking, and they would ask me
when I would be off so that theycould come back when I wasn't
there to do something as simpleas oil change or something.
I mean, as a 17-year-old kid,that that hit you hard.
(07:08):
That really hits you hard.
And I started thinking aboutthat thing, and there was an old
story I heard one time so far asthose thoughts.
And uh it's a it's an Indianwise tale, and it and it's
basically about two wolves,okay?
And it says the wise chief wastalking to a young man, and he
(07:29):
said, you know what, insideevery guy, there's a battle
between two wolves happening atall times.
One is good and one is evil.
And about that time, the youngguy said, Well, all right,
chief, well, which one of thewolves wins?
And he simply just sat back andsaid, You know what?
The one that you feed.
And that hit me hard.
Because too often I feed thewrong wolf.
(07:51):
Let's just be real.
I start letting, particularlyback then, when I was a
17-year-old punk, I was lettingexternal external circumstances
dictate my internal dialogue.
And that's dangerous, bro.
That's very dangerous.
And scripture is telling usright here in this verse that
Potter growing in Christ is thatwe have to take those thoughts,
(08:13):
particularly the negative ones,captive.
And for me, I was like, allright, I started thinking about
that verse.
How in the heck do you do that?
Well, two simple things.
First one is just out the gate.
We got to start recognizing thatwe are actually in a battle,
okay?
Not every thought is from God,okay?
(08:34):
The enemy is very subtle.
And he likes to plant theselittle lies, these little
doubts, or or destruction.
Where and when we least expectit.
And you can bet your bottomline, buddy, when you're tired,
when you wore out, when whenyou've had a long day, he's
gonna hit you the hardest end.
Because you're you're at you'rethe weakest, you're the most
vulnerable.
(08:54):
When you're prayed up, wellrested, fed, bro, you're ready
to battle then.
But when you're tired, becareful.
And then the second thing I hadto really start wrestling with
is discerning the source.
Okay.
So if that thought that's comingto mind brings life or hope or
conviction, or if that thoughtglorifies God, well, that thing
(09:16):
is worth exploring and keeping.
But if it brings shame or fearor condemnation or selflishness
type of thinking, that's fromthe evil one.
Okay.
And when we start trying to justwrestle between those two, what
makes really this difficult isour ability to justify our
behavior through that internaldialogue, right?
(09:38):
We start talking to ourselvesand rationalizing it to
ourselves.
And this is why we have to startcreating a space, bro.
We got to start creating a spaceto reflect and to pray.
And this is hard because we'reso stinking busy.
And we need that time to reflectand to pray and to kind of step
(09:59):
away from a situation so that wecan determine what is from God
and what is an attack from theevil one, right?
And what is what do we need tobe focusing on that aligns to
him the most?
And I'm gonna tell you what,buddy, the evil one is a
stinking master liar.
He absolutely is.
And he's not gonna come out herewith the with the red flag
saying, hey, here I am.
(10:19):
I'm trying to trick you, tripyou up and lie to you.
I want you to fall in this trap.
No, that ain't what he does.
What does he do?
He whispers.
He whispers with that sound justenough, close enough to the
truth to let it in.
And he'll start distorting stuffand taking stuff out of context.
And I'm telling you, or addingto scripture or taking away from
(10:40):
scripture.
I'm telling you, bro, that's whywe have to, as Christian men, be
committed to memorizingscripture, be committed to
praying, being committed tohaving accountability partners
that actually are going to checkus and not just pat us on our
back and tell us it's okay,you'll get them next time.
But no, we need some guys thatare gonna check us, okay?
And we have that.
(11:01):
That is how we start trainingour mind to filter out what's
real and reject what'sdestructive.
And I'm gonna tell you, buddy,you can't control every thought.
You can't control every thoughtthat enters your mind.
But you doggone sure can controlthe thoughts that stay.
You have the ability to do that.
Now, is it easy?
Heck no, it's not easy.
(11:22):
We're not called easy.
This is a war that we're in.
And if you have an anxious mind,the way I my mind often works, I
get it, man.
It's like, what is it ever gonnastop?
My only encouragement to you isthe more the host, the harder
you lean into God, the sharperyour sword is gonna be so that
you can go on the offensive whenthose evil thoughts do come in.
(11:45):
And I'm telling you, if you soif you guys are working in the
public now, you know what I'mtalking about.
Like, it's a crazy world rightthat we live in.
I mean, I had public people comein as a 16, 17, 18-year-old kid
completely just trying to takeadvantage of me, stealing from
me, uh, degrading me.
But those instances still I gotto see more times and
(12:11):
opportunities for God to reallyshine through and for me to see
how how He how He is in everysituation.
Whether it's helping that farmerwho's who's who's you know uh
got a flat tire to to a a youngkid who's finally got a new car
and he gets a new set of tires.
(12:31):
I mean, I just I got to see allthose different types of
moments.
And it's really cool when Ireflect on it and think about,
you know what, that's that'ssomething that uh that everybody
gets a chance to do.
I do think everyone personallyneeds an opportunity to work
with the public at some at sometype of uh point in their life.
(12:51):
It definitely I I I wouldn'twant to go back, to be honest,
but it was something that shapedme greatly.
And it's maybe if you had a ajob like that or experience like
that, you can reflect and youcan remember about it as well.
So uh anyway, it it has a chanceto impact our thoughts, and
that's what we're gonna betalking about this week.
Okay, so the thing the questionwe want to think about for the
(13:12):
entire week for us is what kindof thoughts are you feeling the
most right now?
So are they thoughts of of uhshame and condemnation and and
fear, or are they thoughts of ofstrength and power and glory for
from God?
And and look, you're gonna haveboth of them happening
throughout the day at you knowdifferent times.
(13:35):
You wake up and you're allprayed up, you're ready to rock
and roll, and then something youget a gut punch.
Next thing you know, you know,nothing but fear and
condemnation starts coming in.
And it's in those moments wherewe have to have those it is
riddles to combat the lies ofthat stinking evil one because
he is not gonna stop, guys.
He is relentless, he is a punk,and he's gonna do all he can to
throw you off.
Like right now, as I'm recordingthis, I'm recording this two
(13:56):
days before my surgery for myankle.
And my legs propped up here, ithurts, I'm in pain.
I'm uh there's lots of fear andanxiety over the doggone surgery
itself.
Like, how's it gonna work?
Is it gonna do well?
Like, you know, even that thelittle stupidest lies, like
you're not gonna make it throughsurgery.
Like, I did it's just ridiculousthe type of stuff that the evil
one will plant in your mind whenyou're going through a trial.
(14:18):
But I know at some point this isgonna be stronger.
I'm gonna be back.
And what I'm trying to figureout really is how can I honor
and glorify God through thissituation?
It's been unfortunate, it hasnot been fun, but how can I
honor and glorify God throughthis situation?
And that's what I'm gonna focuson.
And that redirect has beenhelpful.
(14:38):
And maybe that redirect is gonnabe helpful for you right now if
you are in that trial, okay?
So, look, if you listen to theshow long enough, you know every
spiritual kickoff episode, wewant to take the opportunity to
just share the good news ofJesus with each and every
listener out there because weknow not every single one of you
are are believers in Christ.
Like I like the hope that mostof you are, and probably
(14:59):
statistically speaking, most ofyou probably are.
But 100%, no way.
There's no way.
So if you're listening to thelion, and somebody maybe just
shared this podcast with you,you don't even know why you're
listening to the lion.
All of a sudden, you just thishas just popped up in your feed
as suggested or whatever.
Thank you, all right, for takingthe time.
And you're here for a reason.
I just want you to maybe you'rejust listening because you're an
(15:20):
anxious person.
Hey, I get it, bro.
I get it.
That anxiousness that you'refeeling when you look in the
mirror, God sees perfection.
Because you are created in theimage of God.
And the Bible tells us thatdirectly.
Scripture shows us you're not amistake.
The things that you think areflaws, God sees as his perfect
(15:44):
design.
All the way back to Adam, whenGod first made creation, like he
spoke everything into existenceuntil it came down to Adam, and
he actually formed him with hishands and breathed the breath of
life into his nostrils.
And that's how the first man wascreated.
And when Adam sat up, he wasface to face with his creator,
and it was awesome, bro.
It was it was incredible.
It went great in the Bible forlike two ages, and then sin
(16:06):
entered the world.
All sin is something thatseparates us from God.
That's an easy way to rememberit.
And it fractured thatrelationship.
So you go from in the garden ofGod to you're separated now.
And now we have this gap, thischasm between us and a holy and
righteous God.
And the problem is most guysthink that what they need to do
to actually close this gap isjust do stuff themselves, right?
(16:28):
This is where, you know, quitefrankly, some of some other
religions get into troublebecause they really focus more
on the works.
You know, we start, well, I justneed to pray this prayer, or I
just need to read this verse, orI just need to help this person,
or give to this charity, or dothis thing, or do that, or do
this.
I'm telling you, that's adangerous path.
Because at that point, you'retrying to earn your salvation.
(16:49):
You see how silly that sounds?
Like there's nothing you can doto earn it.
Why?
Because the penalty for sin isdeath.
You can't earn this yourself.
Because how good is good enough?
Like, I talked to so many guys.
Well, I think I just need to begood to get to heaven.
All right, buttercup.
Well, how good is good?
Like, what's the line?
Like, that sounds verysubjective versus concrete.
(17:10):
Okay, this is what the truepath.
And that's where most guys gettripped up.
Well, I don't know.
I'm just hoping I'm just hopingthat enough so I'll be good
enough, and it's just gonnacount.
I'm just here to tell you, hellis full of good people.
It just is.
No one wants to ever sit thereand tell you the truth, but
you're listening to the line.
I'm gonna actually just behonest with you, hell is full of
good people.
So it's not about our our deedstrying to earn our salvation,
(17:33):
and it doesn't work that way.
What we need is someone to comein and do for us what we can't
do for ourselves.
We need a savior, okay?
So that's what we're that's thethat's the need that we have.
We have to first recognize thatneed.
So, okay, the second question isokay, who is the savior?
Great question.
Jesus.
Jesus is that savior.
The Bible tells us he leftheaven on a rescue mission for
(17:56):
us and was born of the virgin,fulfilled all the prophecies,
did all the teachings, had themiracles, all the things that
Christ did when he was with us,showed us the the new way, this
new covenant with him.
And then he did something thatyou know, outside of all the
miracles and stuff, that stuffis amazing.
(18:16):
But he willingly went to thecross to pay the penalty for the
sin of the world.
Jesus did that.
He didn't get forced into it, hewillingly gave himself up and
was crucified on a cross anddied.
Didn't fall asleep, he didn'tfaint or pass out, he died on
the cross.
And they took him off that crossand they laid him in a tomb.
(18:39):
They wrapped him up, you know,laid him in a tomb, rolled the
stone in front of the tomb.
That's where he was.
But for Jesus, this was like anAirbnb.
He just needed it for three daysbecause on that Sunday morning,
that first Easter morning, thestone was rolled away and the
tomb was empty.
Because he overcame death.
You see, Jesus paid the penaltyfor our sin.
(19:01):
Yes, he he he he paid thepenalty of death, but then he
overcame it because he is God.
And at this point, he is theway, the truth to life.
No one comes to the Fatherexcept through him, and it's
Jesus.
There's no one, no, no othername.
No other name.
He is the only name, the nameabove all names, guys.
And that's what we celebrate.
(19:21):
That's why we're not wearing,like when we go to church on
Sundays, like we're going to afuneral wearing a bunch of
black.
No, we're excited.
We're going to celebrate theliving Savior, the Messiah.
That's worth getting pumped upabout.
Like that should really stirsome emotions inside of you.
So now we recognize that Jesusis the Savior, the Son of God,
(19:43):
and that we are sinners in needof a Savior.
So what do we do?
Well, there has to be a momentof surrender.
Okay, and it first starts withjust admitting first and
foremost that you are a sinnerin need of a savior.
And that is the hardest part,quite frankly, for so many
people.
We have people out there whostruggle with stuff, right?
I just got this going on andthat going on.
Very rarely do we have peoplewho are actually authentic
(20:03):
enough to say, you know what?
No, uh, this ain't a struggle,this is a sin.
I am not doing what God wants meto do, and I know it.
So that admitting is hard.
Then you have to believe thatJesus is the son of God.
He's it.
There's no other ways.
Oprah's wrong.
There's not multiple paths toheaven.
Jesus is the only way.
(20:24):
So once you admit, then youbelieve that he's the son of
God, you got to confess him asLord and Savior of your life.
You actually have to dosomething.
Like you can't get into heavenon your mom or your grandma or
your dad or your or your cousinor your brother.
You can't get on their faith.
You can't get to get to thatheaven line and say, Oh, I'm
with him.
It don't work that way.
The only way that works is whenif it's Jesus.
(20:45):
Oh, I'm with him.
I put my faith in that guy.
At that point, that's whenyou're you're fully uh uh are
saved and that salvation uh isprovided for you.
But it takes action.
It takes this is a personalrelationship.
God just wants He has a littlerelationship with others, He
wants relationships with youdirectly.
(21:07):
So look, if you've never hadthat moment where you fully
surrender your life to theLordship of Jesus Christ, and
you're listening to the linewithin us right now, and you
feel like something is stirringand like God's working on you,
what are you waiting on, man?
Like, let's go.
Let's pray together right now.
You may be like, well, Chris,I'm I'm not even in a church
right now.
I'm not somewhere, I can't justdo this, just listen to a
(21:29):
podcast.
I may be walking down the roador or driving or or or uh doing
a workout in the gym.
Like, there's no way I can dothat.
Yeah, why not?
You're putting God in a box,bro.
Stop.
Stop putting God in a box.
He can absolutely, absolutely doanything he wants, wherever he
(21:50):
wants, whenever he wants,however he wants, because he is
God.
So if you feel like right now isthe time to surrender your life
to the Lordship of Christ, let'sjust pray together, invite him
in, and then you can experiencea peace that passes all learn
all understanding.
Because if you're experiencinganxiety the way most people are,
the only peace that I can offeryou comes through that
relationship with Jesus.
(22:12):
So, Father, that one listenerwho's ready right now to confess
you as Lord and Savior, we justlay them at your feet.
We pray that you hear theirprayer.
We are so thankful that you do.
We know you do.
We recognize that you do.
It's amazing that you do.
And we thank you, Lord, forloving us the way you love us,
for loving us right here wherewe are.
I just pray, Lord, for that onelistener once now that they've
surrendered their life to you,that you just put people on
(22:33):
their path that's going to helpguide direct and walk with them
on their new journey towardsyou.
It's in your name.
We pray.
Amen.
All right.
So look, if you just surrenderyour life to Christ, I touch
down.
Let's go.
I want to hear from you, okay?
Shoot me an email, Chris attheliamwithin.us.
That's my personal email.
Send that email over.
I'm gonna hook you up.
We got several uh free downloadsI want to send over to you to
(22:55):
get you started with verses youneed to that you should consider
uh memorizing, just someresources to help you get going.
And then I just want to jump ona call and just give you a
virtual high five and a fistbump and just pray with you.
Pray uh blessing over you.
If you need help finding achurch, we can help you get
directed in that as well.
But just I really just want tobe an encouragement to you.
(23:15):
That's it.
So again, send me an email.
We'll love to hear from you,okay?
So this week we're gonna betalking a lot about anxiety.
I'll unpack that devotion that'son the Bible app around anxiety
on how uh so many guys out thereare really struggling with this.
This is something that uh wecan't just ignore uh any longer,
okay, guys.
So, anyway, guys, hope you havea great day.
(23:37):
I really appreciate you takingthe time to listen, uh, to lean
in, share this out with others,give us a rating and review.
Everything we do, guys, can befound at thelionwithin.us.
That's the easiest way to getconnected to us with all the
stuff that we're doing on thelion within us.
We have lots of fun ways fromour community to all the
different resources that we haveavailable.
Okay.
All right, guys.
So get after it.
(23:57):
Have a good one.
Thank you so much for listening.
And remember just to keepunleashing the lion within.
He's a stronghold.
And you don't have to fightalone.
To get started, visitthelionwithin.us.
We'd love to welcome you in.
That's thelionwithin.us.
I'll see you inside.
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