Wrestling with the Inner Man

David L. Savage
  • 4.7 (15)
  • Christianity
  • Updated Biweekly

Welcome to the podcast of “Wrestling With The Inner Man” with Author / Speaker David Savage. David has a passion for Men’s Ministry and Biblical Truth to help build Better Men for our society.  The show title is derived from the first fight we each face every day, the fight with our flesh.  Do we listen to our selfish sinful nature or to our spiritual and divine nature guided by the Holy Spirit?  Contact David at wrestlingwiththeinnerman@gmail.com or go to https://www.thesavagepath.com/.  

  1. 4h ago

    Trust God In The Pit

    Your life can look successful on the outside while your mind is drowning on the inside. I sit down with Kirk Kirkendall, a Houston energy executive and father of three, to talk about what happens when anxiety, grief, and family fracture start writing the story in your head and you believe you’re alone in it. Kirk walks us through the “fragmented glass” moments that shaped him: his parents’ divorce as a child, bullying, and the devastating loss of his mother to suicide. Those wounds didn’t just hurt, they left cracks where shame, self-doubt, and fatalistic fear could settle in. When his own marriage began to collapse, the pressure to be the strong husband and dad turned into panic attacks and dark thoughts, and the accuser’s voice got louder: you’re a failure, it’s over, there’s no way out. Then comes the turning point: a pre-dawn walk, a mind racing with worst-case outcomes, and a question that stops him cold, “Don’t you trust me?” We unpack what surrender actually looks like for Christian men, why isolation fuels spiritual warfare, and how brotherhood and support groups can become a lifeline. Kirk also shares the practices that helped him rebuild from the inside out: Scripture that anchors the heart (Psalm 40, Isaiah 43, Isaiah 61), learning discernment, and showing up for men’s ministry through Freedom groups and Wild at Heart. If you’re battling anxiety, depression, divorce, loneliness, or relentless self-talk, this conversation offers real hope and practical next steps. Subscribe, share this with a man who needs it, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway. Chapter Markers 0:00Anxiety, Regret, And Worry2:15Meeting Kirk And His Mission4:05Childhood Divorce And Fragmentation7:55Loss, Bullying, And Feeling Alone16:05Marriage Collapse And Dark Thoughts19:40Don’t You Trust Me Moment24:20Surrender And The First Steps31:15Men’s Groups And Spiritual Warfare Tools37:10Daily Gratitude, Freedom, And Closing PrayerSend us Fan Mail Visit www.thesavagepath.com for more on David, his book The Savage Path: A Memoir of Modern Masculinity, and the Savage Path Ministries Corp.

  2. Sep 4

    How To Live With An Eternal Lens

    If you’ve ever hit a milestone you prayed for and still felt restless afterward, you’re not broken, you’re hungry in a way success cannot fix. We talk about that hunger from the inside out, starting with a blunt question: are we living our daily lives through the lens of eternity, or are we spending all our energy choosing the seat and missing the show? I’m joined by award-winning author, theologian, and pastor Cory Rosenke, whose path includes childhood poverty, eviction, isolation, and a long season of searching for the “why” beneath human behavior, fear, love, and suffering. Together we get honest about why the most prosperous generation can also be the most anxious, why Christians often look just like the culture around them, and what it means to remember that our citizenship is in heaven. Cory lays out a framework from his book The Magnetic Heart of God: five cravings that drive every human life security, identity, independence, significance, and innocence and why peace only comes when those cravings are satisfied in God instead of substituted with money, control, pleasure, or self-defense. We also wrestle with AI and creativity, including the temptation to gain knowledge without discipline and how that can make us feel wiser than we are. Then we go deeper into spiritual warfare, heaven and hell as ultimate realities, and how suffering in a fallen world can either harden us or recalibrate us. Cory offers a practical takeaway I keep coming back to: fear, anger, and even shame can act like barometers, showing us where we’ve placed our hope so we can turn back to the cross and the joy set before us. Subscribe for more conversations that train up better men, share this with a friend who feels stuck, and leave a review so more wrestlers can find the fight that actually matters. What part of your life most needs an eternal perspective right now? www.coryrosenke.com Chapter Markers 0:00Welcome And The Eight-Second Test1:49Eternity As The Real Question5:12Corey’s Road From Homelessness To Faith10:32Why Prosperity Still Leaves Us Starving20:22Five Soul Cravings That Drive Behavior28:51AI Knowledge Without The Wrestle34:45Feeding The Soul Through Creation37:44Heaven Hell And Choosing Ground44:39Making Sense Of Suffering52:53Fear Anger And Shame As Signals56:48Books Prayer And How To ConnectSend us Fan Mail Visit www.thesavagepath.com for more on David, his book The Savage Path: A Memoir of Modern Masculinity, and the Savage Path Ministries Corp.

  3. Aug 21

    What If Strength Is Choosing Not To Force

    Force gets results fast and breaks things quietly. Power moves slower, stays present, and builds something that lasts and that difference shows up everywhere from marriage arguments to leadership decisions to the private battles men fight alone. We sit down with Garth Haslem, author of Power Over Force and founder of Manalizing, to get specific about what “real power” actually looks like in a man’s life. We talk about why so many men default to pressure, control, withdrawal, or manipulation when they feel insecure and how self-governance becomes a higher form of masculine strength. Garth shares a striking contrast between force in the home and power in the home, plus practical ways to respond to conflict with calm, curiosity, and connection without becoming soft or passive. The conversation also goes straight at men’s mental health and isolation. When three out of four suicides are men, “handle it yourself” is not a virtue, it’s a trap. We unpack why brotherhood matters, what honest conversation can do that surface-level friendships cannot, and how shared community helps distribute the load. Garth ties it all together with a structural engineering lens: load paths, foundations, rebar, and the need to let God carry what we were never meant to carry alone. If you want a clear, grounded take on Christian masculinity, leadership, marriage conflict, men’s groups, and building resilience without force, hit play. Subscribe, share this with a friend who’s carrying too much, and leave a review with the biggest takeaway you’re putting into practice. To learn more visit his website at: https://www.poweroverforce.com Chapter Markers 0:00Power Versus Force In The World1:40Why Men Feel Alone4:52How The Host Found Podcasting8:06Defining Force And Real Power9:09Agency Versus Control In Genesis12:25Powerful Marriage Conflict Looks Like This20:44Engineering Loads As A Model For Life28:30Self Governance As Masculine Strength32:40Brotherhood That Can Hold The Truth35:20Building The Stone And Pine Retreat38:19Where To Find The Book41:10Final Message And Closing Prayer Send us Fan Mail Visit www.thesavagepath.com for more on David, his book The Savage Path: A Memoir of Modern Masculinity, and the Savage Path Ministries Corp.

  4. Aug 7

    Love Your Enemies

    Loving your enemies sounds simple until you’re face to face with betrayal, disrespect, or the kind of hurt that doesn’t go away. We sit with Luke 6:32–36 and ask the uncomfortable question it raises for every Christian man: am I really living by the mercy I claim to have received, or am I still letting my flesh call the shots when I feel wronged? If you’ve ever thought, “I can’t love that person again,” this conversation is for you.  I’m joined by Dr. Aaron Thomas, senior pastor and longtime friend, to unpack what grace looks like when it’s not theoretical. We talk about why the gospel flips the world’s logic from “change then you’ll be loved” to “you’re loved, and that love changes you,” anchored in Romans 5:8. Aaron even uses a surprising Beauty and the Beast analogy to show how love can meet someone in their worst condition and still be the beginning of transformation, without pretending sin is no big deal.  Then we get painfully practical. We dig into how to separate a person from their behavior, how to look past surface anger to the wounds underneath, and why losing your “first love” for Christ often shows up as coldness toward people. Aaron shares a raw personal story about wrestling with unforgiveness after a devastating family tragedy, and how God used remembrance, repentance, and time to move his heart from revenge toward mercy.  You’ll leave with clear takeaways and weekly action steps: pause before reacting, pray for a difficult person for seven days, do one undeserved act of kindness, guard your tongue, and spend ten more minutes with God each day. If this helped you, subscribe, share it with a friend who needs it, and leave a review so more men can find honest conversations about forgiveness, spiritual warfare, and learning to love like Jesus. Chapter Markers 0:00Welcome To The Inner Fight0:37Luke 6 And A Hard Command2:06Why Loving Enemies Matters3:51Beauty And The Beast As Grace7:10Look Past Behavior To Pain15:27Abide Deeper Stay In First Love16:09A Real Test Of Forgiveness21:43Three Truths And Weekly Practices30:49Final Charge And Closing Prayer34:07How To Connect And Next TimeSend us Fan Mail Visit www.thesavagepath.com for more on David, his book The Savage Path: A Memoir of Modern Masculinity, and the Savage Path Ministries Corp.

  5. Jul 24

    Discipling In An Age Of Deceit

    Truth doesn’t usually get rejected because it’s obviously false. It gets rejected because it gets repackaged, renamed, and blended with just enough Bible language to feel familiar. That’s the tension we sit with here, especially as we mark America’s founding ideals while admitting how many of us have grown intellectually lazy, outsourcing conviction to feeds, algorithms, and talking heads. We’re joined by Mark “Moose” Bright, director of the Relational Discipleship Network (RDN), to talk about discipling in the age of deceit. Moose lays out RDN’s core claim: you cannot divorce the methods of Jesus from the teachings of Jesus and expect the results of Jesus. We dig into what relational discipleship looks like in practice, why pastors must know the audience they’re speaking to, and how “presumption” becomes poison when culture no longer shares Christian assumptions. Then we take the hard turn toward discernment: false teachers, incomplete pictures of Jesus, and the hidden appeal of any worldview that removes personal responsibility. We talk about Marxism’s oppressor-oppressed framing, why repentance is non-negotiable for salvation, and how America’s ideas of rights and self-government only hold together when conscience and moral formation stay strong. We also get practical about cognitive dissonance, limbic fight-or-flight, and how to have conversations that actually lower defenses instead of building walls. If you want a clearer biblical worldview, stronger spiritual warfare habits, and a discipleship model that produces resilient men and families, press play. Subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find the show. You can learn more about the Relational Discipleship Network by visiting their website at www.rdn.org Chapter Markers 0:00Welcome And The Inner Fight0:40Founding History Meets Modern Deceit1:51Meet Moose And RDN’s Mission4:02Why Culture Changes How We Hear11:23Marxism And The War On Repentance17:00Rights Self-Government And Greed23:28Hermeneutics False Teachers And Truth26:02Cognitive Dissonance And Limbic Defense29:15Where To Find RDN Resources30:39Self-Awareness Mentors And Next Steps32:39Closing Prayer33:09Outro And How To Reach UsSend us Fan Mail Visit www.thesavagepath.com for more on David, his book The Savage Path: A Memoir of Modern Masculinity, and the Savage Path Ministries Corp.

  6. Jul 10

    How To Move Through Painful Transitions With God

    Betrayal, disaster, career loss, family crisis, the slow grind of grief, they all create the same gut-level question: why, and what do I do with this pain now? I sit down with Tony Stoltzfus, a veteran Christian coach and author who has spent decades helping leaders navigate painful transitions, to talk about why “try harder” and pure self-discipline often fail when the real struggle is happening in the emotional brain. We dig into how Jesus uses stories and questions to reach the parts of us that logic can’t reach, including a powerful retelling of Judas through an honor-shame culture lens that makes the betrayal feel painfully human. From there we move into the heart of Christian inner healing: unmet desires. Tony explains how longings like peace, belonging, security, and significance drive behavior, and how sin is often an attempt to fill emptiness. When those desires get handed to circumstances, money, control, or people, we get stuck. When they get handed to Jesus first, real change becomes possible. You’ll also hear a practical tool we try live on the mic: “praying your desire” using the Questions for Jesus method, plus insights from Job, valley seasons, and what Tony’s work on heaven suggests about a future where evil is no longer even an option. If you want Christian coaching insights, emotional health, and faith-based tools for healing after betrayal, this conversation is for you. Subscribe, share this with a friend who’s in a hard season, and leave a review with the one desire you’re ready to bring to Jesus first. Chapter Markers 0:00Welcome To The Fight Within0:33Why Painful Transitions Shake Us1:53Retiring From The Need For Significance3:12Reading Scripture With The Emotional Brain5:42Judas And The Power Of Shame13:43Desires That Drive Behavior And Sin18:28Betrayal Healing And Shared Destinies26:54Praying Your Desire With Jesus39:07Job, The Fire, And Valley Seasons46:51Heaven Where Evil Ends51:41Tools, Free Books, And Closing Prayerhttps://www.likeahumanbeing.com/ https://www.amazon.com/Questions-Jesus-Conversational-Deepest-Desires/dp/1492177350/ref=sr_1_1 https://www.heavenexperience.net/ https://www.youtube.com/@TonyStoltzfus Send us Fan Mail Visit www.thesavagepath.com for more on David, his book The Savage Path: A Memoir of Modern Masculinity, and the Savage Path Ministries Corp.

  7. Jul 4 ·  Bonus

    How Roger Williams Shaped America’s Freedom Of Religion

    “Separation of church and state” gets thrown around like a trump card, but most of us have never been shown where that idea actually comes from, what the First Amendment really says, and why the founders cared so much about protecting religious liberty. We’re heading into a major national anniversary, so we slow down and do something rare: we trace the history instead of repeating the slogan.  We talk with documentary filmmaker Andrew Linn, whose film Church and State: Roger Williams and the Founding of Freedom of Religion spotlights a name many Americans have never heard, even though his ideas helped shape the future of freedom of religion in the United States. We walk back into 1600s England and Europe, where government-backed churches fuel cycles of persecution, then watch the same coercion reappear in the New England colonies. That backdrop makes Roger Williams’ “liberty of conscience” stand out as more than a theory, it becomes a working model in Rhode Island for people who just want to worship without the state enforcing religious uniformity.  From there we tackle today’s friction points: whether faith belongs in the public square, how to think about leaders praying publicly, and how Jefferson’s Danbury Baptists letter produced the famous “wall of separation” phrase without rewriting the Constitution. We also get practical about civic engagement, local politics, and speaking up with courage while relying on the Holy Spirit. If you care about constitutional history, religious freedom, and the real meaning of the First Amendment, this conversation is for you.  Subscribe for more, share this with someone who still thinks the phrase is in the Constitution, and leave a review so more people can find the show. What part of “separation of church and state” do you think most Americans misunderstand? Chapter Markers 0:00Welcome And The Inner Fight0:38Why First Amendment Origins Matter2:26What Separation Of Church Means4:50Europe’s Persecution And Puritan Flight8:20Roger Williams And Rhode Island Liberty12:56Faith In The Public Square17:33Jefferson’s Letter And The Wall Myth20:11Filmmaking For Truth And Unsung Heroes24:55How Christians Engage Without Fear27:47Books To Go Deeper And Prayerhttps://churchandstatedoc.com/ Send us Fan Mail Visit www.thesavagepath.com for more on David, his book The Savage Path: A Memoir of Modern Masculinity, and the Savage Path Ministries Corp.

  8. Jun 21 ·  Bonus

    A Dad’s Rite Of Passage

    A kid doesn’t need a perfect dad, but they do need a present one, and the window to shape a heart doesn’t stay soft forever. Father’s Day sets the tone with a simple poem, “The Sculptor,” and it lands like a warning and a gift: the impressions we leave on our sons and daughters tend to last. If you’ve ever looked at middle school years and thought, I don’t have the tools for this, you’re not alone. We sit down with Matt Hanson, president of the National Rite of Passage Council, to talk about Aion Path, a three-year Christian rite of passage built for 12 to 14 year olds and the fathers who walk beside them. We get into why male discipleship is struggling, why outsourcing faith formation has not worked, and why the solution is often simpler than we think: warm conversations, shared time, and a clear structure that makes leadership doable. Matt explains how Aion Path starts with “30 conversations” (five to ten minutes a day), how kids choose “30 skills” they want to learn, and why an overnight adventure can become a turning point when your child gets real ownership. We also unpack the power of tangible milestones like challenge coins, the role of a pastor as a “shepherd,” and how three trusted “guides” (financial, vocational, spiritual) create the intergenerational relationships that help faith stick. If you want a practical framework for raising resilient teenage boys and teenage girls, strengthening father-child connection, and building lifelong Christian faith at home, this conversation gives you a clear next step.  Subscribe, share this with a dad who needs a playbook, and leave a review with the one rite of passage you wish you’d had growing up. Go to www.aionpath.com to learn more Chapter Markers 0:00Welcome And The Inner Fight0:33The Sculptor And A Father's Weight3:16The Hunger For Rites Of Passage6:31Year One Building Real Connection18:14Coins Skills And Trusted Guides27:30Letting Your Kid Lead The Journey32:00Year Two Faith Foundations And Year Three35:41How To Find Aion Path And Closing PrayerSend us Fan Mail Visit www.thesavagepath.com for more on David, his book The Savage Path: A Memoir of Modern Masculinity, and the Savage Path Ministries Corp.

    A Dad’s Rite Of Passage
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About

Welcome to the podcast of “Wrestling With The Inner Man” with Author / Speaker David Savage. David has a passion for Men’s Ministry and Biblical Truth to help build Better Men for our society.  The show title is derived from the first fight we each face every day, the fight with our flesh.  Do we listen to our selfish sinful nature or to our spiritual and divine nature guided by the Holy Spirit?  Contact David at wrestlingwiththeinnerman@gmail.com or go to https://www.thesavagepath.com/.  

Information

  • Creator
    David L. Savage
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2026
  • Episodes
    149
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Wrestling with the Inner Man
  • Show Website
    Wrestling with the Inner Man