Last week we talked about Building Under Authority. This week I want to talk about something that stops most men before they ever get started.

The feeling that you’re not qualified.

I know that feeling well.

I'm just a country boy from the backwoods of Kentucky. I grew up with dirt under my fingernails, cattle and horses to tend, acres to mow, and crops that didn't care what your schedule looked like. If the weather was coming, you were outdoors working.

There was nothing about my upbringing that said shouted Entrepreneur is in his future. And yet that upbringing was the perfect combo of teaching me how to have a hard work ethic, deal with things out of my control, and realize that people will often overlook you when you

But somewhere along the way I sat down at a computer and something clicked. I started teaching myself design, code, how to manage people, how to build culture, how to grow a business from $0 to over 7 figures. And the whole way through, at every single stage, I felt one thing more than anything else.

Completely unqualified.

I still do sometimes.

But here's what God has shown me over and over again: He has never once been in the business of calling qualified men. He's in the business of qualifying the men He calls.

Look at who He chose.

Moses was a murderer hiding in the desert when God told him to lead a nation. Gideon was the weakest man in the weakest clan, threshing wheat in a winepress out of fear, when the angel of the Lord called him a mighty man of valor. Peter was a fisherman with a temper and a track record of saying the wrong thing at the wrong time.

None of them felt ready. All of them were chosen anyway.

Because God doesn't need your résumé. He needs your availability.

Some of the biggest breakthroughs in my business didn't come from a strategy session, a course, or a mentor. They came from hours on my knees asking God for wisdom, and then watching Him deliver it in ways I never could have engineered on my own.

Proverbs 2:1-6 has become one of the most real scriptures in my life:

My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding… if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.

He doesn't say wisdom goes to the most educated man in the room. He doesn't say it goes to the guy who already has it all figured out. He says it goes to the man who seeks it like silver. The man who actually hungers for it.

That's available to you right now. Regardless of your background, your bank account, your credentials, or your confidence.

So here's the real question: How do you take who God made you to be and turn it into a business?

Start here. Ask yourself three things.

What problems do you naturally solve? Not what you think the market wants. What do people already come to you for? What do you find yourself doing that others struggle with? That's not an accident. God wires men with specific gifts for specific reasons. Your natural ability to solve a certain kind of problem is a clue to what He's called you to build.

Who are you called to serve? Every business needs a customer. But a God-built business isn't just chasing any customer with money. It's serving a specific person with a specific need that God has uniquely positioned you to meet. The country boy who figured out business the hard way can speak to men who feel overlooked and under-qualified. That's not a coincidence. That's a calling.

How does your business reflect your values? If you say your faith is central but your business operates like it isn't, there's a gap that will eventually cost you. Building God's way means your prices are honest, your promises are kept, your people are treated well, and your decisions are prayed over. That's not just good ethics. That's good business. The world is starving for men who operate with integrity.

When you put those three things together, you start to see it. The intersection of your gifting, your calling, and your values is where your business lives. That's where God's authority and your obedience meet. And that's where He starts to build something through you that you couldn't have built on your own.

He doesn't call the qualified. He qualifies the called.

The country boy from Kentucky had no business building what God let him build. But God wasn't looking for a polished executive that could analyze numbers. He was looking for someone willing to seek Him, bring his mess before Him, and trust that the wisdom would come every time he prayed.

I was never qualified. But I am definitely called.

Grab a piece of paper and answer those three questions. Write down what problems you naturally solve, who you are called to serve, and what values your business needs to reflect. Sit with it. Pray over it. Let God start connecting the dots.

You don't need to have it all figured out. You just need to take the next step with what He's already put in you.

This is a great sermon by Brian Pacheco on walking in righteousness and how to become righteous if you are living in a way you know you need to change. There’s so much gold here as he’s been going through the book of Matthew and the discussion we had in our own Life Group really encouraged me.

I just watched this sermon and let me tell you, Josh Howerton once again is SPOT on. There is a lot of gold in here from how you should treat your wife to what you should be coaching your sons and daughters as they eventually move toward a future life with the person God has for them.

I have a confession to make. I was one of the first people ever on YouTube. But because I had such a thin skin, when my wife made fun of a video I did (which let’s be real was pretty horrible), I got my feelings hurt and deleted my entire channel and walked away from YouTube fully. I’ve known for years this platform is primed and ready for expansion and yet I actively forced myself to not post. Until this year. I’ve been working through the narrative and the channel and come across Gabe Bult, it was a great reminder there there’s always still time to do what’s been on your heart.

Also, I’m starting with YouTube Shorts as I work on some long-form content dropping soon. Nearly everything I create for you guys is going to be dropping on my channel.

Remember, we are building lives, families, and legacies that last.

Rooting for you always,

Joshua Brown
Chief Firestarter at Soulfire

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