Gentlemen,

In the beginning, God created.

As a man if you claim to be a follower of God but are not actively creating something then you might be misaligned from your purpose.

All through Scripture is a repeated phrase: create. In fact the very first chapter of Genesis is the story of Creation by the Creator.

Jesus Himself walking on the earth was a carpenter by trade, a creator in His own right while He learned the value of hard work in his early years.

Today the word “creator” has taken social media by storm and the entrepreneurs in the room will often talk about creating businesses.

But did you know there’s something even more significant that God has called you to create?

The atmosphere around you.

And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. — Deuteronomy 6:6-7

For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. — Hebrews 12:11

He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church? — 1 Timothy 3:4-5

Eugene Peterson once wrote a paraphrase of Romans 12:2 with this line: Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

I love this because it’s true. The Spirit of the Lord will bring out maturity, not immaturity. But it’s up to you as a man to walk that line.

Sadly, to my own shame I haven’t always been the most mature man I am today. For years I was trapped in my mind. I’d sin in my thoughts and instead of truly repenting, I’d keep it hidden. I’d take actions contrary to who I was and the values I had written deep in my heart. The road that came after when I finally confessed was a HARD one to walk, but I was able to live in a new era of freedom from the destructive choices I had been making for far too long.

Proverbs 28:13 says it this way: Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.

Thank You Jesus for Your Mercy.

Jude, the brother of Jesus wrote a lot on the topic of mercy.

Mercy will be multiplied and when you keep yourself in God’s love that same mercy leads to eternal life.

Even writing this now brings tears to my eyes to know that my sin and immaturity were so contradictory to the Faith I claimed. But I don’t have to live in that moment because Christ set me free.

John 8:36: So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

My question to you is the most important one you’ll face. Has the Son set you free?

Free to be Faithful to the Lord, your spouse, your family, your church, your business, your employees?

Free to create an atmosphere of honor, discipline, humility and love in your own household?

Free to build a company that isn’t driven by greed but rather love of God and out of that you know you are successful?

Free to be a fully devoted follower of Jesus that’s unashamed of the Gospel and diligent serving others?

Free to live in a way that others will be attracted to the type of man you are. One who is safe, loving, kind and honestly just has all the fruits of the Spirit showing at all times.

This was supposed translate to practical 1-2-3 steps you could take to build that atmosphere but something in my heart said this is the exact thing you need to be reading today in order to become the Godly Man Rising to Serve the Lord you are desiring to be.

Don’t let the moment slip by, dive into the Word today and look up the word “create” and see just how much it moves you.

Tim Jennings and myself recently had a convo about aligning yourself with God and how to practically live that out. We’re dropping more content like this inside the Soulfire Brotherhood and will soon be launching it onto our YouTube Channel!

Josh Howerton unpacks parental teaching and discipline and why you need to choose your kids friends.

I honestly hate that people with such great insight love to overuse the F-Word. So my advice on this is speed it up to 1.5x and blow through those moments because there are actually some gold nuggets in here. Watching Tony try so hard to help Alex find JOY in his life is wildly interesting. The spiritual man in me just wants to shout over and over, “It’s found in Jesus!” Still, there’s some amazing perspective that we can learn from watching high-performance men that have millions in their bank accounts have a conversation about meaning and purpose driven out of their success.

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

Rooting for you always,

Joshua Brown
Chief Firestarter at Soulfire