God’s Assignment for You: 7 Keys to Fulfilling Your Purpose
First light pours through the curtain slow and thick, like buttermilk. I am weary today. I want to embrace God’s assignment for my life, but there are days when I struggle to live with a sense of purpose.
If you can relate, you’re in the right place.
Today, we’ll explore seven insights about God’s assignment for you. Then, we’ll talk about the assignments that feel like interruptions. Be sure to read to the end of today’s post for a free devotional eBook to help you embrace God’s purpose for you.
7 Insights About God’s Assignment for You
I’ve spent much of my life grappling with the idea of God’s assignment for me. Meanwhile, God’s assignment is often less complicated than we make it. His assignment is about how we live more than what we spend our time doing.
Let’s look at seven truths about God’s assignment for each of his children.
What Is God’s Assignment for Me?
1. God’s assignment is to give your best effort as you undertake what God has set before you today.
You can find God’s will for tomorrow by giving your best effort in today’s work. This work might not feel like the sweet spot of your calling in life, but God will use it to prepare your heart for what lies ahead.
Simply put, when you do what you know God is calling you to do today, he will give you the direction you need for tomorrow.
I’ve been known to hurry ahead of God, to take 20 steps when God only asked me to take two. (Join me here for details.) I’ve been known to turn a nudge from God into a full-blown 30-step action plan and dive in without looking back. This leads to the second truth.
2. God’s assignment includes waiting patiently for him.
There aren’t clear-cut rules for stepping out in faith and following the directives of God without missteps. In fact, God even uses our missteps as part of the journey.
Meanwhile, most of us don’t wait well.
As you wait for God’s guidance, give the next endeavor time to unfold before you. Ask God to help you wait for him to open the next door of opportunity. Keep doing the work set before you each day as you wait.
I’ve learned not to rush into new endeavors. This gives me time to seek wise counsel, pray it through, and see if the excitement dissipates.
It’s easy to confuse our strong emotions with God’s voice. I’ve learned that giving new endeavors time helps me determine whether I was sensing God’s direction or feeling only human excitement. Excitement wears off. God’s calling generally becomes stronger with time.
3. God won’t tell you what to do next until you obey what he has already told you.
A few years ago, I had a big decision to make. I was hashing it out with a friend, and she said something like this: “It sounds like you already know what God is leading you to do. God hasn’t gone silent. He already told you what to do, and now he’s waiting for you to do it.”
Sometimes God graciously confirms our decisions and sends miraculous signs. More often, he waits for us to do what he already asked us to do.
Have you been putting off a step of obedience? Until you obey God in this area, he won’t show you what step to take next.
4. God’s assignment will always align with wisdom.
At times, I’ve tried to determine God’s assignment by asking for miraculous signs. As I’ve grown in faith, I’ve learned that God rarely gives me these signs. Instead, he gives wisdom.
More often than not, a simple, three-word question will lead to the best answer when it comes to finding direction. The question is this: “Is it wise?”
God gave us common sense for making decisions. Ask God for wisdom. Talk to wise people. God always leads us in wisdom.
5. God’s assignment for you will align with Scripture.
God will lead you as you encounter him in his written Word.
Make Bible reading a part of your everyday routine, and God will use this practice to help you answer the question, “What does God want me to do with my life?”
God will never lead you to do something that does not align with Scripture. For this reason, spend time in the Word. Connect with God and learn who he is. In the process, he will align your heart with his heart and give you his vision.
6. Other people can help you on your journey.
Conversations with others can guide our lives.
Spend time with people who know you well. Ask them to help you discern where God might be leading you. Ask them for wisdom. These people can help you find ways to use your passions to help others.
This leads to our last point.
7. God’s assignment will use your greatest passions to help others.
What do you love doing more than anything else? What fills you with life and makes you feel purposeful?
Ask God to show you how to use this passion to help others. He wants to lead you down a path that is wholly fulfilling, a path that brings him glory. Keep seeking this path and trust that he will show you the way in his perfect timing.
When God Gives You an Assignment That Feels Like an Interruption
I now invite you to join me in our home as I wrestled with God’s assignment for me.
A few days ago, I’d been sitting by the window for less than ten minutes when our little boy shuffled up beside me dragging a chair. After pushing his chair next to mine, he sat down and snuggled against me.
The scene would have been cute if the little guy had remained quiet as he sat at my side.
He did not.
Instead, he proceeded to ask dozens of questions about everything from birdfeeders to jet streams.
“Buddy, how about I put on a cartoon for you in the other room,” I suggested.
The words had barely escaped my lips when a gentle wave of conviction washed over me. My pursuit of Jesus was hindering me from offering Jesus’ love to my son. Instead of embracing my little boy, I viewed him as an interruption.
God’s Assignments Often Look Like Interruptions
Throughout the past few years, God has been teaching me how to be more like Jesus when my plans are interrupted.
He’s been showing me that by resisting interruptions, I miss opportunities to extend his love to others. Instead of embracing divine assignments, I often send them away!
This plays itself out most often in my role as a mom.
My children approach me with questions, storybooks, and spelling lists. Meanwhile, when the timing is inconvenient for me, I resist their intrusions to my agenda.
You might not have young children interrupting your daily plans every three minutes, but someone in your life probably disrupts your agenda from time to time. It might be a chatty coworker, a lonely neighbor, or an emotionally needy friend.
Have you ever noticed that many of the people to whom Jesus ministered were people who had interrupted him? Instead of sending these people away, Jesus stopped what he was doing and ministered to their needs. He embraced every divine assignment from the hand of his Father.
Learn to Receive Interruptions With Grace
Imagine how different our lives would look if we learned to receive all of life’s interruptions as divine appointments from the hand of God—if we tenderly loved everyone who interrupted our moments.
We just might learn how to be more like Jesus in more of our moments.
Reflect on the past few days and ask the Lord to help you identify a time when another person’s need interrupted your agenda.
Did you embrace the interruption or resist it?
In which area of your life is God inviting you to open your heart with a greater willingness to receive his divine appointments?
In which area of your life is God inviting you to open your heart with a greater willingness to receive his divine appointments and exude his joy? #joy #Godsjoy #joyoftheLord #divineappointments Share on X
Your Invitation to Embrace God’s Assignment for You
In his letter to the Ephesian church, the Apostle Paul wrote: “And walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Ephesians 5:2).
We walk in the way of love every time we put the needs of others above our own needs and agendas.
We love like Jesus when we give other people our undivided attention.
Every time another person interrupts you or wants your attention today, set aside what you are doing, make eye contact, and listen intently. Ask Jesus to help you love like him by listening well and embracing interruptions as divine appointments.
Calling All Parents and Grandparents!
As the parent of two sons and a daughter, I have a heart for helping parents develop deeper relationships with their children and with God. Our kids, ages 6, 11, and 15, share this vision. They have helped me write three family devotionals for parents or older relatives to read with the children and teens they love. You can find all three books here or read more below.
Calling All Boy Moms (and Dads)!
God’s Warrior: Devotions for Boys Who Want to Grow in Courage and Strength helps young boys, ages 5-13, learn what it means to trust God and become strong warriors for his kingdom. Now, more than ever, our world needs men who are willing to boldly carry God’s love into the world. I wrote this boys’ devotional book with our two young sons, Aiden and Caleb, ages six and eleven! You’ll enjoy their honesty as we teach boys how to be strong warriors for the Lord. Find this life-changing devotional book here.
Mother-Daughter Devotionals by a Mom and Daughter
Girl to Girl: 60 Mother-Daughter Devotions for a Closer Relationship and Deeper Faith is written for girls ages 7-12. It includes 60 devotions with Scripture, conversation starters, and a shared journaling section for moms and daughters after each devotion. I wrote this book with the help of our daughter, Bekah, when she was eleven. Find this one-of-a-kind shared devotional here.
Heart to Heart: A Mother-Daughter Devotional With 50 Devotions for Teen Girls is for teenage girls ages 13-20. It includes 50 devotions, each with a shared journaling section to help moms and daughters connect through writing. This is a great book for moms who want to communicate about awkward topics—like dating, sexuality, peer pressure, and more—but don’t know where to start. Bekah and I will help you right here.
Find Our Family Devotionals Here
Find all three books right here. They are also free on the Kindle Unlimited plan, which you can enjoy with a free three-month trial! These books make great gifts, and you don’t need to be the parent of young children to read them. Share them with your grandchildren, nieces, nephews, or the young ones you love.
Learn Why Willpower Doesn’t Work and Experience God’s Deliverance and Healing
God wants to work in your life to accomplish what you’ve been unable to do through willpower alone. Lean Into Grace: Let God’s Grace Heal Your Heart, Refresh Your Soul, and Set You Free shares practical ways to experience God’s freedom, healing, power, and presence in your life. Find this life-changing book as a free eBook on Kindle Unlimited or for 12.99 in print right here. (If you do not have Kindle Unlimited, you can try it out with a free three-month trial!) This book will transform your life and revitalize your relationship with the Lord!
A Free Devotional to Help You Connect With God
God is a good Father, and he wants us to experience his healing, deliverance, and replenishment. Most of us have learned that we cannot heal, deliver, or refresh ourselves; we need God to do this work within us. I invite you to create space for God to transform your life by downloading a free copy of my devotional eBook, The Lean Into Grace Devotional: An 8-Day Devotional for Healing, Deliverance, and Replenishment. Find it for free here. 
