Day Five Of The 10th Annual End Of Summer Fast & Detox: What Is Your Assignment

Discovering The Gifts God Placed In You & Learning To Faithfully Steward Your Assignment.

I’ve had a really relaxing Saturday, and getting back to some of my routines after Saint’s accident felt really good. If I’m being honest, God has really been showing me myself in new ways, showing me my shortcomings, my idols, my lack of Christ identity, and so much more.

We’re over halfway through the fast and detox, and we only have two days left. This is the perfect time to assess how you’re doing. Have you fallen back into the things you released? Have you completely fallen off? If so, it’s okay. Be honest. You still have time to get back on track. Don’t let the slip up win.

We’ve gotten into a lot already with this fast. We’ve been discovering who God truly is and the names we can call on. We’ve been learning who we are and who we were created to be in Christ. We’ve gone back to our “falls” and looked at how they still show up in our lives. We’ve searched our hearts for the idols that have plagued us.

Today, we’re getting into our assignments while we’re here on earth.

What Is Your Assignment?

On Day 2, I shared that we are image bearers of God and that our identity is only found in Him. I touched on Ephesians 2:10, which says, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

Now that we’ve spent some time learning who we are, we can move into what we’re called to do. Nothing happens in life by accident. God is the orchestrator, and He does everything on purpose. Your life has purpose, and your life has an assignment attached to it.

I know society has a way of making “purpose” this grand thing that’s connected to being rich, famous, successful, or having a platform, but that’s not the Kingdom way. Purpose is the why, and assignment is the what. Stop giving so much credit to purpose and start working your assignment.

Sometimes purpose will reveal itself after you build momentum through obedience to the assignment. Sometimes we’re so focused on discovering our purpose that we overlook the assignment right in front of us. Purpose can reveal itself as you faithfully work the assignment God has placed in your life.

Sometimes purpose is revealed before the assignment. Sometimes the assignment reveals the purpose along the way. Sometimes you may understand the purpose while still receiving new assignments within it. The point is, you don’t have to have everything figured out before you start moving.

Your Gifts Are Connected to Your Assignment

Different seasons can come with different assignments. God has placed certain gifts inside each of us that are intended to be used for those assignments. We can sometimes overlook our gifts because they may not be the “popular” thing or because they feel too ordinary.

I challenge you to look at yourself and identify the spiritual and natural gifts God has placed inside of you.

What comes naturally to you?

What do people constantly come to you for?

What gifts have you dismissed because they feel ordinary to you?

We all have assignments on our lives. No matter how big or small, we were created in His image to do good works. Jesus had an assignment. Noah had an assignment. Joseph had an assignment. If there is breath in your body, God wants to use you for His will.

Genesis 4:20-22 shows us that gifts can show up differently in different people. Cain’s descendants, Jabal, Jubal, and Tubal Cain, all had different gifts and skills. Everyone wasn’t doing the same thing. God didn’t give everyone the same gift, so everybody won’t have the same assignment.

Some things come naturally to you because God put something inside of you for a reason. Stop trying so hard to be like what you see around you when God intentionally created you to be unique. We go out of our way to imitate people and things we see, when God is calling us to become more of who He created us to be.

Your Gift Can Open the Door

Joseph’s gift became connected to his assignment. Joseph could interpret dreams, but that gift wasn’t just for his own benefit. Eventually, that gift positioned him to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams and provide the wisdom needed to prepare Egypt for famine.

Joseph’s gift opened the door, but his assignment required him to steward that gift. What if the thing you’ve been calling “just something I’m good at” is actually connected to your assignment?

Once you identify your gifts, take some time to think about what your assignment might be.

Your assignment is ultimately tied to the people you’re needed to serve. Who are you meant to serve?

Maybe it’s a neighbor.

Maybe it’s a coworker.

Maybe it’s your community.

Maybe it’s your church.

Maybe it’s through your career, your business, your creativity, or your story.

Your assignment could even be to share your testimony.

You don’t go through things just to go through them. Sometimes you go through them so you can share what you learned with someone else. You never know how your story may affect the next person.

What Has God Already Told You to Do?

If you’re struggling to identify your gifts and assignments, I challenge you to go back to the last thing God told you to do. if you don’t know what that last thing is, I challenge you to seek Him and ask for His guidance.

People are waiting on you to use your gifts.

Someone needs what only you carry.

What has God already told you to do?

Who needs what you carry?

What assignment have you been avoiding because you’re waiting for clarity about your purpose?

Today, we’re getting clear and going back to the assignments God has called us to in this season.

It’s okay if you got distracted. It’s time to get focused again.

What has He placed in your hands?

Who is He calling you to serve?

What Will Your Legacy Be?

For those of you who are detoxing, today we’re thinking beyond our own lives. What do you want your legacy to be? We tend to want our lives to be filled with wealth, success, and fame, but that can become selfish when the focus is only on what we can gain.

Legacy is imporant because it shifts the focus from ourselves to what we leave other people with.

Thinking about legacy goes beyond generational wealth. Ask yourself, how do I want to be remembered? Not only by your loved ones, but how do you want strangers to feel when they leave your presence? The impression you leave on people now will ultimately become part of your legacy.

Think about your favorite celebrity. No matter how gifted they are, if you met them and they were rude or unkind, what thoughts would you have about them afterward? I know that may seem like a deep thing to think about, but it is.

Once you discover what you want your legacy to be outside of finances and popularity, ask yourself, does the way I’m living right now match that?

Take this mindset with you beyond this detox.

Apply it every time you leave your house.

How do you treat the barista?

The janitor?

The bank teller?

The server?

The stranger you pass on the street?

Anyone you encounter.

Pause and think about not only what you want out of life, but what you’re putting into the world that will withstand beyond your life.

Are you making the world better or worse?

Are you leaving people feeling better, seen, loved, and encouraged, or are you leaving them torn down?

Your assignment isn’t always going to look like a platform, a title, or something everyone can see. Sometimes your assignment is simply to faithfully use what God has already placed in your hands, with the people He has already placed in front of you.

So what are you going to do with what He gave you?

Worship song below