Knowing Your Assignment: Recognize It. Redeem the Past. Embrace What’s Next.

Payroll is due. Your best employee wants out. There’s an opportunity on the table that could change everything—and you’re already stretched thin.

Somewhere underneath the noise is a question you haven’t slowed down long enough to answer:

Am I doing what God asked me to do, or keeping something running because I don’t know how to stop?

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I recently spoke with Jay Jakub, whose career has taken him through national intelligence, Mars, and Economics of Mutuality. We talked about recognizing God’s assignment, stewarding it faithfully, and knowing when to release it.

His story puts some uncomfortable questions on the table.

1. Recognize what is actually driving you

After roughly seventeen years in government and national security, Jay needed a new job. He had two young adopted children. His wife was caring for her dying mother. The financial pressure was real.

He got on his knees and prayed. Then he went back to working his connections.

Two offers emerged. One offered security and familiarity. The other offered substantially more money.

As he prayed, Jay sensed God telling him to decline both. He did. About two months later, he joined Mars.

The question for us is searching: Could I say no to a good opportunity if Jesus asked me to?

Jay acknowledged that knowledge had become an idol: if he knew enough, he could feel secure.

What fills that role for you? Revenue? Being needed? Having the answers?

Recognizing your assignment requires honesty about what you’re protecting—and whose voice gets the final say.

2. Let God redeem what you regret

Looking back, Jay wrestled with whether he had wasted years pursuing the wrong things.

Yet he described God using the relationships, research skills, and experience from those years in his next assignment.

Perhaps you’ve stayed too long, chased money, or built something your family paid for. Bring that honestly to Jesus. Repent where you need to. Repair what you can.

Then offer Him what remains.

Your experience can become useful in His hands. You don’t have to keep punishing yourself to prove you’re sorry.

Ask: What have I learned—even painfully—that God can redeem or redefine now in what’s next?

3. Steward the people already in front of you

At Mars, Jay helped develop Economics of Mutuality: creating value for the people connected to a business, including employees, suppliers, customers, and communities.

In one example, listening to veterinary nurses exposed inadequate training behind high staff turnover. Addressing that problem improved retention and business performance (and a 17x return!).

They found something significant by paying attention to people others could overlook.

You may be asking God for your next assignment while avoiding a difficult conversation in your current one.

Pay the supplier. Train the employee. Keep your word. Be present at home.

Who is carrying the cost of how you lead?

Faithful stewardship reaches into those decisions.

4. Check what compels you

During our conversation, I acknowledged how easily vision, opportunity, and results can drive me.

2 Corinthians 5:14–15 brings me back to Christ’s love compelling us, and living for the One who died and rose again.

Even a kingdom vision can become something I use people to accomplish.

If the business grows while people become disposable, I need to stop and examine my heart.

Am I loving the people Jesus has entrusted to me, or valuing them for what they help me achieve?

5. Recognize when the role has changed

After years of leadership, Jay’s role increasingly required fundraising. His contribution had centered on advocacy, education, and partnerships.

Over about eighteen months, he recognized that change alongside opportunities developing elsewhere. He stepped down while continuing to advise the board.

A hard week doesn’t mean your assignment is over. But a title you’ve held for years doesn’t settle the question either.

Ask: What does this organization now need? Am I equipped and willing to provide it? Could someone else serve it better?

6. Embrace the next step

You may need to persevere, release responsibility, or make room to listen before deciding.

Start with what Jesus has already made clear. Take that seriously enough to act.

If you’re carrying these questions, join us at the Heaven in Business Nashville Conference. Make room to listen to God, learn from practitioners, and work through what faithful obedience looks like in your business.

Bring the pressure, the decisions, and the questions you’ve been avoiding.

Explore the Nashville Conference and reserve your place.