Knowing God’s Will

Romans 12:1,2

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual
act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

This passage, it seems to me, is the starting point for knowing God's will. Paul lists three criteria: 1) offer your body as a living sacrifice, 2) don't conform to the pattern of this world, and 3) be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Let's look at each of these:

Living Sacrifice: We offer ourselves to God because of his mercy. In other words, Christ's sacrifice brought our salvation so we should be willing to offer ourselves as a sacrifice to him. This offering is an act of worship. If we are willing to worship God with every deed, event and motive then we are on our way to knowing what he desires of us.

Not conformed: Even normal people hear voices. The question for us concerns which voices we are going to let influence us. How does the pattern of this world get communicated to us? That is probably not too hard to figure out. Television, movies, reading, the media, and friends, are prime examples. These aren't necessarily bad, but they can have the effect of pushing God's will off to the side, so to speak. So it's good for us to ask what it is that most influences us. One quick way to determine that is to evaluate what you spend the most time doing. Outside of sleeping, eating, work, etc. what do you choose to do?

Transformed: Paul makes it easy for us; we become transformed by the renewing of our minds. This is the other side of 'not conformed.' In other words, we could say our minds are transformed when we are thinking like God thinks. We want the same things he wants. 1 Corinthians 2:16 says: "For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ." This isn't rocket science; we learn to think like God in the same way we learn to think like anyone: we listen to his words. That means the Bible. One of the words for the Bible is God's revelation. He reveals himself to us through the Word. By diligently studying the Word and obeying its truth we become transformed.

I think these three truths work together. Probably the reason we have such a hard time discovering God's will seems can be traced to some one of these not functioning in our lives.

If you'd like to download a Bible study designed to help you discover God's will click on the link below.

God's Will