We all understand the importance of knowing God’s will. After yesterday’s post, one reader commented about how he wanted to get this right.
That is exactly the difficulty of knowing the will of God–we want to make sure we get it right.
Yesterday I mentioned the importance of prayer and Bible study. We all understand their significance.
Unfortunately, we overlook a help that can’t be overestimated–it is the work of God in our lives to renew our hearts and minds, leading us to know and follow God’s direction.
The most prominent description of this renewal is Romans 12:2, “I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
We could focus on a large number of areas in these two verses. For example, what is Godly, reasonable, or spiritual worship? It is offering our bodies to God as a living sacrifice. This is a powerful definition of worship.
The main area for our focus today is renewing the mind.
How do we overcome the world? How do we solve the problem of the world wanting to conform us to its pattern? We all know the struggles we have with family, friends, and associates who want to make us in their rebellious image.
The solution is to be metamorphized (transformed, the verb used to describe a caterpillar becoming a butterfly) by the renewing of the mind. Because of the way the Spirit changes us we are able to offer ourselves completely to God. The mind is made new again and again by the Holy Spirit. This is a ” ‘re-programming of the mind,’ a lifelong process in the which the mind is taken from the world and more and more made to ‘have in mind the things of God’ (Mark 8:33)” (Grant R. Osborne, Romans, 321).
This is the secret for knowing and doing the will of God. It is more and more being made to have the mind of God. We may “discern” the will of God because we have worshiped Him by offering our bodies as living sacrifices. We have become more and more like Him by yielding our hearts and minds to the Holy Spirit.
As we receive the imput from God (instead of the pressure of the world), we will make decisions that will positively determine our direction and destiny.
To know the will of God, open your mind to Him. Ask Him to fill your mind with Himself, helping you to choose those things which come from God alone.
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5 Responses
Definitely a step in the right direction. Definitely a progressive work as you so poignantly put it yesterday morning in Bible Study. A determined disciplined approach to drawing nearer to God is essential to being able to be sensitive to God’s Leadership in ones life. It is not that all the work and effort will bring one to salvation. It is because one had been brought to Salvation that one allows God to bring about the Work He Designed us to do, to Know Him as He Designed.
As I wrote yesterday, this is an important first step. For without it there is no “many members of One Body.” As I shared with one of the two men who actually still has joint custody, my prayers are for the children who are being denied the Love of God flowing through their parents as He Designed. While it is true that their material outlook is now terribly damaged, it is the foot hold of evil spreading through their young lives that concerns me most. They are the future of our country, our world. When the Truth is a private matter, evil has already won.
Thanks for Step One. Step Two: members one of another. Step Three: beyond the walls. What you said yesterday morning was well said, excellent, True.
Blessings
Thank you
Thank you. With each passing day I truly see how the things of God work in my life.
“offering our bodies as living sacrifice” I wander if we, American Christians, can even begin to understand what it is to sacrifice for God. We have so many blessings and freedoms, that I think “sacrifice” has become an ambiguous concept. I thank God for the privilege to live in this country, and I also pray that we as a country turn from our wicked ways, 2 Chronicles 7:14.
What a wonderful God of love and patience we have. He seems to be willing to guide us as we open ourselves to His leading, in spite of our limited understanding.
Good thoughts. Thanks.