I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

I appeal to you therefore, brethren, and beg you in view of (all) the mercies of God, to make decisive dedication of your bodies (presenting all your members and faculties) as a living sacrifice, holy (devoted, consecrated) and well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable (rational, intelligent) service and spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world (this age), (Fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs), but be transformed (changed) by the (entire) renewal of your mind (by its new ideals and new attitude), so that you may prove (for yourselves) what is good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect (in His sight for you).

I would first like to look at the second part of the second verse, �that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.� With this verse, I would like to ask, �What is God�s will for us? Well to put it simply, it is for us to fulfill our specific purpose God has for us while here on earth. For instance, look at Mathew 6:10 (Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven); God calls us to be Christ-like and what this means is to be conformed to the ways Jesus was. Now what I am saying is that Jesus relied on the Father and followed His will to the Tee. In everything he did, he searched and did according to what God would have Him do. We are not to imitate the works of Jesus, but the will of Jesus.
With this in mind, let us look at the next couple of verses in Romans. In verses three and four (For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly that he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt each one of you a measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function). God has given each one of us a measure of faith and it is by that measure that we are to live accordingly. We are all to work together for the good of God and His Kingdom. In verses six through eight (Having then gifts differing according to the grace that it is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in portion to our faith; or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness). This simply states some of the gifts that are given according to God�s grace and they should be used to complete His will for you while you are here on earth.
God is no respecter of persons, but He is a respecter of purposes. We cannot have thirty preachers and no singers, we cannot have thirty singers and no altar workers, we cannot have thirty altar workers and no congregation. I could go on and on, but I think you get the point. One of the purposes of John the Baptist was to foretell of the coming of Jesus Christ. Moses was called to lead God�s people out of Egypt. Chaplain Roberts was called to be a Chaplain. In every instance, we are called into some type of job or situation to fulfill the will of God. Once this becomes prevalent to us, we must then realize that the only reason we are alive is to fulfill a specific calling or purpose that God has ordained for us. The Lord ordains lives and we are to be an extension of Him.
Some or all of you may be thinking, �Great, I knew this, so where are you going with this?� Look again at the first part of the second verse (And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind), this is my point. If we are fulfilling God�s purpose that He had for each and every one of us, then why is there such a decline in society and the things we are accepting. Why have we settled for second best and become de-sensitized to sin and the impact it is having on the world today. I am not singling anyone out, but we as a whole have slipped in one area or the other and have not turned around to face the music.
For instance, let us look at Mathew 6:24 (No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon). You may be thinking, �I serve God in everything I do, I do not put things before Him.� Well how many times has the Lord spoken to you and you ignored Him because it was not what you wanted to do. You know, we do what He wants, but when it is more convenient for us.� Or when the Lord reveals His will for us and then we argue with Him saying, �Lord, I know a better way, I want to do it my way.� There is an evangelical preacher in Florida by the name of John Bevere. Some of you may have heard of him and others may not. Well I was reading one of his books and he was telling a story that relates to what I am saying here.
He was watching the Superbowl one-year and just at the start of the fourth quarter, the Lord spoke to him and told him to go pray. Well he was a football-aholic and he told the Lord that when the game was over, he would go do it. Well God told him that he was to go now, but once again, John told god that he would even pray for five hours, as long as he could watch the end of the game. Well he was still feeling the conviction of the Lord, but he ignored it. Well when the game was over, he took to his room and started to pray. The only problem is he did not feel the presence of the Lord, he just sat there and mumbled for about five minutes and then realized what he had done. He had put the things of this world and his desire before that of the Lord. The result was an act of repenting and truly turning from this and not allowing it to happen again.
So by catering to our needs, we put the Lords needs second to us. Maybe that does not apply to you, but you find justification by comparing yourselves with others. You may look at so and so and say, �well I am doing better than them or sure, I could be doing as good as so and so, but I am doing okay where I am at.� We justify our relationship with the Lord, based on other�s relationships with Him. The only true comparator is Jesus Christ, but we seem to settle for mediocrity and think that if we do the bare minimum or stay in the middle, we will be okay. I urge you to ask yourself this question, �If Jesus Christ were to return right now, could He look at you and say well done my good and faithful servant?� Instead of comparing yourselves to others, compare yourself to Jesus, for we were called, by God, to be Christ-like. When you compare yourself with Him, compare where His will was and where your will is. Like I mentioned earlier, not His deeds, but His dependency and obedience to God the Father.
Now do not get me wrong, what I am trying to say is, not what you have done for the Lord, but where your relationship is with Him. It seems as we are going along in our walk with Christ, we tend to become relaxed in our relationship, our fire begins to dwindle and soon that great dependency we had on God is minimized to calling on Him when we are in need. Well we have talked about what the will of God is for us and where we should be in our walk with Him. We have talked about where we as Christians become laxed and allowed Satan to come into the picture. The only thing left to talk about is how do we fix this underlying problem that seems to plague so many of us.
The first step in the process is to admit to God that we need Him and without Him we can do absolutely nothing. Admit to Him that we are mere sinners and only by His grace can we live accordingly and have eternal life. Jesus even said himself in John 5:30 I can of myself do nothing, as I hear, I judge; and My judgement is righteous, because I do not seek my own will, but the will of the Father who sent Me. Even Jesus realized that without the Father He of Himself was nothing and that all thoughts and actions we of the Father. We are only because God has allowed it, so to say that this life is His is a true statement. The question I have for you is, �If this life is His, then are we going to allow Him to lead it?�
The second step is that we are to trust in the Lord and we are too not lean on our own understanding. Proverbs 3: 5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths. Now let us look at Mathew 17:19-20 then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, �Why could we not cast it out?� So Jesus said to them, �Because of you unbelief; for assuredly I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, Move from here to there, and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. In this instance, the doubt of the disciples or their lack of faith caused a break in the purpose God had for them. Jesus was able to complete the task because he had faith and trust in the Father. If the Lord commands, he will give you the tools necessary, we just need to have faith in Him. Let us look at Jeremiah 1:4-8 then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: �Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.� Then I said: Ah, Lord God! Behold I cannot speak, for I am a youth.� But the Lord said to me: �Do not say, I am a youth, For you shall go to all to whom I send you, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of their faces, For I am with you to deliver you,� says the Lord. Here Jeremiah could not see how the Lord could use him and when His purpose was revealed, he questioned the Lord. But the Lord being justified told Jeremiah to fear not, because I have ordained you to do this and I will equip you.
The third step is to make the choice and then be obedient. In order for us to have a relationship with God based on Love, he has given us free will. You are to make the conscience choice when it comes to making decisions. At one point in time, Christians made the decision to accept Jesus as their personal savior and then live for Him. This is why they are called Christians. Once that decision was made, they were to remain obedient to the will of God, no matter what the cost. In Philippians 2:8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Jesus was obedient to the Father even though it cost Him His life.
Before Jesus was to drink from the cup of inequities, he asked the Father if there is any other way, then let this cup pass from me. Well when there was no response from God, he then cried out to Him, Father not my will but yours. God then sent His angels to comfort Jesus and He was then able to fulfill the will of God. God equip Jesus with everything He needed to complete His will, but the decision was still up to Jesus. Now there are many other things that are incorporated into fulfilling the will of God, but if we follow these three main steps, the others will follow. Let us go forth and walk according to the will of God.