Romans 12:1-2

Beginning in this twelfth chapter, Paul changes the subject matter radically from here to the end of the epistle. In chapters 1-2, Paul showed how both Gentiles and Jews were sinners and deserved God’s judgment. In chapters 3-5, he explained how all men could be declared righteous if they choose to put their trust in Christ. Continuing, the apostle also taught in chapters 6-8 how those who are redeemed could be set free, not only from the penalty of sin, but also its power to control their lives. Then in chapters 9-11, Paul explained God’s sovereign plan that He was working out with the nation of Israel and the Jewish people. The first eleven chapters were mostly an explanation of good doctrine, so that believers could be assured about what God had done for them.

Now in chapters 12-16, Paul explains what a believer’s response should be to all that God has done for them. In other words, what is a believer’s responsibility for the love and grace that God has bestowed upon them? This change in Paul’s message is a very important one. Why? Because it will bring an important balance that every Christian must follow; the balance is between what you believe and how you should then live. It is a balance that you will find is upheld in all of Scripture. This balance you will find in every Old Testament book, through the teachings of Christ, and in every epistle of the New Testament. You will always find a doctrinal or instructive section in every book of the Bible, and you will also find practical actions that all are encouraged to take. In the prophets of the Old Testament, you will always find an instructive message from God given to the Jewish people, and then a command or encouragement to act upon that instruction. What should you do? How should you respond?

This is the balance you should hear in every Bible study that you attend or watch! Every preacher should tell you what the Bible teaches, and then how you should apply it to your life. These two truths are the proverbial two sides of every coin. If you forget or reject either side of the coin, any Bible study will be imbalanced. If you personally forget or reject either issue in your relationship with God, you will become out of balance, and your Christian walk will be unstable. Think of it this way. If you forget or fail to understand what God has done for you, then you will naturally try to live the Christian life in your own strength. You will begin to strive in your own power trying to do what God has already done. That will be a losing battle every time. On the other hand, if you forget your personal responsibility concerning what you should do, that will cause you to become disobedient to God’s commands, and you will drift away from Him. You will begin to expect God to do for you what you are supposed to be doing for yourself. Remember, God has a responsibility that only He can do, and you have a responsibility that God will not do for you. God has already fulfilled His responsibilities. His work is finished. Jesus said from the cross, “It is finished” (John 19:30). Today, you need to respond. So where does your response begin? 

Paul answers this question in Romans 12:1-2. He pleads with the people, “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.” Probably most of you know these two verses by heart and may even be able to quote them, but do you know just how important they are for your entire relationship with God? These two verses state the simplicity of our responsibility before God.

Just how important are these commands?

To answer this question as simply as I can, let me say it this way, nothing in the Christian life will go well for you if you fail to obey these commands. If you choose not to present and surrender yourself to God, then you will try to live the Christian life in your own power. If you try to be a Christian in your own strength you will never be able to resist being conformed to this world. If you are conformed to this world, then your mind will never be renewed, nor will you find the perfect will of God for your life. Jesus made it clear that to be His disciple you must have a radical conversion experience with Him. Here is what Jesus taught about being His disciple. He said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 18:3). “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it” (Matt. 16:24-25). “He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad” (Matt. 12:30). “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him” (John 14:21). “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me” (Matt. 10:37-38). As you read these commands of Jesus, it should be obvious that if you want to be His disciple then He requires a full surrender of your life to Him. I cannot soften these words by Jesus! You must have a conversion experience where you deny yourself, and you choose to love Him more than anything or anyone else. This love for Him will cause you to obey and follow Him with all your heart and soul. Without presenting yourself like this to Him, you can forget seeing any real transformation of your life. Why? Because the Bible teaches, “For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13). This means God is the only one who gives you the willingness to follow Him, and the power to do what He commands you to do. But for Him to do that work inside of you, you must first present and surrender yourself to Him.

Why should you present yourself to Him?

Many times, when people read these verses, they read right past the primary reason they should surrender themselves. Please don’t miss the most important motivation to obey God’s commands! It’s the mercy of God! God has had mercy on you even though you have sinned against Him. The context of this statement is also significant. If you go back and look at just the eleventh chapter of this epistle, Paul used the word mercy four times. Why? Because God’s mercy is something He delights to give, it’s His character and nature (Micah 7:18). His mercy has allowed you to experience His grace and salvation. If you add the words grace, save, saved, and salvation to the word mercy in chapter 11, then thirteen times Paul is referring to God’s loving desire to save and forgive mankind. Why does he use these words repeatedly? Because this is the theme of the previous chapter, and it is also the theme of chapters 1-11. God’s mercy is the focus of His election and salvation. Remember, the primary purpose of God’s election is to reveal His desire to show mercy (Rom. 11:28-32). Surely, you can see that He has had abundant mercy on you and me. 

This is Paul’s point. When you see His mercies toward you, that should bring you to the place of offering yourself to Him and yielding your life into His hands. If you don’t want to offer yourself into His hands, then you have not recognized God’s mercy toward you. This was the fundamental reason that the children of Israel stumbled and rebelled against God. In Psalm 106:7 the psalmist declared, “Our fathers in Egypt did not understand Your wonders; they did not remember the multitude of Your mercies, but rebelled by the sea--the Red Sea.” This was the Israelite’s problem, don’t let it be your problem!

However, if you are a believer reading this right now and you are feeling hard-hearted or lifeless inside, I can guarantee that you have forgotten God’s mercies in your life. If you want to remember His mercies toward you, ask God to show you the sin in your life right now and all the sin you have ever committed. Ask Him to break your heart with the fact that He has already forgiven you for it all. This will reveal to you just how much mercy He has shown toward you. Every one of us has broken the commandments of the Old Testament, and we have also broken every commandment Jesus gave in the New Testament. Often when people think of the ten commandments they conclude, “Well, I’ve never committed adultery, killed anyone, or set up an idol in my living room, so I’m okay. That proves that I’m a good person.” If you think this way, you must remember that each of the Ten Commandments refer to an internal attitude of the heart which then brings forth the outward action. Jesus made it clear that if you had anger in your heart, lusted after a man or woman in your heart, or coveted someone else’s things, you have committed murder, adultery, and idolatry before God (Matt. 5:21-28; Mark 7:21-23).

Therefore, God has bestowed a multitude of mercy upon you. To acknowledge this mercy regularly in your prayers to God is what will cause you to present and surrender yourself to Him. In Romans 2:4 Paul warned all of us, “Do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?” When you realize God’s goodness, long-suffering, and mercy in your life it leads you to repentance. Do you remember that day when the revelation of His mercy toward you broke through to your heart? Your response was to surrender your life to Him. It is also what keeps you in that right relationship with Him.

Paul shared this same truth of the power of mercy in Ephesians 2:4-7. Paul states, “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” This truth of God’s mercy overwhelmed Paul with the understanding of the greatness of God’s love and grace. Notice the reason God has shown this great mercy on us! Paul says it’s “because of His great love with which He loved us.” Great mercy has come because of His great love! Your only reasonable response to this kind of love, is to present yourself to Him as His servant for the rest of your life. This is your reasonable service.

How do you present yourself to God?

Once you agree that you need to present and surrender yourself to God, the next question is how do you do that? This is the most important part of this study. How do you practically present yourself to God? The how-to part of any Bible study is the most essential, because if you don’t understand how to apply God’s Word, then it is just intellectual knowledge. So, how do you present yourself to God?

1. You present yourself by a simple choice of your will.

The words, “Present yourself” are a simple command and a challenge to every believer. It is a command you must choose to obey. This requires a simple choice of your will. Will you do it or not? The word present literally means that you present something to another. In Paul’s day a sacrifice was brought to the altar before God. The sacrifice was presented to God, yielded up to Him, and surrendered to Him. This same Greek word for present is used of Joseph and Mary when they came, and they presented Jesus before the Lord in the Temple. This is found in Luke 2:22. “Now when the days of her purification [referring to Mary] according to the law of Moses were completed, they brought Him to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord.” Joseph and Mary presented, yielded, or dedicated Jesus to the Lord. They offered and surrendered Him to the purpose and plan of God. Now my question to you is, have you presented yourself to God like this? Do you present yourself to Him every day like this? Have you said, “Lord, here I am, I belong to You! I present and surrender myself to You for Your purposes.” If you are a believer, I hope that you have done this. If you have not, I hope you will do this right now as you remember God’s mercies toward you! All that is needed is that you make a choice to surrender yourself because of His great love toward you. Why should you do this? Because you realize that you really belong to Him.

Note what Paul told the Corinthians. “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Cor. 6:19-20). Do you realize and acknowledge that your body, mind, and spirit, everything you are, belongs to Him? This is true because you have been bought and paid for by God’s redemptive work through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. It is just like slaves who were bought and redeemed out of the slave market, and then set free by a benevolent benefactor. Therefore, you belong to Him! But, even more importantly, God also created you, which is even more proof that you belong to Him. In every way, as His creation, and as one He has redeemed, you belong to Him. If you believe this fact, then present and surrender yourself into His hands.

2. Presenting yourself will always require a sacrifice.

Second, notice Paul says, “Present your body as a living sacrifice.” God doesn’t want a dead sacrifice, but a living one. Remember, all the people Paul was writing to, Jews and Gentiles alike, all sacrificed animals to either a pagan god or the true and living God. They all had seen a dead sacrifice. Yet here, God is declaring to all believers that He wants our lives surrendered to Him. He wants a living sacrifice, so we can be a continuous light to this world as we serve Him. He wants a living breathing servant that He can use for His glory. That’s what He is after.

Remember what the apostle wrote in Hebrews 10:5-7, “Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: ‘Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You have prepared for Me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure. Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come-- in the volume of the book it is written of Me-- to do Your will, O God.’”

This quote was taken from Psalm 40:6-8. David was declaring, “Lord, I really get what you want. I understand that You are not really interested in a dead animal sacrifice. You want something more than that. You want my body. You want my life. You want me to do Your will.  That’s what You want.” David really understood God’s heart here. He realized that God wanted a living sacrifice.

In addition, this text is also prophetically referring to the Messiah. This is how the apostle used it in the quotation from Hebrews. There the Messiah came to do the will of the Father as a living sacrifice to Him. However, Jesus also came as the sacrifice that takes away the sin of the world. The life of His Son was to be given for the life of the world.  

What does Paul mean when he writes to present your body? He is referring to all of you, everything you are, everything you have. Your body, your soul, your spirit, the entire you. This is why Jesus said in Matthew 22:37, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind.” Also, in Mark 12:30 Jesus added, “With all your strength.” In other words, God is asking for everything you are, and He wants you to make the choice to offer yourself willingly because you love Him. Don’t ever forget that the Lord will not force His way into your life to make you a Christian. No, you must willingly receive Him by faith. Neither will He force you to present your body as a living sacrifice to Him. Your willing choice is what proves that this is being done by love, and not force. My encouragement is that you will make that choice daily to offer and surrender yourself to Him. You will never regret that choice.

3. Presenting yourself means that you cannot conform yourself to this world.

After Paul tells believers what they should do, he now explains what they should not do. He declares, “And do not be conformed to this world.” Why is this action so important in enabling you in present and surrender yourself to God? It is very simple; these two behaviors are completely antithetical to one another. In other words, Paul is telling you that you cannot present yourself to God while at the same time conforming yourself to this world. These two directions in life cannot coexist. I have personally counseled many Christians who have tried to do both and failed. They try to ride the fence by seeking to enjoy the pleasures of this world, and at the same time follow the Lord. But it can’t be done! It will never work! If you are an unhappy Christian; frustrated, striving for happiness and yet still feel dead inside, you are still trying to conform yourself to this world. Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon” (Matt. 6:24). “He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters” (Luke 11:23). Consider the words no one can serve two masters. He means what He says, no one can do it. Instead of trying to conform to this world, you need to be conformed to Christ and His character. Paul taught earlier in this epistle, “For whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed [To what?] to the image of His Son” (Rom. 8:29). I want to be like Jesus, not like the people in this world. Isn’t this what you want too? God has predestined you to be conformed into the image of Christ. All you have to do is present and surrender yourself to Him and He will bring that to pass (Phil. 1:6). 

So, when a Christian tells me, “I can't live the Christian life. I can't get victory in this or that part of my life.” I tell them, “Wait a minute! The Bible says that God has foreknown you and predestined you to be conformed to the image of His Son. So, what’s keeping that from happening in your life?” It’s a failure to present your bodies as a living sacrifice to Him. Do you see this is what the problem is? For those of you who are struggling with some issue in your flesh, an addiction, a character flaw, God has already won the victory and purposed to conform you to that victory. He has already given you a way to overcome, and it’s by submitting yourself, yielding yourself, and presenting yourself to Him! Only then will He conform you into the image of His Son. 

Before I leave this topic, I want you to consider how a person conforms himself or herself to this world. I believe this is very important to understand. There are many ways that you are pressured every single day to conform yourself to this present age. The word used in this verse translated world, means this present age. God doesn’t want us to be conformed to this age, or its values, this world system, or its goals. Yet the persuasion and the pressure of this world comes at us every time we listen to a commercial on television. That commercial is attempting to persuade you. You are being persuaded to conform, to be something, or to do something they want. Some of the persuasion is over non-moral issues, such as using a certain toothpaste to whiten or clean your teeth better. These are not moral issues. It might be a good idea to have clean and healthier teeth. But when you have a commercial that is persuading you to view yourself the way the world views you, by its goals or values, or to conform to a moral issue, this is what Paul is talking about. You must recognize the moral persuasion and refuse it. When you are asked to buy this or that beer so you can have friends or be happy like the people in the commercial are, you are being pressured to conform to the world’s values.

This also happens when you are around certain people in your life. These individuals are either going to influence you to be conformed to the image of Christ, or they are going to influence you to conform to this world. This is why Solomon warned, “He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed” (Prov. 13:20). Therefore, you must be aware of the subtle and not so subtle influences in your life.

The pressure to conform, compromise, and follow the crowd is a daily struggle that each of us must fight and win. The pressure to conform comes in many different forms. When you yield and give in to your fleshly desires it means you have conformed to and given in to your old nature. You have not chosen to present yourself to God and have stopped fighting the good fight of faith. Every time you condemn yourself because you are not good enough to go to heaven, you are listening to the world’s wisdom. Likewise, when you compare yourself with others and exalt yourself in pride, thinking, I am so good, I’m not like other people who mess up all the time, you have again surrendered and conformed to the values and thinking of this world. Every time you go with the crowd and compromise your own values you are conforming yourself to this world and not being conformed into the image of Christ. In the Old Testament, God revealed that He knew all about conforming to the pressure of the people around you. God spoke through Moses and said, “You shall not circulate a false report. Do not put your hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness [That is in court]. You shall not follow a crowd to do evil; nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after many to pervert justice” (Ex. 23:1-2). In other words, God is commanding His people to just tell the truth, and not be a party to anything but the truth. Don’t follow the crowd to do evil, because that is when you will end up doing evil.

However, every time you speak up for truth, you declare, “I will not conform to the lies of this world, its morals, or its values.” Every time you say no to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, or the pride of life, and draw near to the Lord, you are saying, “I want to be conformed to the image of Christ.” It is essential that you question yourself as to who and to what are you conforming yourself. Is it Christ or the world? Am I being conformed to people’s values, morals, and priorities, or to God’s?

Remember that Paul has already questioned his readers concerning what and who they are presenting themselves to. He said in Romans 6:13-14, “And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” In Romans 12:1, Paul is just reminding his readers that they must present themselves to God if they want to realize and experience God’s blessings in their lives. This is the only way that sin will not have dominion over you anymore.   

4. Presenting yourself will allow your heart and mind to be transformed.

Now, how do you stay in that place with the Lord, so you won’t be conformed to this world? The answer is all that has been previously explained, plus one more thing, allowing your mind to be transformed. What you allow to go on in your mind has a lot to do with how victorious you will be as a Christian. Your thinking will determine whether you will be conformed into the image of Christ or the image of this world. Consider what Jesus said to the Pharisees in Matthew 9:4, “Why do you think evil in your hearts?” Notice that Jesus was connecting what they were thinking about, and the condition of their heart. This is why here in Romans 12:2, Paul declared, “And be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Conformity to this world is more than external behavior. God wants to transform your thinking, which will directly affect your heart. Once God transforms your thinking, and your heart, the correct external behavior naturally follows, but He must get a hold of what is going on inside of you first. Until that occurs, you will continue to conform yourself to this world, and not be transformed into the image of Jesus. Remember that the heart and the mind, when spoken of in Scripture, are always synonymous. So, if worldly thoughts control your mind, you are also yielding your heart. If you reject the world’s thinking, values, and morals, and allow God’s thoughts to control your heart and your mind, then you will be transformed.

But how does this transformation occur? How does God get control of your thinking and your heart? How does He get inside you to do that? This is, of course, after you have presented yourself to Him.

(a) The simplest way to bring your thinking into alignment with God’s thinking is to read the Scripture daily. This simple solution allows God to plant His truth, values, and morals inside of you. His Word is like a seed that is planted inside of you that will naturally bear the fruit of change. Jesus referred to His Word as a seed in the Parable of the Sower in Luke 8:5-8. “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside; and it was trampled down, and the birds of the air devoured it. Some fell on rock; and as soon as it sprang up, it withered away because it lacked moisture. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it. But others fell on good ground, sprang up, and yielded a crop a hundredfold." When He had said these things He cried, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”  Then Jesus immediately interpreted this parable in Luke 8:11-15. “Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away. Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity. But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.” It is clear from Christ’s explanation of this parable that there are four different types of people who hear the Word of God. The choices each person makes in their personal life will be the determining factor as to whether or not a person is transformed and changed. Make the choice to present yourself to Him, and then plant His Word in your heart. The result will be the fruit of transformation.

(b) Second, transformation happens by the power of the Holy Spirit working to convict and encourage you through the Word. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 3:18, “We all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” Note that this transformation in your heart and mind takes place by the Holy Spirit as you yield to Him. The words being transformed in this verse are in the present tense, which means that the Holy Spirit is continually doing this work of transformation in your life. God takes His Word and brings it into your mind, which then changes your behavior as you surrender to Him. This process has happened many times to you, sometimes without your conscious acknowledgement. It usually happens like this. You are about to take some action in your life and suddenly, some verse of Scripture pops into your mind that either reproves you so you won’t take that action, or it encourages you to go forward as confirmation. That’s how the Holy Spirit is continually at work changing and transforming you into His image. The question is, do you hear His voice, and are you obedient to His voice? Without hearing and obeying, nothing is going to happen. Remember, Jesus ended the Parable of the Sower with these words, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

If you say, “I don’t see a lot of fruit in my life, or I don’t see a lot of the fruit of the Spirit within me,” What is wrong? The answer is simple. You must not be presenting yourself as a living sacrifice, or not allowing the Word and the Spirit to work in you, or you are conforming to this world, or all the above. Whatever the reason, it reveals that you are on the wrong track. I can assure you that you will never be happy or filled with the power of God until you surrender yourself to Him! You have a decision to make! What will you do?

(c) Surrender your will. Surrendering your entire self must happen. Christ is our perfect example of a Man presented to God, refusing to be conformed to this world, filled with the Holy Spirit, and whose will was to do the will of the Father. Jesus said, “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me” (John 6:38). This was the mission of the Son of God. In Luke 22:42, Jesus prayed in the garden and said, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will but Yours be done.” Notice, this is a prayer and Jesus was declaring, “Not My will but Yours.” Here is the example you should follow. If Jesus prayed this way, you need to pray this way too, and surrender your will to Him. When you do this, that is when real life begins. As you continue to surrender yourself your spiritual life will continue to grow and produces the fruit of the Spirit and the fruit of righteousness inside you. Jesus again said in John 7:17, “If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority.” The word wills means to choose or desire to do His will. In addition, the word wills and to do are both verbs in the present tense, which means that you must continually will and choose to do His will. In other words, Jesus is saying, if anyone continually wills to continually do His will, he will know concerning the doctrine or the teaching, whether it is from God or whether I speak of my own authority. If you truly want to know if what Jesus taught is really the truth, just will to do His will, and you will be convinced. Make the choice and surrender your will into His hands. This is how you will be enabled to walk directly into His perfect will for your life. If you want His will, surrender your will! This is where the transformation of your life will occur.

What happens if you don’t present yourself to God?

Two basic things will happen to you if you refuse to present yourself to God. First, you will not experience the life that God has promised to those who love and follow Him. You will not be satisfied in the Lord, because you will be constantly fighting with God and resisting the work He wants to do in your life. You will be one unhappy Christian, because you cannot experience the abundant life He promises (John 10:10)! Remember Paul told us this very thing in Romans 8:13. Speaking to Christians he said, “If you live according to the flesh you will die.” The word live and the word die in this verse are both in the present tense. In other words, “If you live continuously after the flesh, you are going to continually experience death inside. We all experienced this death inside before coming to Christ. But you can also experience this death inside when you attempt to ride the fence in your walk with Christ. However, Paul also gives another option in this verse. “But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” The words put to death are also in the present tense, which means if you continually reject the lusts of your flesh, and surrender to the Spirit, you will experience abundant life. It’s your choice and your decision. 

The second thing that happens if you refuse to present yourself, you will never find and experience the perfect will of God in your life. Why? Because you are resisting His will for your life by refusing to present and surrender yourself to Him. George Muller said that “nine tenths of the problem in discerning God’s will, is that we have a will.” When you surrender your will, then you will naturally see what God’s will is. Muller also said, “Lord, I don't care what You want me to do, it makes no difference to me. Just tell me what to do, and I will do it, because I know that Your will is the best for my life.” Have you ever said this to God? If you haven’t, I would suggest you start here. Surrender to His will for your life, and you will know and prove what is the perfect will of God for your life. This is how you will become His workmanship as Paul stated in Ephesians 2:10. If you would like to study the will of God in a more in-depth way, go to www.covenantkeepers.org and click on the “Bible Studies” tab, then “Discipleship” and the “Growing in Christ,” study lessons 1 and 2.

If you want to experience God’s sovereign will for your life, then obey God’s moral will as it is taught in the New Testament. If you obey His moral will for you, then you will walk right into His specific will for your life, and naturally into His perfect sovereign will. God’s sovereign will is going to occur whether you agree with it or obey it. The question is, will you be a part of His will and plan? May each of you reading this understand how extremely important this is for you and your own happiness in life. Jesus said, “If you know these things, blessed [happy] are you if you do them” (John13:17).