dedicateyourbodyasalivingsacrifice

Do you ever wonder what the will of God is for your life? There are many facets to the will of God for one’s life. The spectrum of God’s will is wide and vast, and the wonderful thing about God is that He is willing to let us in on knowing what His will is. He has revealed His plans and will for our lives in His word. So let’s look to the word of God for understanding and knowledge of what God’s will is for us.

Jeremiah 29:11 – “For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

In the above verse, the Amplified Bible says “. . . thoughts and plans . . .”. Notice what this verse is saying here, as well as who’s doing the speaking. It’s revealing that the Lord God is making this statement. Notice what He said. He is thinking thoughts of you and preparing plans for your life that will bring you peace, a future and a hope. This is just one facet of the spectrum of God’s will for one’s life.

How can one experience this promise that the Lord God has declared in the book of Jeremiah? I’m glad you asked! Because, I want to share with you some practical steps that we can take in order to assure the will and plan of God for our lives. These steps can be taken immediately in order to begin living in God’s perfect will for our lives.

We can find these steps in the twelfth chapter of the book of Romans. The whole chapter is dedicated to knowing and staying in the will of God for one’s life.

Romans 12:1 – “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.”

The first step that one must take in knowing and staying in the will of God is to dedicate their bodies as a living sacrifice. Why does God ask us to present our bodies to Him? Because, He wants to work His plan and purpose of salvation to a lost and dying world through you and I. God is looking for submitted bodies who are totally sold out to His will. Think about that. He wants to work miracles, healings and salvation through you, and He will do it through feet, hands, eyes, ears and tongues that are submitted to Him.

Notice that it’s our responsibility to present our own bodies. No one else can do this for us. Not your parents, or your spouse or even your pastor can do this for you. Not even God. It’s not God’s responsibility to present your body as a living sacrifice. God will never force you and I to present our bodies to Him. This must be done as an act of our own will. It must come from our hearts filled with love towards Him. Presenting your body to God is not going to be an automatic thing or even easy to do. It must be an act of one’s will. It is a moment by moment; hour by hour; day by day and so on decision.

Romans 6:11-14 – “Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. 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.”

Through the new birth, your old spiritual nature, which was a slave to and connected to selfishness, sin, and death, is now a new spirit, filled with the nature and life of God, which is now reborn in you. So now that you are born again, you are to consider yourself dead to sin and to that old life, and consider yourself alive to God.

This means that you and I must make a quality decision, a decisive choice to yield ourselves to God. As you do, the power of God within you will enable you to fulfill God’s will for your life. You will begin to sense in your heart the direction and plan that God has for your life.

Sin, darkness and no longer have control over you, because you have made the decision to yield your body to the control of the Holy Spirit and the nature of God within you.

So the first step that must be taken in order to know and stay in the will of God for ones life is to dedicate their body as a living sacrifice to God. As you begin to do this on a daily basis you will begin to notice and sense God’s promise from Jeremiah 29, His plans for peace and not for evil, plans to give you a future and a hope for your life. So take the step and begin your journey with the Lord and He will show you all that He has prepared for
you. CLC