Christian, do you know what God wants you to do, what He created you to do? God does call people to preach. God calls people to leave family and possessions behind and move to a foreign land to spread the gospel. God calls people to work or volunteer at Church; things like cleaning, teaching, cooking, organizing special events, the list is endless. He calls people to work in factories, stores, offices, on farms, or just about anywhere. What God calls us to do is not limited to an occupation or how we earn a living. Where we live, play, shop, and eat, everything we do should all be part of God’s plan for us (1 Corinthians 10:31).

Regardless of where you spend your time in life, every person we rub elbows with, Christ died for. If you are a Christian, you know the gospel: we are all sinners, Christ died as the sacrifice for those sins, place your faith in Christ to save your soul, not your good works, but in the blood of Christ, and God will grant you salvation. Wherever God has placed you, in your job, your family, your social group of friends, the stores you shop in, or the restaurants you eat in, God has placed you around a group of people He wants to reach. God wants you to serve Him. How, when, or where He wants to use you is between you and Him; that is why it is so important to know what His will is for your life.

The Bible gives short two-verse instructions on how to know God’s will for your life.

Romans 12:1-2, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

Before we get into what you need to do to know God’s will for your life, notice that it says, “that ye may prove.” You can prove the will of God for your life as you would prove anything else: evidence is needed. Just like in an American court of law, “proven beyond a reasonable doubt.” Evidence is the key. A prosecutor cannot charge someone with a crime, walk into court, and make the only argument, “I really believe that Joe Smith did it.” Neither can a Christian prove what God’s will is by simply believing or feeling it so.

With that said, what do we need to do to know God’s will?

The first thing our passage in Romans tells us to do is “…Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God…”

Our body is what we do stuff with. We use our bodies to pick up a cup, to take a step. Since our body is what we do stuff with, then how can God use us for His glory and will if we refuse to give Him our body?

Many Christians today base what they do and believe on feelings rather than on the Word of God. This has led to a rise in fornication (any sex outside of marriage) among believers. The word fornication is used in 28 verses in the New Testament. Eighteen of those are exhortations, warnings, and commands from God to Christians. The other ten usages are either in God’s guidelines for divorce or in descriptions of the actions of the unsaved.

If God tells us the first step in proving His will is to present our body as a living sacrifice to Him, then how can we ever know God’s will if we dismiss commands He gives us about our body so nonchalantly?

The second thing God tells us to do in order to prove His will is to “…be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

God wants us to set aside the thinking of the world and start thinking like Him. The best way to know someone is to spend time with them. We spend time with God by reading His Word. Some will say that spending time in nature, God’s creation, is the best way to get to know Him. Yes, you can have a good time with God by experiencing His creation, but that does not go deep enough in learning how He thinks. For example, the other day I saw a woman get out of her car. She was dressed entirely in purple. The car was purple. She wore purple lipstick and she had a purple flower in her hair. I’m not a betting man, but I would bet that her favorite color is purple. Through observation, I discovered a fact about this woman, but I do not know what she thinks about God, what hobbies she has, what frightens her, or what gives her joy. She was driving a Ford, so is Ford her favorite type of vehicle, or could she care less who the car maker is? If I wanted to know about this woman, I would need to sit down and listen to what she has to say. My knowledge of her thinking will grow as our relationship moves from strangers to acquaintances to friends. Knowing how God thinks is the same process.

The Bible tells us we can see God’s eternal power and Godhead through nature (Romans 1:20), but to really know how He thinks, you need to study His Word. It is in Scripture that we find out what makes God happy, angry, and sad, and what His opinions are.

When we know how God thinks, we can discern the difference between our feelings and the movement of the Holy Spirit. Nowhere in the Bible is it going to say, “I want Tom Smith to work at (fill in the blank).” But when you know how God thinks, you can take that knowledge and apply it to your life. As you read in Scripture, the things He wants all Christians to do, we can look at the specifics of our lives and answer the question: where am I best suited to do what God wants?

Lastly, about not being conformed to this world. This does not mean we cannot do anything that lacks a Christian theme. But what it does mean is that our priorities are set by what God thinks, what God has said, in other words, by His Word. A simple example is in the activity of fornication mentioned above. The world says it is okay to live with someone you are not married to. The world says it is okay to have sex when you feel like it. God says it is sin and should be avoided at all costs. Not conforming to the world takes the stand that I will do what God says is right and wait until I am married.

As a Christian, do you want to just hope that you get things right, or do you want to prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God? The choice is yours.

Preacher Johnson is Pastor of Countryside Baptist Church in Parke County Indiana. Website: www.preachers-point.com; Email: preacherspoint@gmail.com; Mail: 25 W 1200 N; Kingman IN 47952.  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Timothy-Preacher-Johnson-101171088326638. All Scripture KJV.