Will

Today I would like to discuss the incredible, magnificent, life-changing, mind-renewing, saving, healing, delivering power of the will of Almighty God. This is what the apostle Paul had to say about the will of God:
"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 (doctrine, word of ministry and worship of God). 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."  Rom. 12:1-2
Let's start by seeing how Paul described God's will, since it is by this is that we are to "prove" ourselves. In these verses, God's will is described by three adjectives:
good: good, pleasant, agreeable, joyful, happy, excellent, distinguished, upright, honorable
and acceptable: well pleasing (Root 1-prosper, well off) (root 2-pleasing, fit)
and perfect: finished, perfect, wanting nothing to completeness, full grown, adult, mature.
             (root- termination, end, last in a series or succession, the aim, the purpose, the goal
              or point)
There does not appear to be one adjective describing God's will here that is more important, or desirable than the others. His will encompasses all three adjectives. In fact, this description of God's will might have come right out of Jeremiah:
"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope (KJV: to give you an expected end)."  Jer. 29:11
God's provision of Christ to us is the very essence of His good will for us. The angels declared it at Christ's birth, when the babe could not yet express it Himself. However, Christ would, of course, express this good will of His Father with every fiber of His being, with every drop of His blood:
"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace and good will (kindly intent, benevolence, delight, pleasure, satisfaction) toward men!"  Lk. 2:14
We acknowledged and accepted God's good will for us in Christ when we made that choice for His salvation. Why wouldn't we accept that His will is good towards us in all things?
Knowing God's will for us is so powerful, that it transforms the mind. It is completely opposite of what the world believes regarding the purpose and achievement of a successful life. The world does not rely on God for their joy, their prosperity in all things, or their life's goal, or completion. The world says that man chooses or creates his own success and fulfillment of purpose. The world's hope is not in a future that God has ordained for the individual, but instead, whatever efforts and results that man can achieve by, and for himself.
God's will, on the other hand, speaks to the very foundation of our reason for being. Understanding God's will for us affects our choices, our very direction in life. Paul is begging us to understand it, to allow it, to prove it, to exhibit it, to be it, to submit our lives to it. This is our reasonable service, the manner of our worship: we sacrifice our lives, our own plans and the efforts to achieve those plans, our own will, thoughts, religious ideas, our own desires, cravings, demands, even self, the hardest thing to sacrifice. We put them to death in favor of something better, something greater, something that will accomplish in us more than we could ever hope or dream to accomplish for ourselves:
"Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him."   1 Cor. 2:9 (Isa. 64:4)
I don't think these verses from Romans 12 are meant to be used to condemn ourselves or others, but by its revelation, to give us a glimpse of something far greater and far more wonderful than we even want for ourselves. These verses are meant to relieve the burden of the world's thoughts and ways from us, rather than to place a new burden upon us:
"...we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing, but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory."1 Co. 2:6-7
These verses free us, and make us shout, "Hallelujah!!" to the God Who knows the end from the beginning, to the God Who knows the thoughts and plans He has for us, if we would just let Him have the kingship over our lives that we try to keep for ourselves:
"Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven."  Mt. 6:10
How can we pray for God's will to be done in earth, if we refuse His will for ourselves? We are to be the "proof" of how good God's will is in every way.
What a heavy burden it is to devise and carry our whole purpose in life, our future, our striving for success, whether material or spiritual, on our own shoulders. His will for us is JOY, PLEASANTNESS, HAPPINESS, UPRIGHTNESS, PROSPERITY, FULL DEVELOPMENT AND MATURITY IN CHRIST, and more.
Some of our ideas of happiness and pleasantness match the world's ideas more than God's. The joy and happiness found in God's will are not found in sin for a season. They are not found in things that cause harm to our own souls, or to the souls of others. They are not fleeting pleasures and joys that change with the circumstances. The prosperity of God is not rooted in the ways of the world, but deals with the prosperity of the soul, first:
"Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, even as your soul prospers."  3 Jn. 1:2
Our responsibility in this is to show forth how our submission to God's will, our living sacrifice, has transformed our minds and lives. Paul says that our attitude towards ourselves, and our relationship with the whole Body of Christ, is affected by how we understand and exhibit God's will in ourselves (Rom. 12:3-21).
How we understand God's will affects our attitudes about the things of the world as well:
"Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God".  Rom. 13:1
We could go on and on in Romans, as Paul exhorts how to live in the will of God in this world, but not of this world. Everything that he says follows his revelation of the will of God for us.
Let us see God's will for us as the joy and miracle that it was meant to be. We will rush to sacrifice ourselves to the will of God with thanksgiving and joy, as we begin to receive the revelation of it. I dearly want to do this with my life.

Our Father's will for us is the most wonderful thing in the world, and beyond the world.

"How Can It Be?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ben2wwGyOk