A Body Presented

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God — this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Romans 12:1-2

A body presented to God for his exclusive use is the will of God. How do you feel about this? Do you regard it as an intrusion, an interruption of your plans and your program? Or do you regard it as an infinite honor, that mere creatures may be the full expression of the holy and magnificent life of God? This is what Paul calls an intelligent fulfillment of purpose.

You never can find the will of God until you start here. Have you ever made an intelligent presentation of yourself, your body, your soul (your emotional and mental life), and your spirit unto God? Have you ever presented yourself as what you are, nothing, in order that you may have what he is, everything, and step out into every new day in complete expectation that his life will be manifest in you? That is Christianity. That is the will of God.

It takes power to live today. Out in the business world, with its sharp practices and its easy morality, in the social world, with its constant emphasis upon the gratification of the flesh, in all the areas of our life, it takes power to live today. But it is not your power, it takes God's power. His is the only adequate power. The times in which we are living are rapidly weeding out the phonies! If we have not learned what the will of God is in terms of our experience, all the facades that we have erected for others to see will come crashing in utter ruins at our feet as the pressure of the times mounts and exposes the rotten fabric of our lives.

It is God's will that you may be a body wholly filled and flooded with God himself. What a challenge, what a glory, what a marvelous thing; that in the midst of this sweeping current of immorality washing everything down the stream to utter destruction, there may be those who are able to stand in wholesome purity, reflecting the love and grace and glory of the life of Jesus Christ. This is the will of God! When you have found that, the matter of guidance takes care of itself. It is easy for God to lead someone who belongs to him body, soul, and spirit.

Lord, may the full meaning of this break upon me as I walk out on this great principle: that you are in me, Lord, my life, my strength, my victory, my peace, my sanctification.