---
title: "Walking in His Will"
category: "spiritual-disciplines"
description: "God has a will for every person, a will for His people and a work prepared for each of you. A study of Romans 12:1-2 in five movements: submitting your will, knowing His, seeking it, testing and approving it with a renewed mind, and walking in it."
tags: ["romans", "colossians", "ephesians", "john", "psalms", "will-of-god", "discipleship", "prayer", "method/word-study", "lang/greek", "lang/hebrew"]
draft: false
primary_passage: "Romans 12:1-2"
bible_references: ["Romans 1:28", "Romans 2:17-23", "Romans 6:13-19", "Romans 9:11-18", "Romans 9:20-24", "Romans 9:30-31", "Proverbs 3:5-6", "Proverbs 16:9", "Psalm 32:8", "Acts 15:28", "1 Corinthians 16:7", "Titus 3:5", "1 John 4:1", "Romans 12:3-8", "Romans 14:22", "Colossians 1:9-10", "Colossians 4:12", "Ephesians 2:10", "Ephesians 5:8-17", "Philippians 1:9-10", "Philippians 2:13", "Deuteronomy 29:29", "Micah 6:8", "1 Thessalonians 4:3", "1 Thessalonians 5:18", "1 Timothy 2:4", "2 Peter 3:9", "Matthew 18:14", "John 6:40", "1 Corinthians 1:1", "1 Corinthians 12:11", "Jeremiah 1:5", "Jeremiah 18:6-10", "Psalm 139:16", "Galatians 1:15-16", "2 Timothy 2:20-21", "Matthew 6:10", "Matthew 26:39-42", "Luke 22:42", "John 4:34", "John 5:30", "John 6:38", "John 7:17", "James 1:5", "James 4:13-15", "Psalm 143:10", "Psalm 40:8", "Hebrews 10:5-10", "Hebrews 13:20-21", "Acts 16:6-10", "1 John 2:17", "1 Peter 1:14", "2 Corinthians 3:18"]
date_created: 2026-11-04
date_modified: 2026-11-04
ai_provider_models:
  - anthropic/claude-opus-5.5
---

# Walking in His Will

Paul spent eleven chapters of Romans on what God has done: sin judged, sinners justified, the Spirit
given, Israel and the nations held in one plan of mercy. Then he wrote "therefore", and told the
church in Rome what to do with their lives.

> ✝️ Romans 12:1-2 (ESV)
>
> 1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living
> sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to
> this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what
> is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

**In one sentence:** God has made His will known in His word and in His Son, and as you hand Him
your will, He renews your mind to test and approve it and works in you to walk in it (Romans 12:1-2;
Hebrews 13:21).

## Key Takeaways

*(This section follows the [Key Takeaways](https://the-way.lewy.au/about/key-takeaways/) format — see that page for what each part is for.)*

### Types & Prophecy

- **Prophecy applied to Jesus.** David wrote, "I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is
  within my heart" (Psalm 40:8, ESV). Hebrews puts the psalm in the mouth of Christ coming into the
  world: "Behold, I have come to do your will, O God" (Hebrews 10:7, ESV).

### Lessons about Jesus

- **Jesus lived on His Father's will.** "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to
  accomplish his work" (John 4:34, ESV). He came down from heaven to do it (John 6:38), and He
  sought it in every judgment He made (John 5:30).
- **Jesus prayed the prayer He taught.** In Gethsemane His second prayer was "your will be done"
  (Matthew 26:42, ESV), the same Greek words He gave His disciples in Matthew 6:10.
- **Jesus' obedience is your sanctification.** "By that will we have been sanctified through the
  offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all" (Hebrews 10:10, ESV). He offered His body to
  do God's will, and you now present yours (Romans 12:1).
- **Jesus' Father wills that you be saved.** "This is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks
  on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life" (John 6:40, ESV).

### Memory verses

> ✝️ Romans 12:2 (ESV)
>
> 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by
> testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

> ✝️ Ephesians 2:10 (ESV)
>
> 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared
> beforehand, that we should walk in them.

### Be Transformed

- **Think.** God has a will for you, and He has shown you most of it already. He wants you saved
  (1 Timothy 2:4), made holy (1 Thessalonians 4:3) and thankful (1 Thessalonians 5:18), and He
  prepared good works for you before you were born again (Ephesians 2:10).
- **Attitude.** Hold your plans with an open hand, the way James teaches: "If the Lord wills, we
  will live and do this or that" (James 4:15, ESV).
- **Do.** This week, pray Colossians 1:9-10 by name for one person you are praying about a decision
  with, and then for yourself: "filled with the knowledge of his will… so as to walk in a manner
  worthy of the Lord."

### Prayer

Father, your will is good, pleasing and perfect, and you have made it known to your children. You
want every person to come to you, and you sent your Son Jesus, who delighted to do your will and
offered His body for us. We present ourselves to you now, body and mind. Not our will, but yours,
be done. Teach us to do your will, and let your good Spirit lead us on level ground. Renew our
minds, so that we can test and approve what you want. Show us the good works you prepared for us,
and give us strength to walk in them.

In Jesus' name. Amen.

## Study outline

- [Romans 12:1-2 in its place](#romans-121-2-in-its-place). Where the passage sits, and one Greek
  verb Paul uses four times in Romans.
- [Submitting your will](#submitting-your-will). Presenting yourself to God, and Jesus in
  Gethsemane.
- [Knowing His will](#knowing-his-will). What God has revealed: His will for every person, for His
  people, and for you.
- [Seeking His will](#seeking-his-will). Jesus seeking His Father's will, and how Scripture tells
  you to ask.
- [Testing and approving His will](#testing-and-approving-his-will). The renewed mind, and how a
  believer discerns the choices Scripture does not name.
- [Following His will](#following-his-will). The walk, and the God who equips you for it.
- [Discussion questions](#discussion-questions). Six, for a group or on your own.

## Romans 12:1-2 in its place

Paul wrote Romans from Corinth around AD 57, to churches he had not yet visited (Romans 1:10-13;
15:22-25). Chapters 1-11 set out the gospel. Chapters 12-16 tell those churches how to live it. The
two verses above stand at the turn, and the rest of the letter fills them in: humility and gifts
(Romans 12:3-8), love (Romans 12:9-21), the governing authorities (Romans 13:1-7), the weak and the
strong (Romans 14:1-15:13). That is "the will of God" in Paul's own sentences.

The verb at the end of verse 2 is δοκιμάζω (*dokimazō*, dok-ee-MAD-zo, G1381). It means to test
something and, having tested it, to approve it, as a metal is tried and passed. It occurs 23 times
in the New Testament, and four of them are in Romans. Three of those four tell a story:

| | The mind | What it does with God |
|---|---|---|
| Romans 1:28 | ἀδόκιμος, "debased", unapproved | "they did not see fit (οὐκ ἐδοκίμασαν) to acknowledge God" |
| Romans 2:17-23 | instructed from the law | "know his will and approve what is excellent" (2:18), then stand accused of theft and adultery (2:21-22) |
| Romans 12:2 | renewed | tests and approves "the will of God" |

The world that refused to approve God was handed over to a mind God could not approve. The man who
knew God's will and approved it went on breaking it. Romans 12:2 answers both. God gives His people
a new mind, and that mind approves His will and does it. That is the gospel of Romans 1-11 at work
in a life.

## Submitting your will

### Present your bodies

"Present" is παρίστημι (*paristēmi*, pah-RIS-tay-mee, G3936), to place something at another's
disposal. Paul used it five times in Romans 6 before he used it here:

> ✝️ Romans 6:13 (ESV)
>
> 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves
> to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments
> for righteousness.

Every person presents themselves to someone, and "you are slaves of the one whom you obey" (Romans
6:16, ESV). Romans 12:1 asks for the whole of you, the body included, laid on God's altar alive. The
motive is "the mercies of God". You give yourself to a God who has already given you everything in
His Son. [True Worship](https://the-way.lewy.au/christian-life/true-worship/) works through the word Paul uses for that offering,
λατρεία (*latreia*, lah-TRY-ah, G2999), "worship".

### Willing comes before knowing

Jesus promised knowledge to the person who has already decided to do God's will. He said, "If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God"
(John 7:17, ESV). The Greek is ἐάν τις θέλῃ τὸ θέλημα αὐτοῦ ποιεῖν, "if anyone wills to do His
will". The noun is θέλημα (*thelēma*, THEL-ay-mah, G2307), "will" or "what is willed".

So submission comes first in this study. Romans 12 runs the same way: present yourself (verse 1),
be renewed (verse 2), then you will test and approve.

### Not my will

In Gethsemane Jesus prayed, "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless,
not as I will, but as you will" (Matthew 26:39, ESV). He went away a second time and prayed,
"your will be done" (Matthew 26:42, ESV). The Greek is γενηθήτω τὸ θέλημά σου, word for word the
petition He taught His disciples (Matthew 6:10). Jesus prayed His own prayer at the hardest moment
of His life. [The Lord's Prayer](https://the-way.lewy.au/christian-life/lords-prayer/#your-kingdom-come-your-will-be-done) works through
that petition, and [The Cups Jesus Drank](https://the-way.lewy.au/jesus/the-cups-jesus-drank/) through the cup itself.

This shows that God the Son, equal with the Father, chose His Father's will over His own wish, and
that His choosing is your salvation: "by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of
the body of Jesus Christ once for all" (Hebrews 10:10, ESV).

James brings the same submission into a business plan. "Instead you ought to say, 'If the Lord
wills, we will live and do this or that'" (James 4:15, ESV). [In Humility](https://the-way.lewy.au/christian-life/humility/) takes up
that verse.

## Knowing His will

### The revealed things belong to you

What God has revealed is yours to know, and you know it in order to do it. "The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to
our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law" (Deuteronomy 29:29, ESV; 29:28 in
the Hebrew). God's purpose for the whole creation is His to carry out. He "works all things
according to the counsel of his will" (Ephesians 1:11, ESV).

Micah says the same to Israel: "He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD
require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" (Micah
6:8, ESV). "He has told you" is <span dir="rtl">הִגִּיד</span> (*higgid*, hig-GEED, H5046), He has declared
it.

Scripture names God's will in three circles, from the widest to the nearest.

### His will for every person

God wants every person saved. He "desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of
the truth" (1 Timothy 2:4, ESV). He is "not wishing that any should perish, but that all should
reach repentance" (2 Peter 3:9, ESV). Jesus said, "it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven
that one of these little ones should perish" (Matthew 18:14, ESV), and named the way: "everyone who
looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life" (John 6:40, ESV).

This shows that God is a Saviour by will. The cross was His plan, and the invitation goes to
everyone. If you have not yet come to His Son Jesus, His will for you today is that you come.

### His will for His people

Some of God's will is named in so many words:

- "For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality"
  (1 Thessalonians 4:3, ESV).
- "Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you"
  (1 Thessalonians 5:18, ESV).
- "Whoever does the will of God abides forever" (1 John 2:17, ESV), set against loving the world
  (1 John 2:15-16).

Romans 12:3-15:13 is a long list of the same kind. Most of what God wills for your Monday is already
on the page. A believer who is praying about a job and stealing from the current one has the
question the wrong way round.

### His will for you

God also has work for each person by name. "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for
good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:10, ESV).
"Workmanship" is ποίημα (*poiēma*, POY-ay-mah, G4161), a thing made. "Prepared beforehand" is
προητοίμασεν (*proētoimasen*, pro-ay-TOY-mah-sen, G4282). God made you, and He made the works ready before you arrived
at them.

Scripture shows this will at work in particular lives:

- **Before birth.** "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you… I appointed you a prophet to the
  nations" (Jeremiah 1:5, ESV). "In your book were written, every one of them, the days that were
  formed for me" (Psalm 139:16, ESV). Paul says God "set me apart before I was born" to preach to
  the Gentiles (Galatians 1:15-16, ESV).
- **A calling.** Paul was "called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus" (1
  Corinthians 1:1, ESV).
- **Gifts.** Straight after Romans 12:2, Paul says each believer has "gifts that differ according to
  the grace given to us" (Romans 12:6, ESV). The Spirit "apportions to each one individually as he
  wills" (1 Corinthians 12:11, ESV).
- **A route.** In Acts 16:6-10 the Holy Spirit closed Asia and Bithynia to Paul, and a vision
  called him to Macedonia.

### Vessels for honourable use

Paul pictures a great house with "vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for
honorable use, some for dishonorable" (2 Timothy 2:20, ESV). Then he says who becomes which:

> ✝️ 2 Timothy 2:21 (ESV)
>
> 21 Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for
> honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.

"Ready" is ἡτοιμασμένον (*hētoimasmenon*, hay-toy-maz-MEN-on, G2090), from the same root as Ephesians 2:10's "prepared".
God prepares the works, and He prepares the vessel for them. The door into honourable use is open
to "anyone".

#### The potter in Romans 9, a contested reading

Romans 9:21 uses the same picture: "Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same
lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?" (ESV). What it is about is
contested, and the text gives reasons on both sides.

- **Persons, to mercy or to wrath.** Paul's examples are individuals: Jacob and Esau, chosen
  "though they were not yet born" (Romans 9:11-13, ESV), and Pharaoh, raised up "for this very
  purpose" (Romans 9:17, ESV). His conclusion is "he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens
  whomever he wills" (Romans 9:18, ESV), and the vessels of mercy are "us whom he has called"
  (Romans 9:24, ESV). The *ESV Study Bible* reads the two vessels as the saved and the unsaved (note
  on Romans 9:20-21).
- **Peoples, in God's plan.** Paul's question is about Israel and the Gentiles (Romans 9:24; 9:30-31),
  and the potter comes from Jeremiah 18, where the clay is "the house of Israel" and the outcome
  turns on whether a nation repents (Jeremiah 18:6-10).

Either reading has to account for Romans 9:23: the vessels of mercy are ones God "prepared
beforehand for glory" (ESV). The verb is προητοίμασεν, the same verb as Ephesians 2:10's good works
"prepared beforehand", and those are its only two uses in the New Testament. Both readings affirm
what the verse says plainly: God is the potter, He has the right to shape each vessel for a use,
and no clay may answer back.

## Seeking His will

### Jesus sought it

The Son of God sought His Father's will. "I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me" (John 5:30, ESV). The verb is ζητέω
(*zēteō*, dzay-TEH-o, G2212), "seek". He judged rightly because He sought it. If He sought, you will need to.

### Ask Him

Scripture's first instruction for seeking is to ask.

- **Ask to be taught.** "Teach me to do your will, for you are my God! Let your good Spirit lead me
  on level ground!" (Psalm 143:10, ESV). "Your will" is <span dir="rtl">רְצוֹנֶךָ</span> (*retsonekha*,
  from רָצוֹן *ratson*, rah-TSOHN, H7522), what pleases you. The Septuagint translates it τὸ θέλημά
  σου, the New Testament's word.
- **Ask for wisdom.** God "gives generously to all without reproach" (James 1:5, ESV).
- **Ask for others.** Paul prayed that the Colossians would "be filled with the knowledge of his
  will" (Colossians 1:9, ESV), and Epaphras prayed for the same (Colossians 4:12).

[Prayer: Communion with God](https://the-way.lewy.au/christian-life/prayer-as-communion/#your-will-be-done-you-seek-his-will-first)
shows how seeking His will first shapes everything else you ask, and
[How God Answers Prayer](https://the-way.lewy.au/christian-life/how-god-answers-prayer/) shows how He answers, Gethsemane included.

### Seek in the word, and keep walking

"Knowledge" in Colossians 1:9 is ἐπίγνωσις (*epignōsis*, ep-IG-no-sis, G1922), knowledge that has
taken hold. Paul prays for it in a letter written against teachers who offered a higher knowledge
(Colossians 2:4, 8). The knowledge of God's will grows where His word is read. "Your word is a lamp
to my feet and a light to my path" (Psalm 119:105, ESV). A lamp lights the next step.

Acts 16 shows a seeker on the move. Paul tried Asia and was stopped; he tried Bithynia and was
stopped again. When the vision came, "we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had
called us" (Acts 16:10, ESV). "Concluding" is συμβιβάζοντες (*symbibazontes*, soom-bee-BAD-zon-tes, G4822), putting it
together. Paul reasoned from what God had shown him. This is a narrative. It shows God directing a
missionary who was already obeying the Great Commission. It gives no method you are told to copy,
and Scripture never promises you a vision for a decision.

## Testing and approving His will

### Transformed

Romans 12:2 uses two rare verbs. "Be conformed" is συσχηματίζω (*syschēmatizō*, soos-khay-mah-TID-zo, G4964), to be
pressed into a pattern. It occurs twice in the New Testament, here and in 1 Peter 1:14, "do not be
conformed to the passions of your former ignorance" (ESV). "This world" is αἰών (*aiōn*, eye-OHN, G165),
"this age"; [The End of the Age](https://the-way.lewy.au/last-things/end-of-the-age/) traces that word.

"Be transformed" is μεταμορφόω (*metamorphoō*, met-ah-mor-FO-o, G3339). Besides Romans 12:2 it occurs
three times. Two are the transfiguration of Jesus (Matthew 17:2; Mark 9:2). The third is Paul on
the believer:
"we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same
image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit" (2
Corinthians 3:18, ESV).

Both verbs in Romans 12:2 are present imperatives in the SBLGNT. The first, συσχηματίζεσθε, has a
form that can be middle or passive; the second, μεταμορφοῦσθε, is passive. You are told to
keep being changed, and the One changing you is the Holy Spirit. He does it "by the renewal of your
mind", ἀνακαίνωσις τοῦ νοός (*anakainōsis tou noos*, an-ah-KAI-no-sis too NO-os, G342, G3563). The mind Romans 1:28 left
unapproved is the mind He makes new. Paul calls salvation itself "the washing of regeneration and
renewal of the Holy Spirit" (Titus 3:5, ESV), the only other New Testament use of ἀνακαίνωσις.

### Testing in practice

The renewed mind then does what Romans 12:2 says: "that by testing you may discern what is the will
of God". Paul uses the verb the same way elsewhere:

- "Try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord" (Ephesians 5:10, ESV). The *Legacy Standard Bible*
  footnotes it "Lit proving what".
- "That your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may
  approve what is excellent" (Philippians 1:9-10, ESV).
- "Test everything; hold fast what is good" (1 Thessalonians 5:21, ESV). John uses the same verb
  for testing teachers: "test the spirits" (1 John 4:1, ESV), which
  [Test the Spirits](https://the-way.lewy.au/christian-life/test-the-spirits/) works through.

The *ESV Study Bible* says the verb often means finding out the worth of something "by putting it to
use or testing it in actual practice" (note on Romans 12:2). Testing God's will happens in a life
that is doing it. You try what God has said, find it good, and hold it fast.

The English versions show the verb two ways. The ESV divides it into two verbs, "by testing you may
discern". The NIV and BSB keep both halves: "test and approve". Read the NIV or BSB beside the ESV
here, and you will see that Paul's word ends in approval.

### When Scripture names no choice: two views

Most of God's will is written. Some choices are not: which job, which city, whom to marry among
believers. Christians agree that God directs those (Proverbs 16:9; James 4:15). They differ on how
you discern His direction.

- **One view** holds that God has a specific choice for each decision and leads you to it, by
  Scripture, prayer, circumstances and the inward witness of the Holy Spirit. It points to Proverbs
  3:5-6, "In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths" (ESV), to Acts
  16:6-10, to Ephesians 2:10's works "prepared beforehand", and to Psalm 32:8, "I will instruct you
  and teach you in the way you should go" (ESV).
- **Another view** holds that God's will has two parts, His sovereign will, which governs all
  things, and His moral will, which Scripture reveals. Inside the moral will He gives you freedom,
  and calls you to choose with wisdom, asked for in prayer (James 1:5). On this view there is no
  third, individual will to be found. Garry Friesen's *Decision Making and the Will
  of God* is the best-known case for it. It points out that Romans 12:2's "will of God" is spelled
  out in Romans 12:3-15:13 as moral will, that the Jerusalem council wrote "it has seemed good to
  the Holy Spirit and to us" (Acts 15:28, ESV), and that Paul planned "if the Lord permits"
  (1 Corinthians 16:7, ESV).

Both views stand on the same ground: God's sovereign will governs each life, the written word
governs every choice, and wisdom is asked of God. They differ on what to expect along the way. This
study holds that God has particular work for each person (Ephesians 2:10), and that Scripture
leaves room in how He shows it.

## Following His will

### Walk

Scripture's word for living is "walk". In Hebrew it is <span dir="rtl">הָלַךְ</span> (*halakh*,
hah-LAKH, H1980): Micah 6:8's "walk humbly with your God" is <span dir="rtl">הַצְנֵעַ לֶכֶת</span>
(*hatsnea lekhet*, hats-NEH-ah LEH-khet, H6800, H3212; Strong's files the form *lekhet* under H3212). In Greek it is περιπατέω (*peripateō*, per-ee-pah-TEH-o, G4043), and Paul
uses it at every turn:

- Knowledge of His will is "so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him:
  bearing fruit in every good work" (Colossians 1:10, ESV).
- The works God prepared are there "that we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:10, ESV).
- "Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time,
  because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord
  is" (Ephesians 5:15-17, ESV).

A walk is made of steps. God's will is done the same way, one obedience at a time, in the place you
are standing. [Take Up Your Cross](https://the-way.lewy.au/christian-life/take-up-your-cross/) works through Jesus' own word for it:
"follow me" (Matthew 16:24).

### He works in you

The God who wills is the God who equips. "It is God who works in you, both to will and to work for
his good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13, ESV). Hebrews closes with a blessing over its readers:

> ✝️ Hebrews 13:20-21 (ESV)
>
> 20 Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of
> the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, 21 equip you with everything good that you may do
> his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory
> forever and ever. Amen.

This shows that God equips the people He commands. He raised Jesus from the dead, and He works His
will in you through Jesus. The doctrine is sanctification, and the statement
of faith on this site puts it plainly: "this is the will of God, your sanctification" (1
Thessalonians 4:3, ESV), and "He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it" (1 Thessalonians
5:24, ESV).

### It lasts

"The world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever"
(1 John 2:17, ESV). A life spent walking in God's will is the one thing in this age that will still
be standing in the next. So present yourself to Him today, and walk.

## Discussion questions

1. **The language.** Paul's δοκιμάζω means both "test" and "approve". The ESV renders it "by testing
   you may discern" and the NIV "test and approve" (Romans 12:2). What does the word's "approve"
   add to the way you think about God's will?
2. **The text in its context.** In Romans 2:17-23 a man knows God's will and approves what is
   excellent, and still steals and commits adultery. What does Romans 12:1-2 supply that he did not
   have?
3. **Christ.** Jesus prayed "your will be done" in Matthew 6:10 and again in Gethsemane (Matthew
   26:42). What did it cost Him to pray it the second time, and what did His praying it give you
   (Hebrews 10:10)?
4. **The hard part.** Ephesians 2:10 says God prepared good works for you beforehand, and the
   apostles decided with "it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us" (Acts 15:28, ESV). How
   do you hold God's prepared works and your own wise choices together in a decision you are
   facing?
5. **Seeking.** Jesus said, "If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know" (John 7:17, ESV).
   Which part of God's written will are you waiting to understand better before you obey it?
6. **Be transformed.** Paul prayed Colossians 1:9-10 for a church he had never met. Whom will you
   pray it for this week by name, and what decision of theirs will you name before God?

## References & Recommended Reading

- *English Standard Version* (Crossway), the study's default translation; *New International
  Version* (Biblica) and *Berean Standard Bible* (public domain) compared at Romans 12:2.
- SBLGNT and MACULA Greek for the Greek text and word counts (δοκιμάζω 23 times, συσχηματίζω twice,
  μεταμορφόω four times, θέλημα 62 times); Westminster Leningrad Codex for Psalm 143:10, Micah 6:8
  and Deuteronomy 29:28; the Septuagint's θέλημα at Psalm 143:10 and Psalm 40:8 (LXX 142:10;
  39:9), from the repo's LXX lemma data.
- *ESV Study Bible* (Crossway): introduction to Romans; notes on Romans 12:1-2, Romans 9:20-21 and
  Ephesians 5:10.
- *NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible* (Zondervan): notes on Romans 12:2, Colossians 1:9 and
  Ephesians 2:10.
- *NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible* (Zondervan): note on Romans 12:2.
- *Legacy Standard Bible* (Lockman Foundation): footnotes on Romans 12:2, Ephesians 5:10 and
  Colossians 1:9.
- Garry Friesen with J. Robin Maxson, *Decision Making and the Will of God* (Multnomah, rev. ed.
  2004), for the view that God's moral will leaves room for wise choice.

### On this site

- [Prayer: Communion with God](https://the-way.lewy.au/christian-life/prayer-as-communion/) — seeking His will first in prayer.
- [The Lord's Prayer](https://the-way.lewy.au/christian-life/lords-prayer/) — "your will be done", petition by petition.
- [How God Answers Prayer](https://the-way.lewy.au/christian-life/how-god-answers-prayer/) — Gethsemane, heard.
- [True Worship](https://the-way.lewy.au/christian-life/true-worship/) — Romans 12:1's whole-life worship.
- [The End of the Age](https://the-way.lewy.au/last-things/end-of-the-age/) — "this age" in Romans 12:2.
- [Take Up Your Cross](https://the-way.lewy.au/christian-life/take-up-your-cross/) — deny yourself, and follow.
- [In Humility](https://the-way.lewy.au/christian-life/humility/) — "If the Lord wills".
- [The Cups Jesus Drank](https://the-way.lewy.au/jesus/the-cups-jesus-drank/) — the cup of Gethsemane.