The battle of the will begins at birth!   I hear my baby grandson declare, “mine” defiantly to his brother, as he clutches his play cars.  Sharing is a foreign concept involving personal sacrifice which has to be taught at an early age...  This conflict of the will for mankind is rooted in the claim from our sovereign God, the Lord Jesus Christ, and His purpose for our lives.  He taught His disciples to pray, “Thy will be done in earth, as it is in Heaven” (Matthew 6:10).  Know that God’s will for your life will never contradict His Heaven sent, divinely inspired Holy Word.  Major decisions in life should always be immersed in prayer and in some cases include fasting.
   Nobody wants to be told what to do; it is difficult to surrender your will, your ambition, and your supposed purpose in life, into the hands of an unseen God.  But when we pray and seek the guidance of the Great Shepherd, submitting ourselves to Him, His will is always best!  “... according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will” (Ephesians 1:11).  Too many Christians try to juggle their “Christian” life as a balancing act between pleasing God and pleasing self.  They are trying to lay up treasure in Heaven while building bigger barns for treasure on earth…    The solution to this dilemma is found in 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.”
                                           The Will of God Requests Surrender
   Paul says, I’m begging you to surrender!  The question is, “Do we want to do God’s will?” If the answer is yes, then clearly you must surrender your will to His.  We are requested to submit because of God’s mercies.  Have you considered God’s mercies in your life recently? Have you thought of all that the Lord has tolerated in our lives as we fail Him daily?  “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not they are new every morning: great is Thy faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22, 23).  If you are a born again Christian God showed His mercy when He saved you.  “But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace ye are saved” (Ephesians 2:4,5).
                                               The Will of God Requires Sacrifice
   Too often, people make big decisions first then ask God to bless their ambitious plans.  But we are instructed to present our bodies a living sacrifice.  That means it will cost us to give up our will for His intentions.  The One who orchestrated the Universe in all of its complexities has a purpose for your life, but you’ll have to sacrifice your will for His.  The apostle Paul was actively doing what he thought was a “good” religious task with his life, protecting Judaism through his zealous attacks on the early church.  But when God captured Paul’s attention on the road to Damascus he cried out, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?”  Paul surrendered, and acknowledged the Lordship of Christ, while presenting his body a living sacrifice…    What does the Lord want you to do?  I don’t know, but are you willing to forfeit your personal desires!  This is a major step in learning God’s will, having a surrendered, sacrificial heart.  The Lord has a path for you and I. “In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths” (Proverbs 3:6).  Just as He made the birds to sing and the bees to pollinate, everything in God’s creation have a purpose, you can be sure of that!
                                                 The Will of God Rewards Service
   Surrendering to God’s will is our reasonable service!  “What shall it profit a born-again Christian, if he should gain the whole world out of selfish greed ignoring God’s will and lose his reward in Heaven?”   Life is short and at the Judgment Seat of Christ the only thing that will matter is our faithful obedience to God’s will and purpose for our lives.  All of our selfish acts will be burned.  “If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire”( I Corinthians 3:14,5).
   But then too, “…What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mark 8:36, 37).  It’s not God’s will for anyone to go to Hell.  He is, “… longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (II Peter 3:9).  People choose to reject His gift of salvation by going their own way.  If you’ve never turned from sin to Christ then you need to surrender and obey His will for you.   “... and Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37).

                                                                                                                                                       TjM