"According to Your Word"

Then Mary said, "Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her.

—Luke 1:38

Many times we wonder what the will of God is for our lives. Let me suggest that you simply say, "Lord, I am willing to obey, even though I don't completely understand what it is that You're asking me to do."

That is what Mary did. She didn't fully understand what the angel Gabriel was telling her, but she obeyed just the same. She took a leap of faith. This is the attitude God looks for in His servants: childlike faith and obedience.

The Bible gives us great direction for knowing God's will:

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. 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. (Romans 12:1–2)

Notice this passage begins with presenting ourselves to God. It doesn't say, "Find out first what God's will is, and then determine if you want to obey it." Rather, we are to commit ourselves to God. As the J. B. Phillips New Testament puts it, "Don't let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God re-mould your minds from within, so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you is good."

First commit yourself to Him. Then you will know the will of God. We should never be afraid to commit an unknown future to a known God. The condition of an enlightened mind is a surrendered heart.

Maybe the reason we don't know God's will is because we haven't said, "I accept it, and I will obey it." Have you said that to God?

~Greg Laurie~