As we take our last look at Romans 12:2, look at what happens when we let God change the way we think:  ²Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. Romans 12:2 NLT  (Emphasis added)  Have you ever wanted to know God's will for your life?  Every person I've ever met, who is serious about following Jesus has asked, "What is God's will for my life?"  According to Romans 12:2 we will LEARN TO KNOW GOD'S WILL, when we let Him transform us into new people by changing the way we think.

It doesn't happen overnight, just as no worthwhile learning in our lives happens overnight (with the exception of those once in a lifetime moment's when we learn something that stays with us for the rest of our lives!).  What happens over time, though, as we give Jesus control of our minds is He changes what we think and how we think, which is the way we think!  (I just made that up, but if you think about it, you'll get it!)  When Jesus puts new content into our minds, primarily the truth of the Bible, that content begins to impact how we think about things.  For example, the world tells us the one who dies with the most toys wins.  (Or money talks.  Or the one with the gold, makes the rules.  Or .... you get the idea!)  The Bible tells us that money is a tool to be used to advance God's Kingdom.  The Bible tells us to be generous.  The Bible tells those who are rich in this world (that is us!), to USE our wealth to bless others, and in the process we will experience the life that is truly life.  When we keep putting that kind of content in our brains, conflict occurs.  Our brains recognize that both the world's "truth" and God's "truth" can't be true.  (Our brains are cool like that!)  Anyway, as I've been saying for a year or so now, "It doesn't matter what you believe.  It matters what's true."  Our brains already know that, what they don't always know is what IS true.  When we decide that and confirm it to our brains, our brains start to cause us to respond differently.  That's HOW God changes HOW we think.  When someone gives us $100 instead of thinking, "Wow!  I'm going to spend that.  I'm going to buy something for me! I'm going to sock it away in the bank," we think, "Wow!  God has blessed me!  Now, I have the opportunity to invest this in His Kingdom.  I'll give 10% to His work right away. Then, I'll use some of it to care for my family.  Maybe I'll save some of it for later use.  I could add it to the $100 I received last week and make a greater impact in my giving for His Kingdom.  (Exactly what you think may be different.  The point is our thinking goes from thinking of ME, to thinking of God and His purposes.)

That process goes a long way to showing us what God's will is.  We take His word, filter it through our brains, considering all the people, resources and circumstances God has placed in our lives and His will starts to be clearer and clearer to us.   My prayer is that each of us WILL let God transform us through changing the way we think.  Then we WILL learn to know God's will for us.  As we learn to know and then DO it, God uses us to transform the world!

Let's pray:  Heavenly Father, Thank You for changing our minds as we give You control in our lives.  Thank You for having a will that is so amazing in our lives.  Fill us with Your Holy Spirit so we may continue to have our thinking changed, and to continue to learn and do Your will. This we pray in Jesus name.  Amen.