Bible Answer

Is it God’s will for believers to desire and obey Him?

Does God give us our will to desire and be obedient to Him, or is that our responsibility after He saves us?

God’s command to every believer is to be obedient, but our obedience requires we follow the leading of the Spirit rather than giving in to the temptations of our flesh. So obedience is a yielding process, allowing Christ to live through us in place of our sinful nature. Naturally, this will be a struggle for every Christian, since our sinful nature doesn't wish to yield. We must discipline our flesh so that our new spirit may have the freedom to follow Christ. 

Paul describes this struggle in Romans 7, where he acknowledges that every believer will fall back into sin from time to time because of our flesh. Nevertheless, Christ expects us to fight against this desire so we may please God through our obedience to His commands. As we yield to Christ's desires in this way, we may know true peace and contentment. 

We recommend you listen to our Romans study for more background on this issue, and we also recommend our Ephesians study