“I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.”
Is there something you are doing that you hate doing and it is destroying you?
How Do I Stop Doing What I Hate I Do?
There is a reality that every believer must recognize, and the sooner we do, the better off we will be instead of an inside war between your flesh and your spirit. Galatians 5 tells us they will never come into agreement. This fight will continue until the day we die. Understanding what Paul says in Romans, “what I hate I do,” more understandable and real.
Paul Acknowledges the Struggle with the Sinful Nature
It would be wonderful after we got saved. We would never struggle with sinful natures again. God may remove some appetites when we get saved, but we must still contend with our flesh. This is why Paul said, “what I hate I do.”
Paul makes an acknowledgment of two things that live in us. The spirit motivates our desire to do what is right. The flesh motivates our desire to do what is sinful. Here is the difference between desires before and after we get saved: as Christians, we know that our sin brings stronger conviction, and since we are saved, our actions affect our witness and fellowship.
Sin breaks our communion with Jesus. Think about how we feel when we sin. Emptiness is present. There is a sense of, “why did I do that?” There is remorse, and these things put a divider between us and the Lord. Because these things affect our fellowship with God, we hate them. But now, here is the problem. Even though we hate them, we are sometimes drawn to do them again and again.
“What I Hate I Do” Acknowledges the Weaknesses within Us
Paul also teaches us about watching out for particular weaknesses. We are each drawn to certain types of sins. We all have weak areas, and if we don’t protect them, they can become areas that trip us up. The truth is we all have a certain thing. Over time, we grow to hate them or hate doing them.
How to Stop Doing the Things You Hate to Do
If there are things we hate to do, can we reach the place where we stop doing them? We each have a mix of reasons spiritual, chemical, and/or biological, which is why we have certain weaknesses. We can begin to overcome these weaknesses, both spiritual and practical.
The Spiritual Answer to “What I Hate I Do”
“So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” Galatians 5:16
To overcome the things we hate doing, we need a power greater than our flesh. That power comes from the Holy Spirit. Paul wrote “what I hate I do” in Romans is the same Paul who writes in Galatians that if we walk by the Spirit, we won’t do the things we hate to do.
The first step in overcoming the fleshly impulses in our life is to walk by the power of the Holy Spirit. Walking by His power requires daily renewal and reliance upon his ability to overcome the urges that lie within us as we seek him in prayer and worship and fill our hearts and minds with the word of God, we can build up a level of resistance to the things that would naturally draw us. We overcome natural desires with supernatural strength.
Walking by the Spirit may solve the spiritual need. There is also a practical side to this as well.
The Practical Answer to “What I Hate I Do”
The Holy Spirit helps us not to do the things we hate doing, as one thing He does is he gives us practical wisdom. There are places we go, people we hang out with, and things we listen to that feed our fleshly desires. We must avoid those places.
Here is some wisdom from Jesus regarding this.
“If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.” Matthew 5:29
Is Jesus telling you to cut off your body parts? Not at all, we must cut off from our lives the things that can entice us to sin.
Everything we allow in our space has the potential to affect us and stir up desires, both good and bad, within us. Asked yourself, “Why am I feeding my mind with world stuff?” The things we feed ourselves can move us towards the things we hate or away from them. Cut out anything that could influence us to do things we hate to do.
We can be Victorious over the Things we hate to do
Recognizing the fight is possible. We may have to make some changes in our life. We may have to cut some things off. We may have to use practical tools like counseling, community support, and medicine that we never expected we would need to fight our weaknesses. We can be victorious.
We are not alone in this fight. The Holy Spirit is here to help. Recognize the things we hate doing and work with him to help us overcome them. Ask him what to add to our life and what to cut out. Cutting can sometimes be painful. Still, it is better to cut the thing out now than to leave it alone and potentially cause more harm. Think about it!
WHOSOEVER WILL WORSHIP MINISTRIES
www.wwwmjesus.net
Assoc: Pastor Wesley Fulton
429 Bayou Rd, La Marque, Tx.77568
Need prayer Ch. Ph: 409/933-9878
