Who Is Hindering Us From Obeying The Truth? Part 6 9-Ways To Win The War Number 6 Hate Evil

The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverse mouth I hate. Proverbs 8:13 (NKJV)

We are looking at a devotional series titled, Who Is Hindering Us From Obeying The Truth? In the first two Parts of this series, we looked at how we can be hindered when Satan tempts us into believing our faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior is not enough to be saved. And we looked at how we can be hindered when the enemy deceives us through distractions and diversions.  It's those times when the enemy can get us to take our eyes off of God, and put them on something else--things distracting us, taking our time, and causing strongholds in our Christian walk. 

We are looking at 9-ways to win this war against Satan's temptations, distractions, and strongholds in our lives. The first five things were: 

1.    We need to make Jesus our Lord (Lk. 6:46; Rom. 6:5-14).
2.    We need to Repent (Turn around) (Acts 2:38)
3.    We need to "Stand fast" in the Power of God! (Zech. 4:6; Eph. 6:10; James 4:7)
4.    We need to Get Dressed For Battle--Put on our Spiritual armor. (Eph 6:12-18)
5.    We need to "Think Properly!" (2 Cor 10:5)

Let's take a look at the 6th thing we must do to win this war on temptations, distractions, and strongholds, which is:

6.    We Must Hate Evil (Ps. 36:1-4; Rom. 12:9)

As "New Creations in Christ Jesus" (2 Cor 5:17), we have been given a new heart and a new nature.  This new nature is in opposition to our old nature and fleshly ways of living.  And as a result of this new nature,

 -The old things have passed away.
 -All things have become new.
 -We should hate those things known to be an abomination to God--sinful things.  
 -We should be hating any words coming out of our mouth that don't edify--those words creating division and the ones that are slanderous.
 -We should hate any action we are doing not being done in agape love--those actions done for selfish motives.
 -We should hate any sexual sin such as fornication, adultery, and pornography.

We need to remember, even though we have been given a new nature when we accept Jesus as Lord and Savior, our flesh is still the old flesh, and it will still desire the things of this world.  We need to crucify these desires one temptation at a time as we bring our thoughts captive, and replace these tempting thoughts with the truth of God's Word.

Again, it is the difference of following our feelings, or obeying God.  Look what the Psalmist David said about those who follow their feelings in the flesh, and choose not to obey God:

An oracle within my heart concerning the transgression of the wicked:  There is no fear of God before his eyes. For he flatters himself in his own eyes, When he finds out his iniquity and when he hates. The words of his mouth are wickedness and deceit; He has ceased to be wise and to do good. He devises wickedness on his bed; He sets himself in a way that is not good; He does not abhor evil. Psalms 36:1 (NKJV)
Jesus let His followers know what it meant to truly love Him, when He said,  "If you love Me, keep My commandments." (See John 14:15). And we are told in Romans 12:9 to, "let love be without hypocrisy." So obviously, loving God and doing evil are mutually exclusive. And we see this same truth being spoken of in the Proverbs, where it says, "The fear of the LORD is to hate evil", and in the Psalms, where it says, "You who love the LORD, hate evil!" (See Prov. 8:13, Psalms 97:10).

Hear me in this Christian, we need to HATE evil!  We need to hate the sin, and what it does to us--how it divides, kills, and destroys our relationships, our Christian walk, and our very lives.  When we truly hate it, we will begin to lay everything down that is evil in our lives.  This is a must if we are to properly fight the enemy and conquer our temptations, distractions and strongholds.  

I want to encourage you today to make a list of things in your life you know to be evil (Things not in God's will), and then ask God to give you the strength to stop them.  


STUDY QUESTION: How should we feel about evil according to the Scriptures contained within this devotional?

PERSONAL INVENTORY: Are you willing to hate those things God hates?

APPLICATION: Make a list of anything in your life that you know to be evil.  Ask God to allow you to view them as He does.  Now ask Him to help you lay them down and to be healed of them.