I often hear and see on social media references to "HATERS" and to be honest with you I don't even know if I have any. The odds are that I do but I have grown to a place in my life where none of that even matters. The "hater" that I have chosen to work on is ME. Let me explain....I spent so many years hating parts of my body, parts of my life that I can't go back in time to change, and especially life circumstances. I developed a very unhealthy hidden hatred for myself. I know this may sound crazy but what we call them instead of hatred is insecurity. The opposite of love is hate, so if we are not working to love the areas that are still under construction or out of our control entirely, then we open ourselves up to hatred.
When God began to deal with me heavily about this I began to surrender the parts of me that I knew had become too big of an issue in my life. I surrendered my heart to him and began to pray the prayer, "Search me and know me in my inner most parts. Expose anything in me that I have hidden even from myself so that I can surrender it to you completely." This was hard but it was so necessary for my journey that I had to submit to allowing the change to happen. I even watched a video of a young woman who apologized to her body parts and to God for hating what he deemed to be beautiful and perfect.
Society, our families, and the enemy has created the mirage of "haters" to blind us from seeing the true problem, which is the hater that lives in our own homes. When we open our eyes to see the truth of who we are and who God has deemed us to be we won't care about who is hating on us. We will surrender all that we are so that we can become more like Him. The word of God asks an amazing question, If (I like to say since) God is for us who can stand against us? (Romans 8:31) The answer is no one. So let's live and enjoy life knowing that the enemy is defeated, we are victorious, and that even the external haters will be made footstools to advance us in life.
It's time to kick the hater out of your house!
Pray this prayer with me...
Father I thank you for creating me in your image and likeness, for creating me PERFECT. In the moments when parts of me feel less than perfect remind me of the truth of who I am in you. I surrender every part of who I am and the circumstances of my life that seem to be imperfect and failing to your hands. I know that is the safest place to put everything. Show me the areas of my life and heart that I have developed dislike and hatred for and help me to only profess love to them. I forgive myself for not loving all of me and I forgive those who planted seeds of insecurity within me. From this day forward I will love all of me just as you do, hate cannot live here anymore. It is so in Jesus' name, AMEN!