The Deception of Surface Positivity
Romans 5:1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 4and perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. 6For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
Positivity doesn't equate to following Jesus. Positivity is a false "new age" expression of spirituality. It is anti-Jesus unless it is rooted in repentance. Repentance simply means change direction and "agree with God."
Jesus is looking for weakness. Man was made to depend upon God. The original sin was walking contrary to this one truth. Satan attempts to "pump up" confidence in the flesh. "We can do it," "we're gonna make it," "we will overcome!" These are the Antichrist bullet points of a plan to get as many people to rebel against God as possible.
God wants us to humble ourselves and repent.
Redemption centers on this one truth: Man needs God's full leadership to live at all. God is not a coach...he is an absolute source of all direction, hope, and love. He is not casual. He is fierce. He is a fire. You can't come near Him in your current state. He wants to help with that.
That is what Jesus paid for...a re-connection via the Holy Spirit so that we could express, in real time, our need of God.
The platitudes being thrown around right now about "having faith"...being hopeful... Celebrating the good people are doing right now...
Spontaneous choirs, spontaneous prayer meetings... These seeming "breakthroughs" of God's light are literally mostly false light.
This is how you tell: actually encountering God puts you on your face (in your heart) and causes you to become aware of your great lack. It doesn't pump you up, it spills you out and humbles you. Check my math. Anywhere in the Bible you find people coming in contact with the God of hope, you will find people falling down like dead men.
Did you just feel good about God without doing anything but reading or seeing what someone else did with God/for God/seemingly by God? Did you scroll on, feeling good for a minute that there is still "good in the world," or that people are coming to "see they need God," but it didn't change YOU?... Did the meme or video or political assurance of victory get you on your knees to tell Him you needed Him again? Did the hope you touched evoke the cry "God, how long!" .. not because you were hoping for a quick rescue, but because you again realized how unready YOU are to meet Him and convinced of how little time you have to get ready? If a fear of the Lord and an awareness of your need weren't a by-product of your hit of hope, you just got a good dose of false hope.
False hope pulls you in to a hard heart... Into delusion. The deception is subtle. It's warring against our giving of ourselves to Jesus by pacifying our arrogant assumption we are ready and others aren't.
God is looking for us to express our weakness to Him, through a conversation only made possible by the Holy Spirit, that imparts faith from Him to us. Faith is a fruit of His Spirit...not the fruit of a good video, or a story, or even a whole bunch of people spontaneously singing.
Hope is imparted through our conscience choice to express our lack of hope in the midst of trouble.
This is how it works: 1. The trouble makes us aware. 2. Humility causes us to respond to our awareness of need. 3. Faith points that God-given response back to God. 4. God gives us faith, hope, and love in response to intentional, personal requests for it.
Any other hope will fail.
If you look at Jeremiah and Lamentations you will quickly see the pitfalls of our day: People actively worshiping false gods because it gave them a paper thin hope, not realizing this was increasing their judgment. Jeremiah was warning them: don't put on false hope for victory and "godliness" without repentance and embracing the judgment the real God is sending. The Jehovah followers of Jeremiah's day corrupted their worship with false hope and convinced themselves demons were God and God was actually their enemy. That is what false hope does.
If spontaneous choirs were all God was looking for, He wouldn't have let his Son be eviscerated on a wooden cross. It is going to take more than some spontaneous Motown with Jesus' name sprinkled in for effect.
God isn't looking for spontaneous seemingly 'hopeful' prayer meetings reminiscent of a football huddle. God is looking for a complete change of character produced over time. A coming out of fear, selfishness, greed...living for ourselves and blowing him kisses is evil in His sight. It's the height of arrogance.
God is looking for us to come out of a false love of the "good ol days" that really weren't all that good from His perspective.
Do not be deceived. This paper thin hope fueled by videos of people you've never met maybe responding to God in a moment... these will all fail. What is coming next is much bigger than false hope can hold back. It requires a deep conviction of truth. The truth is: we must change to be ready for the Son who rules with a rod of iron and dashes nations in rebellion to pieces.
Jeremiah 13:13“Then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD: “Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land—even the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem—with drunkenness! 14“And I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together,” says the LORD. “I will not pity nor spare nor have mercy, but will destroy them.” ’ ” 15Hear and give ear:
Do not be proud, for the LORD has spoken. 16Give glory to the LORD your God Before He causes darkness, and before your feet stumble
On the dark mountains, and while you are looking for light,
He turns it into the shadow of death and makes it dense darkness.
We need endurance. We need truth. I say this because I believe in our love for Jesus and the saints, not because I don't.
Matthew 24:7“For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.
8“All these are the beginning of sorrows. 9“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. 10“And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. 11“Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. 12“And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. 13“But he who endures to the end shall be saved. 14“And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.
Ephesians 5:1Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. 2And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. 3But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; 4neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. 5For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 6Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 7Therefore do not be partakers with them. 8For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9(for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), 10finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. 11And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.
Positivity doesn't equate to following Jesus. Positivity is a false "new age" expression of spirituality. It is anti-Jesus unless it is rooted in repentance. Repentance simply means change direction and "agree with God."
Jesus is looking for weakness. Man was made to depend upon God. The original sin was walking contrary to this one truth. Satan attempts to "pump up" confidence in the flesh. "We can do it," "we're gonna make it," "we will overcome!" These are the Antichrist bullet points of a plan to get as many people to rebel against God as possible.
God wants us to humble ourselves and repent.
Redemption centers on this one truth: Man needs God's full leadership to live at all. God is not a coach...he is an absolute source of all direction, hope, and love. He is not casual. He is fierce. He is a fire. You can't come near Him in your current state. He wants to help with that.
That is what Jesus paid for...a re-connection via the Holy Spirit so that we could express, in real time, our need of God.
The platitudes being thrown around right now about "having faith"...being hopeful... Celebrating the good people are doing right now...
Spontaneous choirs, spontaneous prayer meetings... These seeming "breakthroughs" of God's light are literally mostly false light.
This is how you tell: actually encountering God puts you on your face (in your heart) and causes you to become aware of your great lack. It doesn't pump you up, it spills you out and humbles you. Check my math. Anywhere in the Bible you find people coming in contact with the God of hope, you will find people falling down like dead men.
Did you just feel good about God without doing anything but reading or seeing what someone else did with God/for God/seemingly by God? Did you scroll on, feeling good for a minute that there is still "good in the world," or that people are coming to "see they need God," but it didn't change YOU?... Did the meme or video or political assurance of victory get you on your knees to tell Him you needed Him again? Did the hope you touched evoke the cry "God, how long!" .. not because you were hoping for a quick rescue, but because you again realized how unready YOU are to meet Him and convinced of how little time you have to get ready? If a fear of the Lord and an awareness of your need weren't a by-product of your hit of hope, you just got a good dose of false hope.
False hope pulls you in to a hard heart... Into delusion. The deception is subtle. It's warring against our giving of ourselves to Jesus by pacifying our arrogant assumption we are ready and others aren't.
God is looking for us to express our weakness to Him, through a conversation only made possible by the Holy Spirit, that imparts faith from Him to us. Faith is a fruit of His Spirit...not the fruit of a good video, or a story, or even a whole bunch of people spontaneously singing.
Hope is imparted through our conscience choice to express our lack of hope in the midst of trouble.
This is how it works: 1. The trouble makes us aware. 2. Humility causes us to respond to our awareness of need. 3. Faith points that God-given response back to God. 4. God gives us faith, hope, and love in response to intentional, personal requests for it.
Any other hope will fail.
If you look at Jeremiah and Lamentations you will quickly see the pitfalls of our day: People actively worshiping false gods because it gave them a paper thin hope, not realizing this was increasing their judgment. Jeremiah was warning them: don't put on false hope for victory and "godliness" without repentance and embracing the judgment the real God is sending. The Jehovah followers of Jeremiah's day corrupted their worship with false hope and convinced themselves demons were God and God was actually their enemy. That is what false hope does.
If spontaneous choirs were all God was looking for, He wouldn't have let his Son be eviscerated on a wooden cross. It is going to take more than some spontaneous Motown with Jesus' name sprinkled in for effect.
God isn't looking for spontaneous seemingly 'hopeful' prayer meetings reminiscent of a football huddle. God is looking for a complete change of character produced over time. A coming out of fear, selfishness, greed...living for ourselves and blowing him kisses is evil in His sight. It's the height of arrogance.
God is looking for us to come out of a false love of the "good ol days" that really weren't all that good from His perspective.
Do not be deceived. This paper thin hope fueled by videos of people you've never met maybe responding to God in a moment... these will all fail. What is coming next is much bigger than false hope can hold back. It requires a deep conviction of truth. The truth is: we must change to be ready for the Son who rules with a rod of iron and dashes nations in rebellion to pieces.
Jeremiah 13:13“Then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD: “Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land—even the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem—with drunkenness! 14“And I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together,” says the LORD. “I will not pity nor spare nor have mercy, but will destroy them.” ’ ” 15Hear and give ear:
Do not be proud, for the LORD has spoken. 16Give glory to the LORD your God Before He causes darkness, and before your feet stumble
On the dark mountains, and while you are looking for light,
He turns it into the shadow of death and makes it dense darkness.
We need endurance. We need truth. I say this because I believe in our love for Jesus and the saints, not because I don't.
Matthew 24:7“For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.
8“All these are the beginning of sorrows. 9“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. 10“And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. 11“Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. 12“And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. 13“But he who endures to the end shall be saved. 14“And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.
Ephesians 5:1Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. 2And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. 3But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; 4neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. 5For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 6Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 7Therefore do not be partakers with them. 8For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9(for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), 10finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. 11And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.
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