Life can get hard and people can be mean. Does thinking positive and speaking positively have a supernatural effect on the negative world around us? Does being positive only invite more positive things to occur? Is there such a thing called "Law of Attraction"? Where does all this positivism come from and what does history prove and God say about it?
Our Will and Deeds
God makes it clear, that our own 'good' deeds are corrupted and polluted with sin (Isaiah 64:6). No matter how hard we try, how deep we think, or how good sounding phrases and words we say; it all comes from a corrupted and polluted heart and mind. So where does the 'positive' and 'good' then come from?
"“The heart is deceitful above all things,
And desperately wicked;"
'Good' and 'Positive'
All good things come from God, not us (James 1:17). In 1 Cor 8:6 we see that all things, including all that is good and positive, comes from God, for God; not from us or for us.
Universal Energy Force
This is a new age concept that secretly bleeds into health wealth happiness and prosperity teachers. The Law of Attraction is a pseudo-science pseudo-religious idea that can be easily hidden in word usage but the idea remains.
The idea that because of the human consciousness and its connection with a “universal energy force,” its thoughts and feelings have the ability to manipulate and influence the energy force to their want and desire. Human thoughts and feelings attract a corresponding energy. If a persons thoughts are negative, they attract negative things. If a persons feelings are positive, they attract positive things. It is a new reformed version of karma that attempts to sound scientific.
This idea simply attempts to replace God and make mankind feel like a jedi god.
The Source
The good that does come from us, comes from God in us (Luke 11:13) which comes to us through faith in Jesus Christ and HIS WORK, not ours (Ephesians 2:1–5; Philippians 3:9). Then it is The Holy Spirit in us that makes us more like Christ. Through this whole process, we are not the source of true good.
We are not made into mini-gods despite what Joice Meyers claims. In fact, what Satan told to Adam and Eve to lead them into idolatry is this:
"For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”(Gen 3:5)
Even the heart of Satan is the unfiltered claim of godhood and godlike power (Isaiah 14:13-14). But God has a response to all those who believe they have the godlike power to use some kind of universal energy force by thinking and speaking positive words to manipulate God's will for the purpose of worldly health, wealth, and happiness is this:
"I said, “You are gods,
sons of the Most High, all of you;
7 nevertheless, like men you shall die,
and fall like any prince.”
(Psalm 82:6-7).
The absolute source of all that is good is of God and from God by God. Thus when we think like he does and see the world like he does and understand ourselves like he does; then we seek things that he has ordained. He ask for things that he was already willing to gracefully give. We desire things that he desires (Psalm 37:4-6). Because we are in line with HIM; the source.
The Means
The Gospel message is the most positive life changing message that can ever be explained. There is no other religious book or psycho-feel-good self-help guru who can change anyone's eternity. The means of true change, true goodness, and authentic genuine positivity is the person and work of Jesus Christ; not you. Those who do good and change lives eternally do it out of not their will but the will of God through having the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16).
God's Opinion
God does want us to be filled with hope and optimism of his promises and our future. Excessive worrying and stress can impact our bodily health (Proverbs 15:30; 17:22; Psalm 32:3). But where Positive Thinking goes wrong is that the bad effects on our bodies is due to how we were created and not some force causing the bad effects.
Wealth is also another component of teachers of Positive Thinking. It attempts to get people to supernaturally use the force with positive thinking to gain more wealth. God does want us to be good stewards of the wealth that he gives and wants us to make decisions with that wealth that which glorifies him (Proverbs 13:11; 17:16; 22:7), but where Positive Thinking teachers fail without Christ is that achieving greater wealth and self gain is not what God intends (Ecclesiastes 5:10). We are warned of striving for self gain and wealth (Luke 12:15;1Timothy 6:10) and its effects on our natural sinful selves.
Lastly Positive Thinking encourages people to think they (if they believe in God) can manipulate God's will and change God's mind. Like their power of supernatural persuasion can force God to send more 'positive' things their way because of their extra positive effort and self-will. That is hidden self-righteousness and self idolatry. God's simple response to this is:
"Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them."
(Psalm 139:16).
History is God's Proof
Job is the prime example that disproves the supernatural positive thinking. One day ALL his wealth was lost in an attack! Then another day all his necessities were all lost in a natural disaster. Then another natural disaster killed his family! If that wasn't enough he was given leprosy! Why didn't he just think positive thoughts and say positive things? He did. Yet, these disasters kept happening. Complete contradiction of The Law of Attraction and Positive Thinking.
The prophets of God were murdered after being social ostracized (1 Kings 18:4, 14; 19:10; Jeremiah 11:12; Matthew 23:35; Acts 7:52). These guys spoke the words of God! Yet, how come they faced such negative effects?
JESUS never sinned. Yet he was hated, beaten, tortured, and murdered because of his teachings. The the universe energy force failed big time here.
The Apostles were servants of God proclaiming the Gospel, yet, they were all persecuted and murdered. For hundreds of years, Christians were martyred.
All the way to our day. The church in China and North Korea are heavily persecuted. And I'm pretty sure at least 1 person over there has spoken positive words for support and had positive thoughts of the hope in Christ.
All this only proves that Positive Thinking is a nice gimmick in a comfortable stable spoiled society. And all the hungry and material poor Christians in other parts of the world who faithfully proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ disprove its energy force.
Negative about Being Negative
Proponents of Positive Thinking fail to see that they are in fact being negative about things they deem to be negative. Their 'feeling' of something is their indicator of truth; this is the premise of where they begin to be deceived. When something makes them 'feel' bad, it is deemed negative, and thus it is wrong. Yet, Jesus, spoke about negative things more than he did about positive things.
Telling someone to stop being negative and declaring an idea, phrase, or word, as negative and wrong is being a hypocrite. Positive Thinking is negative toward any idea that makes individuals 'feel bad'. If this is true, than Jesus was wrong and negative a lot of the time.
Conclusion
Positivism and the Universe energy force is a lie that enslaves people into thinking that they can be like god and can do only what God can do. Our words and thoughts only support and encourage our emotional and mental stability. It bleeds into emotionalism. But only God supernaturally manifests 'good' in our lives, in our hearts, and for all eternity. We do not supernaturally manifest good in our own minds and words. We are not God.