False hope may be the result of a spiritual attack by corrupt spiritual forces. Such an attack is designed to weaken, kill, and destroy its victims.
Hope delayed makes the heart sick. (Proverbs 13:12) It weakens and wounds the heart. A hope is delayed when what we hope for does not occur under the conditions we hoped it would occur. It is discouraging, disheartening, and depressing.
A false hope attack is centered on a temptation - a thought - to hope that something will occur. The thing hoped for may be something good. The key is that it is a hope for something to occur that is not going to occur when we hope it will. If we accept the temptation and hope, then we are hit with discouragement and possibly grief when it does not occur. This chokes our energy - our will and our doing of things. It can even choke our energy to do the things necessary to sustain our own lives.
The temptation will be repeated as necessary to continue to discourage and choke our energy. Day after day after day the thing we hope for does not occur. As we become more and more discouraged we become more and more vulnerable to depression, addictions, suicide, or violence.
The key to overcoming the attack is to recognize the temptation, reject it, and encourage oneself in God. Trust God with the things that need to occur in your life and when they will occur. Commit yourself and everything that occurs in your life to God and he will cause the things you need to occur.
