In this episode, Rick Hughes takes us on a historical journey, drawing parallels between past global conflicts and our present-day challenges. Reflecting on God’s unwavering love and protection, Rick offers insights into how embracing spiritual truths and the ‘Faith-Rest Drill’ can provide peace and confidence even amidst national and personal turmoil. This discussion not only highlights the importance of humility and obedience but also encourages listeners to harness the power of prayer in seeking deliverance.
SPEAKER 01 :
Welcome to the Flatline with your host, Rick Hughes. For the next 30 minutes, you’ll be inspired, motivated, educated, but never manipulated. Now, your host, Rick Hughes.
SPEAKER 02 :
Good morning and welcome to the Flatline. FLOTLINE, F-L-O-T, that’s the name of our show, stands for the Forward Line of Troops. We’re talking about building a forward line of troops in your soul. It’s a military metaphor. We’re talking about learning God’s Word, learning 10 unique problem-solving devices that can actually stop the outside sources of adversity before they become the inside source of stress. We all know that in the devil’s world, adversity is inevitable, but we also know, according to the Bible, that stress is optional. Because adversity is what you do to yourself. Excuse me, let me back that up. Stress is what you do to yourself. Adversity is what circumstances do to you. So you don’t have to live with stress. You don’t have to live with worry, fear, anger, agitation, bitterness. There’s a better way to live. It’s called the Christian life, and that’s what we talk about on this show, learning God’s problem-solving devices so you can have the most wonderful, unique life the world has ever known. It is called the Christian life, but it requires you to change the way you think. The Bible says stop thinking of yourself in terms of arrogance beyond what you should think. But think in terms of humility as God has designed to each one of us a standard of thinking from his word. So we give you this information. We verify it. We identify it from the Bible. And you have the privilege to orient and adjust if you would like to do that. But that’s what this show is about, giving you accurate information, not manipulation, information. And my prayer is that it will have an impact in your life. we all know that we live in perilous times times very difficult in the united states of america today and across the whole world there’s much civil unrest within our country we see it on the news every day every night every morning we see video of civil unrest there’s much of the crippling virus the covet 19 that’s running around our country taking many precious lives of wonderful people. And it’s horrible, time of horrible time in America today. However, let me say this. Let me remind you of something, because we’re going to talk about deliverance today and how God has a program, how he can deliver you in these difficult times. Let me remind you that after the attack of Pearl Harbor on December the 7th, 1941, where 2,403 Americans were killed, that we went through four years of horrible World War II. World War II was a terrible battle. At that time, it looks like approximately 70 million people died in World War II. 20 million additional people died that were unrelated to the war, just disease-related. The best figures that I can come up with were this. Wounded or killed in the United States of America, we had totally close to 400,000 deaths. Nazi Germany had 4.5 million deaths. Japan had 2.5 million deaths in the war, soldiers. Canada lost 42,000. France lost 210,000. United Kingdom lost 384,000. And we talk about the numbers of death with the COVID-19 and how many are dying. It doesn’t even get close to this. This was a tough time in the world, very tough time in the world. The United States fought two enemies on two fronts, Germany and Japan, and we were victorious on both fronts because of the grace of God. That’s the only reason. that you and I were not slaves today. And so here we are. We’re facing a pandemic. We’re facing a rough time. We’re facing a critical, difficult time in America. And how do you handle it? Well, first of all, remember, we’ve been through it before, just like I’m telling you here. This is not anything unusual. This is not anything new. Americans have always come through these tough times. But here’s why we come through. Here’s why you can come through. If you will believe what I’m going to tell you today, you do not have to worry about a thing. This is not some miracle medicine. This is not some miracle drug. This is from the Word of God. Psalm 33, 16 through 22 is the psalm of deliverance. It says this, “…the king is not saved by a mighty army.” and a warrior is not delivered by great strength. A horse is a false hope for victory. That was the mechanized infantry in those days. Nor does it deliver anyone by its great strength, talking about the horse. Behold, and here we have the answer, The eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those who hope for his loving kindness to deliver their souls from death and to keep them alive in famine. Our soul waits for the Lord. He is our help. He is our shield for our heart rejoices in him because we trust in his holy name. Let your loving kindness, O Lord, be upon us according as we have hoped in you. Psalm 33, verses 16 through 22. Again, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, those who reverence him, on those who hope for his loving kindness. These verses, point one, represent a biblical principle that you can use in what we call the faith rest drill, problem-solving device number three. You must learn the faith rest drill if you’re going to live the Christian life till its fullest, because this is where you pick up a relaxed mental attitude and you do not have to worry. As Moses demonstrated after the Jews fled out of Egypt from the bondage and slavery of 400 years in Egypt, and got trapped at the Red Sea with Pharaoh behind going to kill them all, Moses said, stand still and watch what God’s about to do today. You can do that. You can stand still. Don’t panic. Don’t be afraid. Watch what the Lord can do. That’s the faithless drill. And there’s a procedure in the faithless drill that begins with you claiming promises from God. There are over 7,000 promises in the Bible for you. That’s like having them in the bank. As a matter of fact, we’ve written a small booklet called Biblical Promises and Principles. You should write for that. Don’t send money. Just request the book. We’ll be glad to send it out to you. It’s about the size of a small phone book. But it has hundreds of promises designed for you. you to claim in difficult times in your life, and it has hundreds of principles for you to live by. No narrative, just some principles and just promises from the Bible. I’d love for you to get that book. If you’ll send for it, we’ll send it right on out to you. All you gotta do is go to rickhughesministries.org, rickhughesministries.org to our website, and you can order the book from the website, or you can simply write to us at Post Office Box 100, And that’s not very complicated. P.O. Box 100 in the city of Cropwell, Alabama. Cropwell, Alabama, 35054. P.O. Box 100, Cropwell, Alabama, 35054. Rick Hughes, Evangelistic Ministries. Now, God has a directive will for each of us. This is what he wants you to do. He has a will for your life. He has a permissive will. that will allow you the freedom to fail or not fail. He’s not gonna interfere in your choices, but he does have an overruling will which guarantees deliverance of you until he is ready to bring you home. So these verses that I’ve read to you from Psalm 33, 16 through 22, express the writer’s joy over being part of God’s unique family and the recipient of his unfailing love. Let me read that to you again. On those who hope for his loving kindness, that’s his unfailing love for you. Verse 22, Psalm 33, let your loving kindness, his unfailing love for you. Let your loving kindness, O Lord, be upon us according as we have hoped in you. If there’s deliverance from God, it’s because he loves you. It’s because he loves me. And there’s no doubt he loves us. The Bible tells us God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son. I have never been loved in my life like I have when I met the Lord Jesus Christ. I grew up without a father in a broken home, and I wanted love. I wanted to be loved by my parents, and I didn’t have it. But when I found the Lord Jesus Christ and understood he loved me, And I understood that I had a loving father in heaven. What a wonderful, wonderful thing to know. Do you know that today? God loves you. He has unfailing love for you. His love will never abandon you. Even if you abandon him, he will just love you from behind. God loves you. So these verses that were written here express the writer’s joy over being part of God’s family and the recipient of his unfailing love. And these verses guarantee that God sees your attitude in times of trouble, in times of disaster, And your attitude could be panic, and it could be fear, or if you use the flat line in your soul, it could be self-confidence. It could be faith rest, knowing that your Heavenly Father will protect you and will deliver you because of his overruling will, guaranteeing your deliverance. You will not go home until he’s ready to bring you home. You don’t have anything to worry about. This is the difference between a relaxed mental attitude in the middle of a national pandemic, of national unrest from all sorts of those who oppose our former government. or fear and panic over what could happen in perilous times. Your heavenly Father can see whether or not you trust him, and he can see your lack of trust and your inner thoughts. How do I know that? The eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those who hope for his loving kindness, Psalm 33, 18. Those who fear him doesn’t mean to be afraid of God. It means to respect him. And those who hope for his loving kindness means absolute confidence, not like I hope it doesn’t rain today, but those who have absolute confidence in his loving kindness. So it’s an important thing for you to see and understand that your father is can see your trust or your lack of trust. He can see the way you think. He can see your inner thoughts. That’s what the Bible tells you. Let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus, Philippians 2, 5. That’s why we have to change the way we think and get out of the lure of the cosmic system and think under terms of divine viewpoint. There’s no arrogance in God’s plan. Humility is the goal for you in your life, and that means to be obedient, and to develop wisdom in your life. The Bible says this, those who look to a political leader or for military protection are trusting in the wrong thing, and no man can deliver you from what we face. Again, a warrior is not delivered by great strength. A king is not saved by mighty armor. And a horse is false hope for victory. There you go. Your heavenly father can see your trust. And you, verse 20 says, our soul waits on the Lord. He alone is our shield. His motivation is found in verse 18. His loving kindness. That’s God’s motivation. God loves you. And it should be your motivation. The greatest motivation you could have in your life is to have personal love for God. In 1 John 5, 3, the Bible says, If you love me, you will obey me, and my mandates are not grievous. If I ask you if you love God, you probably would say yes. But does your lifestyle indicate obedience and humility? No. Does your lifestyle indicate that you truly do love God, honor God, and trust him and obey him? You demonstrate your faith by hope, the Bible says. In this passage, we saw that the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, on those who hope for his loving kindness. So here it is, and this is where the hope comes in, the absolute confidence right here. His motivation is found here. Let your loving kindness be upon us according as we have confidence in you. It’s his loving kindness. Our Heavenly Father can see that. The word for hope in the Hebrew is yakal, yakal. And you say, why do you tell me that? Well, that’s a verb. It’s a verb, and it means to have absolute patience or absolute confidence. And the key for you and the key for me is not to run ahead of God’s plan and not to lag behind God’s plan, but to be in step with his divine will. So this verb carries the thought of trusting and not panicking those who hope in the Lord. Trusting and not panicking. Have you been trusting or have you been fearful? Have you let what’s going on in this world today intimidate you? That’s the question. Are you intimidated by what you read in the paper? I don’t want you to be careless and reckless and expose yourself to something you don’t need to be exposed to, but I want you to have a relaxed mental attitude of absolute hope, confidence, trust in the Lord to know that nothing is going to happen to you until he says it’s time to come home. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, the Psalmist wrote, I will fear no evil, for you’re with me. So this word, yakal, means to be patient or confident in God’s plan. Trust him, don’t panic. Don’t be reckless, but don’t be intimidated by adverse circumstances. So reckless or impatient or worried, that means your eyes are on the problem or your eyes are not on the solution. Listen carefully to what I’m about to tell you. Human solutions are no solutions. Divine solutions are the only solutions. Human solutions are no solutions. Divine solutions are the only solutions. And here’s the principle. The overruling will of God combined with the directive will of God provides numerous deliverances from adverse circumstances in your life. In Psalm 68, 19, and 20, blessed be the God who daily bears our burdens, the God who is our deliverance, God is to us a God of deliverance and to God belongs escape from death. Did you hear that? Blessed be the God who daily bears our burdens. This is his logistical grace to you. You say, what is that? Logistically, God gives you what you need to stay alive. Let’s start with air, oxygen. You’re not suffocating. God gives you something to breathe. Let’s start with gravity. You’re not floating off the earth into space. God gives you something to hold you there. God provides food, shelter, and clothing. As Matthew 6 tells you, don’t worry. If he provides for the bird, he’ll provide for you. So he is your deliverance. He is a God of deliverance and a God who removes us from death. If God could redeem us from the slave market of sin and death, sin and death, spiritual death, sin and death, if he could deliver us from that, is it not evident that he can deliver us from some virus that’s been unleashed on the world by some mad people, crazy people? There’s individual deliverance, yes, and there’s also national deliverance. Individual deliverance and national deliverance. Now, what about national deliverance? Let’s start with that one to begin with. why is a client nation destroyed we are a client nation you’ve heard me say that before we represent god in this world we send out missionaries we’re a haven for the jew we honor and teach god’s word we live by the divine institutions of freedom marriage family and nationalism we are the representative of god in this generation the united states of america has been and will continue to be a client nation, but why would a client nation be removed? To see that, you have to go to the Old Testament and look at Hosea. The most lucid passage in the Old Testament is when the fifth cycle of discipline comes on the northern kingdom and how a client nation is destroyed. Listen to Hosea 4.1. Hear ye the doctrine of the Lord. That’s his word. It’s in the Bible. That’s where you hear the doctrine. If you want to hear God, Don’t go sit under an oak tree in a swamp and wait for God to speak to you. You won’t ever hear him unless you’re a little nutty. But if you’ll open the Bible, God will speak to you from his word. So hear the doctrine of the Lord, you citizens of Israel, verse 1, Hosea chapter 4, because God has a court case against the citizen of the nation. Why? Because there’s nothing of doctrine being taught, there’s nothing of grace being applied, and there’s no knowledge of God in the nations. This verse is a call for positive volition towards Bible doctrine as taught by prophets and priests. But was it there? No. Verse 2, Hosea chapter 4, instead there’s lying, deceiving, no virtue, murder, stealing, rape, criminality, plus unrestrained violence. Well, there is indicative of the United States of America. lying politicians, deceiving criminals, murdering, stealing, raping, unrestrained violence. The rise in criminality comes from two sources, moral and immoral degeneration. You say, what’s moral degeneration? Well, that’s organized religion. They’ll kill you quicker than anything. It was organized religion that crucified our Lord. Remember that. You haven’t been attacked until organized religion attacks you. So moral degeneration and immoral degeneration. So here is the Hebrew idiom blood reaches out and touches blood in this passage in Hosea. It means unrestrained violence. And then in verse 3, for this cause the land will mourn. Consequently, everyone who lives in it shall lose strength along with the animals of the field, along with the birds of the sky, along with the fish of the lakes. They will be taken away. And this is one of the signs of degeneracy in a nation, cruelty to animals. And I think it’s rarely a day that I don’t see animals abandoned and cast aside on the side of the road. cruelty to animals. Verse four, yet let no one contend or blame others for the judgment. Let no one impugn God for your people are like those who contend with the preachers, the priests, communicators of doctrine. Verse five, therefore you’ve stumbled by day. You fail to apply the word of God in your daily life. And furthermore, the prophet will stumble with you, the pastors will stumble with you by night. Then I will destroy your mother, your nation. And then the final indicative phrase of verse six, Hosea chapter four, here’s why God would destroy America. My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge, lack of knowledge, knowledge of doctrine, lack of knowledge of doctrine, because you rejected doctrine. I will reject you from being a priest nation for me. Since you neglected the doctrine of your God, I will neglect your children. That’s the next generation. This is why America’s in trouble today. Because over the past 40 years, we have rejected the word of God. We have been entertained. We’ve been distracted. But when you advance the maturity and join the pivot in any generation, though that pivot will not be recorded in the pages of history, it will be recorded forever in heaven. But when you fail, the nation fails. All mature believers, hopefully like you, can anticipate deliverance in times of adversity. Here’s a promise for you. The Lord also will be a stronghold for the oppressed. a stronghold in times of trouble. And those who know your name will put their trust in you, O Lord, so you have not forsaken those who seek you. Psalm 9, 9 through 14. And so this passage in Hosea tells you why nations like the United States of America, a client nation to God, will be set aside because we’ve rejected his word. You know, God said, I just want you to know me and understand me, but we don’t want to know him and we don’t want to understand him. In Psalm 68, 19, blessed be the Lord who daily bears our burdens, the God who is our deliverer. God is to us a God of deliverance. That’s our message. And to Jehovah the Lord belongs the escape from death. Now, I want you to know that you can pray for national deliverance. There’s nothing wrong with you doing that. Psalm 120, verse 2, deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips and from deceitful tongues. In verses 6 and 7 in Psalm 120, too long has my soul had its dwelling with those who hate peace. I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war. David’s testimony in Psalm 62, 7, my deliverance Deliverance and my honor depends on God. The rock of my strength and my refuge is in God. Every one of us should be grace-oriented. And every one of us should enter into the ministry of prayer for deliverance for our nation today. Because there’s no greater power in the spiritual life than prayer. However, it is the least understood doctrine among believers like you and I. many people don’t understand prayer they say oh our prayers and our thoughts go with you that’s just a cliche they don’t understand prayer they don’t understand that in order to have an effective prayer life you must be filled with the holy spirit else as the bible says it’s just no good he that deserves iniquity in his heart the lord will not hear you People don’t understand you have to pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and you pray to the Father and you pray in the power of the Holy Spirit. We have the right and the opportunity to pray once we reach the time of attainment and spiritual maturity in our life. Yes, we do. And you should be there. How long is it going to take you to grow up spiritually? 2 Chronicles 7.14 tells us exactly how to pray in times of national disaster. If my people who are called by my name will humble, there’s humility, themselves and pray and seek my face, that’s occupation with Christ, problem-solving device number 10, and turn from their evil ways, that’s rebound, problem-solving device number one, then, then, and I’m adding then alone, I will hear from heaven and forgive their sin and restore their land. I do not believe America will ever be restored. I believe we’re so arrogant and so far down the my way highway that we’ll never change our thoughts. I don’t see the average American even getting close to what this says. What about you? Can you do this? Only Christians can request God deliver their nation from national discipline, but it requires humility. That’s the required mental attitude, and that means respect for authority and not judging someone. What’s happening in America today is because believers like you and I have been turned from dependence on God’s word, and we’ve substituted ritual for reality. We’ve dumbed down the spiritual life and settled for inspiration and worship instead of instruction and worship. And the devil has taken advantage of our weakened client nation and is actively trying to destroy us from within. Very few believers that I speak with even know what it means to be occupied with Christ, much less what are those 10 problem-solving devices. The evil ways spoken of in reference to believers being recruited into the cosmic system. If they will turn from their evil ways, then I will hear their prayers. This speaks of believers that are recruited into the cosmic system, even in the area of organized religion, morals, gossip, judging, and slander. We, like unbelievers, have ignored the giver and have turned to worship the gifts. The only solution of deliverance is your spiritual life. God can and will deliver you and can and will deliver your nation if you have an invisible impact that has blessing by association. Deliverance? Absolutely. Well, does it require some things on your part? Absolutely. I just got through telling you that. I hope you’re listening. I hope you’re paying attention. Because like me, we need deliverance today. Until next week, this is your host, Rick Hughes, saying thank you for listening to The Flatline.
SPEAKER 01 :
Thank you for listening to The Floodline with your host, Rick Hughes. If you’d like to contact Rick, please write to him at P.O. Box 100, Cropwell, Alabama, 35054, or online at www.rickhughesministries.org.