In this episode of The FLOT Line Show, host Rick Hughes tackles the powerful emotion of fear and how it can paralyze the Christian life. Drawing from the biblical account of Israel’s refusal to enter the Promised Land, Rick illustrates how fear leads to panic, emotional instability, and disobedience. He explains how to use God’s 10 problem-solving devices—including the faith-rest drill—to stop adversity from becoming internal stress. Learn how courage, trust, and obedience to God’s Word are the antidotes to fear—and how your courage can be contagious to others.
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 01 :
Good morning and welcome to the Flatline. I’m your host, Rick Hughes, and for the next few minutes, please stay with me. It won’t be long, only about 30 minutes of motivation, inspiration, education, and all done without any type of manipulation. That’s right, we don’t con you. We’re not trying to sell you a book. We’re not trying to ask you for money. We’re just offering you some information to do a deep dive into the Word of God. And it’ll be 30 minutes of that sort of teaching, not trying to con you, as I said, but to hopefully verify and identify God’s plan for your life so that you can orient and adjust to that plan. If this happens to be the first time you’ve ever heard this radio show, The Flotline, Please allow me to tell you why I call it the FLOT line. FLOT, F-L-O-T, not flight line. Some people get that mixed up. It’s FLOT, F-L-O-T. Many, many years ago, my pastor, Arby Themes, Jr., from Baraka Church in Houston, Texas, developed this concept of the 10 problem-solving devices that constitute the backbone of the Christian spiritual life. He then suggested that you learn and apply these basic biblical concepts to your daily life. And if you would do that, they would act like a forward line of troops, F-L-O-T, flight line. And if you would learn these 10 basic problem-solving devices, then it would stop the outside source of adversity from ever becoming the inside source of stress. So as Christians, we have the option of living in the devil’s world. We know the Bible says 1 John 5, 19 says, We know that we are from God and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. That’s the word of God. But as Christians, we have the opportunity to live in the devil’s world using divinely provided resources. However, unfortunately, many don’t take the time to learn them and use them. Thus, they wind up letting adverse circumstances dictate what they think and what they do. Many Christians try to do the right thing, but they often wind up doing them in the wrong way. and thus they never enjoy the freedom they have been granted through Christ Jesus. Listen to Galatians 5.1. Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with the yoke of bondage. and that’s particularly speaking about religious bondage, religious ritual without reality to it. So in the Flatline Radio Show, we’re coming up on 20 years, I’ve taught these 10 problem-solving devices individually on this program many, many times, and I put them into print in a book even, That book is entitled Christian Problem Solving, and you can order it free from our website. Just go to rickhughesministries.org, and you’ll see how to order the book Christian Problem Solving. One of our divinely provided assets is called the Faith Rest Drill. If you fail to learn the Faith Rest Drill, you’re going to be subject to fear much of your entire life. Unfortunately, fear can lead to panic, and that’s what I’d like to discuss with you this morning. Please allow me to quote from the Bible Doctrine Dictionary published by Theme Ministries located in Houston, Texas. Quoting now, everyone is susceptible to fear, even mature believers. No matter how much scripture has been learned, none of it can be of benefit to a mind that is immobilized with panic, end quote. Once you realize you’ve fallen under control of your emotions and that fear has gripped your mind, the first thing you need to do is confess it as a sin and regain the feeling of the Holy Spirit. you may ask yourself, is fear really a sin? In 2 Timothy 1.7, the Bible says, for God did not give us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. The answer is absolutely 100% yes. Fear is a sin. And remember that sin must be acknowledged and confessed to God as soon as possible if you want to regain the filling of the Holy Spirit. 1 John 1-9 tells you if we confess our sin, he’s faithful and just to forgive us of our sin and purify us from all our wrongdoing. But the spirit of fear is a mental attitude sin that comes from being afraid of the unknown. Caution under the unknown circumstances is not necessarily fear. That could be wisdom. But fear is the total domination of your thoughts which can lead to panic if it’s not controlled. So when you find yourself becoming afraid, go to the scriptures. and claim a promise from God. You can find one of those promises in Isaiah 41.10. Fear not, for I am with you. Do not be afraid, I am your God. I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. That’s a great verse for every Christian to claim when they find fear attacking them. Allowing fear to control you, the Christian, if you’re a Christian now, I’m talking to believers, if you allow fear to control you, you would definitely quench the power of the Holy Spirit. And if this happens, you will make a series of bad decisions since you refuse to trust the Lord in your circumstances. Psalm 56, 11 says, “…and God, I have put my trust…” I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? Did you hear that? So having faith in God is simply a matter of trusting God. Do you actually trust God to deliver you, or would you rather try to deliver yourself? Think about that. because having a relaxed mental attitude is definitely a sign of trust. But there’s something else that’s a sign of trust and it’s called obedience. Trust and obedience are what eliminate fear. So let’s notice the lack of obedience to God’s command in the Old Testament due to fear and due to panic. In Numbers 13, chapter 13, verses one and two, the Lord spoke to Moses saying this. Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel. From each of the tribe of their fathers you shall send one man and every one a leader among them. Now remember, Moses had gone to Egypt and had freed the Israelis, had brought them out of slavery, and had brought them across the Red Sea, and now they’re about to go into the Promised Land, Canaan, and take it over as God had told them they could have it. And God said, choose one man from each of the 12 tribes, a leader among those tribes. So all 12 of them were men and they were all leaders of their particular tribe. Numbers 13, 17 through 20, Moses sent them to spy the land of Canaan. And this is what he told them. He said, go up this way into the south and go up into the mountains and see what the land is like, whether the people who dwell in it are strong or weak, few or many. whether the land they dwell in is good or bad, and whether the cities they inhabit are like camps or strongholds, and whether the land is rich or poor, and whether there are forests there or not. Be of good courage. That means don’t be afraid. Bring some of the fruit of the land back. Those specific instructions in Numbers 13 tell them do not be afraid. Be of good courage. So we find out what happened in Numbers 13, 25. They returned from spying out the land after 40 days. They were there 40 days looking around. 10 of those 12 had negative things to say indicating they were intimidated by what they saw. In Numbers 13, 27 and 28, they told him, we went to the land you sent us and it truly flows with milk and honey and this is its fruit. Probably gave him some of what they brought back. Nevertheless, the people who dwell in the land are strong. The cities are fortified and very large, three negative things there, strong, fortified, and large. Moreover, we saw the descendants of Anak there. You may wonder who that is. Those were the descendants of the Nephilim in Genesis chapter six, but remember, all Nephilim were destroyed in the flood. In Numbers 13, 30, Caleb trited the people before Moses. He was one of the 12 that did not buy into that fear, panic ploy. And Caleb said, let’s go up at once and take possession for we are able to overcome it. He wasn’t intimidated. And here’s the principle. Faith looks at the solution, not the circumstances. In Numbers 13, 31, but the men who had gone up with him said, we are not able to do that. They are stronger than us. And they gave the children of Israel a bad report. Negative, negative, negative. Everything they said was negative. Bad report of the land which they had spied out. And they were saying the land through which we went as spies, we saw it devour its inhabitants. And all the people that we saw are men of great stature, big, bad men. And we saw the giants, the descendants of Anak. And we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and we were in their sight. Ten of the twelve were clearly intimidated by what looked impossible. The results were emotional panic and emotional breakdown. 10 of the 12 threw the whole bunch into emotional panic and emotional breakdown. And how many people was this? I don’t know. No one can really give us a count. It wasn’t a few thousand. It could have been close to a million. In Numbers 14.1, so all the congregation, Everybody, with the exception of Joshua and Caleb and Moses and Aaron. The rest of them all lifted up their voices and cried, cried, cried all night long, cried. That’s what fear will do to you, just turn you into a weeping petal of nightmare. The fear of panic ploy turned people on Moses and against God. In Numbers 14.2, all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron. And the whole congregation said to them, if only we had died in the land of Egypt. Oh, we wish we’d stayed there. Or if only we had died in the wilderness. Now they’re starting to whine and complain and mew. And then they turned against God. Numbers 14.3, why did the Lord bring us to this land to fall victim by the sword? so that our wives and our little children should become victims. They actually accused God of bringing them to this Canaan land to kill their children. That’s the most ridiculous thing you’ve ever heard of. It’s all God’s fault. It’s all Moses’ fault. It’s all Aaron’s fault. We don’t need to be here. And this is how irrational fear and panic becomes what they prefer to be, slaves in Egypt. They said they’d rather have been slaves than come here. Listen to Numbers 14.3. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt and be slaves? Joshua tried to talk some sense into them, but that just made them mad. Numbers 14.9, Joshua said, do not rebel against the Lord and don’t fear the people of the land for they are our bread. Their protection has departed from them. And the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid. Don’t fear them. The fear-panicked children of Israel are now prepared to kill Joshua and kill Caleb, the only two of the 12 who actually believed God and trusted him. So in Numbers 14.10, all the congregation said, stone them, kill them, hit them with stones, stone them to death. The end result of their failure to trust God was discipline on the unbelieving generation. Not a little discipline, 40 years of discipline. In Numbers 14, 29, we find what God said about this negative volition, this fear of panic ploy, this refusal to trust and be obedient. And this could be true for you too. When you don’t trust God as a Christian, when you’re not obedient to do what God tells you to do, you’re gonna get under discipline because you get in sin. This is what God said. Numbers 14, 29. Your carcasses, those of you that complain about me, will fall in the wilderness. all of you who were numbered according to your entire number from 20 years old and above, that’s not talking about anybody under 20, except for Caleb and the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. You will by no means enter that land which I swore I would make you dwell in, but your little children whom you said would be victims, I’ll bring them in and they will know the land which you hated. But as for you and your carcasses, you will die in the wilderness and your sons will be shepherds in the wilderness for 40 years and bear the brunt of your infidelity until your bodies are consumed in the wilderness. So everyone 20 years and older did not go in the promised land. They wandered in the wilderness for 40 years until they all died and then their children went in under the leadership of Joshua. Here’s some principles you have to remember about this. It’s wonderful principles to remember for the Christian about fear. One, for the Christian, there’s never a time you should doubt God and doubt his provisions. There’s never a time you should doubt God and doubt his provisions. Now what about in your life today? Are you doubting God? Are you facing some circumstances in your life that you’re afraid? Are you a child of God? Are you a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ? What are you afraid of? Have your emotions taken control of your thinking and led you into fear and have you started to panic and cry about your circumstances? Number two, the more you fear, the more you will surrender to fear. That’s true. You fear one thing today and you’ll fear two things tomorrow and three things later. Some people are afraid of tornadoes. Some people are afraid of storms. Some people are afraid of lightning. Some people are afraid of spiders. Some people are afraid of snakes. There’s nothing wrong with being cautious in these circumstances, but letting them control you to where you panic and cry and want to run hide, that’s a bad thing because the Lord is in charge. He can take you home today or tomorrow, the next day. You don’t have to be in a tornado. You can be driving down the street and some idiot cross the line and hit you head on and you’ll be in heaven. But the more you fear, the more you surrender to fear. Three, fear can make a slave out of you to the things you fear the most. Four, fear sees the problem. Uh-oh, there it is, look, and then it panics. But faith, on the other hand, sees the solution, that’s the promises of God and his protection, and gains victory over the circumstances that threaten him. Fear sees the problem and panics, but faith and obedience sees the solution and gains victory over the circumstances that threaten him. So five, fear is the key that unlocks many doors, starting with the door to arrogance, self-justification, self-deception, self-destruction. So you cannot be afraid without putting an abnormal emphasis on yourself. If you’re afraid, you’re going to be abnormally self-justifying. I don’t deserve to die. This is not right. This is wrong. Why does this have to happen to me? And you’ll complain and you’ll whine just like the Jews did here. You cannot be afraid without putting an abnormal emphasis on your own self, self-centeredness. To the extent that you become frightened by anything as a Christian is the extent that you set up a new circuit in your life which is called arrogance. And from that particular fear comes many, many manifestations of arrogance. Self-justification, as I said, the reason you don’t have to obey God, the reason you don’t have to trust God, the reason you don’t have to do this, don’t have to do that, that’s what self-justification is. And self-deception, you’ll actually lie to yourself and believe what you tell other people. So fear can control you. Fear can grip you because it’s one of the strongest emotions that you have. And as a believer, you have to learn to overcome that fear. Six, fear is lack of thinking under pressure. Remember you’ve heard me say under pressure you can think. You can think or you can what? You can react or you can respond, one of the two. React or respond, it’s up to you. If you react, you’re gonna react with your emotions will kick in. Fear will take over. Panic will approach. And you’ll start crying and whining and you’ll be totally afraid and controlled by the circumstances. But if you have faith, then you can respond with trust and obedience. Trust and obedience are the keys to overcoming your fear. God hasn’t forgotten you. He’s not going to abandon you. He promised in Matthew 6 he would provide everything you need to stay alive. Now, if you’re a sinner under discipline, if you’re a Christian and you have unconfessed sin in your life and you’re going through discipline, you have a right to worry because the Lord is gonna knock a knot on your head if you don’t straighten up. If you don’t go to him and confess your sin as you should according to 1 John 1, 9, you’re gonna get the discipline hammer a little heavier every day until eventually you come under the sin of the death because there’s warning discipline intense discipline, and dying discipline, oft taught in Hebrews 12. Those that God loves, he disciplines. And you have a right to be cautious about that. But don’t be afraid. God’s trying to teach you to save your life. He’s trying to show you something that’ll protect you so you don’t go off down the highway highway and destroy your own self. So again, point seven, fear is a mental attitude of worry, a mental attitude of anxiety, a mental attitude of apprehension, a mental attitude of trepidation and despondency. And part eight, here, carefully listen to this one, especially those of you in the audience that are older like myself. Fear of dying will never prevent you from dying, but it will prevent you from living. Fear of death will never prevent your dying, but it will prevent your living. You’ve heard me say time doesn’t shout, it just runs out sooner than you think. It’s required a man once to die, and after that the judgment the Bible teaches. We’re all going to die. It’s nothing to be afraid of for the mature believer. It’s the greatest promotion you’ll ever have. It’s walking through the door into the presence of God. What a wonderful thing. So when you’re afraid of dying, you’re looking back and thinking, well, you’re leaving, and you think that’s where your security is. And it’s not. As a Christian, your security is in front of you in heaven. In Psalm 56, 3 and 4, listen carefully. Claim this. Write it down. Remember it. What time I am afraid, I will put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I put my trust. I will not be afraid of what man can do to me. You see that word trust, trust, trust, that’s nothing but obedience, that’s what it is. Being obedient to whose word is found in the scripture. He tells you how to handle fear. He tells you how to handle adversity. He tells you what your attitude should be. And you can obey that, and you can have a wonderful life, or you can ignore that and be controlled and manipulated by your fear until you become a puddle of tears. But that verse I just read to you, Psalm 56, verse three and four, requires you to exercise positive volition. You have to be positive, not negative volition, positive volition. That’s your decision. Negative volition is a bad decision. Positive volition is a good decision. This verse requires you to exercise a good decision and use the faith rest drill. I will put my trust in you. That’s faith, faith, faith. And I will not be afraid. That’s positive volition. Every time fear comes to your life, you know you are not living the Christian way of life, and you know immediately that you are not executing the protocol plan of God. Why is that? Because the protocol plan of God is a life full of courage. It’s the execution of God’s plan, and it requires you to be brave, be strong, stand fast, Don’t be afraid. What is courage, actually? It’s actually thinking Scripture and functioning under pressure, as if there were no abnormal circumstances whatsoever, as if there was no crisis and no pressure. That’s what courage is. Courage doesn’t mean you’re not cautious. Courage does have cautiousness as part of it. But courage is claiming God’s promises when you go through adversity and using those 10 problem-solving devices, which I told you about at the beginning of the show, called the Flatline. If you learn them and you use them, The flat line will act like a main round of resistance in your life and stop the outside sources of adversity before they ever become the inside source of stress and fear and panic. If you learn God’s Word, learn those problem-solving devices, and function under the privacy of your royal priesthood, you have to think and to apply and to metabolize the Word with your own intellect. You go to church, your pastor teaches you something. I hope he does. I hope he’s not a good-time pastor that’s there Just give you about 15 minutes of entertainment and sing a few songs and send you down the road. If he’s teaching the word of God correctly, he’s giving you information that you are to apply and metabolize in your life into your thinking and use it when the time comes. Courage, what is courage? One word, confidence in God. Courage is confidence in God. And how is that courage demonstrated? It’s demonstrated by your boldness, B-O-L-D-N-E-S-S, your boldness in your life. And make note that fear is just the opposite of courage. Courage comes from faith and trust and obedience. And here’s a principle you need to remember for the rest of your life. Your courage is contagious. When people see how you handle adverse circumstances, it can inspire them. It’s a great witness for you. Courage is contagious. So think about that. Think about these things we’ve told you this morning. And I hope above all, if you’re not a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, that you will use this time to make that decision. It is the most single and important decision in your entire life. As the Bible says, what think ye of Christ? Have you made a decision to receive Jesus Christ as your Savior? Because the Bible says to as many as receive him, to them gave he right to become the sons of God, even to them that just believe in his name. The Bible clearly says whosoever should call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And you can know for a fact that you’re going to heaven because it says in the scripture in 1 John 5, these things are written so that you might know that you have eternal life. Eternal life is yours through faith alone in Christ alone, not by works of your own righteousness, but by his grace. You can trust that. I promise you. Thank you for listening to The Flatline today. I hope you come back next Sunday. Same time, same channel, same place. And I hope you’ll consider the things I said today about fear and panic. Thank you for listening. We’ll see you next week. Until then, this is your host, Rick Hughes, saying thank you for listening to The Flatline.
SPEAKER 02 :
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.
