FAMILY Part 4
Transcript of FLOT Line Episode aired on November 17, 2004
Good morning and welcome to The FLOT Line. I’m your host Rick Hughes. For the next few
minutes, please stick around for 30 minutes of motivation, some inspiration, a whole lot of
education and no manipulation. That’s right, no con games here. We’re not selling you anything.
We’re not trying to solicit money. We just want to give you some information that we pray will
help you verify and identify God’s plan for your life. If you’re able to do this, then my prayer is
you will orient and adjust to the plan. This is why we do The FLOT Line radio show. FLOT is
the forward line of troops. It stands for 10 unique problem-solving devices in the Word of God
taught to me by my very own pastor years ago. When you learn these 10 problem-solving
devices and use them, then you can definitely stop the outside source of adversity before it ever
becomes the inside source of stress. Today we are on lesson 1004. That’s 1004 Sundays on the
radio across America. What a great privilege it’s been for my team and me to bring you these
radio shows and to watch how the Lord has provided for every need that we have to make this
possible. We started a series three Sundays ago on the family. The family is the third great divine
institution of God’s plan for the nation. The family is the framework for the perpetuation and
safeguarding of all future generations in a nation. The parents are charged with evangelizing their
children. It’s what you have to do, as well as teach your children respect for authority to try and
break the arrogant trends they may have and give them good norms and standards such as respect
for privacy, property, good manners, patriotism, etc. The family is truly the most unique thing in
the divine institutions. It’s what holds this nation together. National stability in America always
rests with the family unit. Broken families equal a broken nation. Remember in this series we are
taking each letter of the acrostic F.A.M.I.L.Y. and looking at certain Biblical principles that
correspond with the individual letters. For example with F we studied fathers. It’s clear from
Scripture that being a father is an honored position. With this honor comes tremendous
responsibility. Unfortunately in client nation America, we are seeing a lack of fathers stepping up
to the plate and taking responsibility for their children. It’s also clear that many men who have
children are way too young to meet this responsibility since they are still children themselves.
We did a lesson on fathers. I hope you listened to it, and if you didn’t, let us know and we’ll tell
you how to get it. Then we went into the A. We studied authority because without authority
orientation, it’s impossible to learn anything because there must be humility for teachability to
take place. In the family the parents have the legitimate authority and must establish and enforce
the rules and guidelines for the children. Children must understand privacy and have respect for
property in the temporal realm of life. Then we looked at mothers for the letter M. I believe that
unless the ladies of this nation, the mothers and daughters and wives, pay attention to the Word
of God, we will not have a country much longer. I believe you mothers are the backbone to the
country. It’s your faith, your encouragement, your stability of soul that stabilizes the man,
stabilizes the marriage and gives stability to the home. Now today we’re going to take a look at
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the I in FAMILY and deal with intercession and inspiration. We’ll talk about intercessory prayer.
Have you ever heard this term? Intercessory prayer on the part of the family members is a
wonderful privilege. For example, intercessory prayer is a service to others for whom you pray
providing you do it effectively. You can pray and not get answers. You can do the right thing in a
wrong way. Don’t forget this – a right thing done in the wrong way is always still wrong. Prayer
can be done in a right way or a wrong way. You can pray until you’re blue in the face but if
you’re not doing it the right way, you’re not going to have any results. Prayer must be done
effectively. This ministry of prayer is an invisible ministry, people won’t see it. Intercessory
prayer is impersonal, it’s not personal. You’re not always dealing with individuals that you love.
Sometimes you deal with people you don’t like. Sometimes you don’t like your spouse and you
get angry with your children, but you can still pray using impersonal love based on your
integrity, not theirs. All intercessory prayer must be based on your virtue, your integrity as you
pray for others. The great power in intercessory prayer is what we call impersonal love.
Remember that prayer is not a problem-solving device. It is not a cure-all for everything. I often
hear, “Our thoughts and our prayers go with you.” This is just a waste of words because most of
the time they don’t even know how to pray. You can pray all you want but if you don’t do it in the
right way, as I told you, it is not going to be answered. Prayer doesn’t give you momentum in
your spiritual life. Prayer is not a cure-all. You’re not going to become a spiritually mature
person just because you pray a couple times a day. You should be praying for unbelievers. This is
legitimate and it’s part of the dynamics of intercessory prayer. For example, if you have
unbelieving siblings, unbelieving parents, you have the responsibility to pray for them. What do
you pray? God can’t overstep their volition if they don’t want to be saved but here’s what you
pray for. You pray that they will recognize their lost condition and you pray that they will believe
in Christ while there is still time. Somehow they have to recognize they are lost before they want
to be saved. If they don’t see this first, then they’ll never accept Christ as their Savior. If you have
unbelieving family members, pray for them. Intercede for them and ask God to let them see
themselves as they really are. This is where inspiration comes in. What do I mean by this? I’m
talking about how your consistent spiritual growth and your relaxed mental attitude under intense
circumstances can inspire individuals that see and watch you. You can inspire them to in fact
accept Christ. This is what you want. Your spiritual insight, your spiritual discernment can
inspire other people as they observe how you handle adversity in your life because a spiritually
mature believer who faces death unafraid is a powerful testimony to the unbelieving family
members who are watching. It happens daily. When it is time for a mature believer to go to the
home office and meet the Lord, he or she is not afraid. They are not scared to death. They have a
great peace and look forward to where they are headed. An unbeliever sees this and it’s an
inspiration to them. “How do they do this? Why are they not worried?” I told the story on this
show. I remember a friend of mine who was passing away and a nurse told her daughter, “Your
mom is in such pain, she’s moaning. I don’t know what to do to help her.” The daughter listened
and told the nurse, “My mother’s not moaning. She’s singing.” She was, because she was looking
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excitedly forward to meeting her Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. This is how you inspire people as
you even face death, when you reach the high ground of spiritual maturity as you pass evidence
testing. When you go through evidence testing, especially as you get older and face adversity, are
you going to fail? Are you going to quit? Are you going to wimp out or are you going to trust the
Lord to handle your situation for you? This is going to the witness stand and Satan gets to cross-
examine you like he did Job. What about you? Your evidence testing with an incurable illness
can inspire other people who are watching you. Inspire them to do what? To believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ. It may be the one thing they need to see. Remember this, I’ll tell you one more
time, prayer is not a problem-solving device for you in suffering. It is actually a weapon for the
strong to use on behalf of other people who are suffering. You can use it in your life as well to
claim the promises of God. As a royal priest, which you are, you can intercede for other people.
Please, don’t ever cease praying for your lost family members, even up to the last day you have
on this planet. Don’t forget, God the Holy Spirit intercedes for us including when we aren’t
motivated to pray or when we try to pray but don’t even know what to pray. He intercedes for us.
Listen to Romans 8:26-27,
“In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not
know how to pray as we should, for the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep
for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He
intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”
The Holy Spirit is praying for you,
interceding for you. The Holy Spirit’s ministry of prayer for you cannot be quenched or grieved
even if you’re out of fellowship. Even if you’re in sin, He’s praying for you to rebound, to
recover, to get back in fellowship. He is before the throne of God the Father lifting you up and
He continues to make intercession for you when you’re out of fellowship. He does this for you
regardless of your volition. Your prayers will not be valid if you’re trying to pray with
unconfessed sin in your life but the prayers of the Holy Spirit to the throne room are always valid
and always heard by the Father. In regard to your prayers, Psalm 66:18 says,
“If I regard
wickedness in my heart, the Lord will not hear.”
There is your warning. If you try to pray and
you have unconfessed sin in your life, it is not going to be heard. Let’s go back to intercessory
prayer, praying for other people. Your prayer for other people is part of your ministry. I want to
remind you that long prayers aren’t for public. I have been around a few people who like to hear
themselves pray and they want to pray a long prayer. Maybe in your church you have a deacon
like this or some member and the pastor calls on him to pray and off he goes. People start to
open one eye and take a look around, “How long has this guy been praying?” Long prayer should
be reserved for private prayer, private intercession or private petition. Matthew 6:6 says,
“But
you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in
secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.”
You don’t have to
parade around in front of everybody showing them how great a prayer warrior you are, praying
15 or 20 minutes long prayers. I want to show you an example of our Lord’s request of His
disciples and the disciples failing to do their job with intercessory prayer. This is Matthew
26:36-46,
“Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to His disciples,
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‘Sit here while I go over there and pray.’ And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of
Zebedee
[James and John. These were the toughest disciples because the sons of Zebedee were
called sons of thunder]
, and began to be grieved and
distressed. Then He said to them, ‘My soul
is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me.’ And He went a
little beyond them
[so He could have some privacy],
and fell on His face and prayed, saying, ‘My
Father, if it is possible
[and it’s not possible because this is the will of God for Him]
, let this cup
pass from Me
[By the way, what was in the cup? My sin and your sin. He drank every drop of
our sins into His own body on the cross;]
yet not as I will, but as You will.’
[Here He is
submitting to the Father’s divine will. It’s not His volition. The Lord looked at the cross and it
didn’t exactly look like a great place to hang out. Nevertheless, He said, “If this is Your will, I’m
willing to do it.” He left James, John and Peter back behind to do a little praying and help Him
with prayer.]
And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, ‘So, you
men could not keep watch with Me for one hour? Keep watching and praying that you may not
enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.’
[Peter did enter into temptation.
When they came to arrest Him, he pulled out a sword and tried to cut the guy’s head off and he
missed. He cut his ear off instead.]
He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, ‘My
Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Your will be done.’ Again He came and found
them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. And He left them again,
[I can just see Him coming
back and saying, “Oh My, these guys can’t stay awake 10 minutes.”]
and went away and prayed
a third time, saying the same thing once more. Then He came to the disciples and said to them,
‘Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand and the Son of Man is being
betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up, let us be going; behold, the one who betrays Me is at
hand.’”
This means that Judas had brought the Pharisees, Sadducees and the temple guards to
arrest Him. What about you? This is the question I want to ask you. Have you been lured to sleep
spiritually? Do you let the problems of life take precedence over the responsibility you have to
keep watch and pray? For example, have you interceded for your children today? What about
your leaders, have you prayed for your leaders? In 1 Timothy 2:1-4, here’s what Paul wrote,
“First of all, then, I urge that entreaties
[intercession]
and prayers, petitions
and thanksgivings,
be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a
tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. This is good and acceptable in the sight of
God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
This
is where impersonal love comes in. What do I mean by this? You might not like your leaders.
You might not like the President. You might not like the Vice President. You might not like your
Senator or Congressman. What should you pray for them? Again, this passage tells us,
“First of
all, then, I urge that entreaties
[intercession]
and prayers, petitions
and thanksgivings, be made
on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority.”
If I’m supposed to pray for people I
don’t like, what should I pray? Verse 2 tells us what to pray. I’ll read it to you again,
“So that you
may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity
[reverence].
”
The word reverence
is the Greek word
semnotes.
What does
semnotes
mean? It’s the characteristics of a person or
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thing which entitles them to reverence or respect. We will more than likely find disrespect for
Christians in the not-too-distant future. Paul is saying, when you pray for your leaders, pray that
they will let you live a quiet and peaceable life, respect you and not try to take revenge on you.
Get ready because it’s coming. There is soon coming a time when Christians are going to be
under revenge motivation. I already think there are a lot of people that hate Christians. You’ve
got to let God do the judging, not you. Romans 12:19,
“Never take your own revenge, beloved,
but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the
Lord.”
It’s not your job to give place to wrath. The Supreme Court of Heaven is open 24 hours a
day. The Lord Jesus Christ controls history. He can handle what’s going on. You just pray to live
a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. Listen to the fantastic promises of God
concerning your prayer requests in John 15:7,
“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you,
ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”
The word abide in the Greek is the word
pronounced
meno.
It means not to depart or to remain as one. This verse is conditional meaning
you have the potential. If you stay in fellowship and if you live by the mandates of God’s Word,
you can freely ask for things, both personal petitions, this is praying for yourself, and
intercessory prayer, praying for others, and they will be granted. However, the next passage is the
key to God answering your prayers. 1 John 5:14,
“This is the confidence which we have before
Him , that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.”
The key is
“according to His
will.”
You may want to win the lottery so you pray, “Okay Lord, help me win the lottery. I want
to win the million dollar lottery.” You are not ever going to win the lottery like this. I promise. If
you won the lottery today, you would be gone tomorrow. It’s not going to happen, forget it.
“According to His will.”
What is His will? We know what His will is. It is,
“Not wishing for any
to perish but for all to come to repentance”
(2 Peter 3:9). He wants people to believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ. If we are praying in His will, we’re praying for our family members, for my
brother, for my sister, for my mother, for my father, for my uncle. I’m interceding that they
would know they are lost, that they would see their lost condition and they would turn to the
Lord Jesus Christ and accept Him as Savior. Will He hear these prayers? Yes,
“We know that He
hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from
Him.”
Don’t ask for anything ridiculous. Don’t ask for something that will override a person’s
volition. For example, “God, please save my friend Joe.” God is not going to step in and save Joe
until Joe is ready to be saved. He’s not going to override Joe’s volition. Joe has to make a
decision, “Do I want to believe in Christ?” It’s much better to ask God to reveal your friend’s
condition to him so he will see that he is lost and understand what he’s facing. Prayer to God is
the privilege of every born again child of the Father but there are conditions for this prayer to be
met in the protocol plan of God. As I told you earlier today, you can pray and your prayers
sometimes are not going to be answered because you are doing the right thing but you are doing
it in the wrong way. The first condition, you must be in fellowship for the prayer to be effective.
By this I mean you’ve got to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Again, Psalm 66:18 says,
“If I regard
wickedness in my heart, the Lord will not hear.”
Second, you must not ask for the wrong reason.
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James 4:3 says,
“You ask and do not receive, because you ask with the wrong motives, so that
you may spend it on your pleasures.”
You’re not asking for what is in the will of God. The
condition is we must be believing when we ask Him.
“And all things you ask in prayer,
believing, you will receive”
(Matthew 21:22). To conclude this study, I ask you again, are you
praying for your children? Parents, are you sleeping spiritually? Are you praying for your
siblings, brothers and sisters? Are you praying for your aunts, uncles and your parents? Are you
praying for your lost family members? You can intercede for them and pray for them. Are you
praying for your nation? Are you praying for your leaders? Jesus told the disciples, “Wake up,
watch and pray that you enter not into temptation.” These are tough times in America and you
better wake up and understand your responsibility in the family is to intercede for those in your
family and to inspire them by means of your own personal growth in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now
let me remind you as we wrap this up today, we are going to be making some changes after the
first of the year. We’re dropping a few radio stations and we are adding a few radio stations.
What we do is we try to keep up with where we’re being heard and where the responses are so if
you wind up not hearing our show, you might need to contact us and let us know. It’s possible
your station could be dropped. We don’t want to drop anything. We like to add stations but
sometimes financially it’s impossible because these are not free. We have to purchase the airtime.
Thankfully the Lord has always graciously given us every dime to pay for every bill we have had
without us asking, without us selling, without us begging for money. God is very faithful. God is
very gracious. Pray for us as we make these changes, as we decide what cities to keep pressing
on in and what cities to drop. Hopefully your city will still be on the agenda because I enjoy
being in your town. If we’re not hearing from people, then there is no sense continuing to
broadcast in that city. Okay? I sure thank you for listening to me today. Thank you for being part
of our radio show for all these years
