In this enlightening episode of The Flatline, host Rick Hughes delves into the essence of true happiness as laid out in biblical teachings. He continues his series on problem-solving devices, focusing on “Sharing the Happiness of God”. This happiness is not about transient pleasures but a durable joy rooted in one’s soul and relationship with the divine. Hughes expertly lays out how biblical principles provide a framework for believers to navigate life’s challenges with joy and confidence, debunking the societal misconception of happiness tied to materialistic gains.
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.
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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 manipulation. As we say every week, we’re not trying to con you, we’re not trying to raise money, we’re not trying to sell you anything. We just want to give you accurate information. Hopefully, that will help you verify and identify the plan of God for your life. If I can do that, then you have the freedom and the privacy to orient and adjust to the plan. That’s up to you. But thank you for giving me a few minutes of your time. Our show is called The Flot, F-L-O-T, Flotline. And what I’m doing this week is I’m continuing a series explaining how we came up with the name Flotline, F-L-O-T. This radio show is another in a series of explaining how we did that and exactly what does the Flotline do for you. And please remember that the term FLOT is a military term for saying what is known as the Forward Line of Troops, F-L-O-T, Forward Line of Troops. Many years ago, my pastor, R.P. Thames, Jr., Baraka Church in Houston, Texas, coined this phrase to describe 10 unique problem-solving devices taught in the scripture that’s available to every Christian. These 10 unique problem-solving devices are actually biblical principles that every believer should know and use. And if you’re not aware of them, then you’re missing out on the invested power that God has made available to you today for this time. These past few shows have been my attempt to remind you of all those 10 problem-solving devices so that hopefully you can recall them, remember them, remember the process to become a winner believer today. in the devil’s world. We’ve reviewed already on the first few shows, Rebound, which is 1 John 1, 9. If we confess our sin, he’s faithful and just to forgive us of our sin and purify us from all our wrongdoing. Rebound is us recovering from failure in our life, recovering from sin in our life, not letting our sin nature control our life, and so rebound leads to the filling of the Holy Spirit. That’s problem-solving device number two. That solves the problem of your sin nature wanting to control you and make you carnal. Then we studied the faith rest drill, standing on the promises of God. We studied grace orientation. We studied doctrinal orientation, and we studied a personal sense of destiny. We’ve also done a show on personal love for God and impersonal love for other people. All of those shows are already been recorded and available. If you’d like to have them again, contact us, let us know. We can give you a transcript or we can perhaps even give you an MP3 of that show. So today, and by the way, that’s all on the podcast too. We always podcast our shows and our shows are available on the website, rickhughesministries.org. So if you go to rickhughesministries.org on the internet, you can listen to any one of these shows. They’re all posted there. So anyhow, what we want to do today is talk about problem-solving device number nine, and that’s sharing the happiness of God, okay? And so let’s start by looking at John 15, 11. Here are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ as he spoke to the disciples. These things I have spoken to you so that my joy may remain in you and that your joy may be full. Did you get that? These things I spoke to you so that my joy, J-O-Y, we key that with the word happiness, so that my joy may remain in you and you might be happy and full, joyful may be full. These words were spoken by the Lord Jesus Christ after a long night of teaching the disciples what they could expect in the future after he was arrested and eventually, of course, crucified. Our Lord wanted them to understand that regardless of what was to come, they were never to lose the joy of serving God, regardless of whatever the circumstances they found themselves in. And it was not going to be good either, because listen to this. In John 16, 1 and 2, the Lord Jesus Christ told the disciples this. These things I spoke to you so that you should not be made to stumble. They will put you out of the synagogue. Yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think they offered God a service. So it was now pretty obvious what the disciples could expect. Once the religious crowd had gotten rid of the Lord Jesus Christ, they would then be coming for his followers. So here’s a question I have to ask you. Do you think you could maintain your happiness knowing that you were hated and that you would soon be arrested for what you believed? Because when our Lord said the disciples should have the same joy he was experiencing, it was not a joke. He was not joking. It was in fact a divine promise given by our Lord himself. This joy that he spoke of is also available to you and me this very moment. So let’s examine this promise if we can. Whatever this joy or this happiness is, it’s something we have with us all the time. It’s only in your body to the extent that your soul is in your body. For the happiness that I’m talking about, the joy that I’m talking about is related to your soul, to the mentality of your soul, to the immaterial parts of man, not the physical part. The joy that our Lord Jesus Christ spoke of is a mental attitude. It’s in the mentality of your soul. Remember, your soul has mentality, volition, conscious, and self-consciousness. Four things. You can think, you can decide, you can know who you are, and you can have a conscience. And that’s your, like your line of defense. Your parents teach you what’s right and what’s wrong, and your conscience guards you all your life as your guardian. So this, what we’re talking about here is the joy that’s in the mentality of the soul. And it’s best demonstrated by you having contentment and confidence in God’s plan. Confidence that you’re doing exactly what God asked you to do and the contentment in whatever circumstances you find yourself facing. In the Bible, there are a lot of different Greek words used for the word joy or happiness. Two of them, and particularly, kadra, which is translated joy. In the Greek New Testament, a Koine language, kadra. And then akarios. And that’s the word blessed, translated blessed, but it means happiness. So the happiness that serves as a problem solving device, number nine, it’s not something emotional. It’s not some sort of stimulation. It’s not some sort of physical excitement or anticipation. Unfortunately, you know, we carry the entrenched notion that some set of circumstances are something or people going to make us happy. But the happiness that the Lord Jesus Christ taught is not something that’s made or manufactured by us. We must never confuse happiness as taught in the Word of God with some sort of stimuli of life which is enjoyable for a moment but has no ability to sustain us day by day living. You know, like your team wins a big game You win the lottery or you win whatever you win, you’ll be all happy, all excited about it, but it won’t carry you tomorrow. That’s not the type of happiness I’m talking about. The happiness provided by God the Holy Spirit, what I’m talking about, is exposed in the canon of Scripture, and it’s part of your spiritual life. It has nothing to do with the condition of your body or the details of your life and what you find yourself in, whatever circumstances. Because Satan, you know, I want you to remember this, Satan will always attempt to counterfeit the happiness of God, the happiness that God’s provided for you and me, and Satan’s going to try to counterfeit that. An example of this counterfeit happiness is seen in Luke 11, 27 through 28. In this particular passage, the Lord Jesus Christ was teaching a class, speaking to a group of people, when a rude woman interrupted a message he was giving to claim that there was great happiness related to motherhood. I have four children, and my wife loves our children. I love my children. But our happiness is not related to the state of having children. Matter of fact, sometimes it’s a problem because they bring a lot of burdens and a lot of pain with them as well. But she stood up in the middle of the Lord Jesus Christ’s message and shouted these words. I’ll quote them. Blessed, and that was the Greek word makarios, that’s the word happiness. Happiness is the mother who gave you birth and whose breast that you nursed upon. Well, I guess she thought she was rather smart, that she was going to have some great insight and that happiness should be related to motherhood. However, the Lord Jesus Christ, and I’m sure he wasn’t rude with her, but he said, no, you’re wrong. He said, makarios, or happiness, belongs to those who hear the word of God and obey it. So the true happiness in your life is not you having children, although you may want to have children. And that’s fine, but that’s not the source of the happiness that the Lord Jesus Christ is talking about here. It’s not the contentment in life that we’re talking about. Pseudo-happiness is Satan’s attempt to counterfeit the happiness that God has, counterfeit the contentment and the blessing which God provides for every one of us as members of the royal family. That’s that phony happiness. As a ruler of this world, Satan will try to keep his constituents happy, and he does so by providing various stimuli, ambition, self-indulgence, which will either counterfeit or cancel out the happiness that God provides for us. It’s interesting how Satan does this. He does this by getting us to pursue his lies. You know, like if you win the lottery, you’ll be happy. If you get married, you’ll be happy. If you get a new car, you’ll be happy. If you get a new home, you’ll be happy. If you get a new boat, you’ll be happy. Those things are nothing more than a mirage because the simple truth is unhappy people take their unhappiness with them wherever they go. I’m going to repeat that. Unhappy people take their unhappiness with them wherever they go. Many commercials you see on television advertising products they want you to buy mean trying to tell you you’ll be happy if you buy this product and if you get this product you’ll have a lot of happiness. And it may be for the momentary type happiness. But unhappy people can buy whatever they want and they’re still going to be unhappy. An unhappy student can change schools and still be unhappy in the new school. An unhappy wife can get a divorce and marry another person, still be unhappy. Because it’s not the person, it’s us. We’re the problem, not someone else. It’s weird how a lot of people spend their whole life in a frantic search for happiness, which only leads back to Operation Boomerang, which is you going right back to where you started. You spend money you don’t have to buy things you don’t need. Unfortunately, you’re trying to impress people that you don’t even like. What a shame. But there’s no reason to ever be unhappy for you or me. Because our Father God has designed a wonderful life for us that offers fulfillment and happiness, the type of life that we are searching for. This life of happiness is found in our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. So when we acquire the mind of Christ, then we can be happy. You know, the Bible tells us in Philippians 2, 5, let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus. I started this study off by quoting John 15, 11, where Jesus said, my joy, I’ve told you how to have my joy in you. And it’s the same joy he had. That didn’t mean he was all happy about going to the cross. That’s not what I’m saying. What I’m saying is the greatest happiness in the Lord Jesus Christ’s life was knowing he was fulfilling his Father’s plan. He knew why he came. He knew what was expected of him. And he did it all the way to the cross. So this life of happiness that I’m talking about, it’s you thinking like he thought. It’s you having the mind of Christ, and that can only come through the filling of the Holy Spirit. If you have unconfessed sin in your life, you will never have this sort of happiness. This happiness is found in your relationship with Christ and acquiring his mindset. It’s called divine viewpoint as opposed to human viewpoint. When you have divine viewpoint, then you can think in terms of happiness. You can see how circumstances don’t affect your thoughts. It may affect you physically, but not mentally. This happiness is a learned mental attitude. It’s not something that you automatically inherited just because you’re a Christian. Remember what the Lord Jesus Christ said in John 15, 11. These things I taught you, taught, taught you. They had to learn them. They didn’t just inherit them. So without having a biblical inventory of divine viewpoint, you will at best search for happiness all your life and never find it. Or you’ll go to Dear Abby and you’ll go to whatever details of life you can find, but you’ll never find what you’re searching for. What you’re searching for is in Proverbs 3.13. Here’s where you can see God’s plan for consistent happiness in your life. Here it is, listen, Proverbs 3.13. Happiness belongs to the man who finds wisdom and the man who gains understanding. Now this is a wonderful thought. Wisdom is a wonderful thing. It includes insight, discernment, and understanding. Again, wisdom includes insight, discernment, and understanding. When you have insight from the scripture, you can discern what’s bad or what’s good. And you can understand what Satan’s game plan is. The Bible teaches us in Ephesians 6, we’re to put on the armor of God so we can stand against the strategy of Satan. He has a strategy against you. If you don’t understand that strategy, you will fall for it every time, and you will never have the lasting happiness we’re talking about, the relaxed mental attitude, the contentment, the capacity for life we’re talking about. It only comes by having the mind of Christ and thinking like he thought, and that’s called wisdom. One thought you might remember is this. Listen to me very carefully now. Here it is. Blessings come and blessings go, but the source always remains the same. Blessings come and blessings go, but the source always remains the same. Here’s the principle, that happiness does not depend on the details of life, but rather the happiness that we’re talking about, the true happiness of God, The joy the Lord Jesus Christ talked about comes from having the insight and understanding that you get by learning the scriptures and applying them to the circumstances of your life. Again, what did he say? I taught these to you. And what did he tell the woman? Happiness belongs to those people who hear my Father’s word and keep it. If it’s there and you don’t keep it, you’re not going to have this happiness we’re talking about. Because blessings come and blessings go. But the source remains the same, and that’s God’s wonderful grace. The principle of happiness does not depend on the details of life. It doesn’t. It depends on you having wisdom, insight, understanding, discernment. And you can only get that when you learn the scriptures and apply them to your life. Listen to Paul’s testimony about the details of life being a source of happiness. This is what he thought about it. Philippians 4, 11 through 13. Not that I speak in regards of need, for I have learned, remember the Lord Jesus Christ said, I taught you these things. Here Paul said, I learned in whatever state I am in to be content. There’s a secret to happiness, to be content. I know how to have a lot, and I know how to have nothing. Everywhere and in all things I’ve learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. And then he gave that fantastic passage in Philippians 4.13. I see people have this tattooed on them sometimes. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. What a tremendous verse. So the happiness that we’re talking about is you identifying with the Lord Jesus Christ, having divine viewpoint, thinking like he thought. And the only way you can do that is as the Lord Jesus said, I taught you these things. What did he teach him? Well, from John 13 to John 15, he had about a five- or six-hour Bible class, the best I can understand. He spent all that night teaching them what to expect. As a matter of fact, we wrote a book about it called These Things. These Things I Taught You refers to what he taught them that night. So the happiness that he wanted them to have, they had to learn. And that is they had to learn what it means to trust him, to have that wisdom, insight, discernment, and understanding. So Paul said, my happiness is not related to circumstances. It’s not related to what I have or don’t have because whatever the circumstances are, he said, I have learned how to be content in any circumstance. In all things, whether I’m hungry or whether I have too much, whether I have too little, doesn’t make any difference. I wonder if that’s your attitude. It’s not always my attitude. Sometimes I can be affected by what I don’t have or do have. And I know you’re the same way. We’re not perfect. But we can clearly see in this passage that the relationship with Jesus Christ was the source of Paul’s contentment and the source of Paul’s confidence in his life. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. In our next radio show, we’ll deal with problem-solving device number 10, which is occupation with Christ. And that clearly says it. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. You can be happy. You can have a wonderful life. You don’t have to be full of self-pity or sorrow when you think like the Lord Jesus Christ thought. If you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, and I trust you are, if you’re not, it’s the most terrible thing you can be to go through life not knowing the Lord Jesus Christ, not knowing whether or not you’re going to heaven, because the Bible says these things are written so that you may know that you have eternal life. You can know it for sure. How do you do that? By believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. You remember that verse in John 3, 16? So that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. The happiness I’m talking to you about comes through a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. If you haven’t accepted him as your savior, it’s not possible for you to have this happiness because this happiness comes through the filling of the Holy Spirit. It comes through the dynamics of the scripture in your soul and in the content of your life. mentality of your soul. And it all starts with your relationship with Christ, stepping into God’s royal family and using the assets that God’s given you. So if you’re experiencing difficulties, and this is a warning to you now, by the way, I want you to listen carefully. If you’re experiencing difficulties, if you’re experiencing disaster over and over and over, and you are in fact a Christian, you have accepted Christ as your Savior, Could it be that God is actually disciplining you for your lifestyle? Could that be the problem? You see, divine discipline is designed to make you uncomfortable. Did you know that? If you’re not comfortable, maybe this is why. Maybe God’s got the hammer down in your life. Hebrews 12, 5 and 6 says, My son, do not despise the chasing of the Lord, and don’t be discouraged when you’re rebuked by him. For those the Lord loves, he chastens, or this means he disciplines, and he scourges every son that he receives. Sometimes it’s harsh discipline. Warning discipline is when God gently nudges you and says, you’re out of line. Stop doing that. You’re out of line. Stop it. And intense discipline is when you don’t listen and you’re so arrogant you won’t pay attention. Then the pain comes in. Pain has a way of getting our attention, doesn’t it? Those the Lord loves, he disciplines and brings pain into every son whom he receives. You’re going to go through discipline in your life if you reject the plan of God. If you’re a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ and you’re having all sorts of trouble, all sorts of trials, everything’s going wrong and you’re miserable, start with going to the Lord and dealing with your sin because your suffering could be divine discipline. That could be specifically designed to break your arrogance and humble you if that’s the case. And if it is, then it’s time for you to rebound. It’s time for you to get back in fellowship with God. And you do that by confessing your sin. You say, well, I don’t even know what sin I committed. Listen, the Holy Spirit will let you know what you’ve done. If you go to God in prayer and just ask him, Father, what in my life is not pleasing to you? He’ll show you. He’ll let you know. And remember the verse says, if we confess our sin, he’s faithful and just to forgive us and even cleanse us from all unrighteousness, even things you might not remember. He will do that for you. so if you have been under divine discipline the whole idea by god the father was to humble you to break your arrogance in time for you to confess your sin to god once you rebound once you recover from your sin then your suffering can be turned to blessing and you know the pain might still be there but now instead of discipline That pain is designed for blessing because you’ve been restored back into fellowship. You’ve recovered the filling of the Holy Spirit. You move back into your spiritual life where you’re supposed to be and you’re no longer carnal or out of fellowship. These are all reasons for you to rejoice and be happy. Remember 1 Corinthians 11 31 says this, if we would judge ourselves, we would not have to be judged. So God intends for you to keep short account of your sin. If you rebound and there’s still suffering in your life after you rebound, after you confess your sin, then it’s obvious that suffering is now designed for blessing. Therefore, it becomes bearable rather than unbearable. It is the modus operandi of the spiritual life that converts unbearable into bearable suffering. And that’s how we do it. So you may go through suffering. If you’re in fellowship, it’s all designed to cause you to grow. If you’re in fellowship, it’s like James said, think it not strange these things that have happened to you. It happens to everybody. God won’t put you under more pressure than you can stand. The Bible teaches us that. So it’s all designed for your growth. It’s all designed to teach you to trust him and not step outside of fellowship with God. So you can have this happiness of the Lord Jesus Christ. God’s happiness, this joy that the Lord Jesus Christ was talking about, is available to you through the filling of the holy spirit and through the accumulation of the mind of christ that’s bible doctrine in your soul in your mentality in your conscience thinking like he thought living like he lived and being the type of person that represents jesus christ your friends your neighbors your community your family That’s why you’re still here. I mean, God left you here for a reason. That reason is to glorify him by representing the Lord Jesus Christ. Think about that for a minute. Do you do that in your life? Do you represent Christ? By the way you think? Do you represent Christ by the way you live? Do people see the Lord Jesus Christ in you? Because they’re supposed to. They’re supposed to see that Christ-like character in your life. And it only comes through the filling of the Holy Spirit and through the resonance of God’s word and the mentality of your soul so that you think like he thought. And you have this constant joy, this constant happiness, this constant contentment This constant relaxed mental attitude that will blow people away when they see you going through things and you’re not worried, you’re not afraid, you’re not crying, you’re not angry. They want to know what’s causing that. And that’s your spiritual life. Your spiritual life is the key to having this sort of happiness. Gee, I hope you’ve listened this morning. I hope I’ve been able to clear some things up for you on sharing the happiness of God. I will be back next week if the Lord allows it. Same time, same station. And I hope you’ll join us for that time. Until then, this is your host, Rick Hughes, saying thank you so very much for listening to The Flatline.
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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.
