Happy are those who hear God’s Word and observe it. Happiness is not tied to people, success, or changing circumstances—it is a spiritual life built on hearing and applying Bible doctrine. In this episode, Rick Hughes explains why many believers remain miserable and how you can develop stable inner happiness regardless of circumstances.
• Why happiness is a result of executing God’s plan
• The importance of hearing and applying God’s Word daily
• How to avoid emotional reactions and respond with doctrine
• Why bitterness and anger destroy contentment
• How the faith-rest drill produces stability in difficult circumstances
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 :
Well, good morning. Thank you, Jack. Welcome to the Flatline Radio Show. I’m your host, Rick Hughes. For the next 30 minutes, stick around. It won’t be long. 30 minutes of motivation, some inspiration, some education. And we’ll do it all without any type of manipulation because we’re not going to con you. We’re not going to solicit money. We’re not going to try to sell you something. We’re just going to give you information. Hopefully, that information will give you your choices, your options, help you understand how God’s plan works in your life. Remember, you’ve got two ends, one to sit on and one to think with. And happiness in your life is going to depend on which one of those ends you use. So heads, you’ll win. And tails, you’re going to wind up losing. Okay, the Flotline radio show may be new in your radio area. We’ve added about 40 stations recently, and so if you’re hearing it for the first time, the Flotline, F-L-O-T, stands for Forward Line of Troops. That’s a military analogy that we use on this radio show to describe a main line of resistance you can put in your soul built on the Word of God. When you learn it and apply it into your life, it stops the outside sources of adversity before they can ever convert to the inside source of stress. That’s how wonderful God’s problem-solving devices are. So thank you for listening. Thank you for sticking with me. I’m Rick Hughes. You can find me at rickhughesministries.org. That’s Rick Hughes, H-U-G-H-E-S, rickhughesministries.org. And we are now approaching 1,080 radio shows. That’s 1,080 Sundays that we’ve been on the air producing the Flatline Radio Show. So today, I would like to talk to you about something that’s going to be very interesting, I promise you. I’d like to show you how you can have happiness even in the most difficult circumstances of your life. So to begin with, let’s take a look at the verse in the New Testament book of Hebrews. It talks about how you can have this kind of happiness I’m talking about. In Hebrews 12, 2, the writer of Hebrews wrote this, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, there’s your word for happiness, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Now, this verse directs us not to set our focus on the circumstances in our life, but rather to focus or to consider what Jesus Christ endured. It stated that Jesus considered the cross to be a source of joy, not one of shame. The Greek word for that word joy is pronounced chara, C-H-A-R-A. You say, why are you telling me that? Because it was written in Greek, not English. Sometimes I run into people that say the King James Version of the Bible is the original Version, no. No, the original versions, we’ve lost the original manuscripts. We have copies of the original manuscripts, but it was written in Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic, the Old and New Testament and the Old Testament. So this word kadra is the original Greek word for our English word joy. And it comes from the root word kairo, C-H-A-I-R-O. And that means to be glad or to rejoice exceedingly. And so what this says is our Lord, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame. What we are to consider is this was an assigned task our Lord was well aware of. And to complete the task was to bring God great, great glory. Here is the principle I want you to learn from this. Please pay attention. Write it down. Here it is. The principle we learn from this verse is that the greatest happiness a Christian can experience is to execute and fulfill God’s plan for his life. The greatest happiness you can ever experience is to execute and fulfill God’s plan for your life. The fastest way for you to be unhappy is for you to focus on your circumstances. And in our nation today, there are a lot of unhappy people. Oh, my gosh. A lot of miserable people. They might be angry or even hostile towards those who disagree with them over political issues. Maybe their unhappiness is due to their financial situation. I mean, with the current price of food and fuel, many people are frustrated and often blame the politicians for their circumstances. Here’s another principle to remember. Don’t ever forget this. Here it is. Unhappy people take their unhappiness with them wherever they go. The unhappy people in one state say they can be happy by moving to another state. And the unhappy child at school thinks he’ll be happy going to a different school. To be honest, there are many things that can cause us to be unhappy if we react to circumstances. I said if we react to circumstances. Anytime we’re tempted to be depressed, anytime we’re tempted to be angry, we can always choose to react. or respond, those two words are important. You can choose to react or respond. If we react, we kick in our emotions and put them in control. And once that happens, we begin the vicious spiral into self-pity. If we respond to some circumstances that is unfavorable, that we don’t like, then we’re free to use God’s problem-solving devices and trust God with the details. That’s why I’m urging you to learn the faith rest drill, which is problem solving device number three in the flat line of your soul. And relax once you learn it, knowing that everything’s in his hands. I want to show you a good example of the faith rest drill and how it works. This is an Old Testament example out of Exodus 14, 13. Moses answered the people and said, Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. Why did he say that? Well, in this particular circumstance, the Egyptian Pharaoh who had released the children of Israel from bondage due to the disciplining of the Lord, had now changed his mind and he was trying to kill them. And he was chasing them all the way to the Red Sea where he had them backed up against the water. And it looked like they were going to be doomed. But due to God’s promise and God’s provision, the children of Israel were able to pass through the Red Sea after what Moses told them, stand still, don’t be afraid, watch what God’s about to do. They went through the Red Sea on Exodus 14, 22, you can read about it, on dry ground. But when the Pharaoh’s army pursued them, they all drowned and were destroyed. Here’s another principle for you to remember. The same God who delivered Moses can deliver you regardless of your circumstances. If, if, if you will respond by claiming promises and not reacting by getting emotional or panicking. Listen to this scripture, Psalm 34, 4. I sought the Lord and he answered me. and delivered me from all my fears. Two things you see in that verse. You see prayer and you see deliverance. I sought the Lord and he answered me. So the psalmist went to the Lord in prayer and God answered him and delivered him from his fears. In Psalm 5611, In God I have put my trust, I will not be afraid what man can do to me. In this verse we see faith, I put my trust, that’s faith, and confidence, I will not be afraid of what man can do to me. See it? So in the book of Luke it is recorded that while Jesus was teaching before a group of individuals, A certain woman in that group spoke loudly above Jesus, and she made an outstanding, not an outstanding, but a weird statement. Here’s what she said. She interrupted him, shouted above him, and said, Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breast which nursed you. His response to her statement was this, Yea, rather. Yea, rather. What does yea rather mean? It means that’s not true. That’s not true. And then he said this. Our Lord said, blessed are those that hear the word of God and keep it. Hear the word of God and keep it. The key here is the word blessed. It’s the Greek word makadrios, which means happy or happiness. And it describes a state of inner joy and contentment independent of external circumstances. So she was saying, I bet your mama is really proud of you. I bet your mama is really happy. And the Lord Jesus Christ said, no, that’s not it. Happiness does not depend on who you’re related to. It doesn’t depend on who your children are. I mean, there are some of you right now that have wonderful children that are making you miserable. They’re stealing your joy from you because they don’t believe what you believe. They’re not following how you raised them. And so you’re not happy about it. And it’s not the way it goes. Happiness doesn’t depend on what your children do. Happiness depends on what God has provided. The contrary, also, happiness says this, it’s a state of inner joy and contentment that’s independent of external circumstances. I’m going to say it again, yea, rather. That’s not true, lady. And here he’s not being rude, but he said, happiness belongs to those who hear the word of God and keep it. And that’s the word happiness. Machairios, contentment, inner joy, independent of external circumstances. Thus you and I can see that the true joy or the true happiness does not depend on circumstances, but it depends on hearing and keeping the word of God. Two things, hear and keep, hear and keep. I’m saying it again, hear and keep the word of God. Now listen, if you’re unhappy today, and some of you are, you’re miserable, you’re mad, you’re angry, it’s your own fault. If you’re angry, if you’re miserable, if you’re unhappy, it’s your own fault. since you are either not hearing God’s word taught or you’re not applying what you did hear taught. Because anger and bitterness are both terrible mental attitude sins. Maybe no one’s ever told you that, but you’re sinning when you get angry and you’re sinning when you get bitter. They’re both mental attitude sins. And bitterness is that resentful cynicism that results in antagonism and sometimes hostility toward the person you’re mad at. Here’s the principle. You cannot be happy and bitter at the same time. They don’t work. You cannot be happy and bitter at the same time. So what about this word bitterness? Hebrews 12, 15 again. Looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God and lest any root of bitterness spring up and cause trouble and by this many are defiled. Uh-oh. That word defiled is going to give us a problem. The word defiled is the Greek word miaino, M-I-A-I-N-O, miaino, which means to pollute or to contaminate. I’ve heard it described as the contents of what’s in the bedpan at night. When the Jews didn’t have indoor plumbing, they didn’t have a commode and a toilet and a bathroom, so they had a bedpan at night and they’d go to the front door and throw it in the street and holler miaino, which means don’t step in it, look out. This type of sewage undoubtedly stinks, so obviously you would not want to step in it. Here’s a warning from God through Paul’s letter to Titus. Listen to this word, meino again. Listen, Titus 1.15. To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are defiled, meino, and unbelieving, nothing is pure, even their mind and their conscience is meino, is defiled. That’s pretty bad when your thinking stinks that much. This should help you understand why folks want to avoid bitter people. Folks want to avoid angry people. If you’re bitter and angry, you may find that you don’t have very many friends unless you get friends that are angry about the same thing. And then they’ll side up with you to get some confidence from you. But when the conscience is defiled or even polluted, then the thoughts of that individual stink. And you know, life is way too short to be around people that stink and people that have no happiness whatsoever in their life. In Psalm 94, 19, the Bible says, when anxious thoughts multiply within me, your comfort delights my soul. Your comfort delights my soul. We all know that Satan, through the cosmic system, offers a false happiness, a pseudo-happiness. It’s not real, but it’s related to people and to circumstances. In one of my small booklets on happiness, and I will tell you we’re writing a bigger book on happiness and hope to have it out by the end of the summer, but one of our small books on happiness says this. I quoted a statement supposedly made by none other than old Elvis Presley himself. And it appears that he said to this guy that was interviewing him, he asked Elvis, he said, when you get rich and famous, are you happy? You’re famous. You got all the money. Are you happy? And Elvis said, no, I’m lonely. I’m lonely. If you are lonely today, if you are bitter today because of some circumstances beyond your control, then you must understand that your source of happiness and your source of contentment is only going to come from your spiritual life if, in fact, you have one. It’s tragic if you’re sitting around waiting on somebody or something to make you happy. In Elvis’ case, I think he bought cars and gave them away. He did a lot of things. He was a very kind person. But he wanted to make other people happy, but he was unhappy himself. You know, the mature believer can have tranquility of soul as well as contentment of soul. The mature believer, the spiritually mature believer. Listen to what the Apostle Paul wrote to the Philippians. He wrote these words in Philippians 4, 11 through 13, where we’re talking about contentment, and he said, Not that I speak in regards to need, for I have learned in whatever state I’m in, whatever need I have, to be content. I know how to be abased, That means not have much. And I know how to abound. That means to have a lot. 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 the amazing statement that so many people like to claim, a great verse that many Christians have claimed. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I see that tattooed on a lot of professional athletes’ back or arms or painted on their face. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And that’s simply the truth. If you’re hearing and keeping the Word of God, you’re going to be content and you don’t need those things to make you happy. Happiness is related to hearing and keeping the Word of God, not people and not circumstances. Remember, that’s what Jesus told the woman. Happiness belongs to those people who hear my Father’s Word and who keep it. All right? That’s the attitude of a mature believer. And it should also be our attitude as well. Notice he said, I learned to be content. The word learn, I learned. It didn’t happen automatically. He had to learn how to be content. This statement reminds us that contentment is a learned attitude. And we get it from studying and applying God’s word to our circumstances. Now this is the real key here. If you’re not taking in the Word of God, you can’t apply what you don’t take in. So if you don’t take it in, you don’t have any answers. You don’t have any solutions. And you’re having to depend on someone else to make you happy. You’re having to depend on people or circumstances to make you happy. But if you’re taking in the Word of God under a great pastor, some pastor that knows the Bible and can teach it to you correctly, not some weirdo running up and down, jumping up and down like a peacock, but somebody that can stand up behind that pulpit and teach you the Word of God. then you can learn how to be happy. You can learn how to be content. And that is to use the faith rest drill, the problem-solving device number three, stay filled with the Holy Spirit, and to use happiness as a problem-solving device. To apply God’s word to every circumstance in your life. So Paul went on to say, what did he say? I can do all things. It doesn’t make any difference what it is. I can do all things. And how can he do that? Through Christ who strengthens me. Through Christ who strengthens me. What does that mean? It simply implies this, that having a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ is the source of your strength when you endure adversity. Having a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ is the source of your strength when you endure adversity in your life. A Christian has a personal relationship with Christ. He has believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. He’s received him as his Savior. He’s put his faith and trust in him, and he is a child of God as a result of that. So that is the personal relationship. It’s not a religion. Christianity is not religion. It is a relationship. It’s Christ living in you. Listen to the Bible, Galatians 2.20. I have been crucified with Christ, but it’s no longer I who live, but now Christ lives in me. Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. The key there is Christ lives in me. I want you to think about that for a minute because I want to show you something, something very interesting. The fantastic truth for church-age believers like you and I is that all three members of the Godhead indwell us. All three members of the Godhead indwell us. That’s right. Listen to Ephesians 4, 6. One God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in you all. There it is. God the Father is in you all. Did you know that God is in you? Yes. And what about John 14, 23? Jesus answered and said unto him, If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. So here’s the Lord Jesus Christ telling you that he and God the Father will come to live inside of you. Some people call this Jesus living in your heart. And it’s kind of a weird way to say it, but because your heart is not, we’re not talking about what pumps blood, we’re talking about the mentality of your soul. Your soul has what? Your soul has mentality, your soul has volition, your soul has a consciousness and a self-consciousness. And if you’re a Christian, you have a human spirit. You’ve been born again. You’re no longer dead spiritually. And so God the Father and God the Son live in your human spirit. And his word, as you learn it and apply it in the mentality of your soul, gives you the source of happiness and strength and courage you need. Listen to Ephesians 1.13. In him, Jesus Christ, you also trusted. After you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. So now we have the Holy Spirit sealing you. So if you’re a Christian, here’s the answer. The Holy Spirit seals you until the day of redemption. No one’s going to take you out of the hand of God. And not only that, but God the Father and God the Son live in you. All three members of the Godhead indwell you. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit all indwell you. So we have three known enemies, don’t we? We’ve been told in the Bible the world, the flesh, and the devil are our enemies. The world, the flesh, and the devil. So many people say the devil made me do something. The devil’s after me. Most of the time, that’s not true. Most of the time, they can’t get past their own flesh or they can’t get past the lure of the world. And they act as if Satan is, listen, Satan is not omnipresent like God the Father. God the Father can be in America and in South America at the same time. Satan cannot be but one place at one time. He’s a created being. and I’m sure he’s not wasting time chasing your fanny around, I promise you. What’s going on is you can’t pass the test because of your flesh, your flesh, your sinful nature. It’s a very strong lure in your life, and it keeps pulling you back into the same old habits and the same old patterns and the same old sin because you haven’t learned how to confess your sin and deal with it as 1 John 1-9 tells you to do and to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Problem-solving device number one is rebound, R-E-B-O-U-N-D, rebound. That means when you bounce out, you bounce back, bounce out, bounce back. If you get out of fellowship with God, even though you may have a relationship with God, you can get back in fellowship when you name your sin or confess your sin, as 1 John 1-9 tells you. No Christian can go through the spiritual life without learning that, because we’re all going to sin and fail. And so we have our enemy, the flesh and the world, the lure of the world. The world’s out there spinning around. We call it the zeitgeist, the spirit of the times. And this is what Satan uses. He’s the god of this world. And then we have another enemy called the devil, aka Satan himself. So I would say that we are more than able to overcome all three of these adversities. I believe that. Why could I say that? Well, because Jesus overcame the world. Start with John 16, 33. I told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart, I have overcome the world. That’s the words of Jesus Christ himself. If he lives in you, then you can overcome the world, the lure of the world. The world is always calling you. It’s always telling you how to get rich quick. It’s always telling you how to be happy by taking a vacation, by winning the lottery, by doing this or doing that. It’s a mirage. It’s a lie. It’s not going to make you happy. Those unhappy people are going to take their unhappiness with them wherever they go. So Jesus said, I’ve overcome the world. I’m not captured by the thoughts of the world. And then we know this, that Jesus overcame the world. What about the Father? Well, we know that he defeated Satan. We’re taught in the Bible that Satan was cast out of heaven and cast to the earth, and Satan is headed for the lake of fire. So if Jesus overcame the world and the Father overcame Satan, then who’s going to overcome the flesh? Well, it’s the Holy Spirit. The Bible says if you’ll walk in the Spirit, you won’t fulfill the lust of the flesh. The flesh wars against the Spirit, and the Spirit wars against the flesh, and these two are contrary one to the other, the book of Galatians. So now there’s all three members of the Trinity living in you, and they’ve already defeated the world, the flesh, and the devil. That’s your victory in Christ Jesus. That’s what it means to be an overcomer. And so it’s all available for you. You can be happy. You can have that kind of happiness I’m talking about, but not as long as you keep focusing on your circumstances. Not as long as you keep looking at your situation and thinking oh I just, I can’t be happy, I’ve got too many bills, I’ve got too many problems. My wife cheated on me, my husband cheated on me, my kids don’t do what I want them to do. And you’re looking at all the circumstances and you’re saying these things are all making me unhappy. What’s making you unhappy is you’re not learning the word of God and applying the word of God into your situation. If you would do that, that doesn’t mean that these other things are going to go away with, but it means you’ll be able to handle them. You’ll be able to deal with it. And you will be able to glorify God to the maximum through the situation you’re going through in your life. I can talk about unhappiness. It can be your health. It can be your finances. It can be your social status. It can be one of many things. It can be, you know, I could give some ridiculous illustrations, but it doesn’t take much to make some people unhappy. You don’t have to live that way. You don’t have to let the world, the flesh, and the devil control your imagination, your thoughts, and your dreams. You’ll stay filled with the Holy Spirit by using Rebound. If you’ll take in the word of God on a consistent basis as you study under a good qualified pastor teacher, then you can grow and become a spiritually mature individual and bring God great, great glory. That’s what he’s looking for, those people that can glorify him. So, did you learn how to be happy? I hope so. Happiness belongs to those people who hear my Father’s word and who keep it. That’s the Lord Jesus Christ himself. And it’s free. It doesn’t cost anything. You don’t have to buy it. You don’t have to take a trip. You just have to learn how to be content, how to handle circumstances in your life, and how to let the Lord be in charge. Stand still, Moses said. Wait. Watch what God’s about to do. Okay? All right. Thank you for listening today. I hope you’ll come back next week. Same time, same channel, same place. Until then, 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.
