As our nation grapples with unforeseen crises, Rick Hughes delves into the perils of fear and panic, and the spiritual warfare that arises from these emotions. Offering biblical encouragement, he shares the tools and teachings needed to navigate the stormy seas of life with peace and confidence. From understanding the importance of a flatline in the soul to embracing the faith-rest drill, this episode is a beacon of hope and strength for believers in trying times.
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 Rick Hughes, your host, and inviting you to stick around for a few minutes, 30 minutes of motivation, some inspiration, some education, and it’ll all be done without any manipulation. The Flatline is designed to give you accurate information to help you verify and identify God’s plan for your life. And if you can do that, you certainly have the freedom and the privacy to orient and adjust to the plan. You always hear me tell you that God gave you two ends, one of those ends you think with, one you sit with. And success in your life is going to depend on which one of those ends you use. Heads, you’ll win. Tails, you’ll obviously lose. So as we give you information, coming out of the Scripture, out of the Bible, It’s called wisdom from God. It starts off acting as knowledge. When I teach you something, it’s called knowledge. And in the Bible, there are two different words for knowledge. There’s one word called gnosis, excuse me, gnosis, G-N-O-S-I-S. And then there’s a word called epinosis. Epinosis is the preposition full knowledge. Knowledge and full knowledge. I can give you knowledge, but I can’t give you full knowledge. The only way you can get that is by positive volition. Believe the word of God you hear and apply it into your life. Once it becomes epinosis, full knowledge, then it’s converted into wisdom. Once you have wisdom in your soul, you have discernment and insight, the phenomenal ability to have x-ray vision, to see through the devil’s lie, to see through the delusion the devil throws forth, the mirage, the stuff that’s not really true. That’s what wisdom gives you. The wisdom from the Word of God, from the Scripture, can save your life. Wisdom from Scripture can deliver you from financial disaster if you listen to God and pay attention to God. And so we give you this information, hopefully, to develop some sort of divine viewpoint in your life which is the viewpoint of God having what we call the mind of Christ. That’s Philippians 2, 5, you developing the mind of Christ so you have the wisdom that is discernment and insight. into what life is all about. Now, there’s no doubt as I talk to you today, we’re living in a crisis. I don’t know that there’s ever been a time in this country that’s like this. I don’t know if we’ve ever even seen anything like this. There are mixed messages going around, threats of isolation and impending death. I mean, they abound everywhere in big cities and around the country. folks are being told not to come out of their home unless it’s absolutely necessary fear and panic setting up in local communities and in the financial world it seems to me like people are jockeying to get the most food they can the most paper products they can even the most money they can because greed and fear have gripped this country. Well, what about you? I want to ask this simple question. Are you afraid? I mean, I’m recording this show in late March and it probably won’t play to early April, but what will happen between now and then is a big question mark because I’m not a prophet. But here is something that I do know about. The enemy, a.k.a. the devil, will use our fear to make us weak. And this includes spiritual warfare, even physical warfare in a physical enemy. America’s enemies and whoever they may be across this great world will use their this national panic to gain an advantage over us but the greater problem for us believers in the Lord Jesus Christ is this problem have we allowed fear to control us have we let fear take us over Because the more you surrender to fear, the more you fear. And there has to be a better way to live according to God’s word. And quite frankly, there is a better way to live. You don’t have to live under fear. The Bible’s clear about that. So let’s talk about that a little bit this morning. The believer, that’s you and me who have trusted in the saving work of the Lord Jesus Christ, we have advantages and assets that the unbeliever does not have. I’ve often said this. I know you’ve heard me say this on this radio show. There’s a train wreck coming and I can hear the whistle blowing. Well, I think the train wreck may be here. We’re kind of standing at the crossroads right now and the warning thing is down and the lights are clanging and the train is barreling in closer. As we watch our nation sink into the depths of medical uncertainty, as we watch America sink into political unrest, you and I have to ask ourselves, How in the world do I maintain a normal life in the middle of all these abnormal times? Is it possible? And the answer is yes, it is possible. I mean, I’m not qualified to give any sort of medical or financial commentary, but I can give biblical encouragement during these changing times. So let’s make no mistake about it. We’re going to witness a fundamental change in our daily lives today. If this stuff ever runs its course, but don’t act surprised because as a nation, as a great nation like America, most of our people have turned their focus inwards and they’ve been focusing on the gifts of prosperity and they forgot to give her. That’s really a shame. When you focus on the gift and you forget the giver, and sometimes in a crisis like this, the gifts of money and the gifts of health, you know, you get scared and you start looking to the giver and saying, oh, please help me. Did you forget that we’re living in the middle of an angelic conflict and this worldwide event that we’re going through and what we’ve been facing is an opportunity for Satan to gain an advantage over you and over the nations. But what’s bad is that we’re going to sail through these uncharted waters And many who are in the storm have no moral rudder, no anchor in their soul, much less a port to pull into where they could ride out the storm. Because churches are forced to close and many do not have the harbor to pull into, you know, the local church. Many lost people do not see the beacon of hope shining from the lighthouse of the local church, illuminating the entrance to the port, the local church. This means that you and I must be the harbor of hope, wherever you are, wherever I am. We must be the light for our family and our friends. We must have a peaceful presence to calm their fears. Is it possible for us to have this? And the answer is yes. Is it possible? Can I have peace in a worldwide panic? Yes, absolutely yes. The storm about you will rage and the battle will continue. The battle, what kind of battle? The battle to control your thinking. The battle to get you to live by your emotions and not think clearly. This is how the devil defeats you. If he can get you to live by your emotions and not think clearly. Because the enemy that we’re talking about, a.k.a. the devil… seeks to vindicate himself. He doesn’t want to go to the lake of fire, and he wants to control his world. This is his world, you know. The Bible says we live in the devil’s world, and we’re sojourners. We’re passing through. Our heaven is, as the Greek word says, Ouranos, or heaven. We know heaven is our home, Ouranos. So the storms are going to rage. The battle is going to continue. If it wasn’t this, it would be something else. But we could face a historical disaster in America, and it could be full of personal catastrophes as we’re seeing today. But as a growing believer, we can shine our light in the storm and still be standing when the storm dies out. Much like a lighthouse in Michigan that I’ve walked out on the pier in Michigan many times, up around Grand Haven or Holland, Michigan or Saugatuck, Michigan. And those lighthouses stand out facing across Great Lake Michigan towards Chicago or Milwaukee. And they are a way of signal to get back to land safely coming across Lake Michigan. You can be a light like this. You can be the port in the storm. In Matthew 5, 14, the Bible says, you are the light of the world. And this is our Lord Jesus Christ speaking to his disciples as he gave the Beatitudes in Matthew 5, 1 through 14. And our Lord stated that we should not cover our light, but rather set it on a lampstand. Let your light so shine among men that they may see your divine good production and glorify your Father which is in heaven. That’s what we have to be. If you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ and you’re full of panic and fear, If you’re intimidated by these circumstances, your light is not shining. You have to stand firm and tall and confident and full of assurance and full of faith. And you will be a beacon of hope to those around you that don’t have those things. John said that Jesus was burning and shining a lamp, and he told those people that came to hear him, you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light. That’s what people do. They accept Christ as their Savior, and then they forget about it. That’s what Revelation 2 talks about to the church at Ephesus where they forgot their first love. You’ve lost your first love, Jesus said. The only way to keep that light bright is to stay in love with the Lord Jesus Christ, and that is a problem-solving device that we call occupation with Christ. Remember on the flat line of your soul, this is what’s important. In these days, you must have a flat line. All these 15 years I’ve been teaching about a flat line in your soul, a forward line of troops, a main line of resistance to stop the outside sources of adversity before they ever become the inside source of stress. Now is when you need it. And if we go through them again, rebound, problem-solving device number one, and that’s how you get rid of the problem of sin and failure because we all are infected with that virus, the virus of sin and death. And then the filling of the Holy Spirit is how we deal with the old sin nature that we have. It’s a way to live without letting the sin nature control our life. That’s why the Bible says the flesh wards against the spirit and the spirit wards against the flesh. They’re contrary one to the other. So when we rebound or when we confess and own sin, we allow the Holy Spirit to control us. If we don’t, then we allow the sin nature to control us. And Ephesians 5, 18 says, be filled with the spirit, not the sin nature. So constantly you and I must keep a close check on sin in our life and fear and worry definitely are a sin in your life. Fear and worry are definitely a sin in your life. You got to remember that. So by using the problem solving devices, It is possible to come to the faith rest drill. In the faith rest drill, you’re standing on God’s promises. You’re relaxed, you’re confident. There are over 7,000 promises in the Bible that you can lean on and you can trust on. And that’s part of the flat line of your soul, using the faith rest drill, claiming a promise, getting a biblical rationale and understanding what God’s done doing. These are promises you should know. What time I’m afraid, I’ll trust in him. No weapon that is formed against you will ever prosper, the Lord says, and many more we’ll talk about. So we have the rebound technique, problem-solving device number one, the filling of the Holy Spirit, problem-solving device number two, the faith-rest drill, problem-solving device number three, grace orientation, orienting to the grace of God, how he saved us by grace, we live by grace, we die by grace, and There’s even surpassing grace in heaven. Biblical orientation, another problem-solving device. Orienting our life to the mind of Christ, thinking as Christ thought, having divine viewpoint, not human viewpoint. All of these first five things give us a personal sense of destiny. So we know God has a plan for our life, and he has a plan for your life. And that plan’s not to throw you under the bus. That plan’s not to see you die in a pile of dust on the side of the road. That plan is for you to be a light to the world and to glorify Jesus Christ as you represent him to your friends. If you love the Lord, that’s personal love for God, the greatest virtue you could have. That’s another problem-solving device. And then you have impersonal love for mankind, the mandate that we’ve been told to love our neighbor as we love ourself, a great problem-solving device. And then sharing the happiness of God, my joy, Christ said, I leave with you. And then eventually occupation with Christ, occupied with the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. I hear people sometimes say, thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Sometimes that kind of gets me a little hackled because he is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. And sometimes we get a little bit too familiar on first name basis here. I mean, if you saw the president, you would say, Hey, Donald, you wouldn’t call him Donald. You’d call him Mr. President, the Lord Jesus Christ being occupied with the anointed son of God and is an amazing problem solving device because you know he loves you and you reciprocate that love by loving him back and it’s demonstrated by your obedience and your faith. So, Jesus was the burning and shining lamp and many for a time followed his light but many wandered off to the side. But here’s the neat thing. If our Lord could calm the raging storm of John 8, 18, he can calm a storm in your life that you face if you would just let him captain your boat, get in your boat. Listen to John 8, 18. Then the sea arose because a great wind was blowing. And so they had rowed about three or four miles. These are Peter, James, John, Andrew, the fishermen. And they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near the boat. And they were afraid. You see, Jesus scared them more than the storm scared them. Isn’t that interesting? But he said to them, it is I, do not be afraid. And then they willingly received him into the boat and immediately, immediately the boat was at the land where they were going. Let’s get some principles on this. This is very interesting. One, a relationship with Jesus Christ does not remove all the storms in your life. A relationship with Jesus Christ does not remove all the storms in your life, but he will give you his assurance that he will ride out the storm in the boat with you. He is in the boat with you today if you’re occupied with Christ. If you’re filled with the Holy Spirit, rebounding the sin, Christ is in the boat with you. Two, accepting Christ as your Savior is you inviting him to get into your boat. I want you to notice this. He took those disciples to the other side. They didn’t even have to row anymore. He just, bam, they were there. when you believe in the lord jesus christ when you turn your life over to him by faith alone in christ alone you’re inviting him to captain your ship and when you’re staying filled with the holy spirit when you’re learning god’s word and applying the principles of faith to your life when you’re growing in grace and when you’re developing divine viewpoint coming to a personal sense of destiny and increasing your love for god Listen, this is what it means to be riding out the storm. This is what it means for Christ to be in the boat with you. This is amazing. There’s a storm going on in this nation today. And a lot of people have Christ in the boat, but they’re not letting him control the boat, to use that metaphor. He’s not in control. To some people, he’s still out there on the sea. He hasn’t even got in the boat yet. When you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you can be confident he will never leave you. He will never forsake you in any storm in life that you may ever face. God loves you. That’s such an amazing statement. It’s so simple. And yet you, a small speck of sand in the sea, God knows you. God loves you. You say, but you don’t know what I’ve done. No, I don’t. You don’t know what I’ve done either, do you? He loves us. He loves us in spite of who we are. He loved us so much that he sent his only begotten son to pay for our sin. The overwhelming love of God is immutable. It’s inscrutable. You can’t fathom it. You can’t think of it. You can’t imagine it. It’s just amazing. It is God. God is love, the Bible tells us that. And he loves you today. You don’t have to be afraid of anything. You don’t have to fear anything. Just let him take control of the boat. You be the light. You be the port in the storm. The Lord sits in heaven at the right hand of the Father, but you have a personal pilot. That pilot is just like any big ship that has to make its way into a big harbor, a big port. They have what’s called a harbor pilot. and they go out and get the harbor pilot to bring the big ship into new york or to bring the big ship into la but the harbor pilot is the one that guides it in through the channels and through the narrow waters well this is what the holy spirit does for you the holy spirit is your harbor pilot he leads you to the security of the port where the storm cannot get to you Remember, this is why we studied the flatline, so you can have a main line of resistance, a spiritual radar that sees through the fog of the devil’s deceit. That wisdom we’ve been talking about on this show, the one that gives you insight and discernment is your radar system. It’s the system that the Word of God illuminates the lies and the evil plans of Satan. Listen to Psalm 119, verse 13. The entrance of your word gives light. The entrance of your word gives light. There you go. Right there it is. Go outside tonight without a flashlight. Stand in the dark. Take your flashlight and pop it on and there’s light. That’s what the word of God does for you. The entrance of your word into my soul gives me light. I can see now. Or Psalm 43.3, oh, send out your light and your truth and let them lead me. It’s amazing. It’s amazing when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, when you have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, when you’ve learned God’s word and applied it, the light is always with you, guiding you through the storm of life. It’s called biblical orientation or doctrinal orientation. on the very flat line of your soul. That’s what it is. God the Holy Spirit plus the Bible doctrine gives you the peace that the world does not have. The world doesn’t possess it. The world doesn’t understand what it is. They don’t have peace like you can. You can have peace in the storm even though the waves may be raging. Do you remember Matthew 8 when the Lord Jesus Christ was asleep in the boat? This is another episode with the disciples and they woke him up and they said, Lord save us, we’re going to die. He was in the boat with them asleep. They actually thought for a minute that they would drown and Jesus would drown, the Lord Jesus would drown. That’s not gonna happen. That was not God’s plan. God’s plan all along was for him to go to the cross. And when he got up, you know what he called them? He called them short-time trusters. Can I ask you a question? Are you a short-time truster? Do you trust the Lord Jesus Christ and the provisions that God has for you because things were going great, the grocery store was open, you had money in your bank account, you could get fuel for your car, or when things started getting a little tight, did you quit trusting and start scrambling around and worrying and being full of fear and manipulated by Satan? That’s the question I’m asking you. Your peace in this storm that we’re going through is attractive to a lost person, the disadvantaged person who’s alone. So the whole reason for you to have that flatline in your soul and have that relaxed mental attitude is to be attractive, to be a light, to be a port in the storm, because there are people in this nation that need what you have. And you must talk about it. Listen, if you’re a fan of football and you’re an Alabama fan or an Auburn fan or a Michigan fan or Ohio State fan or a UCLA fan or a fan of Texas or a fan of Texas A&M, you’re going to talk about it. But how many people are Christians and say, well, that’s a personal issue. I don’t really want to talk about it. That’s bull. Talk about it. Let folks see where your confidence comes from. Let folks see where your love is demonstrated for God in his word. It is an anchor for them. It is a port for them. It’s a light in the storm for them. Your confident expectation must be demonstrated. So John 14, 27, let not your hearts be troubled, neither let it be afraid. That’s what Jesus said. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Troubled and afraid, these are sins. Fear is the expression of anxiety, not peace. Listen to 2 Timothy 1.7. God has not given us a lifestyle of fear, but of power and of love and of sound judgment. That’s the lifestyle Paul talked about. You don’t have to be afraid. Nothing to be afraid of. If the Lord Jesus Christ is in the boat and the Holy Spirit is directing it as a harbor pilot would, and the word of God is illuminating, lighting the way, what do you have to be afraid of? God was in business before you got here. He’ll be in business even when you’re gone. You have sound judgment because that’s called faith. Faith, a lifestyle of power, that’s the filling of the Holy Spirit. A lifestyle of love, that’s personal love for God, impersonal love for others. And of sound judgment, that’s wisdom with insight and discernment. That’s what God’s given you. People are always afraid. If they don’t have something, they’re afraid they’ll lose it. Excuse me. They’re always afraid if they have something, I meant to say, they’re afraid they’ll lose it. And if they don’t have something, they’re afraid they’re never going to get it. That’s how people live today. No matter what the circumstances, we live in insecurity in this country. It’s just the way it is. Because fear is both a sin and an emotion. And you can’t let emotions run your life. Why? Because fear will rob you, rob you of the ability for you to think under pressure. You can’t think when you’re afraid. Your mind will wag like a dog’s tail that’s excited to see you. You won’t be able to focus. You won’t be able to concentrate. So problem-solving device number three on the flatline of your soul is called the faith rest drill. And you know what that does? When you use a faith rest drill, it robs fear of its power. The faith rest drill robs fear of its power to control your thinking. That’s what it does. It orients you to God’s grace. It calms you down. You claim a promise. You go to a biblical rationale, and you form a conclusion. God’s with me. God knew about this was going to happen a long time ago. I have nothing to sweat. He’s in charge. He sits on his throne. He knows everything that’s going on, and you can relax. So faith rest is fueled by the promises of Scripture. You know, we have a book on promises, and it’s free if you want to have it. Bible promises, all kind of promises for all kind of situations that you’re in. Feel free to order it, and we’ll be glad to ship it right out to you free of charge. We also have transcripts of all of our shows in the last year, especially the year 2019, and it’s a whole year’s worth of messages. And we’ll be glad to send those to you in three volumes, and you can read them and study them when you’d like to. This is developing faith rest fueled by the promises of the Scripture. And your faith rest is demonstrating your confidence in God’s plan and your confidence in God’s provision. you must have confidence. So Romans 8, 28 says, we know that God causes all things, all things, even things like going on in America today, to work together for good to those who love him and to those who are called according to his purpose. In Philippians 4, 7, and the peace which surpasses all comprehension will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Guard your heart and mind. Keep you from being panicked. Keep you from being afraid. Keep you from falling victim to your emotions. It’s amazing how the answers are right in front of us, all right there in the Bible in the Word of God. I’m so glad I can give these radio shows to you, so glad we can bring these messages to you, so glad we can offer you this information, free books, and all the stuff that goes with it. So if you need anything, give us a shout. We’re here, and we thank you 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.
