In this enlightening episode of The Flatline, Rick Hughes takes us on a journey through prayers and promises. Join us as we break down the true meaning behind offering thoughts and prayers in times of need, and explore how a relaxed mental attitude can be cultivated even amidst life’s trials. Our intense focus on Biblical principles serves as a guiding light, helping believers build a flot line in their souls necessary for enduring life’s storms.
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 stick around. Just a few minutes of motivation, some information, some education, but no manipulation. Basically, I educate and you evaluate what I said. Thank you for listening. Thank you for hanging in there with us. Every one of these radio shows was going on 17 years now, teaching the flat line all across the United States, 112 different stations, all by the grace of God. We don’t try to hustle money. We don’t try to solicit money. We obviously have to depend on money to pay for the shows, but that’s the Lord’s business. Our job is to get it right and get it accurate. So we make you available of all the books that we have available on our website, rickhughesministries.org, rickhughesministries.org. Unfortunately, there’s another person named Richard Hughes that has a ministry as well. He’s in Georgia. If you get him, you got the wrong guy. rickhughesministries.org. There you can find a list of our books, our latest books, all free online. Also, we like to tell you about our podcasts, and you can listen to us on Spotify or Apple iPod. Just type in The Flotline, and you’ll find 600 different radio shows there you can listen to. All of our radio shows are transcribed and available to you in transcripts if you’d like to read them. And we’d love to hear from you. If you’re listening somewhere, let us know so we’d be encouraged. And we always have to decide what stations to keep and which stations to nix out, and we’d like to know who’s listening where. Today we’re going to talk about something very interesting, I promise you. It’s called prayers and promises. Prayers and promises. And by the way, we do have a new promise book. We’ve had a promise book for a long time, but we’ve condensed it and made it smaller. And you can carry it around very easily with you. It’s a smaller size and very convenient. And it’s packed with hundreds of Bible principles in the back of the book, which are easy to recall. Short principles such as bad decisions limit future options. That’s a good principle to always remember. Our human solutions are no solutions. Divine solutions are the only solutions. So these sort of things are in the back of the book, and you can read through them. And you can order this book free from our website, going through the website, rick at rickhughesministries.org. That’s our email address. If you want to go to the website, just go to rickhughesministries.org. Or you can call us at 800-831-0718. 800-831-0718. Now, speaking of prayer, have you ever heard somebody say what I’m about to tell you? I bet you have, like me. Have you ever heard someone say, our thoughts and our prayers are with you? That old typical thing. Our thoughts and our prayers are with you. It’s a modern way of saying you have our sympathy. Well, you know, I got to thinking about that. And what exactly does that mean? Our thoughts and our prayers are with you. Our thoughts. What are they talking about? Our thoughts. Does that mean we are thinking about you for a minute or two? Not much more than that. Or maybe they’re thinking they’re glad it happened to you and didn’t happen to them. So exactly what kind of thoughts are they referring to? Our thoughts and our prayers go with you. Just a couple of minutes, I think about you, and I move on down the road and think about something else. I know the Bible teaches the key to the right way to think. It’s called a relaxed mental attitude, an RMA. And this is part of building a flat line in your soul. When you build that flat line, have those 10 unique problem-solving devices taught in the Word of God, you can adapt an RMA. It’s found in Isaiah 26, verse 3. There the Bible says you will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts in you. You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts in you. It is possible to have peace in the middle of a conflict, to have an RMA, that’s what it means, perfect peace, to have an RMA, a relaxed mental attitude. You’re not uptight, you’re not worried, you’re not afraid, you’re not bitter, you’re not antagonistic. And how do you do that? Whose mind is stayed on you. Whose mind, M-I-N-D, that’s the noose part of the mentality of your soul. Your soul has a noose and your soul has a cardia, a mind and a heart. And the mind is where you assimilate information. The noose and the cardia is where you store and use the information, the heart. So if you want to have the perfect peace that God’s talking about, if you stay on him, if you focus on him. So again, you will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you. And that’s occupation with Christ for you and I today. Why? Because he trusts in you. And there it is, that’s called the faith rest drill. That’s problem solving device number three in the flat line of your soul. So whose mind is stayed on you is biblical orientation. That’s a problem solving device. And having peace, that’s plus eight, sharing the happiness of God. All of this is available to you. And so Paul tells us this in the New Testament, What you and I should focus on during our toe, T-O-E. You say, what’s a T-O-E? Time on earth, your toe, your time on earth. In Philippians 4, 8, he says, finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there’s any virtue and if there’s anything praiseworthy, focus on these things. And it goes right back to Isaiah 26, 23, whose mind is stayed on you. Excuse me. Excuse me. So this is a type of thinking, and it’s a mental attitude dynamics, we call it. It’s the ability for the believer, such as yourself or me, for us to think under pressure and not let our emotions capture our thoughts. And when someone says our thoughts and our prayers go with you, most of the time they have no idea what that even means. It’s just a little way of saying a nice little goody to make you think they feel sorry for you or whatever. So don’t fall into the trap of saying something that means nothing. Again, don’t fall into the trap of saying something that means nothing, especially to any individual that’s facing some sort of disaster in their life. You might try saying this. When I think of you, I remember our times together and I have appreciation for all we’ve experienced. That’s a good thing to say. That’s called fragrance of memories. I think about what you are having to endure and I pray that you will be able to glorify God through all of this. That’s another thing you could tell them. Much more than our thoughts and our prayers go with you. Tell them what you’re thinking. the good times we’ve had, the experiences we’ve had, and what you’re having to endure, and I’m praying for you. What are you praying? That they will use God’s problem-solving devices to handle the situation and not be overwhelmed. I mean, obviously, you can offer physical assistance, you can offer intercessory prayer, and you can help them recall certain verses, certain promises that act as comfort in times of testing because the Bible or Scripture has a calming effect on individuals. So if you have the faith rest drill, problem solving device number three, then you have the potential to have a relaxed mental attitude. So when you say our prayers go with you, what exactly does that mean? Our thoughts and our prayers go with you. What kind of prayers? I believe personally that many prayers go unheard. I believe many prayers go unheard due to the fact that they’re doing a right thing, yes, but in the wrong way. Listen to Romans 8, 26. Likewise, the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses, for we don’t know what we should pray as we ought to pray, but the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. That’s a truth that the Holy Spirit intercedes for you in prayer. That’s why we are warned in the Bible as believers not to quench the Holy Spirit. He can’t do his job if you do that. 1 Thessalonians 5, 19, do not quench the Spirit. Quench in the Greek New Testament is the word sabinomi, sabinomi. And sabinomi literally means this, to put out the light or put out the torch. This verb is a present active imperative verb in the morphology of the Greek New Testament, and this is a literal command. Don’t put out the light. Well, what exactly does that mean? Don’t put out the light. Don’t quench the Holy Spirit. Don’t put out the light. 1 John 1, 5 through 7 says, this is the message we’ve heard from him, and we declare it to you that God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim we’re having fellowship with God and we’re walking in darkness, we’re lying and we don’t live out the truth. But if we will walk in the light as he is in the light, then we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus his Son purifies us from all sin. Walking in the light is you being in fellowship with God. It’s you not out of fellowship, not under control of your old sin nature, but in fellowship, under control of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. So look at it this way. If I put you in a room and I turn every light off and it’s completely dark, that’s what happens when there’s sin in your life. You’re walking in the darkness. But if you rebound, problem-solving device number one, and confess your sin, you’re flicking the light back on and you can see what’s going on. So if you’re in sin, you’re in darkness. If you’re in fellowship, you’re in light. We’re also instructed in the Bible not to grieve the Holy Spirit. So I gave you don’t quench the Holy Spirit first. Now don’t grieve the Holy Spirit, and this is all about why your prayers will not be answered. We’re instructed not to grieve the Holy Spirit in Ephesians 4.30. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God with whom you’re sealed to the day of redemption. The word grieve is an interesting Greek word, lupio, lupio, and it means to cause sorrow. It’s a present active imperative, which is a divine command, But you have to understand, this is what’s known as an anthropopathism. Big word, I know, anthropopathism. A-N-T-H-R-O-P-O-P-A-T-H-I-S-M. Anthropopathism. What is that? It’s giving God a human quality so we can understand the severity of the situation. But actually, God never operates on emotions. So we know that ascribing to them this type of human response of divine appointment is speaking of his unfailing love for us even though we ourselves fail. Our Father does not delight in dishing out divine discipline to his children. But if we sin and we walk in darkness, we don’t rebound, we’re going to get judgment and discipline. Listen to Genesis 6, 5 and 7. Then the Lord saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only on evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth and he was grieved, as that word grieved again, grieved in his heart. God is never sorry and God doesn’t grieve like we do. So the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I’ve created from the face of the earth and both man and beast, creeping things and birds of the air. I’m sorry that I made them.” Why would God say that? Well, this is the result of a satanic interference in the lives of humans. In Genesis 6, 4, Satan attempted to corrupt the entire human race. And this attempt brought about what’s called the flood that destroyed everything living on the earth, except those that were in the ark. In Genesis 7, 21, and all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds and cattle and beasts and every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth everywhere. So believers like you and I, we can also face divine discipline when we grieve or quench the Holy Spirit. Hebrews 12, five tells us, don’t make light of the Lord’s discipline. And don’t lose heart when he rebukes you because the Lord rebukes or disciplines the people that he loves. And he chastens everyone that he accepts as his son. It is not unusual for the believer to come under divine discipline. Warning discipline, intense discipline, even dying discipline. Warning discipline is when God gets your attention, maybe through a road sign, maybe through a message from the preacher, maybe through something you read in a book. But God will let you know you are out of line and you are in serious trouble if you don’t recover. He warns you. And then intense discipline comes when you don’t recover. If you continue to stay carnal, if you continue to live in your sin, if you continue to refuse to rebound, Then our Father takes you to the woodshed. Those that he loves, he chastens. Yep, he’s gonna scourge you, take you to the woodshed. No pain, no gain, as they say. These mandates are warnings to the believer. Warnings of what? That sin quenches and grieves the Holy Spirit. Thus, anybody that says our prayers and our thoughts go with you, any prayer offered, while there is unconfessed sin in the life of the individual, are literally unprocessed requests. Again, if you pray with unconfessed sin in your life, it’s an unprocessed request. I’ll give you a perfect example. Let’s take Sunday morning in church and Brother Smith, who’s the pastor, calls him Brother Jones, who’s the deacon. and wants him to come up and pray before the service starts. And Brother Jones comes up and offers this glorious, magnificent, wonderful sounding prayer. Oh God of the heavens and of the earth, how much we love you and et cetera, et cetera. However, before he left the house, He got in an argument with his wife and yelled at his kids and mad driving down because somebody cut him off in traffic. And he got into middle attitude sins. And now he’s in church, out of fellowship, grieving and quenching the Holy Spirit, but getting up into the pulpit and offering a prayer, which is a right thing, but it was done in the wrong way. You understand? That prayer will not be answered. It’s an unprocessed request. You see, you and I were designed by God to function in our spiritual life under the power of God’s Holy Spirit and to be guided by the word of God, our scripture. So when you put the filling of the Holy Spirit, which is problem-solving device number two on the flatline of your soul, When you put the filling of the Holy Spirit with the word of God, the Bible, the scripture, which is Hebrews 4.12 says, alive and powerful, then you have the potential for a dynamic spiritual life that can actually replicate the life of our Lord Jesus Christ during his tow time on earth. So what any believer needs in time of testing Whatever they’re going through, when someone says our thoughts and our prayers go with you, what they actually need is to be able to execute the faithless drill. But it’s not possible using human energy. It doesn’t operate that way. You have to learn what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit and then to use the faith rest drill or stand on the promises of God. This is how we develop trust in God’s plan. This is why we wrote the book of all the promises. It’s actually a shortcut to where you might not know them, you might not remember them, but if you go to the book and look up these promises, It’s ammunition for you to use in your spiritual life. So if you can stand on the promises of God, God, you said this, and I’m holding you to it. I believe you meant it. I’m trusting you. Then if you trust him in difficult circumstances, you can learn to live a life with an RMA free of stress. not necessarily free of adversity. Adversity is inevitable, but stress is optional. You can live free of worry, you can live free of anxiety, you can live free of depression, but not if you keep sinning, not if you keep creating drama in your life. The Bible contains thousands of promises that you can stand on when times are tough, when times are unbearable. I think there are close to 7,000 promises in the Bible. However, you can only use what you know and you cannot use what you don’t know. So how do you access the provisions God has given to you? Well, for example, when Paul tells you in Ephesians 6 to put on the helmet of salvation, what he’s referring to is covering your head And that military metaphor is used metaphorically for your thoughts, which is the mentality of your soul. So Satan loves to get into your thoughts, and one of the ways he’ll do it is by getting you to doubt your salvation. Maybe you shocked yourself. Maybe you did something you thought you would never do. And now you figure God dumped you since your prayers don’t seem to be getting through. But you have forgotten this fabulous promise in Hebrews 13 five. I will never leave you nor forsake you. It’s obvious the Lord would not leave you helpless in the devil’s world. That’s why you have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. That’s why you have the filling of the Holy Spirit. And that’s why you have the canon of Scripture or a Bible. These assets that God gives you allow you to operate behind enemy lines in the devil’s world. And don’t forget, we are behind enemy lines living in the devil’s world. We don’t belong here. The Bible says we’re sojourners. We’re just passing through, that our home is in heaven, or the Greek word, ouranos. So with these assets, these 10 problem-solving devices, particularly Rebound, the Filling of the Holy Spirit, and Faith Rest Drill, then you have the ability to operate behind enemy lines. Now, this new book I prepared, this new addition to the Bible Promises and Principles is a much smaller version than the original book, and it will assist you to recall the scriptures that you will need to use if you’re going to claim the Faith Rest Drill. as well as providing you numerous biblical principles in the back of the book. And they’re just short one or two line sayings that remind you and help you recall biblical provisions. Principle, here’s a great principle to remember. You must be filled with the Holy Spirit to mix your faith in these promises for the faithless drill to be effective. You must be filled with the Holy Spirit to mix your faith with these promises for the faithless drill to be effective. So if you have unconfessed sin in your life, just as if you were trying to pray with unconfessed sin in your life, it won’t be answered. If you try to use the faithless drill without being filled with the Holy Spirit, it will not work. It won’t work. You must not quench the Holy Spirit. You must not grieve the Holy Spirit. You can’t operate in the Christian life using these divine operating assets God gave you out of fellowship walking in darkness. These promises from God, the few that we put in our book especially, are like ammunition to defend yourself with when Satan attacks you, when circumstances close in and it seems to be a helpless, hopeless situation, you have ammunition. You have the ability to go to the scriptures and to claim, God, this is what you said and I’m gonna hold you to it. So when someone says our thoughts and our prayers go with you, maybe they should remind you of a few biblical principles. Maybe they should say, I’m thinking about the wonderful times we’ve had together and I know you’re going through some extremely hard times. Let me give you a couple of verses that may help you to concentrate. These promises are ammunition. So the next time one of your friend needs comfort, try giving them that small book called Biblical Promises and Principles and encourage them to use the faith rest drill, problem-solving device number three. The entire flat line, all 10 problem-solving devices, the entire flat line is God’s operational assets for your tow, for your time on earth. But without problem-solving device number one, rebound, and without problem-solving device number two, filling of the Holy Spirit, none of these others will offer you any protection or encouragement. But if you use your divine assets, you will be protected from satanic strategy Which strategy is designed to discourage you and to defeat you in this spiritual warfare we face? Put on the helmet of salvation. Pick up the shield of faith, Ephesians 6 says there, the faithless drill. So you will be able to stand against the strategy of the devil. Satan has a strategy against you. He knows what your weaknesses of your flesh are. He knows what lust you face in your life. And he’s good at throwing those things at you, and he’s good at throwing doubt at you. If he can discourage you, he can defeat you. So you have to learn to use your problem-solving devices. Because the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 10, 4 and 5, the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought, thought, thought into captivity to be obedient to Christ. This is where you live your Christian life, in your mind. That’s why the Bible says, as a man thinketh in his heart, so he is. The real you is not your image. It’s not your style. It’s not what you’re wearing, not your haircut. It’s what you’re thinking. That’s the real you. I mean, you can put on all the beautiful clothes and put on all the good smelling cologne and wear all the jewelry. That’s not you. That’s what you want people to think. The real you is inside your head and your thoughts. Do you have confidence in the plan of God? Do you know these 10 problem-solving devices? Are you filled with the Holy Spirit? Why should all this take place? First Peter 5.8, be sober. Be vigilant because your adversary, the devil, walks around like a roaring lion seeking who he can devour. In other words, Satan has a target on you. You are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ and you are aka the enemy in the angelic conflict. And he would like nothing better than to disable you and discourage you and defeat you. It’s way past time for you to crank it up a notch, isn’t it? Isn’t it past time for you to begin to advance spiritually more than being on a pace with a snail? That’s only gonna happen when you make the decision to do what God tells you to do. That’s why we bring it up casually over and over and over again. 2 Peter 3.18, you must grow, grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever. You are mandated to grow in that passage. Grow, that’s an imperative mood verb. You’re not being asked to grow. You’re being told to grow. Well, how do you grow? Under the filling of the Holy Spirit, dissecting, sharing the Word of God as it is taught from the pulpit by a well-qualified pastor. The Bible is not a textbook. It’s not designed for you to sit home and read it. I get people all the time that say, I’ve read the Bible completely through. Well, good for you. Unless you’re taught what’s in that book, you’re never going to grasp the completeness of your spiritual life. I don’t care how much you read it. You’re going to get concepts, yeah. You’re going to pick up principles, yeah. You’re going to see promises, yeah. But it’s designed to be taught. And why do I know that? Because God gave men the gift of pastor-teacher. Ephesians talks about that. Pastor-teachers, poimen kai didaskalos in the Greek New Testament. Shepherds and instructors is what they’re called. Their job is to study and teach us the word of God. Well, I hope you’re listening. I hope you’re learning. I hope you have a hunger to find that pastor teacher. Until next week, I’m your host, Rick Hughes. I’d like to say thank you very much for joining me this morning and 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.
