Join Rick Hughes as he explores how to fight the unseen battles against spiritual forces that seek to hinder our journey with God. In a world laden with pitfalls and distractions, he provides a strategic plan rooted in scriptural wisdom. Listeners are invited to understand the dynamics of spiritual warfare and are equipped with the knowledge to protect their spiritual life effectively.
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 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 usually 30 minutes of motivation inspiration education all done without any type of manipulation because we’re not trying to con you. We’re not seeking money. We’re not trying to sell you something. We’re offering you something. We’re teaching you the Word of God, hoping that you can verify and identify God’s plan for your life. If that’s possible, then you can orient and adjust to the plan if you want to. But thank you for listening. This is Rick Hughes, Evangelistic Ministries, speaking to you. I’m Rick Hughes. You can find us on the internet at rickhughesministries.org. RickHughesMinistries.org. There you can find much of the material we offer free of charge, books we’ve written, and all sorts of information, as well as many of the current Flatline radio shows. We’ve been at this over 20 years now, and I’m so very thankful for God’s grace that made it possible for us to bring you these radio shows in more ways than you’ll ever understand, I promise you. We started a study last week on the strategy that God has for us to defeat Satan in our life. And we took a look at a passage, want to review a little of that and move on some new information today. So what we started with last week, the strategy was in Ephesians 6, 11 through 17. I’ll read that one more time to you where it said, Paul wrote, put on, he’s using the military metaphor, by the way. He said, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the strategy of the devil. In other words, he has a strategy. He knows the patterns of your life. He knows the things, the temptations that get to you. He has a book on you, so he knows what you’re up to. He cannot read your mind, I promise you that. He’s not omniscient, but he does track you. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities and powers and rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. We explained what all those were, demonic forces, each one to a different rank. And he said, because of this, in verse 13, Ephesians 6, take to you the whole armor, every piece of it, so that you’ll be able to stand in the evil day. The evil day is a specific day that you’re attacked. Not every day. You’re not attacked every day. We’ll mention that later. But in the evil day, the day that it comes, and having completely done this, you’ll be able to stand. So he goes on to say, Stand with your loins girded with truth, breastplate of righteousness, feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. And above all of this, take the shield of faith, wherewith you shall be able to quench the fiery darts of the wicked one, the heaven of salvation, the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. I went over all that. I’m going to go over it just a little bit more for you so we’ll understand. There’s a mandate to put it on. And he said, start off with your loins girded about with truth. I told you that every Roman soldier had a belt that served many purposes, much like the American soldier’s ammo belt. This metaphor emphasizes the need for truth to be your belt. Remember in John 4.24, I told you God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. Remember what John wrote in 3 John 1.4, I have no greater joy than to know my children are walking in truth. So it’s obvious if you can walk in truth, you must also be able to walk in the lie. And we know that Satan is a liar. Jesus told us that in John 8.44. He’s the father of lies. So we’re to have a belt of truth around our waist. We’re to be wrapped up in truth, understanding what truth is. The truth is the right thing must be done in the right way. We talked about the protocol plan of God. It’s a shame that the ministry of the Holy Spirit, for example, is overlooked in the daily lives of many believers. Many pastors don’t even teach it. Many pastors get up in the pulpit and teach the Bible and not ever warning their congregation that they’re not gonna get anything out of if they’re not filled with the Spirit. And what quenches the filling of the Spirit is personal sin. And how do you deal with personal sin? Problem solving device number one on the flat line of your soul, you confess your sin. So the Bible clearly tells us we are to be filled with the Holy Spirit in Ephesians 5.18. The next strategy we had to employ was the breastplate of righteousness after the belt of truth. And we talked about experiential righteousness, not the salvation righteousness, but we’re talking about the godliness that you build up in your life and live by that. This godly attitude, this godly type person, godliness. The righteousness is potential. if in fact you live in obedience to God’s mandates and you grow in the grace and the knowledge of your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as taught in 1 Timothy 6.11. So that breastplate protects the vital organs of the Roman soldier, especially his heart and his lungs. You get shot there, you’re done for. And so Paul said, put on the breastplate of righteousness. This is tantamount to becoming a spiritually mature individual. When you develop capacity righteousness through consistent intake of the word of God, then you are preserving your life. How do you preserve your life? Proverbs 3, 1 and 2. My son, forget not my law, but let thy heart keep my mandates for a length of days and a long life and peace shall they add to you. The next item in Paul’s strategy, the military metaphor, was to put on shoes or combat boots. He said, and shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Can you imagine a warrior in combat fighting barefooted? I talked about that last week. We’re to stand against the strategy of the devil. You can’t stand barefooted in a sea of glass. You got to have sure footing, and this is balanced and stability. Sure footedness is balanced and stability. The spiritual life has to have balance and stability. So fighting requires you to be stable, not get knocked off your feet, not knocked down for the count of 10 and it’s over with. In spiritual combat, you’re going to confront the enemy as he tries to knock you off your feet, so your effectiveness would then be rendered neutral. The very thing we offer the lost man is he can have peace with God. That’s our wonderful thing we can give him. With our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Where does it say that in the Bible? Romans 5.1, therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. You know, peace is just the opposite of turmoil. And the lost man should be able to see in your life this peace that we’re talking about. So do you have peace with God or have you been knocked off your feet because of your sin and your failure? And if so, did you stay on the ground and feel sorry for yourself, wallow in your self-pity? Or did you rebound, confess your sins, scramble back up to your feet The last piece of protective armor, the Roman soldier’s shield. It’s the shield of faith. Paul continues to use this military metaphor, talking about the shield of faith, which we studied extensively. This means that you’ve got to learn the Word of God, because in addition to all this, picking up the shield of faith, which you can extinguish the fiery darts of the wicked one. What are those fiery darts? What are those demonic darts? Well, they’re designed to cripple you spiritually. If Satan could cripple you, you’d be of no concern to him since you’d been neutralized. That’s what he wants to do, neutralize you in your Christian life. He doesn’t care if you go to church. He doesn’t care if you call people of old brother, old sister, hallelujah, praise God. But if you don’t understand the mechanics of the Christian life, you’re just going through the ritual and there’s no reality to it. Fear is a great crippler in the Christian since he looks to the problem and doesn’t see the focus or the solution. In 2 Corinthians 4.18, we fix our eyes not on what is seen, don’t look at that, but on what is unseen, for what is seen is temporary. What is unseen is eternal. So faith is how we perceive reality in the invisible essence of God. The Spartan army, we talked about the Spartan armies fighting with their shields, putting it over their head like a tortoise shell, how they would get underneath that, and when the enemy would rain down arrows, they’d do a shield drill, and all the soldiers would lock shields together and get underneath it like a… and the arrows would just stick into their shields and couldn’t kill them. Sometimes they’d stand up and fight like a phalanx, locking shields together and smashing through the enemy as they advanced. Remember, your local church, if it has mature believers in it, it’s a safe haven for those being tested in the arena of life. It’s like a faith shield for them. So sometimes you may have to put your shield over your friends that are injured. That means you may have to pray for them and support them and uphold them. But we’re talking about an attack from Satan based on the knowledge of your weakness. All right? God’s aware of what we’re doing. Proverbs 15, three says, the eyes of the Lord are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good. He’s watching. He knows what we’re doing. He knows what we’re going through. And he’s obviously pleased when we defend ourself with his provisions. And faith, as we talked about the shield of faith, that’s like a fortress made up of thousands of promises. There are over 7,000 in the Bible. And each promise is like an individual rock that you can build to build a rock fortress of faith. And it can extinguish the fiery darts of Satan’s wicked ones. Those darts are accusations. They’re temptations. And they’re designed to break your will and cause you to surrender your efforts to oppose him. So remember, no matter what he uses to discourage you, you are to overcome it if you use your shield of faith. Isaiah 54, 17 guarantees you can overcome it, where it says, no weapon that is formed against you will prosper, and every tongue that will rise against you in judgment you will condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord. So your resistance to Satan’s attack is related to your trust and confidence in God’s word. And that’s the faith rest drill, problem solving advice number three, standing on the promises of God. So when you sin and fail, do you believe what God says in 1 John 1.9? When you’re tormented by adversity, do you use the faith rest drill or do you go into frustration and self-pity? The woe is me attitude, oh, I got it so rough. Remember the Bible says there’s no temptation overtaking you such as is not common to man. God is faithful. He will not allow you to be tempted above what you’re able, but will with the temptation, the testing, make a way for you to escape so you’ll be able to bear it. Now today we want to move on. That’s a lot of review. I just ran through some stuff for you there, so I want to move on. Our Lord prayed for his disciples to be protected from Satan’s attacks. He put his shield over them. Listen to what he did. In John 17, 15, my prayer is not that you take them out of the world, but that you protect them from the evil one. So the Lord Jesus Christ is holding his shield, his shield of faith over his disciples. Our Lord also intervenes on your behalf and my behalf, thank goodness. Hebrews 7.25, therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him because he always lives to intercede on their behalf. Now in verse 17 of Ephesians 6, Paul gives these words. and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Every soldier is issued a helmet. Why? Because it protects his head from shrapnel and snipers. Modern war fighters, such as we have in our special units, special forces, SEALs, combat engineers, they have incredible helmets. Even allows for them to have night vision and instant communication. The metaphor here that Paul is using of the believer’s helmet is a clear picture of protecting what you think, protecting your thought. This is where the enemy will seek to get a foothold in your life and your thoughts. Producing fear from intimidation is a result of not thinking but reacting. So the first thing any young Christian must learn is the assurance of their salvation. If you’re not confident that you’re going to heaven, then your doubt is failure to trust God. John made it very plain in his epistle in 1 John 5, 11. This is the testimony. God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has a son has life. Whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. Now listen to the next verse. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know, K-N-O-W, oida in the Greek. You may know that you have eternal life. That’s your confidence. You don’t have to worry, am I going to heaven or not going to heaven? If you put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, you’re going to heaven. If you put your faith in your own production, your own works, and your own good deeds, you’re not going to heaven that way because the Bible says there are none that are righteous, no, not one. So the real you is what you think. That’s who you really are. And the helmet that Paul is making an analogy to is the helmet that protects your thoughts so that you can be an effective warrior on the battlefield of life. In the broad field of battle, in the combat of life, don’t be dumb, driven cattle, but be heroes in the strife, someone once said. In 2 Corinthians 10, five, but we demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God. And we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. Did you hear that? Every thought to make it obedient to Christ. Paul tells us what we should be thinking in Romans 12, 2 and 3. He says, Stop thinking of yourself in terms of arrogance beyond what you should think, but think in terms of humility as God has assigned to each of us a standard of thinking from his word. The worst thing you could do is get under AI, not artificial intelligence, but arrogance and ignorance. And if you’re under arrogance and ignorance, you’re not thinking. So if you renew your thoughts daily, it will allow you to reject doubt, doubt from various circumstances you will face each day. Strapping on your helmet every morning will protect you from sedanic suggestions. and worldly influence as you acquire the mind of Christ, Philippians 2.5. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. The last bit of weaponry that we need in our strategy to stand against the devil strategy is called the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. The sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. This is our one offensive weapon. The word sword is the Greek word machaira, This weapon was used by the Roman legion to conquer the known world. It was a short two-edged sword that each soldier carried. And if two soldiers stood back to back, they could defend the ground from front to back, side to side. Otherwise, there were a few other swords that we know about in history called the kairos, which was much like a fencing sword. And then the ramfeia, which was a giant sword, much like a larger curved sword. But the word we use here is the machaira. and that’s like the Roman sword. The sword we are required to use is none other than the Word of God. That’s the sword, the Word of God. Did you hear it? The sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. That’s a quote from that verse. The sword we are required is none other than the Word of God, and that’s the power used by the Holy Spirit. That’s what he needs. That’s the ammunition he needs, the Word of God, to defeat our enemies. You don’t give him that ammunition, he doesn’t have any ammunition to defeat the enemy. What’s so good about the Word of God? Why is that so important? Well, Hebrews 4.12, the Word of God is alive and powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of the soul and the spirit and to the joints and the marrow, and is the discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. That’s how powerful the Word of God is, sharper than a two-edged sword, and that’s the word machaira. When our Lord was tested by Satan in Matthew chapter four, if you remember that, if you’ve ever read it before, he used scripture to defeat the attack. Every time Satan threw up a proposition, the Lord’s answer was, it is written, it is written, it is written. The Greek for word is rhema, R-H-E-M-A. However, there is another Greek word called logos, and it can be translated word also. The logos can refer to the Lord Jesus Christ as in John 1.1. In the beginning was the Word, that’s Jesus, and the Word, Jesus, was with God, and the Word, Jesus, was God. The word rhema, R-H-E-M-A, can refer to the written word. There’s nothing in this planet that’s stronger than the living word of God. Listen to these scripture verses about the word of God, how it’s gonna last forever. In Matthew 24, 35, heaven and earth will pass away, but my word shall not pass away. In Isaiah 40, verse eight, the grass withereth and the flower fades, but the word of God will stand forever. That scripture that you have in your Bible has to get in your head. You won’t always have a Bible. It better be in your head if you want to win this war. Because all scripture is given by inspiration of God in 2 Timothy 3, 16, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, correction, instruction, and righteousness. Our enemy, the devil, cannot stand against the living word of God. You have to learn it to use it. Having a Bible doesn’t mean you know how to use it. A military recruit is given a weapon and he has to learn how to use it to be effective. That’s why the Bible says, study to show thyself approved unto God. A workman that needeth not to be ashamed, but rightly dividing a word of truth. So you have to learn it. You have to learn how to use it to be an effective student of the word of God. You better know what it says. One of the essential things to understand for you and I is called mystery doctrine of the church. The mystery doctrine of the church. It’s called a mystery because it was never revealed in Old Testament times. Again, I told you, AI, we hear a lot about it, scientific community, artificial intelligence. But in regards to the Christian, that term doesn’t mean artificial intelligence. It means two personal flaws, arrogance and ignorance. So unless you understand how to use your sword, the word of God, in your arrogance and your ignorance, you will make bad decisions based on your emotions, and thus you will establish wrong priorities for your life. That’s why I tell you, you’ve got to have a well-qualified pastor to teach you the mystery doctrine of the church. Listen to 1 Corinthians 4.1. Let a person regard us, that’s pastors, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mystery of God, mysteries of God. What are those mysteries of God? In 1 Corinthians 2.7, but we communicate God’s wisdom to and a mystery, the hidden assets which God predestined before the ages for the purpose of our glory. The mystery is the sum total of the unique doctrines of the great power experiment in the church age. The baptism of the Holy Spirit, do you understand that? Do you understand you’re baptized by the Holy Spirit at salvation and sealed with the Holy Spirit, but it’s not the same as the filling of the Holy Spirit? Do you understand the protocol plan of God that says the right thing must be done in the right way or it’s wrong? For example, prayer, we use that example all the time. You can pray all you want to, but if you have sin in your life, it’s not effective. Because the Bible says, if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. That’s just one thing. Protocol plan of God requires you to do absolutely correct procedure. Our unique assets is another amazing mystery. The unique assets we have, nobody in the Old Testament had it. We are royal priests, we’re royal ambassadors. They didn’t have that in the Old Testament. This was a mystery. Another part of the mystery is the indwelling of every member of the Trinity in our bodies. They all indwell us, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And least but not, last but not least is called dispensations. Understanding what timeline we’re in, why certain things happen today that don’t happen like they used to. Why is there no more prophecy today? Why is tongues speaking not in the current situation today? Why have some of these things passed away and why have they not? And what dispensation are we in and when does it terminate? All this has to be taught to the believer to give him confidence and hope in the plan of God. So if you know these doctrines, you’d be like the rifle man sharpening his skill on the rifle range. That’s what coming to Bible class does. It sharpens your skills so that you understand the word of God and your sword and how to use it. In Romans 16, 25, listen carefully. Now to him who’s able to establish you in accordance with my gospel, the message I proclaim about Jesus Christ in keeping with the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed and made known through the prophets written by the commandment of the eternal God. Here’s the mystery, here it is, so that all the Gentiles may now come to the obedience that comes from faith. Again in Colossians 1.25, I have become its servant by the commission of God, gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness, the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but it’s now disclosed to the Lord’s people. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of the mystery, which is Jesus Christ in you, the hope of glory. The Jews had to understand there’s no more Jew, no more Gentile, we’re all one in the body of Christ. We must remember that our enemy always seeks to ambush us. That’s what you have to remember that. Don’t forget that. And he’ll do it when you least expect it, okay? He’s always seeking to ambush you when you least expect it. Usually after some great victory, some of your part where you had a great victory, that’s when he likes to strike. You know, in a war, much of the fighting is done in a specific time. I mean, to be honest, if you talk to a war fighter, most of the time it’s just hurry up and wait, hurry up and wait, hurry up and wait. And then when the time is right and the command is given, the attack is carried out. And this is true also of satanic attacks upon us. These attacks on us might not be 24-7, might not be the way it is, but rather they may be short invasions into your thoughts, into your activities with a design to catch you off guard. It’s a surprise attack. So remember the words of the apostle James, James 4, 7. Submit yourself to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. One look at superior firepower. Maybe a few probes here and probe there, but the promise is given. Resist. The Greek word is antihistamine. We get the word antihistamine from it. Resist the devil. That means to stand or oppose him. Standing with your shield up, with your sword in your hand, with your helmet on, with your breastplate on, with your belt on, with your shoes so you can be steady. Resist him. The aorist active imperative, which means it’s not a request, it’s a command. It’s a divine order from God through the Apostle Paul. Another thing that links up with this word is James 4, 7, we have the word submit and resist, two different words. The word submit is the Greek word hupotasso. Hupotasso. And that is a term for, a military term for being under a divine command. In the Greek morphology, it’s a passive tense, which means you receive the action of the verb, you don’t produce it. And God the Father does that by means of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God in your soul. That word hupotasso is also found in Ephesians where it says, children, obey your parents. That’s the word hupotasso also. It’s a divine order, a divine command. Now that’s our strategy. I gave you a lot of information in the last two radio shows. I went through it really quick because I only have 30 minutes. But I hope you got the picture of this. This is a military analogy for you to have a strategy to overcome satanic attacks in your life when they occur. They won’t be happening 24-7, but they will happen and they will come at various times throughout your life. The question is, what will you do with it? Will you allow yourself to be shipwrecked Will you fall off course? Will you be discouraged? Will you be distracted? Will you quit? Will you go hide in the closet and feel sorry for yourself? What are you going to do? Are you going to learn the word of God? Are you going to load up, dress up, pick up your shield, march forward, glorify the Lord Jesus Christ and his army? We are in a war. It’s a spiritual war. You can see it. It’s a war for this country. It’s a war for your life. It’s a war for the children’s future in your life. And unless you put on that armor, unless you understand what I’m talking about, you’re going to be a victim and a casualty of that war, and you’ll be carried off to the side, thrown in a ditch somewhere, out of the way, useless. I hope you’ve been listening. I hope you’re learning. It’s very important you understand these things. Until next week, this is your host, Rick Hughes, saying 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.
