In this episode of The Flatline, host Rick Hughes delves into the profound topic of suffering and its place within God’s divine plan. With over 900 radio broadcasts across 113 cities, Rick explores the spiritual maturity gained through trials, aligning with biblical teachings from 1 Peter, Romans, and Psalms. Discover how suffering serves as both a warning and a blessing, urging believers to reorient their lives toward God’s protocol plan.
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 01 :
Good morning and welcome to the Flatline. I’m your host, Rick Hughes, and for the next few minutes, stick around. 30 minutes of motivation, some inspiration, some education, and we do all that without any type of manipulation because we don’t con people. We’re not soliciting money. We’re not trying to sell you something. We’re not going to ask you to join it up, fess up, give up, nothing like that, but we would like for you to listen. Listen as I try to verify and identify the plan of God for your life, and if that’s possible, and do a good job, maybe you would orient and adjust to the plan. I pray that’s true. This show, The Flatline, has been going on now for 900-some-odd radio Sundays all across America. We broadcast in about 113 cities right now, and we’re so very grateful. The grace of God provides all of our finances. We don’t sell anything. We don’t raise money. We just do the show and trust God to provide the money. And he always has because these are not free. We have to buy the airtime. And we would like to know if you’re listening. That helps us determine where we contract with new radio stations. And if we have areas where we get no response and we know nobody’s listening, we have no sense wasting money. So if you’re listening, give us a shout. You can always contact us, rick at rickhughesministries.org. rick at rickhughesministries.org, or you can contact us by 800-831-0718, 800-831-0718. I’d like to remind you that we do have our new Christian problem-solving book out now. That details in precise explanation the 10 problem-solving devices. And if you’d like to have one, contact us through the website, rick at rickhughesministries.org. Okay, free of charge, no charge for anything we do here. We always believed, as I told you earlier, Even our printed material, no charge whatsoever. Okay, let’s talk about something today. I know you’re not going to like the subject. I didn’t like the subject when I put it together. I don’t like the subject now, but it has to be said. I’m dealing with people every day that are suffering, suffering for many reasons. But suffering is a horrible thing that so many of us go through in our lifetime, especially as we get older. And many of you that are listening to the radio show today are older people. I understand that. So what are we going to say about suffering? What should we mention about suffering? What’s God’s plan in suffering? Listen to what the Bible says. In 1 Peter 5, 10, but may the God of all grace who called us to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, here it comes, listen now, after you have suffered for a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. but may the God of all grace who called us to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered for a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. Now we’ll come back and explain every one of those words to you. In Romans 5, three through five, listen to what the Apostle Paul wrote. And not only this, but we also celebrate in our sufferings, tribulations, knowing that suffering brings about perseverance, and perseverance proven character, and proven character hope, and hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. And then finally, a third verse I want to mention to you, Psalm 34, 19. The sufferings of the righteous are many, but the Lord rescues him from them all. In the scriptures, the word tribulation, affliction, are all the words relating to suffering. And here are some principles to remember about suffering. One, because a man is a sinner, And because Satan is the ruler of this world, it’s inevitable that we all come under the law of volitional responsibility. You have a volition that’s part of your soul mentality. You have mentality, you have a conscience, you have a self-consciousness, and you have a volition. Volitional responsibility means you’re responsible for your decisions, good and bad. And volitional responsibility explains 90%, 90%, 90% of the suffering that we go through in our lifetime. We mismanage our money, we mismanage our health, we mismanage our relationships, and we suffer. So under the law of volitional responsibility, we believers commit sins and make bad decisions that cause suffering. And this suffering comes from our own volition. Even though you say, well, it was done in ignorance, still your volition, you chose to do it. Stop sign said stop, you can’t read, you ran the stop sign, hit somebody head on and killed them, you’re guilty. You say, well, I didn’t know that. Well, sin, you might not know it’s a sin, but it is a sin. And when you sin and don’t rebound the sin, you don’t deal with the sin, you don’t get rid of the sin, then you’re gonna come under some discipline. So let’s go on with the points. Man is a sinner, okay? Satan is the ruler of this world. It’s inevitable that we all come under the law of volitional responsibility, and under the law of volitional responsibility, we commit sins and make bad decisions. These things cause suffering. Three, suffering is a warning that we’re doing it wrong, or it may be the means of greater blessing. It can be one of those two things, a warning that we’re doing something wrong, or it may mean a greater blessing. So four, God has provided for the entire human race, the parent of suffering. Suffering is your parent. You know, when you leave home, The only restraint some people have when they leave home is the suffering that results from their bad decisions cause mom and dad not there to stop them. Many young people suffer greatly because they rejected the authority of their parents. They reject the authority of the word of God. They reject the authority of the police officer. They reject any authority and in their arrogance, they make numerous bad decisions. and they suffer because of their bad decision that they made. Therefore, point five, suffering is a guardian. It’s like a parent. It’s like a referee that always makes good calls because suffering is not a blind umpire. Suffering is an authority that’s designed to challenge the believer like you and I to grow in grace by the proper utilization of the portfolio of invisible assets. That’s the filling of the Holy Spirit and the dynamics of the word of God. So that, so that what? We can fulfill the protocol plan of God. Therefore suffering again is a guardian, a parent, a referee, and it never makes a mistake. And it’s designed to guide you into making good decisions, not bad decisions. Six, suffering for blessing is another guarantee from God that the believer can and does fulfill The protocol plan of God by advancing to spiritual maturity. And you hear me use the word protocol plan of God. What do I mean by that? I mean that protocol says the right thing must be done in the right way. The right thing done in the wrong way is wrong. I’ll give you an example. Do you think when you get to heaven, you’re going to walk up to God, slap him on the back and say, hey, God, it’s me, Herbie. I made it. There is protocol in heaven, and there’s protocol on earth right now. If you’re going to live for the Lord Jesus Christ, if you’re going to follow God’s plan, you have to learn what it is. It requires protocol. A right thing has to be done in a right way, and you’ve heard me say this before. Prayer is a right thing, but there’s a right way to do it and a wrong way to do it, and if you’re praying the wrong way, it won’t get answered. Again, the Bible says, if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. So it’s important you understand that. Suffering for blessing is a guarantee from God that the believer can and does fulfill the protocol plan of God by advancing all the way to spiritual maturity. Suffering never leaves the Christian as it found him. As a result of the suffering you and I go through, we’re either better or worse for it. But when we suffer, we are never going to be the same again. So let’s look at some of the reasons why we suffer. We’ve established that suffering is there. We’ve established that it comes from God for good or for bad. Why? Let’s look at number one, divine discipline. When you sin and you fail to use problem-solving device number one, that’s rebound, 1 John 1, 9, if we confess our sin, he’s faithful and just to forgive us and to purify us from all wrongdoing. When you sin and don’t use that verse, That will bring discipline from God. Why? Because you break fellowship with God, you quench the Holy Spirit, you grieve the Holy Spirit, you’re out of fellowship, you’re not out of the relationship, you’re still a child of God, but you’re in sin. And it’s going to bring discipline for you if you don’t confess the sin. If you don’t, go to the Father and admit it. And I’m not talking about tomorrow or next week, I’m talking about the minute you commit the sin. It’s like walking out of a light room into a dark room. When you’re in the darkness, you’re in sin. When you’re in light, you’re in fellowship. There’s no in between. You’re either in fellowship or you’re out of fellowship. Right this moment, riding in your car, sitting in your home, behind your desk, wherever you’re listening to this, you are either in fellowship or out of fellowship. If there’s sin in your life, you’re out of fellowship. You’re quenching the Holy Spirit. You’re grieving the Holy Spirit. You say, but wait, Rick, I don’t sin. I haven’t done any things. I don’t drink, smoke, chew, and run around with those that do. There’s mental attitude sins of worry, fear, anger, bitterness, jealousy. There are also sins of the tongue like slander, gossip, maligning, criticizing, backbiting. And then there are obviously the overt sins you’re aware of like drunkenness and fornication, etc., So here’s the point. Suffering for blessing is one thing, but suffering for discipline is another thing, and discipline comes in three different stages. It comes in the warning stage, it comes in the intense stage, and it comes in the dying stage, and suffering is involved in all of these. So if you’re being warned because you’re out of fellowship with God, you have not confessed your sin, not to the priest, not to the preacher, not to your best friend, to God, then you’re going to suffer. Hebrews 12, six through nine. My son, do not regard it lightly when the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are punished by him. You hear that? Don’t regard lightly the discipline of the Lord and don’t faint when you’re punished by him. What does that mean? Suffering, suffering, he punishes you. For those the Lord loves, Hebrews 12, 6, he punishes, he disciplines, and he punishes every son whom he accepts. It is for discipline that you endure when God deals with you as with a son. For what son is there whom the father does not discipline? This is where suffering acts like a parent. But if you are without suffering, discipline, of which all become partakers, then you are not a legitimate child of God. Furthermore, we’ve had earthly fathers discipline us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be respectful to the father of spirits and live? What does that mean? It means that when you come under this intense discipline from God and you get hostile about it, you reject it, you get bitter over what God’s doing, you may be moving into the third stage, which is dying discipline. Where would I get a thought like that? Proverbs 15 10, there is severe punishment for the one who abandons the way, but the one who hates the rebuke of God will die. I just read it from the Bible, there it is. So if you’re suffering today, Answer this question, why are you suffering? Are you suffering for blessing? Are you out of fellowship and suffering for discipline? The number two reason people suffer is for blessing. It’s the highest honor a believer can receive. And that’s called evidence testing. Evidence testing. Listen to the word. Evidence testing. Evidence testing is defined as Satan attempting through cross-examination of suffering in your life to discredit you who claim to be a spiritually mature believer. The scriptures give us a pattern of how evidence testing occurs. Job 1.6-12 and 2.1-7, Zechariah 3.1-2. Listen, in Zechariah 3.1-2, Joshua the high priest had attained maturity and was entered as a witness for the prosecution whom Satan was now cross-examining. This is the way the verse goes. Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord Jesus Christ and Satan standing in his right hand to accuse him. And the Lord Jesus Christ said to Satan, the Lord God the Father rebuke you. Now, what does that mean? It means if you reach spiritual maturity, if you grow in the grace and the knowledge of your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, you may be called to the witness stand. Keep in mind that we’re in the middle of the angelic conflict. Keep in mind that this is the appeal trial of Satan. He does not want to go to the lake of fire, and he wants to use you as an excuse to get out. If he can discredit you, then he can discredit God. And so if you’re called to the witness stand, he’s going to cross-examine you with suffering. That’s exactly what happened in Job’s case. And Job said, whether I live, whether I die, doesn’t make any difference. And that’s the point we have to understand. We may go through that evidence testing and that is the time you can glorify God to the maximum. No other time do you have the opportunity to glorify God like this. This special form of testing, evidence testing, usually occurs near the end of the believer’s time on earth. And the issue for us is will we complain about it? Will we have a pity party about our suffering due to the suffering? Are you going to lay around and moan and whine about it and complain about it? Are you going to thank God for the opportunity to glorify him with evidence testing? Because when you pass evidence testing, when you don’t complain, when you don’t whine, when you don’t get full of self-pity, you give maximum glorification to God. So the question is, can you stay occupied with Christ through your physical suffering, which is usually associated with aging? I’ve watched many, many mature believers make the transfer from time to eternity with utter complete confidence and joy associated with peace in their life. So until God blows the whistle, we must all keep our eyes on the prize and press on understanding that each hour we remain on this life this sin-infected planet. Each hour we’re here, it’s an opportunity to bring maximum glorification to God. Now let’s back up for just a few minutes and consider the suffering you might endure as a growing Christian. In Romans 5, three through five, this is what the Apostle Paul wrote. And not only this, but we also celebrate in our sufferings, knowing that suffering brings perseverance, and perseverance, a proven character, and proven character, hope, And hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. So this answers how the believer should react to circumstances that are adverse and suffering circumstances that are difficult in your life. We are to rejoice. What did Paul say? And not only this, but we celebrate. That’s rejoice. We celebrate. What? We celebrate our suffering. knowing that the suffering is bringing something else. We are to rejoice. The word is kalkakomai, the Greek word kalkakomai, and that’s the word rejoice, meaning to boast. It’s a verb, and the present tense verb, it means that we do it continuously. You may wonder why I give these Greek words. Why is he giving me that Greek word? Because this is the way it was written in the original manuscripts. The Holy Spirit did not write the Bible in English. He wrote it in the Greek New Testament or in the Hebrew, the Aramaic. This is the word that is there, calcacomai, meaning to rejoice. We rejoice. We celebrate. That’s why it’s translated that way. The indicative mood of this word means that it’s the mood of reality. Thus, there’s never, ever, ever a time when you are to be complaining or whining or mewing about the adverse circumstances in your life as a believer. I know you’ve got terrible disease. I got them too. I know you’re going through difficulty. I am too. But we’re not ever to complain. We are to celebrate in our tribulation, the Bible says, Romans 5, 3 through 5. Knowing this, knowing what? I’m reading the verse now. Knowing this, that our sufferings bring perseverance. Our tribulations bring perseverance. The pressure you are facing brings perseverance. The Greek word for perseverance is hupomone, hupomone. And it means a patient waiting or endurance with a mental attitude of strength with confident expectations. So we’re told to have patience with people in the Bible. and we are told to have patience with circumstances in the Bible, just as God has patience with us. So it’s through testing such as these things that we develop this proven character, the proven character that God is looking for. What is that? Knowing that suffering brings perseverance and perseverance brings proven character. What does that mean, proven character? Well, dokime is the word for proven character. It means the proof. It brings proof of your faithfulness. It’s simply a proven demonstration of your spiritual growth. So when you go through this undeserved suffering, it is a demonstration of your spiritual growth, and Satan will cross-examine you, try to get you to feel sorry for yourself, try to get you to complain, try to get you to call up to your friends and complain about how bad you feel. You must stand in faith. You must stand firm. Because when you do that, it leads to hope, the Bible says. Again, I read it to you. Not only this, we also celebrate in our tribulation knowing that tribulation, suffering, brings perseverance and perseverance, proven character, and proven character, hope. Hope. The Greek word for hope is alpis. It doesn’t mean I hope it doesn’t rain today. Hope is confident expectation in the Greek New Testament. This confident expectation comes from virtue, love, motivation. That’s your personal love for God. It’s the greatest motivation you could have in your life. It’s hope. You love God. We love him because he first loved us. And what does the verse go on to say? This kind of hope does not disappoint. Because the love of God, that’s his love for us, has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. So we love him because he first loved us. Hopefully you can see your Heavenly Father uses adversity, your Heavenly Father uses suffering to develop your character so that you are not a whining, self-centered person going through life believing you got a raw deal from God. The attitude of confidence and trust in God’s plan is a witness to those who observe you during your times of suffering. Another key verse for our consideration in regards to suffering was 1 Peter 5, 10. May the God of all grace who called us to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered for a while, perfect you, establish you, strengthen you, and settle you. In this passage in 1 Peter 5, 10, the Apostle Peter has just encouraged his readers to remain alert, stand firm against the devil. He let his readers know they were not alone, that other Christians throughout the land were also suffering the same persecutions. And this is something I’m warning you, I’m telling you, listen up, red alert. This is something we may be about to experience in good old USA. It might not be long before quoting Bible passages to combat immoral trends will be considered hate crimes. In this passage, Peter says, after you have suffered for a while. Suffered is the word pascho, P-A-S-C-H-O, which means to be affected in some adverse way. This word is also used in the Bible for the sufferings of Jesus, the suffering that he endured at the hands of the religious leaders. In Matthew 16, 21, it’s used, and also it’s used by Pilate’s wife, who complained to her husband she had been suffering many things and dreams because of what was being done to Jesus, and she begged him. Pilate’s wife begged him, don’t have anything to do with what those religious leaders are trying to get you to accomplish in putting him to death. Don’t do it. And he didn’t listen. This type of suffering by persecution lasts only for a season. But it serves to perfect you. After you’ve suffered for a while, a season, just a season, it will perfect you. Perfect you. Katarizo. Katarizo, meaning to make you complete, to equip you, to prepare you. Which simply means this. Simply means this. This katerizo means that part of the growth for believers is you and I learning how to handle unfair circumstances, which cause us to suffer. He also said it will establish you. Here’s another Greek word called sterizo, S-T-E-R-I-Z-O, sterizo. And it means to make you stable, to firm, stand firm, to strengthen you. So the suffering that Peter’s writing about they would experience would eventually make them firmly committed to the cause of Jesus Christ, not turning around, not running away from what was to come in spiritual warfare. And the same for you and I. The next word Peter used is strengthen you. It will strengthen you. Your suffering will strengthen you. That word is steneo, steneo. And it means make you stronger, refers to your spiritual life. So any believer who goes through the fire of suffering for blessing, not for discipline, is always stronger once he emerges out the other side. He’s strengthened in his faith by watching God’s problem-solving devices give him what he needs to endure that test. And then Peter goes on to say this suffering will settle you, settle you. What does that mean? It means to lay a foundation, to ground you. These four verbs are descriptive. of the mature believer’s mindset once he goes through the testing phase of life. What once was a test is now what? An opportunity. What once was a test is now an opportunity. What kind of opportunity? The opportunity for you to glorify God by using your faith-rest attitude and demonstrating your relaxed mental attitude. All suffering designed for blessing throughout spiritual adulthood falls into three categories, which are the three categories of spiritual adulthood. Providential preventative suffering for those young believers that are just beginning to develop spiritual self-esteem. Momentum testing for the believer that’s beginning to grow. Satan’s going to try to knock you off the road and distract you, and you’ll go through testing if you’re beginning to grow spiritually. And evidence testing eventually in your life for the mature believer as he trounces the hill and gets ready to go to the promised land. Furthermore, all suffering, all suffering for blessing is designed by God for the believer to advance to spiritual maturity and to ultimately give maximum glorification to God. So suffering for blessing is always designed to advance you by putting muscle on your spiritual life. That’s what the suffering you’re experiencing is for, to make you stronger and to let you give maximum glorification to God. And unless you understand these 10 problem-solving devices, I doubt that’s even happening. God will never give you more than you can bear. Did you know that? You’ve heard it. 1 Corinthians 10, 13, no testing has overtaken you, but is common to mankind. And moreover, God is faithful, who will not permit you to be tested beyond what you’re able, capable of handling. But with the testing, we’ll provide a way out so that you may be able to endure it. So remember, God never gives us more suffering than we can handle. And so what God does not remove, he intends for us to bear it, to endure it, to handle it, and to solve it with the word of God. That is my message today on suffering. I hope it brings you some encouragement. I hope it brings you some enlightenment because I know you’re probably suffering today and much like I am myself, we go through it, but it’s a way to glorify God to the maximum. Thank you for listening. I hope you’ll come back next week, same time, same place. Until then, 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.
