May 21, 2026 • 27 mins
The key to sustained happiness is trust and obedience to God’s Word.
Sustained happiness is not based on circumstances, emotions, or material success—those things are fleeting. This episode explains why Scripture commands believers to rejoice always and how lasting joy comes from sharing the happiness of God through trust and obedience. Adversity is inevitable, but stress is optional when believers remain in fellowship and rely on God’s promises.
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(00:08):
Welcome to the Flat Line 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 Flat Line.
I'm your host, Rick Hughes. And for the next few minutes,
(00:29):
stick around, it won't be long, only about 30 minutes of
motivation, some inspiration, some education.
And as you know, we have no manipulation because we're not
trying to con you, we're not trying to sell you anything.
We're not going to ask you for anything.
But we would like for you to listen.
Listen as I try to verify and identify the plan of God for
(00:49):
your life. I hope you'll enjoy the show.
And by the way, Merry Christmas.It's that time of the year, and
it looks like as we approach theChristmas season, many
Christians are eager to celebrate the birth of our
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. On the other hand,
unfortunately, there will be those unfortunate few
(01:10):
individuals who will face difficult times during this
season. Some of those people are
spending their Christmases and morning alone.
Maybe you're listening to your radio alone by yourself.
Others are spending Christmas Day in hospitals and some in
nursing homes. Some are home suffering from
(01:30):
injuries that occurred recently.The question that I'd like to
ask you this morning is, can these unfortunate few actually
have happiness during these times or as a matter of fact,
for any time? Because this is a Christmas
season and everybody wants to behappy.
Everybody wants to have the family over under the tree, open
(01:51):
to gifts, whether it's the nightbefore or the day of, have a
great time with a family. But not everybody can do that.
So how can you have happiness even in the unfortunate if
you're one of the unfortunate few that I'm talking about,
someone that's injured, someone that's in a nursing home,
someone that's in a hospital, it's not much fun.
(02:13):
But how, how, how, how you supposed to maintain your
happiness during these times andnot get depressed, not get down
Well, if you're a Christian, let's look at what God has
provided for the reason that we could be happy and rejoice
regardless of whatever circumstances our life is in.
We start off with the verse in First Thessalonians 516.
(02:37):
Here the Apostle Paul wrote rejoice always, 2 words, rejoice
always rejoice is the verb Cairo, CHAIRO, Cairo, and it's a
verb and it's in what we call the present tense, which means
(02:57):
that it's current. There never is a time you're not
to rejoice. The active voice says the
subject produces the actions of the verb, and that's you.
You have to do that. And it's in the imperative mood,
which is the mood of entreaty, acommand.
So this is a command from God through the Apostle Paul to
rejoice. And then we have the word
(03:17):
always, the adverb always pantote, and that means that all
times, and this is the word of God in Christ Jesus concerning
you. What does that?
What does that mean? Well, in First Thessalonians
518, a couple of verses later, if Paul tells us to rejoice
always in 516, in 518 he tells you why you're supposed to
(03:41):
rejoice. For this is the will of God in
Christ Jesus concerning you. So it's not a question of
whether you want to or not. It's a question of what God's is
His will for you to rejoice always.
You know that the question is, how do we maintain joy when
things are not especially going good?
(04:05):
The first thing to remember is that what we call plus HA,
problem solving device, problem solving device #9 on the flat
line of your soul. Remember, the show is called the
flat line. We're dealing with 10 unique
problem solving devices taught in the word of God.
Nothing new, nothing, nothing wediscovered that's sensational.
(04:26):
This is sound Bible doctrine principles that my pastor taught
me. So one of them is +8 sharing the
happiness of God. And you know as well as I know
that that is not related to any circumstances in your life.
And So what is the key? What is the key to being happy
(04:48):
at all times? Well, I'm going to give you the
key. The key is the word trust.
TRUST, The happiness that God offers for us, you and me, for
the believers, is based on trust.
In Proverbs 1620, the Bible saysone who pays attention to the
(05:09):
word of God will find good and listen.
Now listen to the rest of it. And happiness belongs to the one
who trusts in the Lord. So there's the key to having
happiness, to have trust. Do you trust that what's
happening in your life? God is aware of that.
Do you trust what's happening inyour life that God can handle
(05:31):
those situations? Or do you panic until you run to
God, praying constantly, beatingthe door down, trying to make it
go away, make it go away. The apostle Paul tried that in
2nd Corinthians 12 and didn't work because God said, no, I'm
going to leave it in your life because the more you suffer, the
more you depend on grace. So the happiness that we're
(05:52):
talking about, this real happiness built on trust, it's
not some kind of emotional thingsuch as you might experience
when good things happen in your life.
What it is, is rather a sound, solid confidence.
A confidence in our Heavenly Father's ability to sustain us
(06:14):
during times of adversity in ourlife, during times of testing in
our life. And so the happiness that we
seek is rooted in trust and obey.
Obedience is the key as well. You want to be happy.
You must trust God's plan and obey what God tells you to do.
(06:36):
In first John 1510 and 11, if you keep my mandates, you will
remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's
commandments and remain in His love.
These things I have spoken to you so that here now listen
carefully, so that my joy may bein you and that your joy may be
(07:00):
made full. And how do you do that if you
keep My commandments? The first verse, If you keep my
commandments, my joy will be in you, and your joy be made full.
That's the second key to having happiness.
Trust and obey. Notice that the happiness our
Lord was offering His disciples was based on their obeying God's
(07:23):
mandates. You see, by being obedient, just
as our Lord was obedient to His own Heavenly Father's will, the
disciples would enjoy the same happiness the Lord was
experiencing in spite of the impending suffering that was
coming His way. And you can tell, if we live in
the devil's world, we're going to have adversity.
(07:46):
Adversity is inevitable, but stress is optional.
You don't have to worry. You don't have to be afraid.
You don't have to be bitter. That's optional.
So let's get a few simple principles for you.
Here's the first principle, trueinner happiness.
(08:06):
This inner joy the Lord Jesus Christ talked about my joy would
be in you and your joy would be made full.
This inner happiness is based onpersonal love for your heavenly
Father and obedience to his directives said why do you obey
God to start with, if you love him, you will obey him.
(08:28):
And the Bible says his mandates are not hard.
Verse John 53 So the true inner happiness we're talking about is
based on personal love for the Father.
That's your motivational virtue and obedience to his directives.
Principle 2. Unhappiness comes from breaking
fellowship with your heavenly Father.
(08:50):
And how do you do that when you commit a personal sin, whether
it's a sin of the tongue, a mental attitude sin, or even an
overt sin, if you fail to cut, recover from that sin, if you
fail to rebound, then you know that you have quenched the Holy
Spirit, you have grieved the Holy Spirit, and you cannot
(09:12):
function in the Christian life without the power of the Holy
Spirit. I listen to people teach all the
time, and very few people tell you that.
They tell you all kind of things, but they don't tell you.
And if you're not filled with the Holy Spirit, if you're not
under control of the Holy Spirit, the old sin nature is
controlling you. You got one or two people
controlling your life, the sin nature or the Holy Spirit.
(09:35):
And here's the surprising thing about it.
The sin nature has an area of strength.
The sin nature can be good. The sin nature can teach a Bible
class. The sin nature cannot drink, not
smoke, not do this, not do that.And the sin nature can deceive
you into thinking you're a pretty good guy because you
don't do the bad things that other people do.
(09:55):
Listen, understand this, You have to understand, you must be
filled with the Holy Spirit. You can't break fellowship with
your heavenly Father by committing sin and failing to
rebound or recover from the sin.That's why first John 19 is the
first problem solving device called rebound where it says, as
(10:17):
we've told you a million times, if we confess our sin, He is
faithful and just to forgive us of our sin and it purifies from
all wrongdoing. If, if, if they're in class
condition, if we confess our sin.
So when you know you sin, go to the father immediately.
Don't wait till you go to bed tonight.
(10:39):
That's crazy. Why do you want to sleep in
fellowship and live out of fellowship?
When you sin at 8:00 in the morning, confess that sin at
eight O 1 in the morning. Don't wait until 8:00 at night.
That way you can stay in fellowship all day long, as long
as you stay out of sin. But that's the wonderful thing.
God's given us how to stay in fellowship.
(11:01):
So unhappiness comes from breaking fellowship with God,
committing personal sin, and failure to recover our rebound.
Now listen carefully to this principle.
A Christian under divine discipline is not ever going to
have a good time. A Christian under divine
discipline is not ever going to have a good time.
(11:23):
And if you've got sin in your life, you haven't dealt with
that sin. You haven't gone to the Father
and confess that sin. It's no wonder you're miserable.
No wonder you're unhappy becauseyou haven't trusted what God
said and you're not obeying whatGod told you to do.
Principle three. Here's a principle you should
remember. Unhappy people take their
(11:45):
unhappiness with them wherever they may go.
If you're unhappy at home and you go take a vacation, head for
the beach. You'll be unhappy at the beach.
If you're unhappy at the beach, you'll be unhappy when you get
back home. The problem is not your
circumstances. The problem is your attitude.
So unhappy people take their unhappiness with them wherever
(12:06):
they go. When I spoke in so many schools
across the country for 50 years,I saw people change schools.
They left this school and went to that school, and they thought
maybe they'd be happy at a different school, but they're
still the same miserable person because they carry their
unhappiness with them. And here's a great principle I
want you to remember. Christians who in who go to
(12:29):
heaven have happiness forever. Christians who go to heaven have
happiness forever. In Revelation 21, four.
And He will wipe away every tearfrom their eyes, and there will
no longer be any death. There will no longer be any
mourning, no longer be any crying or pain.
(12:50):
The first things have all passedaway.
There's happiness forever. No more crying, no more
suffering, no more pain. It's all gone.
We'll be there in a resurrectionbody, and we'll be able to
worship our Lord and serve Him and talk with our family members
that are there. What a great thing it'll be.
(13:10):
So if we're in heaven, we will have happiness forever.
You know, our Lord stated emphatically that that happiness
is related to obedience. I told you that earlier.
Listen to what He told this woman in Luke 1127 and 28 about
being obedient and having happiness as a relationship to
that. In Luke 1127, while Jesus was
(13:33):
saying these things, one of the women in the crowd raised your
voice and shouted out. Blessed is the womb that carries
you and the breast at which you nursed.
Here's the Son of God, King of kings and the Lord of Lords
teaching the face to face Bible class.
And this female interrupts him, shouts out.
(13:53):
Blessed is the womb that carriesyou and the breast in which you
nursed. She's making an issue out of
motherhood. The word blessed is Macarios and
that means happiness. So she's saying that Jesus's
mother must really be happy. But he said this is what he
said. On the contrary, lady, I put
(14:15):
that word there, not him. On the contrary, happiness
belongs to those who hear the word of God and keep it.
There's obedience, there's how to be happy, hearing the word of
God and keeping what you hear. If you hear it and don't keep
it, it can't have happiness, that's for sure.
(14:36):
You'll try to struggle through life, figure out why the thing
going so wrong so bad because you're out of fellowship.
You quench the Holy Spirit. There are basically three
different words that we have to understand from the Bible.
If we're talking about having God's happiness, one word is joy
in JOY. It's an English noun joy, and it
(14:58):
refers to a state of happiness or bliss or something which
causes happiness. Sometimes it's the verb rejoice,
rejoice, and that's defined as an expression of a state of
mind, state of happiness. So if you're happy, you rejoice.
And then there's the English noun happiness, and that's
(15:18):
defined as a state of well-being, characterized by a
relatively permanent contentment.
That's the keyword there, contentment, trust, obey, and
contentment. You see, one simple word doesn't
necessarily describe what lasting happiness actually
consists of. It's often understood as being
(15:40):
satisfied or content regardless of the circumstances.
So happiness is often understoodas being satisfied or content
regardless of the circumstances.Where does the Bible say that?
In Philippians 411. Not that I speak from need, Paul
(16:00):
said. Because I have learned to be
content. There's our word in whatever
circumstance, whatever circumstance I'm in.
In other words, he's telling youthat his circumstances are not
dictating his happiness, He saidin the following verse 12.
I've learned to have a lot, learned to have a little that
make a difference to me. I'm the same person.
(16:22):
I'm still content, I'm still happy.
You know, it's, it's strange, but we carry this content
notion, this entrenched notion in our life that some of these
set of circumstances, you know, people, things that, that can
make us happy. But happiness is not something
that is made or manufactured by us.
(16:44):
We, we cannot ever refuse. We can't ever afford to confuse
happiness as taught in the word of God, like we're looking at
it, with the various different stimuli of life which are
enjoyable for the moment but have no ability to sustain us
day-to-day living. So don't get that confused.
Don't get the entrenched notion that circumstances will make you
(17:06):
happy. Because holidays like Christmas
can provide what I call a pseudohappiness, a phony, a fake, a
counterfeit happiness. Counterfeit happiness is Satan's
attempt to counterfeit the happiness that God offers, his
attempt to counterfeit the contentment, the joy that
Christians can experience. How does he do that?
(17:30):
Well, he does that by giving yousome circumstances.
He gives you some, a little piece of the pie, little
goodies, and you think I'm goingto be happy now?
I won the lottery. I'm going to be happy now.
I got a new car. I'm going to be happy now.
We're moving to a new home. I'm going to be happy now.
I got some new clothes. That's not the source of
happiness. That's not the source of
contentment. This is what Satan does.
(17:53):
He has a myth of arrogance that both people and pleasant
circumstances in your life will make you happy.
And that's propaganda from Satan.
It's it's propaganda is that money and success and pleasure
and social life and sexual life and public approbation and fame
and material things and travel and health and they all make you
(18:17):
happy. Well, that may be true under
certain circumstances, but there's limitations.
It does not last. Nothing lasts like the happiness
that God provides. The contentment that God
provides never goes away. So by way of contrast, what God
has provided for us in perfect happiness is permanent.
(18:39):
It's a permanent factor. And it's a problem solving
device called Plus H Problem solving device #9 sharing the
happiness of God based on contentment, based on obedience
and trust. So the permanent happiness
provided by God is available by three simple words.
(19:00):
I want you to remember these 3 words.
God's permanent happiness is available by reception,
retention and recall of the promises found in the Bible.
Reception. Somebody teaches them to you.
Retention. You remember it and recall.
You pull it out of the memory blank and use it of God's
promises found in the Scriptures.
(19:22):
Recalling what you retained is the key, and that's why
repetition is necessary. If someone says, oh, I've heard
that before, I've heard that verse, I've heard that, well,
you need to hear it again. Repetition is essential to help
you recall things you've learned.
But if you ignore the promises of God found in the Scriptures,
(19:43):
then you are never going to experience the contentment that
Paul talked about, which is the underlying basis for all true
happiness. Now I remember if you let me
take you back a few years, I remember when I was young I
competed in a bass tournament. I won my first major bass
tournament on West Point Lake inAlabama.
The drive home seemed much shorter than the drive over
(20:05):
since I was basking in temporal happiness and the $1000 that I
won winning the event. But I soon learned that that
type of happiness does not last.The prize money was soon gone
and all that was left was the memory of how fortunate I had
been. Fortunately, I did learn from
the scriptures by my pastor thattemporal happiness does not
(20:26):
provide contentment. Here's a verse that gives us our
foundation for true happiness regardless of our circumstances.
Listen to this verse, Psalm 118,verse 24.
This is the day the Lord has made.
Let us rejoice. There's our word and be glad in
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it. This should be the first thought
in your mind when you wake up inthe morning, when you open your
eyes or you roll out of bed, take a shower, get cleaned up,
get dressed. Quote this verse, Psalm 118,
verse 24. This is the day the Lord has
made. Let us rejoice, have happiness
and be glad in it. See, every day God gives you
(21:10):
another opportunity to glorify Him.
How do you do that? By lifting up your Savior, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Every day He gives you that
opportunity. So when it says let us rejoice
and be glad in it, that's the choice you have.
You've got volition. You can have positive volition,
say yes, I will rejoice, or you can say, no, I'm not going to
(21:34):
rejoice because I got a bad day in front of me.
Bad things happening today. Well, it's your volition.
You can do it or you cannot do it.
But this verse tells you that you should exercise your
positive volition and do exactlywhat God tells you to do and has
to rejoice in spite of what may be on the horizon and be glad in
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it. Be happy in it.
Be glad that God gives you another day.
He could have called you home this day and told you that's it.
So rejoicing is a choice you make, even though your body
might be aging, your elbows hurt, your joints hurt, but
that's not what we're talking about.
What we're talking about is the physical part of your body.
You're going to have some pain, but you have to get a couple of
(22:19):
Advils a day. But that's, that's something
different. The rejoicing that we're talking
about is a mental attitude in spite of the circumstances that
you're living in. This rejoicing and rejoicing be
glad in it has nothing to do with how you feel, but rather it
has everything to do with what you're thinking.
It's your mental attitude. So rejoicing for the believer
(22:41):
like yourself and me, is having appreciation for God's
faithfulness not only now in time, but also what's going to
come in eternity. So do you want to rejoice?
You want to be happy? Then rejoice that this is the
day the Lord has made and thank Him for your salvation.
Thank Him that you're going to heaven.
(23:02):
You want to hear what Jesus saidtalking to the disciples who
were enamored with the power that He gave them, the power
they had to cast out demons, so He had to remind them about
something. Listen to Luke 1020.
Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this.
That's the power to cast out devils, but that the spirits are
(23:23):
subject to you, but rejoice thatyour names are recorded in
heaven. So nevertheless, do not rejoice
in this that the spirits are subject to you that you can cast
out demons, but rather rejoice that your names are recorded in
heaven. If you have never accepted the
Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviorand you really have nothing to
(23:44):
be joyful about other than your temporal circumstances since
your future after you die is notgoing to be very comfortable.
But if you have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, your name is
written in the Lamb's book of life, Revelation chapter 20,
verse 15. And whosoever was not found
written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
(24:08):
If you live this life and rejectChrist as your Savior, the Word
of God says you're going to spend eternity in the lake of
fire. I assure you, you will not be
happy baking in the lake of fire.
You can be happy now. You can have that happiness now
by receiving Christ as your Savior and being rejoicing as
(24:28):
Jesus told the disciples, Rejoice that your name is
recorded in heaven. You know, as we move into the
Christmas season, as I told you earlier, Merry Christmas.
I pray you will not be dependingon gifts to make you happy, not
depending on the family celebration as your source of
happiness. There are a lot of Christian
families who'll be missing family members that were there
(24:50):
last year, but now they've departed to be with the Lord.
One of my closest friends will be spending his Christmas in a
wheelchair due to a farming accident.
But I guarantee you one thing, he's not unhappy.
And the simple reason is what? That he understands God's plan
and he will be glad in it. He's not complaining, He's not
(25:10):
upset. He knows God has a reason for
what won't happen. He understands that God allowed
the event for a reason. So He will use the faith, rest,
drill, problem solving device #3and trust in all the Father's
timing. Romans 828 tells us this.
And we know that God causes all things to work together for good
(25:32):
to those who love Him, and to those who are called according
to His purpose. In closing, let me remind you
that you cannot build your happiness on someone else's
unhappiness, retaliation and revenge or sins you need to stay
out of. Watching someone you dislike
suffer should never be a source of happiness for you.
And I don't know if you've ever heard of Operation Boomerang or
(25:53):
not, but it's a result of someone going off on a frantic
search for happiness and never finding it and simply coming
back to where they started and they're and they're worse off
than they were to begin with. Your best efforts to find
happiness apart from God's plan will only create unhappiness
magnifies several times over. It happened to me before I
(26:14):
became a Christian. I was looking for happiness in
all the wrong places and it all boomeranged.
So Proverbs 313 in closing, let me give you this passage.
Happy, happy, happy, happy is a person who finds wisdom and one
who attains understanding. If you listen today I gave you
(26:35):
divine wisdom. If you apply it into your life,
you will have understanding. This is the word of God.
There's no reason for you to be unhappy because the Lord Jesus
Christ has made everything possible for you.
What a wonderful thing to think about.
What a wonderful time to enjoy these thoughts.
(26:55):
This is the day the Lord has made.
We'll rejoice and have a super abundance of happiness in it
because it is unfailing love andmercy every day.
OK, next week, same time, same place.
Until then, this is your host Rick Hughes, saying thank you
for listening to The Flood Lion.Thank you for listening to The
Flood Lion with your host, Rick Hughes.
(27:18):
If you'd like to contact Rick, please write to him at PO Box
100, Cropwell, Alabama 35O54 or online at
www.rickhughesministries.org.
Welcome to the Flat Line 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 Flat Line.
I'm your host, Rick Hughes. And for the next few minutes,
(00:29):
stick around, it won't be long, only about 30 minutes of
motivation, some inspiration, some education.
And as you know, we have no manipulation because we're not
trying to con you, we're not trying to sell you anything.
We're not going to ask you for anything.
But we would like for you to listen.
Listen as I try to verify and identify the plan of God for
(00:49):
your life. I hope you'll enjoy the show.
And by the way, Merry Christmas.It's that time of the year, and
it looks like as we approach theChristmas season, many
Christians are eager to celebrate the birth of our
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. On the other hand,
unfortunately, there will be those unfortunate few
(01:10):
individuals who will face difficult times during this
season. Some of those people are
spending their Christmases and morning alone.
Maybe you're listening to your radio alone by yourself.
Others are spending Christmas Day in hospitals and some in
nursing homes. Some are home suffering from
(01:30):
injuries that occurred recently.The question that I'd like to
ask you this morning is, can these unfortunate few actually
have happiness during these times or as a matter of fact,
for any time? Because this is a Christmas
season and everybody wants to behappy.
Everybody wants to have the family over under the tree, open
(01:51):
to gifts, whether it's the nightbefore or the day of, have a
great time with a family. But not everybody can do that.
So how can you have happiness even in the unfortunate if
you're one of the unfortunate few that I'm talking about,
someone that's injured, someone that's in a nursing home,
someone that's in a hospital, it's not much fun.
(02:13):
But how, how, how, how you supposed to maintain your
happiness during these times andnot get depressed, not get down
Well, if you're a Christian, let's look at what God has
provided for the reason that we could be happy and rejoice
regardless of whatever circumstances our life is in.
We start off with the verse in First Thessalonians 516.
(02:37):
Here the Apostle Paul wrote rejoice always, 2 words, rejoice
always rejoice is the verb Cairo, CHAIRO, Cairo, and it's a
verb and it's in what we call the present tense, which means
(02:57):
that it's current. There never is a time you're not
to rejoice. The active voice says the
subject produces the actions of the verb, and that's you.
You have to do that. And it's in the imperative mood,
which is the mood of entreaty, acommand.
So this is a command from God through the Apostle Paul to
rejoice. And then we have the word
(03:17):
always, the adverb always pantote, and that means that all
times, and this is the word of God in Christ Jesus concerning
you. What does that?
What does that mean? Well, in First Thessalonians
518, a couple of verses later, if Paul tells us to rejoice
always in 516, in 518 he tells you why you're supposed to
(03:41):
rejoice. For this is the will of God in
Christ Jesus concerning you. So it's not a question of
whether you want to or not. It's a question of what God's is
His will for you to rejoice always.
You know that the question is, how do we maintain joy when
things are not especially going good?
(04:05):
The first thing to remember is that what we call plus HA,
problem solving device, problem solving device #9 on the flat
line of your soul. Remember, the show is called the
flat line. We're dealing with 10 unique
problem solving devices taught in the word of God.
Nothing new, nothing, nothing wediscovered that's sensational.
(04:26):
This is sound Bible doctrine principles that my pastor taught
me. So one of them is +8 sharing the
happiness of God. And you know as well as I know
that that is not related to any circumstances in your life.
And So what is the key? What is the key to being happy
(04:48):
at all times? Well, I'm going to give you the
key. The key is the word trust.
TRUST, The happiness that God offers for us, you and me, for
the believers, is based on trust.
In Proverbs 1620, the Bible saysone who pays attention to the
(05:09):
word of God will find good and listen.
Now listen to the rest of it. And happiness belongs to the one
who trusts in the Lord. So there's the key to having
happiness, to have trust. Do you trust that what's
happening in your life? God is aware of that.
Do you trust what's happening inyour life that God can handle
(05:31):
those situations? Or do you panic until you run to
God, praying constantly, beatingthe door down, trying to make it
go away, make it go away. The apostle Paul tried that in
2nd Corinthians 12 and didn't work because God said, no, I'm
going to leave it in your life because the more you suffer, the
more you depend on grace. So the happiness that we're
(05:52):
talking about, this real happiness built on trust, it's
not some kind of emotional thingsuch as you might experience
when good things happen in your life.
What it is, is rather a sound, solid confidence.
A confidence in our Heavenly Father's ability to sustain us
(06:14):
during times of adversity in ourlife, during times of testing in
our life. And so the happiness that we
seek is rooted in trust and obey.
Obedience is the key as well. You want to be happy.
You must trust God's plan and obey what God tells you to do.
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In first John 1510 and 11, if you keep my mandates, you will
remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's
commandments and remain in His love.
These things I have spoken to you so that here now listen
carefully, so that my joy may bein you and that your joy may be
(07:00):
made full. And how do you do that if you
keep My commandments? The first verse, If you keep my
commandments, my joy will be in you, and your joy be made full.
That's the second key to having happiness.
Trust and obey. Notice that the happiness our
Lord was offering His disciples was based on their obeying God's
(07:23):
mandates. You see, by being obedient, just
as our Lord was obedient to His own Heavenly Father's will, the
disciples would enjoy the same happiness the Lord was
experiencing in spite of the impending suffering that was
coming His way. And you can tell, if we live in
the devil's world, we're going to have adversity.
(07:46):
Adversity is inevitable, but stress is optional.
You don't have to worry. You don't have to be afraid.
You don't have to be bitter. That's optional.
So let's get a few simple principles for you.
Here's the first principle, trueinner happiness.
(08:06):
This inner joy the Lord Jesus Christ talked about my joy would
be in you and your joy would be made full.
This inner happiness is based onpersonal love for your heavenly
Father and obedience to his directives said why do you obey
God to start with, if you love him, you will obey him.
(08:28):
And the Bible says his mandates are not hard.
Verse John 53 So the true inner happiness we're talking about is
based on personal love for the Father.
That's your motivational virtue and obedience to his directives.
Principle 2. Unhappiness comes from breaking
fellowship with your heavenly Father.
(08:50):
And how do you do that when you commit a personal sin, whether
it's a sin of the tongue, a mental attitude sin, or even an
overt sin, if you fail to cut, recover from that sin, if you
fail to rebound, then you know that you have quenched the Holy
Spirit, you have grieved the Holy Spirit, and you cannot
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function in the Christian life without the power of the Holy
Spirit. I listen to people teach all the
time, and very few people tell you that.
They tell you all kind of things, but they don't tell you.
And if you're not filled with the Holy Spirit, if you're not
under control of the Holy Spirit, the old sin nature is
controlling you. You got one or two people
controlling your life, the sin nature or the Holy Spirit.
(09:35):
And here's the surprising thing about it.
The sin nature has an area of strength.
The sin nature can be good. The sin nature can teach a Bible
class. The sin nature cannot drink, not
smoke, not do this, not do that.And the sin nature can deceive
you into thinking you're a pretty good guy because you
don't do the bad things that other people do.
(09:55):
Listen, understand this, You have to understand, you must be
filled with the Holy Spirit. You can't break fellowship with
your heavenly Father by committing sin and failing to
rebound or recover from the sin.That's why first John 19 is the
first problem solving device called rebound where it says, as
(10:17):
we've told you a million times, if we confess our sin, He is
faithful and just to forgive us of our sin and it purifies from
all wrongdoing. If, if, if they're in class
condition, if we confess our sin.
So when you know you sin, go to the father immediately.
Don't wait till you go to bed tonight.
(10:39):
That's crazy. Why do you want to sleep in
fellowship and live out of fellowship?
When you sin at 8:00 in the morning, confess that sin at
eight O 1 in the morning. Don't wait until 8:00 at night.
That way you can stay in fellowship all day long, as long
as you stay out of sin. But that's the wonderful thing.
God's given us how to stay in fellowship.
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So unhappiness comes from breaking fellowship with God,
committing personal sin, and failure to recover our rebound.
Now listen carefully to this principle.
A Christian under divine discipline is not ever going to
have a good time. A Christian under divine
discipline is not ever going to have a good time.
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And if you've got sin in your life, you haven't dealt with
that sin. You haven't gone to the Father
and confess that sin. It's no wonder you're miserable.
No wonder you're unhappy becauseyou haven't trusted what God
said and you're not obeying whatGod told you to do.
Principle three. Here's a principle you should
remember. Unhappy people take their
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unhappiness with them wherever they may go.
If you're unhappy at home and you go take a vacation, head for
the beach. You'll be unhappy at the beach.
If you're unhappy at the beach, you'll be unhappy when you get
back home. The problem is not your
circumstances. The problem is your attitude.
So unhappy people take their unhappiness with them wherever
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they go. When I spoke in so many schools
across the country for 50 years,I saw people change schools.
They left this school and went to that school, and they thought
maybe they'd be happy at a different school, but they're
still the same miserable person because they carry their
unhappiness with them. And here's a great principle I
want you to remember. Christians who in who go to
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heaven have happiness forever. Christians who go to heaven have
happiness forever. In Revelation 21, four.
And He will wipe away every tearfrom their eyes, and there will
no longer be any death. There will no longer be any
mourning, no longer be any crying or pain.
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The first things have all passedaway.
There's happiness forever. No more crying, no more
suffering, no more pain. It's all gone.
We'll be there in a resurrectionbody, and we'll be able to
worship our Lord and serve Him and talk with our family members
that are there. What a great thing it'll be.
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So if we're in heaven, we will have happiness forever.
You know, our Lord stated emphatically that that happiness
is related to obedience. I told you that earlier.
Listen to what He told this woman in Luke 1127 and 28 about
being obedient and having happiness as a relationship to
that. In Luke 1127, while Jesus was
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saying these things, one of the women in the crowd raised your
voice and shouted out. Blessed is the womb that carries
you and the breast at which you nursed.
Here's the Son of God, King of kings and the Lord of Lords
teaching the face to face Bible class.
And this female interrupts him, shouts out.
(13:53):
Blessed is the womb that carriesyou and the breast in which you
nursed. She's making an issue out of
motherhood. The word blessed is Macarios and
that means happiness. So she's saying that Jesus's
mother must really be happy. But he said this is what he
said. On the contrary, lady, I put
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that word there, not him. On the contrary, happiness
belongs to those who hear the word of God and keep it.
There's obedience, there's how to be happy, hearing the word of
God and keeping what you hear. If you hear it and don't keep
it, it can't have happiness, that's for sure.
(14:36):
You'll try to struggle through life, figure out why the thing
going so wrong so bad because you're out of fellowship.
You quench the Holy Spirit. There are basically three
different words that we have to understand from the Bible.
If we're talking about having God's happiness, one word is joy
in JOY. It's an English noun joy, and it
(14:58):
refers to a state of happiness or bliss or something which
causes happiness. Sometimes it's the verb rejoice,
rejoice, and that's defined as an expression of a state of
mind, state of happiness. So if you're happy, you rejoice.
And then there's the English noun happiness, and that's
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defined as a state of well-being, characterized by a
relatively permanent contentment.
That's the keyword there, contentment, trust, obey, and
contentment. You see, one simple word doesn't
necessarily describe what lasting happiness actually
consists of. It's often understood as being
(15:40):
satisfied or content regardless of the circumstances.
So happiness is often understoodas being satisfied or content
regardless of the circumstances.Where does the Bible say that?
In Philippians 411. Not that I speak from need, Paul
(16:00):
said. Because I have learned to be
content. There's our word in whatever
circumstance, whatever circumstance I'm in.
In other words, he's telling youthat his circumstances are not
dictating his happiness, He saidin the following verse 12.
I've learned to have a lot, learned to have a little that
make a difference to me. I'm the same person.
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I'm still content, I'm still happy.
You know, it's, it's strange, but we carry this content
notion, this entrenched notion in our life that some of these
set of circumstances, you know, people, things that, that can
make us happy. But happiness is not something
that is made or manufactured by us.
(16:44):
We, we cannot ever refuse. We can't ever afford to confuse
happiness as taught in the word of God, like we're looking at
it, with the various different stimuli of life which are
enjoyable for the moment but have no ability to sustain us
day-to-day living. So don't get that confused.
Don't get the entrenched notion that circumstances will make you
(17:06):
happy. Because holidays like Christmas
can provide what I call a pseudohappiness, a phony, a fake, a
counterfeit happiness. Counterfeit happiness is Satan's
attempt to counterfeit the happiness that God offers, his
attempt to counterfeit the contentment, the joy that
Christians can experience. How does he do that?
(17:30):
Well, he does that by giving yousome circumstances.
He gives you some, a little piece of the pie, little
goodies, and you think I'm goingto be happy now?
I won the lottery. I'm going to be happy now.
I got a new car. I'm going to be happy now.
We're moving to a new home. I'm going to be happy now.
I got some new clothes. That's not the source of
happiness. That's not the source of
contentment. This is what Satan does.
(17:53):
He has a myth of arrogance that both people and pleasant
circumstances in your life will make you happy.
And that's propaganda from Satan.
It's it's propaganda is that money and success and pleasure
and social life and sexual life and public approbation and fame
and material things and travel and health and they all make you
(18:17):
happy. Well, that may be true under
certain circumstances, but there's limitations.
It does not last. Nothing lasts like the happiness
that God provides. The contentment that God
provides never goes away. So by way of contrast, what God
has provided for us in perfect happiness is permanent.
(18:39):
It's a permanent factor. And it's a problem solving
device called Plus H Problem solving device #9 sharing the
happiness of God based on contentment, based on obedience
and trust. So the permanent happiness
provided by God is available by three simple words.
(19:00):
I want you to remember these 3 words.
God's permanent happiness is available by reception,
retention and recall of the promises found in the Bible.
Reception. Somebody teaches them to you.
Retention. You remember it and recall.
You pull it out of the memory blank and use it of God's
promises found in the Scriptures.
(19:22):
Recalling what you retained is the key, and that's why
repetition is necessary. If someone says, oh, I've heard
that before, I've heard that verse, I've heard that, well,
you need to hear it again. Repetition is essential to help
you recall things you've learned.
But if you ignore the promises of God found in the Scriptures,
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then you are never going to experience the contentment that
Paul talked about, which is the underlying basis for all true
happiness. Now I remember if you let me
take you back a few years, I remember when I was young I
competed in a bass tournament. I won my first major bass
tournament on West Point Lake inAlabama.
The drive home seemed much shorter than the drive over
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since I was basking in temporal happiness and the $1000 that I
won winning the event. But I soon learned that that
type of happiness does not last.The prize money was soon gone
and all that was left was the memory of how fortunate I had
been. Fortunately, I did learn from
the scriptures by my pastor thattemporal happiness does not
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provide contentment. Here's a verse that gives us our
foundation for true happiness regardless of our circumstances.
Listen to this verse, Psalm 118,verse 24.
This is the day the Lord has made.
Let us rejoice. There's our word and be glad in
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it. This should be the first thought
in your mind when you wake up inthe morning, when you open your
eyes or you roll out of bed, take a shower, get cleaned up,
get dressed. Quote this verse, Psalm 118,
verse 24. This is the day the Lord has
made. Let us rejoice, have happiness
and be glad in it. See, every day God gives you
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another opportunity to glorify Him.
How do you do that? By lifting up your Savior, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Every day He gives you that
opportunity. So when it says let us rejoice
and be glad in it, that's the choice you have.
You've got volition. You can have positive volition,
say yes, I will rejoice, or you can say, no, I'm not going to
(21:34):
rejoice because I got a bad day in front of me.
Bad things happening today. Well, it's your volition.
You can do it or you cannot do it.
But this verse tells you that you should exercise your
positive volition and do exactlywhat God tells you to do and has
to rejoice in spite of what may be on the horizon and be glad in
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it. Be happy in it.
Be glad that God gives you another day.
He could have called you home this day and told you that's it.
So rejoicing is a choice you make, even though your body
might be aging, your elbows hurt, your joints hurt, but
that's not what we're talking about.
What we're talking about is the physical part of your body.
You're going to have some pain, but you have to get a couple of
(22:19):
Advils a day. But that's, that's something
different. The rejoicing that we're talking
about is a mental attitude in spite of the circumstances that
you're living in. This rejoicing and rejoicing be
glad in it has nothing to do with how you feel, but rather it
has everything to do with what you're thinking.
It's your mental attitude. So rejoicing for the believer
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like yourself and me, is having appreciation for God's
faithfulness not only now in time, but also what's going to
come in eternity. So do you want to rejoice?
You want to be happy? Then rejoice that this is the
day the Lord has made and thank Him for your salvation.
Thank Him that you're going to heaven.
(23:02):
You want to hear what Jesus saidtalking to the disciples who
were enamored with the power that He gave them, the power
they had to cast out demons, so He had to remind them about
something. Listen to Luke 1020.
Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this.
That's the power to cast out devils, but that the spirits are
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subject to you, but rejoice thatyour names are recorded in
heaven. So nevertheless, do not rejoice
in this that the spirits are subject to you that you can cast
out demons, but rather rejoice that your names are recorded in
heaven. If you have never accepted the
Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviorand you really have nothing to
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be joyful about other than your temporal circumstances since
your future after you die is notgoing to be very comfortable.
But if you have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, your name is
written in the Lamb's book of life, Revelation chapter 20,
verse 15. And whosoever was not found
written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
(24:08):
If you live this life and rejectChrist as your Savior, the Word
of God says you're going to spend eternity in the lake of
fire. I assure you, you will not be
happy baking in the lake of fire.
You can be happy now. You can have that happiness now
by receiving Christ as your Savior and being rejoicing as
(24:28):
Jesus told the disciples, Rejoice that your name is
recorded in heaven. You know, as we move into the
Christmas season, as I told you earlier, Merry Christmas.
I pray you will not be dependingon gifts to make you happy, not
depending on the family celebration as your source of
happiness. There are a lot of Christian
families who'll be missing family members that were there
(24:50):
last year, but now they've departed to be with the Lord.
One of my closest friends will be spending his Christmas in a
wheelchair due to a farming accident.
But I guarantee you one thing, he's not unhappy.
And the simple reason is what? That he understands God's plan
and he will be glad in it. He's not complaining, He's not
(25:10):
upset. He knows God has a reason for
what won't happen. He understands that God allowed
the event for a reason. So He will use the faith, rest,
drill, problem solving device #3and trust in all the Father's
timing. Romans 828 tells us this.
And we know that God causes all things to work together for good
(25:32):
to those who love Him, and to those who are called according
to His purpose. In closing, let me remind you
that you cannot build your happiness on someone else's
unhappiness, retaliation and revenge or sins you need to stay
out of. Watching someone you dislike
suffer should never be a source of happiness for you.
And I don't know if you've ever heard of Operation Boomerang or
(25:53):
not, but it's a result of someone going off on a frantic
search for happiness and never finding it and simply coming
back to where they started and they're and they're worse off
than they were to begin with. Your best efforts to find
happiness apart from God's plan will only create unhappiness
magnifies several times over. It happened to me before I
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became a Christian. I was looking for happiness in
all the wrong places and it all boomeranged.
So Proverbs 313 in closing, let me give you this passage.
Happy, happy, happy, happy is a person who finds wisdom and one
who attains understanding. If you listen today I gave you
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divine wisdom. If you apply it into your life,
you will have understanding. This is the word of God.
There's no reason for you to be unhappy because the Lord Jesus
Christ has made everything possible for you.
What a wonderful thing to think about.
What a wonderful time to enjoy these thoughts.
(26:55):
This is the day the Lord has made.
We'll rejoice and have a super abundance of happiness in it
because it is unfailing love andmercy every day.
OK, next week, same time, same place.
Until then, this is your host Rick Hughes, saying thank you
for listening to The Flood Lion.Thank you for listening to The
Flood Lion with your host, Rick Hughes.
(27:18):
If you'd like to contact Rick, please write to him at PO Box
100, Cropwell, Alabama 35O54 or online at
www.rickhughesministries.org.
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