2008-08-28T17:20:21-05:00 GCI info@gospel.com http://www.gospel.com/feeds/topics/james http://hutchcraft.com/A-Word-With-You/Your-Hindrances/Slowly-But-Surely-Submerged-4524 2008-08-28T17:20:21-05:00 You've got to stop that killer strategy with the first look, the first date, the first lie, the first flirtation, the first thoughts of divorce, the first detour from God's Word. This is going to take you where you don't want to go - unless you stop it now. Before today's compromise gives birth to tomorrow's tragedy, run from it. http://hutchcraft.com/A-Word-With-You/Your-Hindrances/Volcano-Scars-4532 2008-08-28T16:23:50-05:00 When we're angry, we're a lot like a volcano. We erupt, we spew out our lava, and we often blow away a piece of the other person - if not ourselves. And every one of us carries around parts of us that have been mortally wounded by something someone said to us in anger. They may well have forgotten it; we can't ever forget it. http://hutchcraft.com/A-Word-With-You/Your-Hindrances/Firing-Too-Soon-4542 2008-08-28T16:01:22-05:00 We start shooting before we really understand what a person is feeling; where they're really coming from. We may listen long enough to hear their words, but how about their heart? To hear the surface issue maybe, but not long enough to hear the real issue. We make some of our most hurtful mistakes, and we say some of our most damaging words when we just react to a person's deeds instead of stepping back and looking for the need that is causing the deed. http://hutchcraft.com/A-Word-With-You/Your-Hindrances/When-the-Devil-Pulls-Your-String-4554 2008-08-28T14:41:30-05:00 Cowardice and criticism and negativity are contagious, and they're Satan's favorite tool to discourage a believer - another believer. Don't fall for it. One other string your enemy loves to pull: lies about who you are http://hutchcraft.com/A-Word-With-You/Your-Most-Important-Relationship/Unappreciated-Gifts-4318 2008-08-27T16:49:23-05:00 It hurts to make something special for someone you love - and then to give it and have it go unnoticed and unappreciated. God knows that feeling. There's not a day that goes by that He doesn't give us special gifts from His hand. As James 1:17 says, "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father." http://hutchcraft.com/A-Word-With-You/Your-Most-Important-Relationship/The-House-We-Didn-t-Finish-4325 2008-08-27T16:43:44-05:00 That's not the only house a parent intended to build and never got done. In fact, many of us Moms and Dads knew how we wanted our family to be -- how we still want it to be -- but somehow the home, the family we intended to build never got finished, did it? Even as our children were leaving for college, Karen and I talked about how quickly the years had melted away and how we were feeling there was so much unfinished business in our kids' lives. http://hutchcraft.com/A-Word-With-You/Your-Personal-Power/When-You-Don-t-Like-What-s-On-Your-Plate-4326 2008-08-27T16:43:12-05:00 I know you have days like that -- when you don't particularly like what's on your plate. Or you don't like how much there is of it. As a parent, you may have to handle some things that really aren't much fun these days. As a son or daughter, or a student, you've been stuck with some jobs that you really don't want to do. At work, it's getting pretty messy, pretty heavy, pretty boring. At church or in your ministry, you're not particularly liking the way it's going in what you're trying to do for the Lord. But it's just part of life -- days, and sometimes lots of days, when we don't like what's on our plate. http://hutchcraft.com/A-Word-With-You/Your-Relationships/What-They-re-Trying-to-Tell-Us-4569 2008-08-27T12:26:29-05:00 There is no more important lesson for a parent to remember than this: behind your child's deed is a need. And you won't affect the deeds until you do something about the needs that drive those deeds. A wise dad was confiding his concern to me the other day about his son's use of alcohol - that's the deed. Then he said, "You know, there's some need there." He's right. http://hutchcraft.com/A-Word-With-You/Your-Relationships/Never-Without-Your-Weapon-4621 2008-08-26T11:40:08-05:00 Israeli soldiers are respected all over the world for their military ability. That day in Jerusalem, I saw one reason why. They know something every follower of Christ has to remember. We have to always be prepared for war, and it doesn't stop because you're relaxing. Always carry your weapon - the artillery of God's words loaded in your heart. http://hutchcraft.com/A-Word-With-You/Your-Hard-Times/When-the-Container-Lies-to-You-4201 2008-08-25T13:05:11-05:00 The container promised me one thing - but what was inside was very different. That's an experience every one of us has had - when we reached for something based on what it was supposed to give us, only to be disappointed when we found out what was really inside. That deception is, in fact, the very nature of sin, and it's why we end up with scars and messes we never knew were going to be a part of.