God is a polyglot: He communicates and relates to different people different ways. If, however, we don’t respect how others interact and relate to God differently than us … Then relational participatory church – with ministry by one another to mutually build up each other – will sputter and die. For example: Some primarily interact and relate to the Lord through their heart and feelings; Some analytically through their mind and logic; Some through the dynamics of action; Some through the affection of relationships; and Some through the passion of mercy or justice – among other ways. In fact, we need each other and those differences if we want to stay in balance and grow up in our faith. Problems often arise, however, when we think that our primary way for hearing and relating to God is His only way … Or is superior to other ways He uses with others. If left unchecked, this causes us to be dismissive of others … And of what God wants to do, and say, through them. I see it all too often these days: For example, one of the tragedies of many “churches” is the belief that Christian growth and maturity comes almost exclusively through knowledge. And so “church” gatherings are primarily about expository “sermons” and analytical Bible studies. In contrast, those who relate to God through their feelings think everything should be about heart. The same can happen with those who relate to God through action, or in relationships, or via passion for mercy or justice, or whatever. When we wrongly conclude – whether through ignorance or arrogance – that God’s way of relating to us is the best way, or even the only legitimate way, we box Him in and limit His reach. In so doing, we also put His people in a box and limit how God can minister to us – and balance our own limitations – through them. If we are not careful, our box then becomes legalism – as we insist (or more subtly presume) that everyone must comply with how God interacts and relates to us. When this happens, the new legalism of making God and His church all about “compassion” and “love,” for example, becomes just as oppressive and dismissive … As the old legalism of everything being about “doctrine” and “truth.” In reality, God is about all those qualities … As is the multi-part, multi-gifted, multi-functional Body of Christ. Only as we learn to honor and respect the different ways God communicates and relates to others, can we then truly be the church … One to another.

GOD LED YOU TO READ THIS See Philippians 4:6-7 Stop Worrying... Worrying is a conversation you have with yourself about things you can't change. Prayer is a conversation you have with God about things that He can change. That's why the Bible also says do not worry about anything, but pray about everything. Because everything that's out of your control is in God's control. And God promised He's working all things, not some things, all things together for your good. If you believe, put Am

I was saved at twelve in a Southern Baptist church in North Carolina, and I did not read the Bible for myself until I was thirty four. For twenty two years I borrowed other men's sermons. I knew the church words, I knew when to nod in the pew, and I still could not open the Book at my own kitchen table and explain one hard chapter to my wife or our five kids. When I finally started reading the text for myself on break in a North Dakota garbage truck, two things hit me at once. Half of what I had been told was in the Bible was not there at all. And what was actually written in the text was sharper, plainer, and more useful for a marriage and a household than anything I had ever heard from a pulpit. "And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up." Deuteronomy 6:6, 7 Nobody else can do your reading for you, and nobody else is coming to put your house in order. "Through wisdom is an house builded; and by understanding it is established:" Proverbs 24:3 Open the Book in your own house today.