why do i not desire god

Jon Bloom, my partner for ten years, who was at the piano before I came up here, asked me at the airport as we were flying down here today, “How do you feel? I feel like I have the authority of Jesus Christ behind me, because of 2 Corinthians 1:24, which says, and I say this to you now, “Not that I lorded over your faith, but I am a worker with you for your joy.”. Just ask Jacob, Moses, Joshua, Elijah, John the Baptist, James, Peter, and Paul. Subscribe to the Fighter Verses™ Blog: Email Address . The Word of God: And so he had to put forth his Son as a propitiation by his blood, so that he could be seen to be just and the justifier of him who has faith in Jesus. Matthew 6:9–10: “Pray then like this, disciples, ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. I am on a mission to show you from Scripture that if all you have is a decision for Christ and no delight in Christ, you don’t have Christ. There is nothing more satisfying than more of God’s presence in your life. For the sake of my praise, I restrain it for you, that I may not cut you off. We do not think the same or act the same because we serve a different Master. It’s getting this right. Let me say it again. Whether we can help someone struggling with joylessness in the Christian life depends not primarily on the quantity of wisdom we have accumulated over the years, but on how we apply the truth we have, and whether the Spirit of God turns that truth into life and freedom and joy. John Piper is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. We are going to spend some time asking the foundational questions in this initial talk, so that those of you who are not familiar with what I’m building on might be a little bit up to speed. It doesn’t speak in terms of simple certainties — namely, that you will definitely prove not to be an Esau. Isaiah 43:6–7: “Bring my sons from afar, my daughters from the ends of the Earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory.” I know beyond the shadow of a doubt why you were made. Your calling is you are on planet Earth to put a telescope to the eye of the world. The Old Testament sage commands, “Get wisdom” (Proverbs 4:7). From my own experience, what I would say is this: If you have the grace to hold on to God’s mercy and not throw it away in apostasy, there is hope. Editor’s Note: This message, which appears below as a lightly edited transcript, is the first part of a series of six messages based on the book When I Don’t Desire God. But my point is that if you are 30 instead of 70, you should not be intimidated or paralyzed by the fact that you still have 40 years of wisdom accumulation in front of you. Redesigned with an updated cover and new preface. If you have no faith in Christ, then you have no relationship with God (John 14:6). With just a little twinkle that you might say exists, but significance, zero. p.s. I ask that because why I do things doesn’t matter at all. It happens when our desire is no longer directed toward God. You are forgiven for God’s glory.      out of the miry bog, I can’t promise that you are a child of God, but I can promise that if you throw away hope, you will prove not to be a child of God. But that’s not what God has promised. Trust In God. “I’m an apostolic workman,” Paul says, for what? All of these suggestions involve surrender. (The only thing that I’m saying to do that is not a suggestion is to surrender!) Now, which way are you called upon to magnify God? There is no gift that God can give you that would make him a loving person if he withholds Himself. “Oh, poor God, he is so teeny, and so small, I must now make him look bigger than he is.” That’s blasphemy. I’m not on a mission to help you feel good about yourselves. And here, in Psalm 63 verse 1, we find perhaps the strongest expression of it. When I tell people to desire God, it doesn’t mean I always do and therefore my life is perfect and I’m perfectly happy. Second Corinthians 1:24 and Philippians 1:25, two apostolic mandates to me to get down there to Greenville and work for your joy, so that’s what I said, in a shorter form, to Jon in the airport this morning. 2. This is not a comfortable answer. Christian preaching is a God-appointed means of transforming its hearers in both head and heart — not only in intellect, but also in affections. This Psalmist is able to say that he now desires God for His own sake, and not merely for what God gives and does. Isn’t that amazing that I can stand in front of these people and say, “I know totally with confidence why every one of you in this room was created. The Bible says much about prayer — why is this? That’s why you exist. Other desires will come in and choke out God’s Word (Mk. From Desiring God, “For over twenty-five years John Piper has trumpeted the truth that “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.” He calls it Christian Hedonism. It is hard to admit this, because it is so scary. The end is to know God, and nothing less. Although we may still go through religious motions, our heart can be far from God. Once in a great while, we think we have found perfect beauty. Why does God do everything he does? But he also tells us that the way he fights as an imperfect saint is by the hope that Christ has a firmer grip on him than he does on Christ. I am not bringing the message that Christ will make you healthy, Christ will make you wealthy, Christ will make you prosperous in this life so that you can have joy. If you’re seeking God’s will in a particular area of your life, one … It’s power for salvation. I’m not bringing you a message of happiness as the icing on the cake of decision, but rather, I want to persuade you that if you understood saving faith aright, then delight in God would be a part of the cake, not just the icing, not the caboose at the end of the train, and not just something dispensable for stoical personalities. If you get this right, almost everything else I say, I think, will follow. I love the robust congregational affirmation of this recording of Capitol Hill Baptist Church singing it. For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is God’s plan for preserving us and bringing us safely to glory. Most of you have walked through it. That’s one of the big questions that is a foundation for these hours we have together. He must commend Himself. Isn’t it amazing? It is blasphemy to magnify God like a microscope. Christian Hedonism says that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him. It will be distracting. Not only do I share the struggle, but I have conversations with real people struggling like this. You’d have low-level, low-grade, non-satisfying measures of contentment. Format: PDF | Get this resource. Hallowed be your name.” Number one petition in the church from your heart every day, and God the Son taught you to pray that. How should my name be profaned? It means that when I desire God fully, I am perfectly happy. The problem is that many people, after being persuaded, find that this truth is both liberating and devastating. But our actions prove if our words are true or not. We are saved by the sovereign work of God by his Spirit causing us to be born again, which brings into being a new creature who has new affections for God and less affection for the world. I’m going to assume that, but since I know I can’t assume it totally, I have to squeeze in a few minutes of summary. That’s not my message. Worship becomes more intimate. THEN, stay there. It will be distracting from what will satisfy their souls, because what will satisfy their souls is God. Not only does the Bible speak of waiting for God in the miry bog, but it also speaks of true believers walking in a kind of darkness. This is where Psalm 63 starts, and I want to look at it under three headings: God my Desire; God my Delight; and God my Defender. You can’t copy him in this. God does everything for the glory of God. 4. Those are all in the book that you already read. Get back to that place where you craved Him when you first got saved. I don’t think my friend is unusual. (Psalm 40:1–2). Renew your mind. Why are you forgiven? The first time the Lord spoke to my heart that your desire is your destiny was one time when I was watching our 10 year old son playing the guitar and worshiping in a Sunday service. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it. I am not minimizing the value of accumulated wisdom. I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. He is author of. Heaven will not be a hall of mirrors in which you like what you see. Let him who walks in darkness What does it mean for God to love me?” Here would be my answer. His voice becomes beautiful. And so will diligence without God. You have a job. All of our resources exist to guide you toward everlasting joy in Jesus Christ. Therefore, God is teaching you to pray for the glory of God. A woman who comes into my office and says, like many of you feel, “It feels, Pastor John, as though the distance between my head, which is totally affirming of everything you preach, and my heart, is about a 1000 miles.” That’s why I wrote this book, and why we named this conference that. I’m not going to give you a list of ways to fight for your joy. “Hell. Unimaginable torment, forever. Do not stop at experiences. Get back to the heart of worship. Protip: if you want people to worship your God, try not to make him sound like a sadistic narcissist asshole. And all of you who’ve heard any of my talks ever would know the answer, because I say it over and over again, and I’ll say it now. The book I have in mind is either Desiring God or God’s Passion for His Glory. God is ours, we belong to him. I prayed, hoped, and believed that God would give me the desires of my heart. You wouldn’t be healed. Whoever serves let him serve in the strength that God supplies in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.” If you serve, you should serve in the strength that God supplies, so that he may get the glory, not you. Therefore, for God to be, loving must give himself. He was still in distress. The answer is, “Yes,” and the word “for” means something different in each of those phrases. I have a kind of person in my mind, and I do so because of a recent conversation at my church. He is author of. You were made to see God, love God, delight in God, and be stunned by God. In this 10th anniversary edition, Piper offers us practical encouragement for holding onto the only source of true and lasting joy: God himself. But if I’m not satisfied in God, it’s not because He isn’t enough. We find ourselves making series of excuses as to why we can’t spend time with God. But mainly it’s going to be about Jesus everywhere satisfying your soul, so thoughts about you, which in this world cause us so much grief. Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! It is more blessed to give than to receive. Christians are unavoidably out of step with this world. It’s called “When I Don’t Desire God: How To Fight For Joy” because there are a lot of people like that, there are a lot of people who think that doesn’t matter, and there are some people that state the way it does matter in totally misleading ways. Psalm 23:3: “He restores my soul. I’m suggesting that it would mean this: When the darkness of uncertainty and fear hangs over you, inasmuch as by grace it remains in you, don’t let go of the One you knew in the light. We’re supposed to be like God, so I’m going to exalt myself, and that will loving.” It won’t be loving. The promise in Psalm 37:4 is that God will place the desire in you, not literally give you the desire. Every Christian asked might have a different reason for serving God; different people are motivated by … Salvation is not my brain doing what it can do by itself. Want to desire God?      making my steps secure. This is a terrifying position to be in. You were made for God’s glory. It is obvious by these verses that God does not want us to worry, but to bring our cares and concerns to him. I am not on a mission to put your happiness above God’s glory. God’s word restores the soul, comforts the afflicted, emboldens the weak, and corrects the sinner, but only as we really read and hear it. May God give you the grace to sing it anew. We’re on a mission to change that. God must be bent on self-exaltation if he loves us. Perhaps you have considered this word from Isaiah: Who among you fears the Lord Paul was speaking as man at the end of his life when he said, “I have fought the good fight” (2 Tim. As you resolve to grow and change this year, remember that good intentions without diligence will fail. In the last several years, the song “He Will Hold Me Fast” has gone deep with me and become very sweet. When I Don't Desire God takes all of the concepts of Desiring God and puts those in real-world scenarios.It believe it's certainly his most practical and helpful. We can never get too much wisdom. Having a baby was the desire of my heart; I was 42 when God said no. Jesus “increased in wisdom” (Luke 2:52). Paul calls us to admonish each other “in all wisdom” (Colossians 3:16). It doesn’t say. In fact, I just have the suspicion there won’t be any mirrors in heaven, because anything good and beautiful about you will be radiated back to you from the other people that you’re loving so much it just bounces back to you. Most people in the world have no experience of lasting joy in their lives. What I am doing in this letter is simply reminding you (1) that God is present in the darkness, (2) that he is holding on to his people when they feel barely able to hold on to him, and (3) that though you may feel unsure of your salvation in this struggle, you may be totally sure you will not have salvation if you give up the struggle and walk away. One reason I have come to love the Psalms is that they are woven with desire for God. 4:7). You are going to have to work hard at it. That desire that God has given you is not going to be easy to obtain. I’ve preached messages that have gotten me emails from philosophy professors and theology professors. One of the messages was entitled, “Did Jesus die for us or for God?” Did Jesus die for us or for God? Just go ahead and overflow from your morning devotions. Hebrews 11:6 tells us that without faith, it … For my name’s sake I defer my anger. I am on a mission to help you feel so good about the greatness of God that you forget about yourselves and live a life of love, making others glad in God. On the other hand, why God does things really matters, really, really matters. God works in response to faith. It is God’s plan for preserving us and bringing us safely to glory. Right at the center of the gospel, God is exalting God. So I’m not here to help you feel good about yourself. Here’s the way I would define love to you. Let me give you four things I’m not coming to do. They do crazy things for Jesus after they learn that their joy can be rooted in something absolutely higher, more sure, more satisfying than the American dream, which dad had for them and now dad is really mad at me because they’re in Afghanistan. God is most glorified in you when you are most satisfied in him. What do you say when you feel you have said all you know to say — in the book and in conversation?      and has no light He is exclusive in his desire. It’s not power to get to heaven when you die. Most people in the world have no experience of lasting joy in their lives. It’s not the life Jesus’ followers have ever had. It helps to clarify what you do do when you decide what you don’t do. Only God can make the depraved heart desire God. All the gifts that you think about — forgiveness, justification, redemption, reconciliation — all the glorious gospel gifts, if God says, “You can have all that, but you can’t have me on the other side,” he’s not loving toward me. You’re not God. You might read this title and feel this post is not for you because desire is a strong word. He said it in another place, lest you think that was kind of an isolated, exceptional statement. They seem contradictory. I have a theory that for some people silence comes … Let’s sum it up with Ephesians 1:11: “God works all things according to the counsel of his will.” All things. You’re most definitely not a loving person, and so it is with God. Oh, make your name holy, pure, righteous, set apart, valuable, big, one of a kind, magnificent. Answer: The fact that we should serve God is obvious in Scripture (see Luke 4:8). Or, to paraphrase, “I grasp for the hope for future perfection, because Christ has already grasped me and will not let me go.” Sometimes we feel his grasp more sweetly than at other times. Remember—God has an unlimited, omnipotent perspective that is not bound by time or space. For there is a “wisdom that comes down from above” (James 3:17).      and by the torches that you have kindled! The number one prayer on your lips and springing from your heart, is “Hallowed be your name in my life, my family, my church, this city, this world. My salvation is a miracle wrought by the Holy Spirit upon me doing what I cannot do for myself, bringing into being a new John Piper who has affections for God and is falling out of love with the world.      he inclined to me and heard my cry. Forever. And then we have to answer this second question briefly. He must exalt Himself. So if you want to imitate God in God’s self-exaltation then you become God-exalting, not self-exalting, because what will satisfy people’s souls forever and ever and ever is seeing, knowing, loving, fellowshipping with God. Your heart begins to break as you wrap up a night of intimate worship because all your heart wants is Him! Parts of the following letter are exact quotes. As for your question, why does not God take it away? Once when Jesus’ disciples wondered about the salvation of a man who desired money more than God, he said to them, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. Desire for Perfect Beauty. However, we have seen God do so much that we no longer question why God led us here. “Encourage one another daily,” warns the author of Hebrews, “so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness” (3:13). I’ve come up with this little analogy to clarify how you should not glorify God and how you should glorify God, how you should not magnify God and how you should magnify God. As you read your Bible tomorrow morning, praying for supernatural insight, God may grant you a glimpse of some precious truth that later in the day will be exactly the truth that your struggling friend needs. How do you feel about tonight?” I said, “I feel like I’m on an apostolic mission. Worry is nothing more than fear, and fear and trust are opposites. Something holds them. Happiness. Walk by the light of your fire, I will not give my glory to another. I’m going to assume that conference. God loves you in that he does everything necessary in order that you might be enthralled forever, and increasingly, with what will bring you full and lasting happiness, namely himself. Paul says, “My aim is to magnify Jesus Christ.” That’s the same as glorify Jesus Christ, but oh how ambiguous the word magnify is. I am not here to make you feel good about yourself. 8 Preface to the Tenth-Anniversary Edition more than God. I think thousands of Christians, if they will pause to be painfully honest, will admit to the same struggles.      and obeys the voice of his servant? I am a worker with you for your joy in these few hours that we have together. You wouldn’t. Pray for dawn and deliverance. This man not only desires God Himself, he desires nothing but God. I think it is a mistake to give unqualified assurance to a struggler when you do not know if they are born again. We want to work on this together. It is a fearful thing when we are going through a season where we don’t feel it at all. God wants me to belong to him as fully as I can in the life I am now living. There is. 
For my love is often cold,
 But he believes that Christ grips his fingernails: Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. (Philippians 3:12). Now, that was a long definition. After the conversation that I had recently with my friend, he followed up with an email. 4:19). James tells us that if we “lack wisdom,” we should ask for it from God (James 1:5). I wrote it because hundreds of people who hear the message of Christian Hedonism with hope drift into discouragement because they don’t have the joy in God that they know they should. God will straight up send you to Hell. We desire God because we yearn for His comfort and everlasting life. Isn’t that an amazing statement? May I recommend a song about God’s precious keeping power? Over two decades of wondering, believing, and relying on God’s strength to keep moving forward. Instead, realize that any precious biblical truth that has ministered deeply to you, though it may seem irrelevant to your friend’s situation, may be more helpful than you realize. And we sever it with a superior pleasure. I think life is not over after our worldly existence. But he does not despair. We’re on a mission to change that. This is not theoretical for me. God my Desire. The conference I’m thinking about is “The Blazing Center.” It’s in a DVD. Is that loving? He looks away from himself, confesses his divided self, and presses on in the battle. For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. That’s a low salvation. We should not consider it a mere religious performance, asking, “How often do I have to do it?” Instead, as Thomas Manton said, prayer is the conversation of “a loving soul with God,” and “acts of friendship and communion must not be rare and unfrequent, but constant and often.” They will know the truth (which may seem random to us), and the truth may set them free. Editor’s Note: This message, which appears below as a lightly edited transcript, is the first part of a series of six messages based on the book When I Don’t Desire God. Left to ourselves, our desire for God will wane and drift. I’m going to share that with you below. He does exist, and just because we are asked to believe things on faith, not human understanding, many people have a problem with that. We are not saved by mere decisions. They hope they are. God would have to transform my heart to do what a heart cannot make itself do, namely, want what it ought to want. You might be thinking you always desire God. I’m here to help you feel good about God, and forget about yourself and give your life away in love to others. Hearts tend to grow cold, and even the most on-fire Christians can struggle with maintaining their love and service to God. I am bringing you a message that Christ will give you himself so that you don’t need health, wealth, and prosperity in order to be happy, but can have so much invincible joy in the durable Christ you can give up health, wealth, and prosperity in the sacrifices of love if God so calls. He loves you, just as if you were his own child, which is why you must never question your faith or you will burn for all eternity. But you are not God. It’s been fifteen years since I wrote When I Don’t Desire God: How to Fight for Joy.I wrote it because hundreds of people who hear the message of Christian Hedonism with hope drift into discouragement because they don’t have the joy in God that they know they should. Troubles, even the most severe troubles you can imagine, are not evidence that God doesn’t care. And this is such a … We may not be able to describe adequately what it means both to walk in darkness and to trust the Lord. But it is the only way forward into light and hope and relief. What you do know beyond doubt is: if they finally abandon Christ and hope, there is no hope. “When I Don’t Desire God: How To Fight For Joy”. If you catch on to what I’m saying, or if any of you parents brought your kids, that’s risky.      and rely on his God. The biggest question I’ve ever asked, I think, is this: Why does God do everything that he does? We have to build on that. The giver gets the glory. That should be the number one thing you pray for. It’s been fifteen years since I wrote When I Don’t Desire God: How to Fight for Joy. For God to love you is for him to do everything, even the death of his Son, even at the cost of his Son’s life, he will do everything he must do for his own in order that they might be enthralled with what will make them fully and eternally happy, namely himself. There’s nothing extraordinary about it. It’s loving the truth that God does everything for God that turns a person’s life upside down. Paul is ashamed of his inconsistency in these times of defeat. This might … Regular, disciplined Bible intake is not optional for God’s people. Paying attention to what the early church prayed for can help keep your prayer life from falling into a rut. Paul’s eagerness in all this is a reflection of God’s desire.      you shall lie down in torment. (Isaiah 50:10–11). I want suffering people to come into this conference and come into our church and come into the door at Desiring God ministries and feel like these are not chipper people who have never tasted the dark night of the soul, never tasted the loss of a loved one, never tasted the love of a wayward child. Third, many simply do not want to seek God they enjoy carnal living and satisfying the flesh. See especially Chapter 8: How to Wield the Word in the Fight for Joy. One answer is this: Don’t think that you need the tailor-made answer to the presenting problem. For you to be love is to call attention to him. So you get this amazing hammer blow from Isaiah 48:9–11, where God says. So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. (Romans 7:24–25). But this must be of a pure heart. Get back to that place of worship. But first a caution. You remember in Philippians 1:22–25 where he’s struggling: “Am I going to live, or am I not going to live?” He settles it, “Yes, I believe I probably will live. So, while this book is a mere ten years old, the I am here to make you so happy in God — to help you feel so good about the glory, majesty, beauty, justice, love, truth, and power of God that in that you forget about yourself. These failures leave him feeling distant from God and, at times, wondering if he is a Christian, or perhaps whether he may even be an Esau who has spurned grace so often that true repentance is no longer possible (Hebrews 12:16–17). Is that love? I am not coming with a health, wealth, and prosperity gospel, or on a health, wealth, and prosperity mission. God does everything that he does — everything that he does — in order to display his glory for the enjoyment of all those who find in Christ their highest treasure. The Bible tells us clearly that God has a desire and a plan to fulfill that desire. We must first obey before receiving the blessing. That’s why I wrote the book. I have a kind of person in my mind, and I do so because of a recent conversation at my church. Does it mean magnify God like a microscope magnifies or like a telescope magnifies? Carve out twenty minutes of unbroken silence. God works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who first hoped in Christ might be for the praise of his glory. What happens is wonder, awe, which is what you were made for. You also can give the sober counsel that struggling has hope of success, but forsaking the struggle does not. You may not follow him in this, except like this. I have been asked, What would I say now, with the accumulated wisdom of 72 years, to those still struggling to “delight yourself in the Lord” (Psalm 37:4)? In short, when you don’t desire God.. it’s because He is no longer the object of your affection. From where I stand at age 72, I believe I can encourage you that it will come. Get RID of anything or anyone that is hindering you. Do you desire more of God’s presence? I’m going to say that again because in our twenty-first century mold and time on the backend of the crest of the wave of self-esteem, it needs to still be said. You’re in God’s will in other areas. He must call for praise and love. I get in trouble with a lot of parents because of what kids do when they listen to messages like this. He must hold me fast. There is no comfortable answer to how one conquers such fears and escapes such a condition. Your kingdom come, your will be done.’” The very first petition that Jesus teaches us to pray is, make your name great in the world. We think that the solution is, “If I could just feel better about me, better about the way I look, better about my height, my weight, my complexion, my hair, my mathematical ability. Show yourself to the world, God. 3. He’s the only being in the universe for whom such behavior is love. Christian Hedonism says that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him. Worker with you for your joy. Paul prays that we would be “filled with spiritual wisdom” (Colossians 1:9).

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