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About the Book

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. The problem is that many people, after being persuaded, find that this truth is both liberating and devastating.

It's liberating because it endorses our inborn desire for joy. And it's devastating because it reveals that we don't desire God the way we should. What do you do when you discover the good news that God wants you to be content in him, but then find that you aren't?

If joy in God were merely the icing on the cake of Christian commitment, this book would be insignificant. But Piper argues that joy is so much more. Our being satisfied in God is necessary to show God's worthiness and to sustain sacrifices of love.

Jesus endured the cross for the joy that was set before him. He tasted it. It sustained him through the deepest suffering. His Father was glorified. His people were saved. That is what joy in God does.

The absolutely urgent question becomes: What can I do if I don't have it? With a pastor's heart and with radical passion for the glory of Christ, John Piper helps you answer that question.

This is John Piper's best book of the last several years, which builds on (but doesn't repeat, contrary to one review) the foundations laid in Desiring God: The Meditations of a Christian Hedonist. Because the supreme duty of every follower of Jesus is to glorify God (1 Cor 10:31) and because praise on the lips divorced from delight in the heart is hypocrisy (Matthew 15:8), nothing is more important than having a heart that is so satisfied in Jesus that it can say, "Whom have I heaven but You? And there is nothing on earth that I desire beside You" (Psalm 73:25). And since sustaining that kind of desire for God is a fight, John Piper served us well by writing this helpful book.

First Edition 2004
Crossway Books (Wheaton, Illinois)

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Table of Contents

1. Why I Wrote This Book
Sustaining The Sacrifice Of Love
2. What Is The Difference Between Desire And Delight?
Discovering How Both And Neither Is The Goal
3. The Call To Fight For Joy In God
Taking God’s Demand For Delight Seriously
4. Joy In God Is a Gift of God
Doing Ourselves What Must Be Done For Us
5. The Fight For Joy Is A Fight To See
Valuing God Through The Eyes Of The Heart And The Ears Of The Head
6. Fighting For Joy Like A Justified Sinner
Learning The Secret Of Gutsy Guilt
7. The Worth Of God’s Word In The Fight For Joy
Seeing The Measure Of This Mighty Weapon
8. How To Wield The Word In The Fight For Joy
Musing, Memorizing, And The Message Of God
9. The Focus Of Prayer In The Fight For Joy
Desiring All Else Only Because We Desire God
10. The Practice Of Prayer In The Fight For Joy
Morning, Noon, And Evening Without Ceasing
11. How To Wield The World In The Fight For Joy
Using All Five Senses To See The Glory of God
12. When The Darkness Does Not Lift
Doing What We Can While We Wait For God—and Joy

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Translations

English-Philippines
Publisher: Church Strengthening Ministry, Inc.
ISBN: 9789710021116

Chinese-Mandarin
Publisher: Christian Arts Press/Good News Publishers
ISBN: 9789866927096

Dutch
Publisher: Uirgeverij Het Zpeklicht-Doorn
Purchase: Shalom
ISBN: 9789064510-91-5

French
Publisher: Editions Sembeq
Purchase: La Maison de la Bible
ISBN: 2-980559075

German
Publisher: Christiche Literatur-Verbreitung
Purchase: Arch In Form
ISBN: 3-89397-977-8

Korean-2005
Publisher: Korea InterVarsity Press
Purchase: Aseben
ISBN: 8932820902

Korean-2010 (Abridged Version)
Publisher: Korea InterVarsity Press
Purchase: YP Books
ISBN: 9788932811345

Portuguese
Publisher: Editora Cultura Crista
ISBN: 9788576221326

Romanian
Publisher: Editura Scriptum
Purchase: CLC Romania
ISBN: 9789738777064

Spanish
Publisher: Editorial Portavoz
Purchase: Amazon

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Related Resources

• How Shall We Fight for Joy? (article)
• Future Grace (book)
• When the Darkness Will Not Lift (book)
• When I Don't Desire God (conference messages)
• Use the Inspired Scriptures to Rejoice in Hope (sermon)