Satisfaction in God

Ok...so I know that I just posted something to this same extent but Jordan and I have been reading a book together by John Piper called "When I Don't Desire God- How to fight for Joy" and when we came across the following paragraph tonight I almost fell out of the chair again. (or to be more technical...rolled off the bed ;) As I've said a million times before...God has such a way of bringing us things at just the right moments, over and over again until He has driven His point into our thick heads.

"God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him. Therefore, to make pretensions about honoring him more, while not calling people to the most radical, soul-freeing satisfaction in God alone, is self-contradictory. It won’t happen. God is glorified in his people by the way we experience him, not merely by the way we think about him. Indeed the devil thinks more true thoughts about God in one day than a saint does in a lifetime, and God is not honored by it. The problem with the devil is not his theology, but his desires. Our chief end is to glorify God. We do so most fully when we treasure him, desire him, delight in him so supremely that we let goods and kindred go and display his love to the poor and the lost.

Good stuff! The last few days have been extremely encouraging to me. Not only has God shown Himself faithful through His Word, but also through true friends who have been there to share what God has been doing in their lives. Living the Christian life may be hard and at times discouraging, but every moment is eventually worth it!

"It is helpful to be reminded that our desires—no matter how small—have been awakened by the spiritual taste we once had of the presence of God. They are an evidence that we have tasted. It is also helpful to be reminded that our desires are only a tiny part of what is to come. That truth can rescue us from despair and keep us fighting in this fallen world for all the joy possible in God. But the truth that the finite soul will always want more of God than it presently experiences will not be frustrating in the age to come. Then when we are perfected and have our resurrection bodies, the longings that remain will not be because sin is competing with God for our affections. Rather the reason will be that finite minds cannot receive the fullness of infinite greatness and glory. It must be given in (glorious but manageable) increments every day for eternity. In the age to come, desire for more of God will never be experienced with impatience or ingratitude or frustration. All desire in the age to come will be the sweetest anticipation, rooted ever more deeply in the enlarging memories of joy and in the ever-gathering pleasures of gratitude. God will not take from us the pleasure of anticipated pleasures. He will heighten it. He will give us for all eternity the perfect intermingling of present pleasure and anticipation of future pleasure. Anticipation will be stripped of all frustration. Its ache will be a wholly pleasant ache."

Can't Wait!!!!!!!

Chrystal