When I Don't Desire God: How to Fight For Joy: Study Guide

by John Piper

A guided group study that focuses on John Piper’s DVD teaching regarding how to fight for true delight in Christ and obtain proper affections for God.Does the command to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind really obligate us to enjoy God above all things? Joy and delight are emotions after all, so isn’t such love simply a decision of the will, not a feeling?According to John Piper, in this companion to the When I Don’t Desire God DVD, emotions are commanded everywhere in Scripture. They’re not just instructions to think a certain way but to feel a certain way. And though we don’t have complete control of our emotions, eternity hangs on the presence of proper affections for God. Therefore, the fight for joy is not optional. It is essential.This study guide—focused on Piper’s powerful teaching on DVD—explores the necessity and strategies of delighting in Christ in an eight-session, guided group study. Each guide features helps for reflection, penetrating questions, and five daily assignments per week. Along with the DVD, it is an ideal package that will lead groups of any size in the all-important fight for joy.

Genres: Christian, Christian Living

128 pages, Kindle Edition

About the author

John Piper is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. For 33 years, he served as senior pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

He grew up in Greenville, South Carolina, and studied at Wheaton College, Fuller Theological Seminary (B.D.), and the University of Munich (D.theol.). For six years, he taught Biblical Studies at Bethel College in St. Paul, Minnesota, and in 1980 accepted the call to serve as pastor at Bethlehem.

John is the author of more than 50 books and more than 30 years of his preaching and teaching is available free at desiringGod.org. John and his wife, Noel, have four sons, one daughter, and twelve grandchildren.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Reviews

[Pavel · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is hope

As a Christian you already know that there's nothing on earth that can really satisfy your soul so you stop seeking delight in the world. The problem comes when you fail to seek delight in the Lord (or don't know how to fight for it) because then you see yourself in a spiritual numbness where you are not getting joy at all. Life becomes gray. Everything losses its attractive.

This book helps you fight for joy by delighting in Jesus's glory, by striving for getting your soul satisfied in Him, in his beauty.

I highly recommend this book to anyone struggling with sadness, depression or lack of joy and purpose in life.

[Pat]

If you ever feel you’re not smart enough to read John Piper you are not alone.

I did like a lot of what was written specifically - God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied him John Piper

[Ferry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sorrowful yet Rejoicing

Hard to read as confronting truth always hard at first glance but will surely yield its sweet comfort along the way.

[Aubrianna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Practical and encouraging.