God wants your heart. The whole Bible teaches truth and awakens emotions, but the Psalms are in a category of their own. They do not just awaken the heart; they put it in the foreground. They do not merely invite our emotions to respond to God’s truth; they put our emotions on display.

The Psalms are more than commanding—they are contagious. We are not just listening to profound ideas and feelings. We are living among them in their overflow. We touch pillows wet with tears. We hear and feel the unabashed cries of affliction, shame, regret, grief, anger, discouragement, and turmoil. But what makes all this stunningly different from the sorrows of the world is that all of it—absolutely all of it—is experienced in relation to the totally sovereign God.

Shaped by God is an invitation. God wants our hearts. He will take them as he finds them. And then, with the healing contagion of the Psalms, he will shape them. Accept his invitation to come.

God wil jou hart hê. Die hele Bybel is vol waarheid en werk in ons hart, maar die psalms is net besonders. Hulle raak nie net ons hart nie – hulle plaas ons hart op die voorgrond. Hulle nooi nie net ons emosies om op God se waarheid te reageer nie – hulle stel ons emosies ten toon.

Die psalms doen meer as om ons te leer. Ons ervaar alles wat dit leer. Ons hoor en ervaar die onbeskaamde uitroepe van smart, skaamte, berou, verlies, woede, ontmoediging en ontsteltenis. Maar wat hierdie gedigte – almal van hulle – so verstommend anders maak as die smart van die wêreld is dat hulle almal ervaar word in verhouding tot die totaal alleenheersende God.

Hierdie boek is ’n uitnodiging. God wil ons hart hê. Hy sal dit neem soos dit is. En dan, deur die inspirasie van die psalms, sal Hy dit vorm. Aanvaar sy uitnodiging om te kom.

“God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.” This simple but powerful statement has been a cornerstone of John Piper’s ministry for nearly 40 years. Laying out the principles behind this “Christian Hedonism” Desiring God has proved to be a source of rich theological insight for countless readers through the years, guiding them to the fullness of joy found in Christ.

In this foundational work, John Piper addresses profound questions about the purpose of life and the human pursuit of pleasure. Drawing wisdom from Scripture and insights from church history, Piper challenges the belief that believers must sacrifice joy in order to please God. Instead, finding delight in God does not diminish his glory; rather, it magnifies it and fulfils the deepest desires of our souls.

Have you ever known true joy? Do you have this joy in your life right now? If you are longing for fulfillment, for true joy, please read on--this tract may assist you in your quest. 1. God Created Us For His Glory "Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth... whom I created for my glory" (Isaiah 43:6-7). God made us to magnify his greatness--the way telescopes magnify stars. He created us to put his goodness and truth and beauty and wisdom and justice on display. The greatest display of God's glory comes from deep delight in all that he is. This means that God gets the praise and we get the pleasure. God created us so that he is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him. 2. Every Human Should Live For God's Glory "So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31). If God made us for his glory, clearly we should live for his glory. Our duty comes from his design. So our first obligation is to show God's value by being satisfied with all that he is for us. This is the essence of loving God (Matthew 22:37) and trusting him (1 John 5:3-4) and being thankful to him (Psalm 100:2-4). It is the root of all true obedience, especially loving others (Colossians 1:4-5). 3. All of Us Have Failed To Glorify God As We Should "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). What does it mean to "fall short of the glory of God?" It means that none of us has trusted and treasured God the way we should. We have not been satisfied with his greatness and walked in his ways. We have sought our satisfaction in other things and have treated them as more valuable than God, which is the essence of idolatry (Romans 1:21-23). Since sin came into the world, we have all been deeply resistant to having God as our all-satisfying treasure (Ephesians 2:3). This is an appalling offense to the greatness of God (Jeremiah 2:12-13). 4. All Of Us Are Subject To God's Just Condemnation "For the wages of sin is death..." (Romans 6:23). We have all belittled the glory of God. How? By preferring other things above him. By our ingratitude, distrust, and disobedience. So God is just in shutting us out from the enjoyment of his glory forever. "They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might" (2 Thessalonians 1:9). The word "hell" is used in the New Testament twelve times--eleven times by Jesus himself. It is not a myth created by dismal and angry preachers. It is a solemn warning from the Son of God who died to deliver sinners from its curse. We ignore it at great risk. If the Bible stopped here in its analysis of the human condition, we would be doomed to a hopeless future. However, this is not where it stops... 5. God Sent His Only Son Jesus To Provide Eternal Life And Joy "The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners..." (1 Timothy 1:15). The good news is that Christ died for sinners like us. And he rose physically from the dead to validate the saving power of his death and to open the gates of eternal life and joy (1 Corinthians 15:20). This means God can acquit guilty sinners and still be just (Romans 3:25-26). "For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God" (1 Peter 3:18). Coming home to God is where all deep and lasting satisfaction is found. 6. The Benefits Purchased By The Death Of Christ Belong To Those Who Repent And Trust Him "Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out" (Acts 3:19). "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved" (Acts 16:31). "Repent" means to turn from all the deceitful promises of sin. "Faith" means being satisfied with all that God promised to be for us in Jesus. "Whoever believes in me," Jesus says, "shall never thirst" (John 6:35). We do not earn our salvation. We cannot merit it (Romans 4:4-5). It is by grace through faith that we are saved (Ephesians 2:8-9). It is a free gift (Romans 3:24). We will have it if we cherish it enough to receive it and treasure it above all things (Matthew 13:44). When we do that, God's aim in creation is accomplished: He is glorified in us and we are satisfied in him--forever. Does This Make Sense To You? Do you desire the kind of gladness that comes from being satisfied with all that God is for you in Jesus? If so, then God is at work in your life. What Should You Do? Turn from the deceitful promises of sin. Call upon Jesus to save you from the guilt and punishment and bondage. "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved" (Romans 10:13). Start banking your hope on all that God is for you in Jesus. You can break the power of sin's promises by putting your faith in the superior satisfaction of God's promises. Begin reading the Bible to find his precious and very great promises, which can set you free (2 Peter 1:3-4). Find a Bible-believing church, and begin to worship and grow together with other people who treasure Christ above all things (Philippians 3:7).

According to Warren Wiersbe, The Supremacy of God in Preaching "calls us back to a biblical standard for preaching, a standard exemplified by many of the pulpit giants of the past, especially Jonathan Edwards and Charles Spurgeon." This newly revised and expanded edition is an essential guide for preachers who want to stir the embers of revival. Piper has added valuable new material reflecting on his thirty-three years of preaching at Bethlehem Baptist Church, offering a glimpse of what a lifetime of putting God first has done for the faith of the hundreds of thousands who have heard him preach over the years.

Since September 11, 2001, I have seen more clearly than ever how essential it is to exult explicitly in the excellence of Christ crucified for sinners and risen from the dead. Christ must be explicit in all our God-talk. It will not do, in this day of pluralism, to talk about the glory of God in vague ways. God without Christ is no God. And a no-God cannot save or satisfy the soul. Following a no-God--whatever his name or whatever his religion--will be a wasted life. God-in-Christ is the only true God and the only path to joy. To bring us to this highest and most durable of all pleasures, God made his Son, Jesus Christ, a bloody spectacle of blameless suffering and death. This is what it cost to rescue us from a wasted life. The eternal Son of God "did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing." He took "the form of a servant" and was born "in the likeness of men . . . . He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross" (Philippians 2:6-8). All Things Were Made for Him This Jesus was and is a real historical man in whom "the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily" (Colossians 2:9). Since he is "God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God," as the old Nicene Creed says, and since his death and resurrection are the central act of God in history, it is not surprising to hear the Bible say, "All things were created through him and for him" (Colossians 1:16). For him! That means for his glory. Ever since the incarnate, redeeming work of Jesus, God is gladly glorified by sinners only through the glorification of the risen God-Man, Jesus Christ. His bloody death is the blazing center of the glory of God. There is no way to the glory of the Father but through the Son. All the promises of joy in God's presence, and pleasures at his right hand, come to us only through faith in Jesus Christ. If We Reject Him, We Reject God Jesus is the litmus test of reality for all persons and all religions. He said it clearly: "The one who rejects me rejects him who sent me" (Luke 10:16). People and religions who reject Christ reject God. Do other religions know the true God? Here is the test: Do they reject Jesus as the only Savior for sinners who was crucified and raised by God from the dead? If they do, they do not know God in a saving way. That is what Jesus meant when he said, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6). Or when he said, "Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him" (John 5:23). Or when he said to the Pharisees, "If God were your Father, you would love me" (John 8:42). If we would see and savor the glory of God, we must see and savor Christ. For Christ is "the image of the invisible God" (Colossians 1:15). To put it another way, if we would embrace the glory of God, we must embrace the Gospel of Christ. The reason for this is not only because we are sinners and need a Savior to die for us, but also because this Savior is himself the fullest and most beautiful manifestation of the glory of God. He purchases our undeserved and everlasting pleasure, and he becomes for us our all-deserving, everlasting Treasure. The Gospel is the Good News of the Glory of Christ This is how the Gospel is defined. When we are converted through faith in Christ, what we see with the eyes of our hearts is "the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God" (2 Corinthians 4:4). The Gospel is the good news of all-conquering beauty. Or to say it the way Paul does, it is the good news of "the glory of Christ." When we embrace Christ, we embrace God. We see and savor God's glory. There is no savoring of God's glory if we do not see it in Christ. This is the only window through which a sinner may see the face of God and not be incinerated. The Bible says that when God illuminates our hearts at conversion, he gives "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:6). Either we see the glory of God "in the face of Jesus Christ," or we don't see it at all. And "the face of Jesus Christ" is the beauty of Christ reaching its climax in the cross. The bloody face of Christ crucified (and triumphant!) is the countenance of the glory of God. What was once foolishness to us becomes our wisdom and our power and our boast (1 Corinthians 1:18, 24). Life is wasted if we do not grasp the glory of the cross, cherish it for the treasure that it is, and cleave to it as the highest price of every pleasure and the deepest comfort in every pain.

John Piper brings a lifetime of theology, Bible meditation, and pastoral ministry to bear on the doctrine of God's providence, showing how God's all-pervasive governing of all things glorifies Christ, and is spectacularly good news for those who trust him.

"A Parable of Permanence . . ."
Reflecting on 40 years of matrimony, John Piper exalts the biblical meaning of marriage over its emotion, exhorting couples to keep their covenant for the right reasons. Even when people commonly stayed married "till death do us part," there has never been a generation whose view of marriage was high enough, says Pastor John Piper. That is all the more true in our casual times. Understanding God's design according to his Word can awaken a glorious vision capable of freeing every person from small, Christ-ignoring, romance-intoxicated views. As Piper explains: "Most foundationally, marriage is the doing of God. And ultimately, marriage is the display of God. It displays the covenant-keeping love between Christ and his people to the world in a way that no other event or institution does. Marriage, therefore, is not mainly about being in love. It's mainly about telling the truth with our lives. And staying married is not about staying in love. It is about keeping a covenant and putting the glory of Christ's covenant-keeping love on display."
"Una parabola de permanencia . . ."
Reflexionando sobre cuarenta anos de matrimonio, John Piper enaltece el sentido biblico del matrimonio por encima de la emocion, exhortando a las parejas a mantener su pacto por las razones correctas. Incluso cuando la gente comunmente permanecio casada "hasta que la muerte nos separe," nunca hubo una generacion cuya perspectiva del matrimonio fue lo suficientemente alta, dice el pastor John Piper. Esto es todavia mas cierto en nuestra informal epoca. Comprender el diseno de Dios segun su Palabra puede despertar una gloriosa vision capaz de liberar a todas las personas de perspectivas que ignoran a Cristo y estan intoxicadas por el romance. El matrimonio es fundamentalmente, mas que nada, la obra de Dios. Y, en ultima instancia, el matrimonio es la demostracion de Dios. De una manera mejor que ningun otro evento o institucion, en el matrimonio se muestra al mundo el mantenimiento del pacto de amor entre Cristo y su pueblo. El matrimonio, por lo tanto, no se trata principalmente de estar enamorado. Es, sobre todo, decir la verdad con nuestras vidas. Y permanecer casados no se trata de permanecer enamorados. Se trata de mantener el pacto y demostrar la gloria del amor fiel de Cristo.

John Piper challenges fellow baby boomers to forego the American dream of retirement and live out their golden years with a far greater purpose in mind.

They say it's a person's reward for all those years of labor. "Turn in your time card and trade in your IRAs. Let travel plans and golf-course leisure lead the way." But is retirement really the ideal? Or is it a series of poor options that ignore a greater purpose-and will kill a person more quickly than old age?

John Piper responds: "Lord, spare me this curse " And his resounding message is for anyone who believes there's far more to the golden years than accumulating comforts. It's for readers who long to finish better than they started, persevere for the right reasons (and without fear), experience true security, value what lies beyond their cravings, and live dangerously for the One who gave his life in his prime. With this brief book, Piper is sure to spur fellow baby boomers in their resolve to invest themselves in the sacrifices of love-and to grow old with godly zeal.

When Jesus said to Nicodemus, 'You must be born again', the devout and learned religious leader was unsure what Jesus meant. It would seem nothing has changed. Today 'born again Christians' fill churches that are seen as ineffectual at best, and even characterised by the 'mosaic' generation as 'unchristian'. The term 'born again' has been devalued both in society and in the church. Those claiming to be 'born again' live lives that are indistinguishable from those who don't; they sin the same, embrace injustice the same, covet the same, do almost everything the same. Being 'born again' is now defined by what people say they believe. The New Testament however defines Christians very differently. "When Jesus said to Nicodemus, "You must be born again" (John 3:7), he was not sharing interesting and unimportant information. He was leading him to eternal life... If he does that for you (or if he already has), then you are (or you will be) truly, invincibly, finally alive." John Piper

In this bestselling book, John Piper makes a passionate plea to the next generation of Christians to not waste their lives, but to live for Jesus with all their hearts.

Longtime Pastor and Author John Piper Walks through Jesus’s Commands and Their Meaning for the Christian Life.

The four Gospels are filled with commands straight from the mouth of Jesus Christ. They are not the harsh demands of a taskmaster, but Jesus's way of showing his followers who he is and how to be more like him.

In All That Jesus Commanded, John Piper walks through Jesus’s commands, in 50 short chapters, explaining their context and meaning to help readers understand Christ’s vision of the Christian life and what he still requires today. The result is a helpful guide for thoughtful inquirers and new Christians, as well as veteran believers, whether for their own study or as a resource in disciple-making.

• Biblical and Theological: Piper examines Jesus’s commands and explains their context, meaning, and application today
• Comprehensive: Features Scripture, person, and subject indexes
• Accessible: Written in a clear, engaging tone, this book is an excellent resource for new and seasoned believers alike, and for use in discipling younger believers

This redesigned anthology of Advent readings edited by best-selling author Nancy Guthrie, features 22 works by classic and contemporary theologians, each helping to prepare your heart for the sacredness of the Christmas season.

Trusting Jesus is hard. It requires following the unseen into an unknown, and believing Jesus's words over and against the threats we see or the fears we feel. Through the imaginative retelling of 35 Bible stories, Not by Sight gives us glimpses of what it means to walk by faith, counsel for how to trust God's promises more than our perceptions, and the way to find rest in the faithfulness of God.

Originally published in 1948, and edited by the artist John Piper, An English Farmhouse is Geoffrey Grigson's careful survey of the old English farmhouse, and its associated buildings, whether made from sarsen, thatch, timber, tile or brick. Grigson paints a vivid and human picture of rural life in the preceding centuries and creates a delicate weave of social history.

Good News of Great Joy by John Piper invites Christians to make Jesus the center of the Advent season through 25 devotional readings.

Great privilege. Great pain. This is God's way: to take the privilege of faith and strengthen it with real trials so that we worship and witness with a greater passion for God. There is a certain irony to the fruit of affliction; John Bunyan's confinement taught him the pilgrim path of Christian freedom; William Cowper's mental illness yielded sweet music of the mind for troubled souls; David Brainerd's smouldering misery of isolation and disease exploded in global mission beyond all imagination. Irony and disproportion are all God's way. We think we know how to do something big, and God makes it little. We think that all we have is weak and small, and God makes it big. Barren Sarah gives birth to the child of promise. Gideon's three hundred men defeat a hundred thousand Midianites. A slingshot in the hand of a shepherd boy brings the giant down. A virgin bears the Son of God. A boy's five loaves feeds thousands. A breach of justice, grovelling political expediency, and criminal torture on a gruesome cross become the salvation of the world.

Most people, when they ponder what it means to be loved by God, do not think God-centred thoughts. They think of the things that God does for us but which, in their minds, don't have God as the satisfying centre. But it wouldn't be loving of God to give us everything but himself - and so his love doesn't do that. It gives us himself for our enjoyment, and it gives us other things as means of knowing him better and loving him more. In John Piper's reflective, paradigm-challenging book, he drives home the point that what is most loving about God is not his making much of us, but his enabling us, at great cost to himself, to enjoy making much of him forever.

The long-awaited follow-up to The Way To Trade, John Piper's seminal work on trading psychology The Way To Trade is back...and it's better. In The Way To Trade Better John Piper returns to the fundamental topic of transforming yourself into a winning trader. Building on more than 30 years of frontline trading experience and over two decades of teaching and coaching, he explains how winning at trading involves turning your trading into a business. To do this, you follow a five-step process: 1. Focus 2. Style 3. Right Trading 4. Right Size 5. Successful Habits John Piper guides you through these five stages and delves into essential areas that every winning trader needs to master, including Trading Systems, Money Management, Psychology, Good and Bad Habits, and Trading Professionally. Putting all this together, The Way To Trade Better is a complete guide to improving your trading and achieving better and more consistent profits. Whether you are brand new to trading or have some experience and now want to move to the next level, let John Piper shows you The Way To Trade...Better.

We all want to experience liberating, love-producing, risk-taking satisfaction in God. But the reality is that we often struggle to find, and hold onto, true and lasting joy--even when we have embraced the good news of God's grace. So we face a crucial question: What should I do when I don't desire God?

John Piper aims to help us find joy in Jesus that is so deep and so strong that it frees us from bondage to comfort and security, and impels us to live merciful and missional lives. Written with the radical hope that all Christians would experience the fullness of life in Christ, this book will help you fight for joy daily by leading you to rediscover the soul-satisfying glory of God.

By anchoring your understanding of productivity in God's plan, What's Best Next gives you a practical approach for increasing your effectiveness in everything you do. There are a lot of myths about productivity--what it means to get things done and how to accomplish work that really matters. In our current era of innovation and information overload, it may feel harder than ever to understand the meaning of work or to have a sense of vocation or calling. So how do you get more of the right things done without confusing mere activity for actual productivity? Matt Perman has spent his career helping people learn how to do work in a gospel-centered and effective way. What's Best Next explains his approach to unlocking productivity and fulfillment in work by showing how faith relates to work, even in our everyday grind. What's Best Next is packed with biblical and theological insight and practical counsel that you can put into practice today, such as: How to create a mission statement for your life that's actually practicable. How to delegate to people in a way that really empowers them. How to overcome time killers like procrastination, interruptions, and multitasking by turning them around and making them work for you. How to process workflow efficiently and get your email inbox to zero every day. How to have peace of mind without needing to have everything under control. How generosity is actually the key to unlocking productivity. This expanded edition includes: a new chapter on productivity in a fallen world a new appendix on being more productive with work that requires creative thinking. Productivity isn't just about getting more things done. It's about getting the right things done--the things that count, make a difference, and move the world forward. You can learn how to do work that matters and how to do it well.