The Sweet Designs of God - Solid Joys (John Piper)

This means that Paul was beating and imprisoning and murdering Christians as a God-chosen, soon-to-be-made-Christian missionary.

Formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy . . . for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. (1 Timothy 1:13, 16)

O, how sweet are the designs of God in the sovereign salvation of hardened sinners!

(http://solidjoys.desiringgod.org/en/devotionals/the-sweet-designs-of-god)
Read link :)

http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/love-the-life-you-never-wanted

But the LORD was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. And the keeper of the prison put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners who were in the prison. . . . And whatever he did, the LORD made it succeed. (Genesis 39:21–23)

The reality is that all of us can imagine something better for ourselves than our circumstances today. The greater reality is that, if you love and follow Jesus, God always writes a better story for you than you would write for yourself. The “better” is based on this: God himself is the best, most satisfying thing you could ever have or experience, and, therefore, fullness of life is ultimately found not in any earthly success or relationship or accomplishment, but in your proximity to God through faith.

The dark side of this good news is that you may have to walk through pain, disappointment, rejection, and suffering for seventy or eighty years. The brighter (and prevailing) side says God never makes a mistake in choosing good for you. Everything you experience — expected or unexpected, wanted or unwanted, pleasing or painful — is God’s good plan to make you his own (John 10:27–29), to give you himself forever (Psalm 16:11), and to use your life to reveal himself and his glory to the world around you (Isaiah 43:25; 1 Corinthians 10:31).

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John 10

27 “My sheep ahear My voice, and bI know them, and they follow Me;

28 and I give aeternal life to them, and they will never perish; and bno one will snatch them out of My hand.

29 “1My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.

Isaiah 43

25 “I, even I, am the one who awipes out your transgressions bfor My own sake,

And I will cnot remember your sins.

1 Corinthians 10

31 Whether, then, you eat or drink or awhatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

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What is the secret of joy and contentment in the face of whatever life brings? It’s centering and anchoring our joy and contentment in Christ, rather than in life. John Piper says, “When we have little and have lost much, Christ comes and reveals himself as more valuable than what we have lost. And when we have much and are overflowing in abundance, Christ comes and he shows that he is far superior to everything we have.”

A Greater Treasure and Ambition

Is the life you’re currently living the one you always wanted?

• Are you content — more than content, delighted and exhilarated — to have God at your side (Joshua 1:9)?
• Have you put some earthly standard or accomplishment ahead of knowing him and being his (2 Corinthians 6:16)?
• Are you willing to entrust your soul, your cause, and your vindication to the one who always judges justly, the one who has promised to work all things in every circumstance — including every setback, every disappointment, and even every sin against you — for you (1 Peter 2:23; Romans 8:28)?

God means for all of us after the wrongly convicted Joseph, and the brutally beaten Paul, to have their faith, hope, and joy. Make him your greatest treasure and ambition, and see everything else that happens to you in the light of that infinite pleasure and security. Learn to love the life you have with God, even if it is the life you never wanted.

(http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/love-the-life-you-never-wanted)

Makes Strong ~ SolidJoys in Desiring God

DEVOTIONAL FOR APRIL 28

The Great Exchange

John Piper

• PREVIOUS DAY
• NEXT DAY

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed. (Romans 1:16–17)

We need righteousness to be acceptable to God. But we don’t have it. What we have is sin.

So God has what we need and don’t deserve — righteousness; and we have what God hates and rejects — sin. What is God’s answer to this situation?

His answer is Jesus Christ, the Son of God who died in our place. God lays our sins on Christ and punishes them in him. And in Christ’s obedient death, God fulfills and vindicates his righteousness and imputes (credits) it to us. Our sin on Christ, his righteousness on us.

We can hardly stress too much that Christ is God’s answer. It is all owing to Christ.

You can’t love Christ too much. You can’t think about him too much or thank him too much or depend upon him too much. All our justification, all our righteousness, is in Christ.

This is the gospel — the good news that our sins are laid on Christ and his righteousness is laid on us, and that this great exchange happens for us not by works but by faith alone.

Here is the good news that lifts burdens and gives joy and makes strong.

http://solidjoys.desiringgod.org/en