Joy & Fighting For It

We have this list taped in-between our bathroom sinks.
Easy to glance at while brushing your teeth.
It’s a list created by John Piper, 15 Ways to Fight for Joy.
It has been meaningful to me during my adjustment to
the middleofnowhere
motherhood
stay-at-homehood
and I thought some of you might enjoy it as well.
Number 8 might be my favorite.
Number 1 is a superduper close second.

How Shall We Fight for Joy?
By John Piper January 1, 1995
1. Realize that authentic joy in God is a gift.
2. Realize that joy must be fought for relentlessly.
3. Resolve to attack all known sin in your life.
4. Learn the secret of gutsy guilt - how to fight like a justified sinner.
5. Realize that the battle is primarily a fight to see God for who he is.
6. Meditate on the Word of God day and night.
7. Pray earnestly and continually for open heart-eyes and an inclination for God.
8. Learn to preach to yourself rather than listen to yourself.
9. Spend time with God-saturated people who help you see God and fight the fight.
10. Be patient in the night of God's seeming absence.
11. Get the rest and exercise proper diet that your body was designed by God to have.
12. Make a proper use of God's revelation in nature.
13. Read great books about God and biographies of great saints.
14. Do the hard and loving thing for the sake of others (witness and mercy).
15. Get a global vision for the cause of Christ and pour yourself out for the unreached.