In a recent tweet you wrote, "Christian relationships have this as their goal, to help each other stay satisfied in God." Pastor John, give us some practical ways for how we can do this in our ordinary lives. What does this look like for just an average Christian trying to help another average Christian stay satisfied in God?

Right. Let me say first why I think that. 1 Corinthians 14, 26 I think says, "Let everything be done for building up." And two chapters later, chapter 16, it says, "Let everything be done in love." Now I think building up faith and doing everything for love is virtually the same as encouraging people to be satisfied in God, because I think faith is, in its essence, being satisfied with all that God is for us in Jesus.

And loving somebody is helping them be in a situation where they will have the greatest benefit. And Romans 8, 28 says that all things work together for those who love God. And so I want to help them love God, because then everything's going to work together for their good.

That's what love is, and loving God is being satisfied in God. So that's where that little statement comes from. So here's my how-to. People are satisfied with what they see and taste as satisfying. If they see something as satisfying, they're going to be satisfied in it, and therefore our job is to show God as satisfying.

So we need to help people see and taste that God is more satisfying than their television, or their money, or their job, or their relationships. He's more satisfying. And we do that, I think, number one, by speaking the Word of God, or especially the promises of God into their lives.

Here's an example. This morning at a prayer meeting, a friend named Dave, there's about a dozen of us there, a friend named Dave is getting on an airplane flying to India tonight to minister to pastors. He's an older guy, and it's a challenge to make that trip. And so we got around Dave, people prayed, and I closed it by saying, "Dave, fear not, for I am with you.

Be not dismayed. I am your God. I will help you. I'll strengthen you. I'll hold you up with my righteous right hand. Amen." So I spoke God's--Isaiah 41 10--I spoke it to him, and I hope ringing in his mind right now is, "God's going to help me. God is strong for me.

God doesn't want me to be dismayed." So I used the Word of God to try to satisfy him on God's promised help. And then the only other thing I think I would say is, we be satisfied around people. You don't just speak words of satisfaction into people, because if you're living a life of dissatisfaction in God, your whole life is going to contradict those words, and that has less effect.

And so a life of joy shows that you're satisfied in God, and a life of service, sacrificial service, shows that you're satisfied in God. So we speak promises of God to reveal his all- satisfying goodness, and we enjoy his promises, thus manifesting in our own freedom from murmuring that he is satisfying, and then we give ourselves to people in a way that shows we don't need them to serve us, because God has served us so well, and we can now give ourselves to serving them.

So it seems if we want to serve others to help them stay satisfied in God, the key to that is our own personal disciplines. Yeah, it does. It comes down to whether we taste and see that the Lord is good. I've said to the Church, I've said to pastors, I've said to my wife, "What I want from you, Noel, what I want from my staff is for you to be happy in Jesus.

The greatest ministry you can have to me is for you to enjoy Christ." And so I think when we turn that around and say, "Now how can I be the greatest blessing to the people around me?" The answer is, get up in the morning, go to the Word of God, and like George Mueller said, "Get your heart happy in God before you meet other people." Thank you, Pastor John, and thank you for listening to this podcast.

Send your questions to us via email at AskPastorJohn@DesiringGod.org. Please include your first name in your hometown. Find thousands of other free resources from John Piper online at DesiringGod.org. I'm your host Tony Reinke. Thanks for listening.