My name is Faith Burke. I'm a wife, homemaker, and homeschooling mom of four kids, eight

and under, three boys and a girl. We live in the Texas countryside just outside Fort

Worth. I have been a desiring God ministry partner for over 14 years. You're listening

to the Ask Pastor John podcast with John Piper.

Faith has been a ministry partner of ours for 14 years back to her days in college. It's

amazing. I want you to hear her story in just a moment. But first on to today's question

about the divided heart, the heart, even the heart of a believer puts up resistance

against God. It's frustrating, but it's not unusual. It leads to a great question from

an anonymous listener today, a man.

Pastor John, hello. In the episode titled, why is my delight in God so short lived? That

was APJ 903. There you suggested one way to make our delights in God last longer. You

said, quote, when you read your Bible every day, pause before you read in earnestly with

as much heartfelt longing as you can muster. Pray to God that he would come and meet you

in the reading of scripture and open the eyes of your heart and show you what is really

there and make himself real and bring about amazing changes in your life, unquote.

However, Pastor John, when I mustered a longing that God would come and meet me, I find

my heart is unwilling to welcome God. It seems afraid of meeting God. It doesn't want

to be with God and this upsets me. On one hand, I want myself to be willing to meet

God sincerely and enjoy the sweet time with him. On the other hand, my heart opposes

that such chaos inside. What can I do when I find my heart is resisting?

So let me repeat the key issue as I hear it. He says, when I muster a longing, that's

a significant phrase. When I muster a longing that God would come and meet me, I find

...