There's only one requirement for enjoying God's grace: being broke . . . and knowing it.

Because satan hates us, he's determined to rob us of the joy we'd have if we believed what God tells us about the magnificent world to come.

Too often we assume that God has increased our income to increase our standard of living, when his stated purpose is to increase our standard of giving. (Look again at 2 Corinthians 8:14 and 9:11).

Those who know their unworthiness seize grace as a hungry man seizes bread: the self-righteous resent grace.

Give deliberately. Giving is at its best when it's a conscious effort that's repeatedly made.

It's dangerous faith in our untamed Savior that leads us to the joy we crave.

But the reason we have this built-in desire for happiness is because we're created in God's image. He wired us to want to be happy. Unfortunately, we sometimes disassociate happiness from its true source, which is God Himself. Satan tempts us by offering us happiness, because he knows that's what we want. But he offers it in the wrong places, at the wrong times, and in the wrong things.