The Power of AGAPE
“Love never fails.” I Corinthians 13:8
I remember the day I first encountered the depth of the Father’s love for me.
After a series of events that showed me how selfish, angry and prideful I really was, I agreed to get some healing prayer through a ministry called “sozo” in Nashville, TN.
The word, “sozo,” means salvation, healing and deliverance. I was in desperate need of a heart change, and I remember driving to my appointment thinking that I was at the end of myself. I needed God to deliver me from the cage of selfishness that had me trapped.
As the ministry team of three men led me through some healing prayer, God began to show me a picture of Jesus and the Father in a way I had never known before. I saw by the Holy Spirit a scene where Jesus carried me in His arms to my heavenly Father, God Himself. Then Jesus laid me in the Father’s arms. The moment I was placed there in my Father’s arms, something inside me was transformed. I felt safe and at home in God’s love in a way I can barely explain. I have never been the same.
Since that moment, I have been growing slowly in the knowledge of AGAPE and trying to share what God has shown me. But just this week, I have come to realize how little I really know about love. Despite all the wonderful and generous ways God has shown me His love, my heart still has a stubborn root of self-love (the greek word is eros) that needs to be removed.
God loves us with a perfect, unfailing benevolence that is unlike anything in the universe. He is not just loving, He is love itself. When we encounter God, or seek to know Him, we are interacting with Love itself. What does this really mean?
It means that God ever lives and exists to pour His goodness, life and blessing upon us. We are His beloved sons and daughters. We are the objects of His loving affection. His greatest desire is to pour His unfailing love upon us through the Holy Spirit.
It means that Jesus came to be our perfect example of AGAPE: laying down His very life and enduring great personal pain, even death, so that we could be reconciled to our Father. His was made our sacrifice so that we could have peace and rest with ourselves and others. This is what God, in AGAPE, has done for us. Love gives everything so that we can gain everything. Love never fails.
This Sunday, Aug. 9, we begin our next AGAPE class at 9 am. Please pray for me and the new students who will be taking this life-changing class. Pray for soft hearts and for the Holy Spirit to bless our time together. Pray for everyone to experience a fresh baptism of AGAPE. We are going to attempt to record this class so others can watch it at their convenience.
I feel like I still don’t know much about love. But I keep seeking to know more. I still need a Savior to set me free. So I keep seeking His freedom. I am humbled by how much God loves me despite my foolish and selfish ways. I want to be like Him. I want to love with His love.
May God, in His mercy, set us all free to love as He loves. These are the two great commandments: love God and love others with His unfailing AGAPE. May your heart know this love. May you and your family experience this love. May our church be filled with this love. This is why Jesus gave His life: to give us an abundant life full of love. I pray that you and I come to know this love more and more each day. God bless you.