Part 1 of 4 in Intro to Agape
Life is a journey. At the very center, it’s a spiritual journey.
As with any journey, there is a lot you can take along. You can pack big and heavy, small and light. But there are always only a few items that are truly essential. Faith and Hope for example. Without them, the spiritual journey literally will not be successfully completed – no matter how heavy or light you pack other things.
Man of God: no matter where you are on the journey, or what you face, you must include in your pack ONE thing. Like air itself, this one thing is essential – in all situations.
If you are truly going to progress successfully through your spiritual journey “on earth as it is in heaven,” nothing eternal will last without agapé {ah-gah-pay.} It’s the ONE thing.
“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not agapé, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not agapé, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not agapé, I gain nothing…” 1 Cor 13:1-3. Let that soak in. Nothing?
One thing – or everything else is nothing.
Agape? Yes. Agape is the New Testament Greek word for God’s indescribable, unconditional, unearnable Love. Without it, everything else is nothing.
1 Cor 13 verse 4: “Agape is patient and kind…” which are two of the nine Fruit only Holy Spirit can grow in a disciple’s life: “But the fruit of the Spirit is agapé, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” Gal 5:22-24. So agapé is the first fruit, but as we can see is not only one of nine fruit, but the roots, trunk, and branches of the tree that all the other fruit grow from! All the Fruit of Holy Spirit are expressions of agape (agape is patience and kindness and all the other Fruit.) This is a significant understanding.
This is how I know if God is working in my life: Holy Spirit Fruit is growing in and through me.
But agape is even bigger than the first of nine fruit or the full expression of all the nine Fruit of the Spirit: “God is agapé” 1 Jn 4:7-8. Yes, it’s THAT big.
One thing fulfills all things.
There are 613 laws given to God’s people in the Old Testament. Agape is the one thing that fulfills all of them. There are five books of law in the Old Testament written by Moses and seventeen books written by prophets. Agape fulfills them all: “You shall agapé the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. You shall agapé your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets” Matt 22:37-40.
I invite you to hear this as I now do:
Love yourself, your life, and your neighbor. Joy yourself, your life, and neighbor, peace, patience, kindness yourself, your life, and neighbor’s, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self–control yourself, your life, and your neighbor.
When you agape, His Fruit is ripening in and through you. Only Holy Spirit can grow agape in your life. Men, many of us like to “get things done” and we’re good really, really at it! But “doing” a ton of good things won’t cut it. Agape is the one thing. Agape must be at the very center of our doing or, spiritually, it’s nothing. Let that sink in, it’s huge. God’s indescribable, unconditional, unearnable Love is the “one thing.”
If you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, Holy Spirit has already placed the essentials in you, (**see notes below) and is working to mature your faith – as you exercise agape! Your faith and Holy Spirit in you will guide you on your greatest adventure: Agape Trail all the way up Disciples Mountain. Can you see God’s indescribable, unconditional Love in this powerful, practical, encouraging, and transforming way? Then get your gear ready!
I’m ready for Agape Trail!
Man of God: only Agape will:
- lead you through the destinations that matter most, will
- have the greatest impact on your soul, and
- be the most personally fulfilling – all the way up Disciples Mountain.
We’ve come to the place in our lives where that’s what we want, what matters most.
Five things to recognize and understand about Agape Trail:
1: I am equipped for this journey.
You’re equipped and empowered. The Lord meticulously designed, equipped and empowered you with a spiritual GPS (God Positioning System) to guide you on Agape Trail, and all the way up Disciple’s. What we need to get good at, is learning how to let Him.
Your GPS is one of salvation’s great gifts. It doesn’t get more useful, practical or Jesus level REAL than this.
2: Wherever I go in life’s journey, I’m climbing Disciples Mountain.
Jesus taught us that His Kingdom on earth is not so much a place but a relationship: “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” Rom 14:17. (There’s that Fruit agape again.)
3: Agape Trail is a system of nine branches weaving in and out of each other like the strands of a rope.
If you’re on the Patience branch of the trail, you’re still on Agape Trail. If you’re on the Self-Control or Joy branch, you’re on Agape. Each branch weaves very safely and reliably in and out of one another beautifully – they’re literally inseparable.
4: There are many other trail systems on Disciples that will waste time, lead to harmful danger and tragically disappointing false “summits” that lead only to catastrophe.
You’ve traveled some of them and so have I. They intersect with and cross over Agape or often run alongside. At these Cross Points, it can be hard to know with assurance which way to go.
But you’re about to learn how to exercise your faith, and read your GPS, to know:
- which destinations matter most this side of eternity,
- which will be the most fulfilling, and
- if you’re even traveling in the right direction!
5: Where His Fruit is growing in me, He is growing in me.
We keep Holy Spirit GPS calibrated to our Bible. Soon, you’ll find that your GPS is charged up and working to provide essential feedback for the spiritual journey in real-time. Fine-tuning comes as fellowship with the Lord, His Word, and His people grows.
Step by step through scripture, I’ll show you a way to start “tuning into” Holy Spirit GPS right away, so you can start to head higher up Disciples to destinations that truly matter and are truly fulfilling in your life and the lives of those around you.
What a truly incredible tool I have – already installed!
Your personal Holy Spirit GPS will help you avoid getting off Agape Trail and guide you back on when you stray off. Yes, you WILL get off-trail. A lot. But that process is how we calibrate and fine-tune our souls with our GPS.
You can do this. You were made of it. I’ll point you to choice passages of God’s Word to help you calibrate your GPS. As you get more familiar with the process of charging and tuning your GPS and learn how to get rid of the interference, then you too will be ready to lead others up Disciples on the greatest adventure of their lives!
We are His witnesses.
Ready to start? Great. Before we start digging into the particulars of the nine branches of Agape Trail, we’re at a good place to start with some initial tuning of your GPS for the entire Agape Trail. Note the “Calibration Keys” when you see them.
GPS CALIBRATION KEY: “Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere philos (brotherly love,) agape one another earnestly from a pure heart” 1 Pe 1:22.
- Practice obedience. Obedience to Jesus Christ IS obedience to “the truth” that “purified your soul” at salvation (John 14:6.)
- Purify heart. There are parts of your soul (heart) that are impure. Increased obedience to Christ (the truth) is the power that purifies.
- Practice agape earnestly. Purification through obedience opens your heart, from the inside out, to unconditionally agape others. Calibration starts with obedience to the truth of God’s Word.
“A new commandment I give to you, that you agapé one another: just as I have agaped you, you also are to agape one another. By this, all people will know that you are my disciples if you have agapé for one another” Jn 13:34-35. This verse shows you that your spiritual growth and your witness are inseparable. “By this all people will know that you are my disciples…” Agape is the key that unlocks the power of your witness, renews our souls, and strengthens others. When you are not living in and through agape, your GPS will be trying to signal you. Don’t let satan trigger you to condemn yourself! Instead, use the information as welcome correction on the spiritual journey to practice obedience, purify your heart, and agape earnestly.
This is the way we get ourselves off the throne and allow the Lord to get back on, where He belongs.
As you are purified, Love grows.
Agape makes you ever so slightly draw to others – even strangers and enemies – as Holy Spirit grows agape in you. This is how we can truly “know that we know” that the Lord is at work in our lives: “…if we agapé one another, God abides in us and his agapé is perfected in us” 1 Jn 4:12.
Is this the hunger of your heart? God’s indescribable, unconditional agape living and through you? Is it? Then you’re at the right place! You’ve had enough of processed food-like substances – you’re ready for more meat!
GPS CALIBRATION KEY: Wherever the Lord’s will is accomplished is His kingdom.
Where Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Gentleness, Faithfulness, and Self Control is accomplished, we know that the Kingdom of Heaven is breaking in. THIS is how you can know that you are going in the right direction, on the right path, up the right mountain: Disciple’s Mountain!
What once seemed so distant, reserved only for the most heroic starts to occur more naturally for you, more regularly. The extraordinary becomes ordinary! Everything we do as we climb Disciple’s is the same at the end, except that it becomes natural and seamless as we go.
GPS CALIBRATION KEY: Our goal in climbing Disciple’s is to grow in realizing
- more quickly,
- more consistently,
- in increasingly subtle, difficult, and tempting situations,
when the Lord is NOT on the throne in an area and invite Him back onto the throne in that area!
As you grow, the time it takes to remember to do this will decrease, the better for you and everyone else around you (a Kingdom perspective.)
It’s all about growing in intimacy with the Lord.
“… agape is from God, and whoever agapes has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not agape does not know God, because God is agapé” 1 Jn 4:7-8. The times we find we aren’t living the fruit is the alarm! It’s there, in those difficult places, that the Lord is knocking, asking if we will let Him enter and fill THAT place. It’s the one thing and the only thing. That is how we know if God is ruling in that place or not.
** If you haven’t yet been personally introduced to Jesus but are ready to start a personal friendship with Him, He’s definitely ready, willing, and able to welcome you just as you are. But much more than the best of friends, which He most definitely is, Jesus invites us to recognize Him as our King. As our creator and our sustainer, as the lover of our souls, He deserves that place on the throne of our lives that no one else deserves. He is our beginning and our eternity. An ever-present help in this life and beyond. Joining with Him is to simply give Him your soul by saying “yes” to Him as King of Kings and Lord of Lords in your life. You can do it now…
Some fresh bread to strengthen you on the journey:
PRAYER JOURNAL:
Cross Point question:
Is it your life goal to extend the expression of His Kingdom, or yours? How you answer this question in real-time, moment by moment literally changes all the other questions.
(Where Fruit is absent is where YOU are on the throne, not the Lord. Where Fruit is present and used for His Kingdom is where He is on the throne, not you.)
The good news is, you know you’ve too often been going in the wrong direction!
Rely on Holy Spirit, your GPS to guide you as you learn to constantly read your Fruit levels for agape’s nine dimensions. In this way, you can know moment by moment how strong Holy Spirit is in that area of your life. This is also how you know in real-time whose kingdom you are building. His or yours?
GPS Calibration Question:
Wherever the Lord’s will is accomplished is His kingdom.
Ask yourself:
“In what ways can I recognize the Lord’s Kingdom in my life?”
“In what areas of my life is His will still absent?”
Make a prayer list.
Ask yourself: “In what ways do I think, feel, and do things that take me off Agape Trail?” Begin to pray slowly over those places where He is absent and welcome Holy Spirit to begin to fill them.
Add to your prayer list as you feel led.
Welcome fellow traveler. Life is a journey. At the very center, it’s a spiritual journey.
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Notes: All scriptures from the English Standard Version unless otherwise noted. The Greek “agapé” is used in place of the English “love” to reinforce its uniqueness over any other type of love and help us connect it directly to the Lord. Capitalized “Love” in English is used for agapé. References to the Lord are capitalized as in He or His, etc. The name “satan” is always lower case as a way to diminish the name. Plural as in “we,” “us,” “our,” etc. is used often, consistent with Jesus’ model prayer in Matthew 6:9-13. The common use of “the” in front of Holy Spirit is removed to clarify that Holy Spirit is not a force or a power that emanates from God, but God Himself.
