Because this is a prayer, we start and end with God. Of course, there is the realization that in the 2 Great Commandments in both the Greek Septuagint and the Greek NT, the same word is used for both devotion to God and devotion to and caring for our neighbor and our self -- that word is ‘agapan,’ the verb form of ‘agape.’ And that is the basis for the 'agape prayer.' Matthew records Jesus as saying that the 2nd Great Commandment is like the 1st.
But what is it about the two Great Commandments that is alike? Could it be that both commandments are tied together by the verb form of agape? The 2 are alike in the way agape opens us to God and opens us to our ‘neighbor.’ So the same spiritual power is an activating, enabling force in our own life, helping us reach out to God and reach out to assist other people in need. ((Jesus said … ‘You shall [agapan] the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all our mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall [agapan] your neighbor as yourself.’ (Mt 22:36-40)))
So the Agape Prayer involves an expanding cycle of people to pray for. The first individual you pray for is yourself. So from Rom. 5:5, you begin the prayer by gratefully accepting the gift of agape into your heart and thus let agape open you to a devoted relationship with God. In that openness you focus with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind on being accepted. You pray for the deep awareness that you are accepted by God. Thus your prayer practice starts by identifying with a sensation of eternal acceptance. You recognize that such is possible because, as Paul said in Rom. 5:5, agape is given you as your access to God’s Presence. Of course you need to accept the gift. So pray Rom. 5:5 until it becomes internal reality for you.
That's why this prayer begins by praying for yourself, that you may accept God's gift to you. That means preparing your heart, your soul, your mind to be opened to both the profound intimacy of God’s Presence and also to the infinite, eternal vastness of God’s Presence. (“For God so [agapan] the world ...")
("that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” (John 3:16))
Praying for yourself means accepting the presence of agape pouring into you -- you pray for the power to be opened to the personal closeness of the Holy Spirit. Also, the spiritual power of agape helps us pray for a deep sense of peace. The spiritual sensation that overwhelms us as God's agape comes pouring into our heart is the feeling that has been described for centuries as "God loves you."
Next, as Paul explained in 1 Cor. 13 and Rom. 12, agape is the spiritual power both opening us to our connection with God and also empowering us to reach out to others. From the eternal Source in God, agape flows thru and from us out to other people then to the rest of Creation in compassionate, caring, loving, accepting, respectful, joy-filled ways. But it helps our faith development to pray for that to happen.
That sensation of eternal acceptance helps us realize that, as Jesus so profoundly showed, the 2nd Great Commandment is like the first -- as agape becomes also the opening power to be concerned for the well-being of other people. So, once you have relaxed completely into a profound realization of agape permeating your being, bringing into your imagination a sense of what it would be like to fulfill your well-being and deep joy; then you are ready to move on to the next step in agape prayer.
STEP 2: is to pray for agape to flow into the life of a close, respected person.
Hold that close, respected person in prayer. Honestly and truly desire for the well-being of that person. Honestly desire that person to find personal well-being and deep sense of peace. Imagine that person opening to both the personal Presence and vastness of eternity. Feel the emotion of sharing in agape with that person. Practice that until you can truly, honestly feel a soft, warm, comforting sensation of compassionate, caring, loving, accepting, respectful, joy-filled relationship.
STEPS 3, 4, 5: pray that agape pours into the heart of a succession of 3 people: a dearly beloved friend, then a neutral person, then someone you consider hostile (even as an enemy). Go thru the same process you went thru for the close, respected person. Practice this until you can genuinely feel the “soft, warm,” comforting feeling of loving-kindness for them. Of course, when you get to the 3rd person, remember that Jesus said,
"You have heard it said, ‘You shall [agapan] your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, [agapan] your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.” (Mt 5:44-45)
STEPS 6, 7, 8, 9, 10: When the “soft, warm,” comforting feeling of agape has formed in you about those people in steps 3, 4, 5, then expand out to large groups of people, communities, nations, continents, and finally all of Creation. This can be accomplished because of the realization that the spiritual power of agape brings us a way to connect with others while connecting with God. And remember that God initiated this process ((“In this is [agape], not that we [agapan] God but that God [agapan] us and sent God’s Son to be the expiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so [agapan] us, we also ought to [agapan] one another. No man has ever seen God; if we [agapan] one another, God abides in us and God’s [agape] is perfected in us.” (1 John 4:9-12))).
The greater purpose of the Agape Prayer is to facilitate the flow of agape among all people.
