Agape Prayer Practice -- the beginning

For a couple of years, I’ve been developing a form of extended prayer practice. My prayers were enabled by what St. Paul referred to as the spiritual power of agape. As I worked with the prayer, it extended into a series of steps (or phases or expansions).

This series begins with RECEIVING, and the rest of the practice involves SENDING or praying for people, as is recommended in scripture.

[As the reader goes ‘down’ the postings that ‘come after’ this one in descending order, there will be 6 posts, with each one focusing on one step.]

The last time I reported in this blog on the “Agape Prayer practice” was in the 7/27/10 posting. (Most of the postings in this blog for the last 2 years have been about the receiving that makes up this first step in the series.)

As St. Paul explained in his letters: for those who open themselves to be receptive, the spiritual power of agape flows to us as a gift from God; then agape flows through us out to other people, then to the rest of Creation in patient, kind, caring, compassionate, accepting, loving, respectful, joy-filled ways. Even though we know that the flow does not originate with us, but our faith development is strengthened by praying that process.

I developed 7 ‘steps’ with the practice, as I prayed for an expanding list of persons (a few of the ‘steps’ took a long time to develop, so I didn’t move from ‘step to step’ until I was fully ready). I’ll now give a general summary that makes this prayer practice available for anyone else to follow.

STEP 1 begins with receiving agape from God. We need to practice becoming fully aware of what agape feels like as it opens us up spiritually and then draws us close to God’s Presence.

Honestly and truly pray for God to use the power of agape to give you a vision of your well-being. Feel the power of agape flowing into the center of your being. Let the spiritual sensation come to you so you experience being drawn close to and opening up to both the personal Presence and vastness of eternity.

As St. Paul wrote: “God’s agape has flooded our inmost heart through the Holy Spirit … given us.” (Romans 5:5 New English Bible, with 'agape' left untranslated, as it was meant to be)

Of course, these steps are only possible because agape is not coming from you, but is actually the way the divine Presence is made manifest to all that God creates. Obviously, this prayer practice should lead to action -- to the power of agape actually flowing through your life’s work, out to actively helping the lives of people and to the care for Creation.

Step 2 of Agape Prayer Practice

Of the 7 steps involved with the Agape Prayer practice, STEP 2 begins the process of SENDING agape to other people. It starts with praying that the feeling you experienced personally in Step 1 happen in the life of a person you feel close to and respect.

This should be a person who is especially important in your life, possibly someone who had an influence on your spiritual development (maybe even a mentor or teacher). You should choose a person with whom you already have such a strong relationship that you deeply want that person to receive God’s agape in her or his life.

Honestly and truly pray for the well-being of that person. Feel the emotion of sharing in agape with that person. Feel the power of agape flowing into the center of that person’s being. Imagine that person being drawn close to and opening up to both God’s Presence intimately and the vastness of God’s Presence spreading throughout all Creation.

As you pray for this person, you should experience the spiritual concern that this person will find personal well-being and deep sense of peace.


Next, as you slowly, steadily practice steps 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, you will find yourself developing the deep, spiritual attitude of benevolence which seeks the well-being and happiness of others.

You should practice these steps from an attitude of realizing that agape is not originating with you; but instead, you are merely following the divine Presence manifesting the power of agape in the life of the person you are holding in prayer. Over several months spent prayerfully following God’s agape to bring well-being and deep joy to others, you will begin to experience a spreading of peace throughout your life.

As you continue this practice the power of agape should be felt flowing through your daily life, out to strengthen your relationships.

Step 3 of Agape Prayer Practice

STEP 3 expands the prayer practice to include one more person. You  choose to pray for a person who is a dearly beloved friend. You should choose a person you deeply wish for the well-being and happiness of that person.

While praying for this person, you should focus on experiencing the emotion of sharing in agape with that person. Feel the power of agape flowing into her or his heart. Imagine that person being drawn close to and opening up to both the personal Presence and vastness of eternity. Pray for this person to find personal well-being and deep sense of peace.

Follow the prayer process from Step 2 with this person. Practice praying for agape until you can genuinely feel the ‘soft, warm,’ comforting feeling of agape for this person. Imagine what you think would make this person happy, then hold that image in your heart as you pray.

As you practice this for many days, try to feel your relationship with this person growing and deepening. If this person is geographically near enough that you can be with them, then let this prayer practice lead to action -- to the power of agape actually flowing to this person when you are with them. Over the course of several months, you should sense a strengthening of your relationship.

But if you are not geographically near this person, don’t let that be a problem, because God’s agape is not limited by space or time. The important point for you is to pray for this person to receive God’s agape, no matter where this person is. In your time of prayer, picture a very specific way that agape is helping in this person's life.

Step 4 of Agape Prayer Practice

This is the 4th of 7 steps involved with the extended prayer practice using the spiritual power of agape. As I developed this practice, I prayed for an expanding list of persons (a few of the steps took a long time to develop, so I didn’t move from step to step until I was fully ready).

For this 4th step, choose to pray for someone who is a neutral person. Honestly and truly pray for the well-being of agape to come into the life of that person who is merely an acquaintance of yours, but who otherwise you are not especially friends with.

Follow the prayer process from Step 3 with the neutral person. Feel the emotion of sharing in agape with that person. Feel the power of agape flowing into the center of that person’s being. Imagine that person being drawn close to and opening up to both the personal Presence of God and the vastness of eternity. Desire that person to find personal well-being and happiness.

Remember that agape is not coming from you, but is a flow that moves through you. Your sense of prayer is not one of directing, but is more like you are merely following where God is sending agape.

So this prayer practice is not meant to stay inside you. Instead, there is a motivational force to it. You should feel inspired to actually follow agape out into the relationships of your life -- to feel the power of agape moving through your daily activity, out to actively helping lives.

Step 5 of Agape Prayer Practice

Some people think the 5th step is the most difficult of the 7 steps in this series of the Agape Prayer practice, and so it requires a little different treatment.

This time when you expand the prayer practice to include one more person, choose to pray for a person who has done something irritable to you, or who might feel hostile toward you (even as an enemy).

As Jesus said, “But I say to you, share agape with your enemies and pray for those who harass you because of your faith so that you will be acting as children of your Father who is in heaven. … Therefore, just as your heavenly Father is complete in showing agape to everyone, so also you must be complete. … Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. … Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God. … Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. … You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,’ but I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer; but if someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also. ... I give you a new commandment: Agapao each other. Just as I have agapan you, so you also must share agape with each other. This is how everyone will know that you are my disciples.” (Mt. 5:44-48, 7-39; Jn. 13:34-35)

(In case you are unable to immediately bring someone to mind as your choice for this step, try thinking through your acquaintances, and if someone comes to mind who you hesitate about when considering that person’s well-being, choose that person to pray for.)

It helps if you practice praying for this person as you did for the person in Step 3 -- for the spiritual power of agape to flow in the life of this person until you can genuinely feel the ‘soft, warm,’ comforting feeling of agape for them. Truly pray for the well-being of this person.

Feel the emotion of sharing in agape with this person. Feel the power of agape flowing into the center of the person’s being. Imagine that person being drawn close to and opening up to both the personal Presence and vastness of eternity. Desire that person to find personal well-being and deep sense of joy and peace. Practice Step 5 until you are able to honestly and truly think of this person equally as you do about all the people in the other steps.

As the Agape Prayer Practice develops for you, it helps to constantly keep realizing that these steps are only possible because agape does not originate with you, but is actually the way the divine Presence is made manifest to all that God creates. Obviously, this prayer practice should lead to action -- to the power of agape actually flowing through your life’s work, out to actively helping the lives of people.

Step 6 of Agape Prayer Practice

STEP 6 takes us beyond the individual approach of Steps 1-5. So while each of those first 5 steps (or expansions) had us focusing on one person at a time, Step 6 is to expand ‘the circle of agape’ out to a group of people.

A good group to start with is one that you feel especially close to in such a way that you get a sense when you’re with that group that agape is flowing among at least a few of those in the group. So it becomes easy for you to pray for the well-being of both the individual members and the group as a whole. Pray for the spiritual power of agape to flow through the group in a way that increases the caring, compassion, and closeness among the members. During this prayer, begin imagining how the increase in agape becomes evident in the way the members relate to each other.

For my agape practice, the first example is a church because I use the agape prayer every morning with the Colorado churches that I pastored and the one I attend in retirement. Because I’m still in contact with these churches and they are still in my prayers anyway, it was a natural progression for me, as I developed Agape Prayer, to let them be the first groups for me to think about for praying for agape to spread throughout their members and their ministry in their neighborhoods. So I pray for God to strengthen their well-being and their sense of mission.

Other possible choices might be a school or family or neighborhood or housing complex. Pray to experience how God sends agape to them. When I say pray for the well-being of that group, I mean in the same way that you prayed for a person in Steps 2-5.

During the next 5 postings in this series, I will spend each posting focussing on one step.

As the Agape Prayer Practice develops for you, it helps to constantly keep realizing that these steps are only possible because agape does not originate with you, but is actually the way the divine Presence is made manifest to all that God creates. So you are merely following God’s agape into the interactions of a group.

We can imagine that if enough people throughout the world practiced such a prayer practice, a profound change would come about in the way groups, making up diverse backgrounds, would treat each other. Just imagine what would happen as huge numbers of people experienced a warm-hearted feeling of fellowship, sympathy and compassion. That could grow boundless and become the basis for overcoming all social, religious, racial, political and economic barriers. At last a new kind of world would begin to become possible.

Step 7 of Agape Prayer Practice

The final step continues the extended prayer practice of Step 6. Even though I called them ‘steps,’ they are more in the form of expansions sensed while praying.

In that spiritual sense, Agape Prayer gives the feeling of following God’s agape as it spreads out to all of Creation.
STEP 7 is actually a series of expansions as ‘the circle of agape’ is understood to expand out and out to ever larger groups. So you might say that Step 7 involves 6 expansions: as you pray to ‘follow’ the flow of God’s agape, you imagine how agape spreads ...
1) to communities (beyond the expansion experienced in Step 6),
2) then to regions of a country,
3) then to nations,
4) then to continents. (When John 3:16 is studied backwards and forwards, the implication becomes the following: God’s agape is for the world [in Greek, “cosmos”], and Christ was sent to start spreading agape to all.)
5) then to non-human creatures,
6) finally to all of Creation. (You can begin this final expansion by choosing a place where you already feel especially close to the wonder of Creation, then practice feeling the flow of agape throughout that place.)

Obviously, that list is not meant to be in any order, because God’s agape goes where it will. And praying to ‘follow’ it is a long, drawn out development.

At first reading, these 6 expansions of Step 7 may sound like something that is completely different from Steps 2-5, but actually these expansions are what agape power is all about. During deep prayer you let the realization come to you that the spiritual power of agape flows through you as it flows through All of Creation. Each of us is merely part of Creation, but the important point is that you ARE part of Creation. Agape is how God draws you into connection with All of Creation.

So the 6 expansions of Step 7 are the way you pray yourself into your participation with the flow of agape, slowly and steadily, to bring you into All of Creation.

Special Agape Prayer Practice

For a couple of years, I’ve been developing a form of extended prayer practice using the spiritual power of agape. The last time I reported in this blog on the “agape prayer practice” was in the 7/27/10 posting. I won’t repeat what I said then, but instead will give a brief summary of how the practice has developed since then.

Because I carefully went through all of the scripture references on 7/27/10 (and in many other postings), I won’t repeat that. Instead, I’ll draw out from those scriptures the meaning that applies to agape. This practice involves praying for people, as is recommended in scripture. Specifically, during a time of prayer, I imagine God’s agape pouring into the heart of another person and adding to that person’s well-being.

As St. Paul explained in his letters, the spiritual power of agape flows to us as a gift from God, then agape flows through us out to other people, then to the rest of Creation in patient, kind, caring, compassionate, accepting, loving, respectful, joy-filled ways. Even though we know that the flow does not originate with us, but it helps our faith development to pray that process.

I developed 7 steps with the practice, as I prayed for an expanding list of persons (a few of the steps took a long time to develop, so I didn’t move from step to step until I was fully ready). I’ll now give a general summary that makes this prayer practice available for anyone else to follow.

STEP 1 begins with RECEIVING agape from God. We need to practice becoming fully aware of what agape feels like as it opens us up spiritually and then draws us close to God’s Presence. (Most of the postings in this blog for the last 2 years have been about this step.)

STEP 2 begins the process of SENDING agape to other people. It starts with praying that the feeling experienced in Step 1 happen in the life of a person you feel close to and respect. You should choose a person you deeply want to receive God’s agape in her or his life. Prayerfully feel God's agape flowing into the life of that respected person.

STEP 3 expands the prayer practice to include one more person. You choose to pray for a person who is a dearly beloved friend. Honestly and truly pray for the well-being of that person. Feel the emotion of sharing in agape with that person. Feel the power of agape flowing into the center of that person’s being. Imagine that person being drawn close to and opening up to both the personal Presence and vastness of eternity. Desire that person to find personal well-being and deep sense of peace.

STEP 4 is choosing a neutral person. Honestly and truly pray for the well-being of agape to come into the life of a person who is merely an acquaintance of yours, but who otherwise you are not especially friends with. Follow the prayer process from Step 3 with the neutral person.

STEP 5 is the hardest; you should choose someone who has done something irritable to you, or who might feel hostile toward you (even as an enemy). Practice praying (as in Step 3) for agape for that person until you can genuinely feel the ‘soft, warm,’ comforting feeling of agape for them. Truly pray for the well-being of that person.

STEP 6 is to expand ‘the circle of agape’ out to a group of people; for example, a church or school or family or neighborhood or housing complex. Pray to experience how God sends agape to them.

STEP 7 is to expand ‘the circle of agape’ out and out to ever larger groups; to communities, even to regions of a country, then to nations, then to continents. Eventually, pray for agape to non-human creatures, and finally to all of Creation.

During the next 7 postings, each one will focus on one step.

Of course, these steps are only possible because agape is not originating with you, but is actually the way the divine Presence is made manifest to all that God creates. Obviously, this prayer practice should lead to action -- to the power of agape actually flowing through your life’s work, out to actively helping the lives of people and to the care for Creation.