Agape is our “Access”

When I began exploring “agape” as a spiritual power, I wanted to do more than just intellectual exploring. So for the last couple of years, I’ve started morning prayer time by focusing on my new understanding of Romans 5:5 (using my own translation -- “the agape of God has been poured into the center of our being by the Holy Spirit given to us.”) I open myself up to receive a sense of the spiritual flowing of the agape of God.

Last November, during such a practice, I had an intense Spirit-filled experience. Although it’s a little difficult putting into words, the best I can do is say that I “sensed” agape as “access.” For 2 days after that original experience, I prayed about what it meant to have “agape as access.” On that 2nd day I “sensed” that agape had brought me access to spiritual “manifestation” of God’s Presence. The word “manifest” actually appeared in my awareness.

Then the next day, I sensed that I was being led to my book shelf, to a book that I originally read in 1965. That book was Love, Power, and Justice by Paul Tillich; I opened the book and on pg. 33 found this:

"… agape enters from another dimension into the whole of life and into all qualities of love. One could call agape the depth of love or love in relation to the ground of life. One could say that in agape ultimate reality manifests itself and transforms life and love.”

Reading the word “manifests” had a powerful impact on me! When I saw the way he connected agape and divine manifestation -- used in the same way that it had come to me in prayer -- I was convinced that a breakthrough had come to me. In the weeks that followed, I became increasingly aware of the importance of this to my morning prayers. Finally as Jan. began, I decided to start this blog dedicated to exploring agape as a spiritual power that God gives us as our access to the manifested divine Presence.

That last sentence has become for me a verbal ‘touchstone.’ Because I believe that the Reality of God is so far beyond the awareness of humans that we need a way of access. That is, unless God manifests in some way to us, we have no spiritual awareness. But even at that, we still have to open up to receive that awareness. So then we need some way to access that spiritual manifestation. Such access also can only come from God. That’s how I now understand Paul’s message to the Romans that God gives agape to us through Holy Spirit.

I’ve always understood Holy Spirit as an action not a ‘thing.’ So Holy Spirit is seen by humans as the action of God manifesting to our very limited awareness. Because human ability to be aware is so faulty, we need agape as our way to access that manifesting. Agape begins the opening process, but it is still up to us to respond -- in order for the opening up to  divine Presence to continue. But agape is not forced on us, so if we don’t let ourselves be opened -- if we don’t let ourselves become fully awake to Presence -- agape does not work for us.

My exploration during these last 3 months has opened me to allow agape to pour into me as a spiritual power bringing me access to whatever divine manifestation that can come to me. I will continue to report here the results of my exploring.