Dr. Bruce Cook is an apostolic and prophetic entrepreneur, business consultant, professor, author, and networker who has empowered many in the Body of Christ to pursue and fulfill their dreams.
He is passionate to see the Spirit of God move and for the Kingdom of God to advance. He has hosted many round-tables, forums and summits, bringing leaders of significant influence together. I have sought his wisdom and counsel on Kingdom projects and have known him to be amiable, supportive, humble, and always helpful. (To Subscribe to the Elijah List subscribe here.)
God is love, and you and I are created in His image. Love is the essence and the apex of who God is, and is the basis for everything that He does along with His foundations of justice and righteousness. Ps. 33:5 says, "The LORD loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of His unfailing love." Ps. 89:14 adds, "Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; steadfast love and faithfulness go before You."
That means everything that happens on the Mountain of the Lord (the 8th Mountain, Mt. Zion, Heaven) stems from His love. That also means that everything that we receive from the Lord during our encounters with Him will radiate with His love! 1 John 4:18-19 says, "There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. The one who fears has not been perfected in love. We love because He first loved us."
| "Agape love is the kind of love that enables us to forgive, to reconcile and to pray for our enemies and for those who despitefully use us, abuse us, and persecute us." |
1 John 4:7-12 (NLT) states, "Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. God showed how much He loved us by sending His one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through Him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and His love is brought to full expression in us."
Rom. 5:8 (NLT) adds, "But God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners." The MSG version of this verse reads, "But God put His love on the line for us by offering His Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to Him."
Eph. 1:4-5 (NLT) explains, "Even before He made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in His eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ. This is what He wanted to do, and it gave Him great pleasure."
In Eph. 1:3-6 (MSG) reads, "How blessed is God! And what a blessing He is! He's the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in Him. Long before He laid down Earth's foundations, He had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of His love, to be made whole and holy by His love. Long, long ago He decided to adopt us into His family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure He took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of His lavish gift-giving by the hand of His beloved Son."
Wow! God's love for us is intentional, deliberate, premeditated, extravagant, eternal, unmerited, unselfish, sacrificial and unconditional, and contains or possesses both healing and redemptive qualities and attributes. And, it's free for the taking. Now, that's what I call a great deal!
Eight Greek Words for Love
There are eight Greek words used to express various aspects of love: agape, phileo (or philia), storge, ludus, pragma, philautia, eros and philanthropos. Agape is the word used for God's love, and means selfless love - love that is unconditional and focused on others. Phileo or philia refers to an affectionate, warm and tender platonic love. It makes you desire friendship with someone. Philia (or phileo) means fondness, brotherly love, or comradeship. Storge means to be affectionate, especially between parents and children. Ludus is a playful love, or so-called "puppy love," between those newly in love or infatuated.
Pragma is longstanding love, as between mature, married couples. Philautia is self-love, and can refer to either healthy self-esteem, or narcissism. Eros means sexual or erotic love. And philanthropos means the love of mankind, or humanity, and is the root word for philanthropy. (To be clear, in this article we are strictly focused on agape love as the model and standard for Christian living and treatment of others.) (Photo via Unsplash)
God's Love is Agape Love
So, what else does God's agape love look like? We find in... (continue reading)
Intro from Patricia King:
