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CHAPTER 1

Divine Love — the Master Key

We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.

-1 JOHN 4:16

My uncle Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was often called "Black Moses" because he was recognized as a twentieth-century liberator. A lesser-known-yet equally, if not more, powerful — role he played was as a modern-day apostle of love.

In the Bible, John the revelator is recognized as a living example of Christ's love. Thousands of years later Uncle ML's message was patterned after the truth of the love of Jesus — and the whole world remains inspired to make changes in how they treat one another as fellow human beings.

Of all the divine keys we need to fulfill the purpose God has ordained for us, the most important one is love. It is the master key that unlocks every door. Love is the foundation and anchor of happiness and heightened success. It is the force behind the sanctity of life and regard for monogamous marriage between one man and one woman, which are divine keys I'll discuss in later chapters. Even mighty mountain-moving faith is fully revealed, expressed, and released by love.

Love can mean many things to many people, but the kind of love I am talking about comes from the Greek word agape, which means "affection, good will, love, benevolence, brotherly love." There are other kinds of love that we may be familiar with from the Greek language. One is eros, which is romantic love often shared between a husband and wife. This kind of love gets a lot of attention in books, movies, and chart-topping songs, but it is not the kind of love we receive from God. Eros is not unconditional but is based on emotions and can be temporary. Agape love, on the other hand, is boundless, endless, and limitless — so much so that we could write volumes about and take ages to describe this type of unconditional love. This is the way God loves.

Love is the key that unlocks every door because God is love. Only by trusting in God can we fully experience the freedom and liberty that His love brings. It is His love that causes us to grow and prosper, and it is His agape love that we must demonstrate to others.

The Bible tells us, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16, KJV). Through His death and resurrection Jesus gave us a new and lasting commission, which is the greatest commission of all — to love unconditionally.

My family and the church community I grew up in recognized agape love as the most powerful force in the universe, and I grew up with love notes abounding in my life. In the family room of my paternal grandparents' home, my grandmother Alberta Williams King, also known as "Big Mama," hung a plaque we saw every time we went in to eat a family meal that read: "Love your enemies. It will drive them crazy."

King Family Truth

Love your enemies. It will drive then ,

— Unknown

As I am writing this chapter, the Spirit of the Lord is prompting me to remind you that we are threefold beings — spirit, soul, and body. It is with the heart that we believe, love, and forgive. Our hearts, not our minds, are the epicenters of our beings; therefore we must receive God's agape love and let it unblock the arteries of our spirits, souls, and bodies so we may live long and prosper on the earth.

Expressions of Agape Love Inspire Us

I believe there are some secular love songs that were intended to be worship songs. I am thinking of the song "I Will Always Love You." With lyrics that will tug at your heartstrings, the song was written in 1973 and originally recorded by American singer-songwriter Dolly Parton. Whitney Houston recorded a version of the song for her 1992 movie, The Bodyguard. The song was also covered by artists such as Linda Ronstadt and John Doe.

What makes this song a classic is its powerful theme of an undying love. With minor transformation, Dolly's song could easily have been made to express our undying love for God. And while it was intended to be a song of parting, we have the promise that Jesus will never leave us or forsake us. Knowing Christ's love, sacrifice, and eternal promises can take our understanding of agape love to a new level.

King Family Truth

I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.

— Martin Luther King Jr.

My understanding of the love of God grew tremendously when I became a member of Believers' Bible Christian Church in Atlanta. The founding pastor, T. Allen McNair Sr., was a spiritual mentor to me. A lot of what helped me live out the King family legacy came from his teachings and revelations, and you'll get to experience some of them as well as I recall them throughout the various keys in this book.

During his lifetime pastor McNair often taught of the power of love based on 1 Corinthians 13:8: "Love never fails" (NIV). It was his teaching on the revelation of God's love that helped me understand that love is the key that unlocks every door. What I will share in the remainder of this chapter is drawn from his teachings on the love of God. I pray it blesses you as much as it has blessed me.

Revelation of the Love of God

When we as believers come to know the love of God personally, nothing will stop us. All problems of human suffering that we experience can be addressed with the agape love of God. Stumbling blocks become building blocks when we apply agape love to any situation. "Build your hope on things eternal, hold to God's unchanging hand" are the words of a popular Christian song. Our hopes for a better life become reality when we apply faith, which works by love (Gal. 5:6).

Today we live in a fast-paced world where material possessions are often more valuable to us than kind and loving relationships. Why? For some it is easier to acquire material gain than it is to express genuine agape love. Meanwhile, family relationships are being starved to death. People try to feed one another by portraying Hollywood personas, with all the fancy hair, clothes, cars, and such. And simple acts of compassion and human kindness become a pretense that they show to the outside world and drop on the doorstep when they get home.

People suffer enough at work, at school, and out in the cold, cruel world. When we get home, we should be prepared to give kind words, actions, and thoughts toward those who are closest to us. Notice that I say give, not get and not receive from others.

How often do we say, "I will love him or her when he or she gives me some love"? Yet in order to get love, you have to give love. That's in line with the law of sowing and reaping. If you sow much, you reap much. If you sow little, you get little. (See 2 Corinthians 9:6.)

Oh, how easy it is to put on displays of love that look good in public. At church, when it's time to greet our neighbor, we put on the biggest show of smiling and hugging. Yet sometimes before we reach the parking lot after service, we are ready to give someone a piece of our mind, not realizing that a mind is a terrible thing to waste. We need to have our whole minds, and added to that, the mind of Christ and the love of God — for God is love, and "love covers a multitude of sins" (1 Pet. 4:8, NIV).

John, love's apostle

Often when counseling people, I advise them to read the Book of 1 John. This little book teaches us more about love than we could ever learn from love songs on the radio or from popular books and movies. John, often called "the Revelator," is also known as "the apostle of love." He wrote several books in the Bible, including the Gospel of John; First, Second, and Third John; and the Book of Revelation. History reports that John was so well developed in a life of agape that he couldn't be killed. Reportedly, after surviving a sentence of being boiled in oil, he was exiled to the island of Patmos, where he wrote the Book of Revelation.

In order to model the kind of love John exemplified, we need a revelation. The revelation of the love of God is wrapped up in the reality of the Lordship of Jesus Christ. It is not about being kind, although being kind comes along with God's love. It is not about being emotional. The love of God was revealed to the apostle John, and God will reveal His love to you!

You will have to go deep to find it. The Bible says to seek the Lord with all your heart (Jer. 29:13). The Word also says to love the Lord with your entire mind, your heart, your soul, and your strength (Luke 10:27). Can you truly say you are doing this today? Do you really want to see the love of God manifested in your life? If so, you need to love God with all of your being and love other people as you love yourself (Mark 12:30-31). Jesus said these are the most important commandments.

Love manifested and dwelled among us

In the Gospels of Matthew, Luke, and John we see where Jesus first met John. James and John were fishermen with Peter. John caught the greatest revelation of the love of God during his walk with Jesus. The life Jesus lived — never changing, no matter what anyone did or said to Him — affected John. John decided to live with this reality in his own life. In the Book of John, chapter 1, John wrote: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (v. 1, NKJV).

John was saying that Jesus and what He says are the same. What He says will never pass away. He is still upholding all things by the power of His word. Jesus's relationship with God is so much more than just His being born of a virgin. His relationship with God was revealed in how He dwelled among us.

Miracles such as turning water to wine must have been awesome. How would you feel having lived with someone who raised people from the dead? Someone who walked on water? Caused demons to depart? The demons recognized Jesus. Realize now that John had the awesome experience of knowing Jesus — really knowing Him. It was not a religious experience; it was a real one.

There is something in the Book of First John that will affect your life. In the life and testimony of John, God is giving us the revelation of Jesus. Here was a man who was also God who defied the powers of that age. The Pharisees and the government couldn't contain Him. Yet who can contain the love of God? Only those who believe.

There was no question in John's mind that heaven exists and the devil is real. People debate these issues today because they do not have the revelation John had. John knew that when Jesus said, "Roll the stone away," a miracle would occur. John knew that He who set time into existence could call Lazarus forth. John left us the road map in his first letter: "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life" (1 John 1:1, NKJV).

Yes, John knew that he had witnessed the embodiment of the love of God and the living Word of God: "The life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us" (1 John 1:2, NKJV).

A heart to receive

Yes, the love of God can be manifested if you have the heart to receive it! John did. Do you? He wrote: "That which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. And these things we write to you that your joy may be full" (1 John 1:3-4, NKJV).

Is your joy full today? If so, glory be to God. Pass it on. If not, keep pressing on. This love is available to you. This is not just a religious saying. This is not a storybook tale. You can know the love of God!

John had a face-to-face encounter with the love of God. Jesus looked like a man, but He was so much more outstanding. John was allowed to go on the Mount of Transfiguration with Jesus. After that experience John was even more convinced that Jesus could accomplish whatever He set out to do. John understood that Jesus controlled the armies of the world. John understood that all power belonged to Christ. John said he'd looked upon Him and handled the words of life!

Here was a being in a physical body, yet John knew that he'd had the occasion to touch the One who had framed the worlds and all creation. John spoke from experience. He witnessed the Son of God free a woman bent with infirmity for eighteen years. John saw Jesus speak to the circumstances and saw the woman's body completely restored. Would you say that woman's joy was full after that?

This eternal reality became such a part of John that the Romans couldn't kill him. History tells us John lived through being boiled in oil. What a revelation of the power of the love of God!

Live in the abundant life of love.

Jesus said, "I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly" (John 10:10, NKJV). Man did not have abundant life. He'd lost it when he was cast out of the Garden of Eden. Jesus brought it all back to us. Think about it. God told Adam that once he'd partaken of that tree, he'd surely die. God was saying a lot when He spoke those words. Then, hundreds of years later, after witnessing all kinds of deaths and curses, John lived to see love in action. John saw love alive. John touched and handled the love of God — and so can you! Can you handle it? More importantly, do you want to handle it? Do you want to touch and feel the Jesus whom John knew?

You must be aware that you don't have to be denomination minded. You don't have to be church minded! You don't have to be church-duty minded. When you receive a revelation to serve God with all your heart, mind, and soul — serving the eternal, everlasting Word of God, who is just as real today as He was two thousand years ago — then you are on the road to living the love that John knew.

Learn the way of love.

Many of us understand mathematics, English, or science because we have applied ourselves to learn those subjects. When someone wants to master a topic, he will study it. Often athletes will major in sports, and singers will major in singing because they want to become excellent in those arenas. But too many Christians don't apply the same principle to learning their faith. When we study topics with an intent of mastering them, we do just that. But when we are lackadaisical in our efforts to learn something, the opposite happens, even in spiritual matters.

We Christians are failing when it comes to spiritual things. In our knowledge and application of spiritual truths, we don't even know two plus two equals four. If the church were a learning institution (which it should be), most Christians would be making failing grades. We get after kids for playing hooky, yet we play spiritual hooky all the time. The "professor" (the Holy Spirit) is in class, but the students don't show up.

The things we should know most of all, we know least of all. The spiritual things that directly affect our lives, we don't know. We are not like John. We've not had the spiritual experience of handling the Word of life. We want to treat the preachers like doctors. We don't have to know what they know to get well. We don't have to know how to use the tools the doctor uses. We expect the doctor to know what will help us get well. Yet the Bible says people perish for lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6).

We need the knowledge the Word is giving us. We need to understand healing, prosperity, and whether we are in right standing with God. We need to know the assistance we have from angelic forces. But so many of us don't know these things, so life remains a mystery to us. We fail to comprehend spiritual things. And many times we won't try to.

Until we come face-to-face with the reality that we must know God's love personally, our experience will always be surface level and secondhand. It will almost be like trying to get somebody else to breathe for us or to get his or her heart to beat for ours. It won't work. We have to touch, know, and handle this reality for ourselves. We must personally know our God.

The Word of God should be just as real in our everyday lives as the Bible that we open up and read is. We need to pray and ask God to reveal His Word to us — and not just from a book but in our everyday realities. When we ask God to reveal His Word to us, we must allow Him to do it. Then we can live the Word and do the Word!

Make it real.

From Genesis 1 to the last page of Revelation the Word of God should be real to you. The fall and redemption of man should be just as real to you as breathing. You need to know that God is involved in your life. You are a product of the plan and purpose of God ! His love is higher than anything else you can ever think of. Your racial ties are not even important. You are a member of the family of God.

(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "King Truths: 21 Keys To Unlocking Your Spiritual Potential"
by .
Copyright © 2018 Alveda C. King.
Excerpted by permission of Charisma House Book Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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