“We do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in our prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory [Agape], may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. We pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling [your inheritance in the Son], what are the riches of His inheritance in the saints [Father’s inheritance in you], and what is the surpassing greatness of His [regenerative] power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might [zeal] which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in heavenly places…” (Eph 1:16-20).

These verses express so perfectly our heart for you and the great anticipation that has filled us entering this new decade together with you, to be taught and transformed by the Agape of God and to participate with Him in His unfolding, reformational kingdom. Anticipation is a marvelous thing, which originates in God Himself. Many think of God as stayed, indifferent, passive, and conservative, but the Scriptures reveal Him as One “who wraps Himself with zeal as a mantle” (Isaiah 59:17). God’s heart is full of His regenerative purpose toward us and “the zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this” (2Ki 19:31; Is 9:7, 37:32).

The women came to Jesus’ tomb at the break of dawn on the third day, but they found the “extremely large” stone had already been rolled away (Mark 16:2-4). Our zealous Father would not wait one extra, unnecessary moment to get His beloved Son back! Discovering how the Father, Son, and Spirit are powerfully magnetized into oneness with One Another in Agape, we see that They are the Source of this anticipation within us: “He jealously [zealously] desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us” (James 4:5). The Father, Son, and Spirit are zealous to give Themselves to us and through us in this coming decade!

“The zeal of the Lord” has been made particularly real to us as we steward and proclaim the proceeding words of the kingdom, which flood us like waves. Receiving these treasures of Word and Spirit is like drinking from a fire-hose! We are seeing that these messages Father is cultivating in us are like the support columns and beams of a house laid on the foundation of Agape. When we stand back and consider in panoramic perspective The Agape Road, Emigrating to the Kingdom, Royal Priesthood, Becoming Human as God Intended, Thorn-Crowned Son of Man, Eating Jesus, etc., we are looking at interconnected, “tongue-in-groove” beams of a large structure not made with human hands.

We are being given architectural blueprints of the kingdom, a sanctuary of regenerated, living stones inhabited by Father. When Jesus came zealously into the Jerusalem temple to cleanse it of eros usury, “His disciples remembered it was written, ‘Zeal for Your house will consume Me’” (John 2:17). God does not make plans for things He does not intend to build; therefore, we are filled with His anticipation! The Lord moved the Persian King, Artaxerxes to decree: “Whatever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be done with zeal for the house of the God of heaven” (Ezra 7:23).

May the zeal of the Lord build this kingdom in us and through us together!