The Pleasure of Loving God: A Call to Accept God's All-Encompassing Love for You

This book is the beautiful truth of Jesus and His stunning love for us, summarized in about 100 pages of sweet nuggets of revelation. I recommend this book to anyone struggling with the concept of the love of Father and His Son. Beautifully written, as are the rest of Mike Bickle's books.

This book is absolutely foundational for those who long to be fascinated by God and have confidence before Him. It is written by Mike Bickle, the director of the 24-hour-a-day International House of Prayer in Kansas City, Missouri. In this book, Bickle shares a very powerful twofold revelation: God likes, enjoys, and passionately desires those who have a sincere response toward Him, even though our love is weak. Secondly, our love for God is real and genuine, even thought it is immature. This truth has radically changed my view of God. He is not mostly mad or sad, but mostly glad toward us! After reading this book, I have been empowered to let God's passion for me fuel my pursuit of Him; this makes ALL the difference as I walk with Him. Bickle writes with contagious passion about the burning heart of God for humans. He describes an ocean of divine love and inexhaustible affection. The passion in God's heart for His people is a fiery volcanic reality that is incomprehensible in its fullness. In this book, Bickle gives practical suggestions on how to fall more deeply in love with God through meditation on His word, grace-empowered fasting, and "Harp and Bowl" prayer and worship with music and intercession. If you have never read a book or heard a message by Mike Bickle, this is a good introduction to His life message of developing passion for Jesus through the knowledge of the beauty of God. He develops the concept of our "bridal identity," in which we relate to the Father as a child and to the Son as a bride, with the Holy Spirit facilitating these relationships through revelation of desire and impartation of love. Although Bickle is probably a better speaker than writer, the truths in this book are so fresh and life-changing that it is still very powerful. If you want to know you are enjoyed, if you want to be passionate toward and fascinated by God, if you long for beauty and success, impact and intimacy, this is the book for you! It contains an invitation to a Holy Romance that will change your life. I have not been the same person since encountering the message of this powerful book. If you have ever found God boring (and I admit, I did), the message of this book will radically change your view of Him! For more information on the International House of Prayer, visit www.fotb.com.

Mike Bickle takes us back to the most important Commandment: Loving God. His review of Song of Songs is particularly interesting; through the imagery of how the groom is portrayed, we learn about the characteristics of God. From this, Bickle relates how knowing these characteristics can inspire our love for him.Bickle is not a great writer, but he is an insightful and refreshing writer. Bickle's message is, however, powerful: Christianity would be well served if we all aimed first to love God with all our heart, soul and mind.I think many church leaders from evangelical, mainstream and Roman Catholic churches today would be uncomfortable with this message. Yet like Mary and unlike Martha, we need to be at the feet of Jesus, bowing down, begging forgiveness and enjoying his presence. Correct doctrine, evangelism, social gospel, church activities are of secondary concern.

Wonderful. This book gives a new understanding of how God sees us. One of the greatest thoughts the book mentions is that, once we are born again, God delights in us even in our stumbling. Not that He approves, but He still delights in us (which is a deep bondage breaker). The book points toward having a relationship with God where He becomes our "bridegroom" and we can have a deep intimate relationship with Him in which we are WHOLLY delighted and TOTALLY satisfied (which kills temptation.) Some may say that being wholly satisfied and delighted in God is only an ideal, but I have a friend that recently has been experiencing a depth of God that I never imagined, and is presented in this book. The only reason I gave the book four stars is that I felt it could have been more in depth, and could have been a little more scholarly. Overall though, the message that is portrayed has given me a deep hunger for intimacy with Jesus.

In this book, Mike Bickle masterfully details the paradigm shifts that God is instituting in His Church and in the earth. Mike acknowledges his own inadequacies, and the fact that there is much more revelation to be had in order to see the big picture, and he admits that his knowledge of what God is doing is limited. However, he says, "What little we do know is incredibly powerful." He explains how worship and intercession are married in the harp and bowl model that is being used at the International House of Prayer in Kansas City. This book is a must-read for anyone whose desire is to "follow the cloud." It's a must-avoid for those whose desire is to maintain the status quo.