A phrase that has been coming out of my mouth lately is, “Protective not possessive.” I have never said this before, so I am pondering what this phrase means because I use it quite often seemingly all of the sudden. I tell people it is critical that we listen to what we say more than what others say, for we are held accountable for the words that come out of our mouth not the ones that come out of theirs. That’s a whole other blog, but I said that because when these words have been coming out of my mouth they are new phraseology to me and I like them but wanted to explore them.

God is protective not possesive and we are called to be the same. We have been subject to possessive people who sought to control us, dominate us, restrict our movement, limit our expression, so we are resistant to the idea of someone being possessive. I think we have such an aversion to possessive because sin is possessive, Satan is possessive and demons are possessive. The Bible says, we were slaves to sin. It was as though we were owned by sin, by Satan and by demonic influences, so when in the same passage in Romans, the apostle Paul says, we are called to be slaves of righteousness, we buck the idea of someone or something possessing us. But God is not possessive, He is protective and we are called to be the same.

1 Corinthians 13 says, “Love protects!” Love protects, it does not possess, it protects. Love protects us from danger, from others who are not safe, from ourselves. Love protects from snares and snipers. We long to be loved but we are afraid of being protected because we think it means possession. God loves us so He protects us by giving us commands in His word; protection creates a sense of safety so people can thrive, live and enjoy life. We have been so accustomed to the counterfeit called possession we must repent for the authentic is here and it is protection. God and others love us so much they want to protect us not take possession of us. They love you that is why they want to protect you.