Focus: Spiritual Possessiveness

Text: Lk.2:49

"Wist ye not that I must be about MY Father's business?"

Possessiveness is not really a good word. Possessiveness smacks of selfishness and greed. It has been defined as an excessive desire to possess, control or dominate. It is a strong and intense desire to own it all alone - as something belonging to oneself and oneself alone, with no intention of sharing it with others or even parting with or letting go of it. But the truth of the matter is that when it comes to relating or dealing with God, possessiveness is allowed. Spiritual possessiveness is born out of God-longing, God-fondness, and God-fullness. It is the effect of growing intimacy with God and deepening God-consciousness, and deep longing for more of God. It is rooted in knowledge. Possessiveness of God flows from conviction of and confidence in God. It is born out of knowing whose you are and whom you serve. 

One must know by revelation of the worthiness of God to be possessive of Him. To be possessive of God, one must come to the place where he knows that he knows that he knows. Job says, "I know that MY redeemer liveth." Paul says, "I know in whom I have believed." The God you possess is the God you manifest.

Martin Luther says that "Christianity is a word of personal pronoun." Spiritual possessiveness means taking God personal and everything that has to do with Him. It means knowing that God is intensely personal. His name is YHVH - an absolutely personal name of God. It is the name that speaks of God being God all by Himself - the self-existent God. He needs no one to exist. God can be described with a Latin phrase known as 'totaliter aliter' - absolutely or wholly other. God is completely different and personal. He is not an impersonal deity. He delights in relating with us on a personal level.

Jesus developed that consciousness in Him quite early. He was 12 years old when He asked His parents, "Wist ye not that I must be about MY FATHER'S business?" God was HIS Father, not OUR Father. His Father's business was His business, not our business. In fact, the word 'business' is not even in the Greek. Simply put, Jesus was solely about His Father and what His Father wanted. In his post-resurrection message, He said to Mary, "Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to MY FATHER: but go to MY brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto MY FATHER, and YOUR Father; and to MY God, and YOUR God" (Jh.20:17). He didn't use the phrase 'OUR Father' or 'OUR God.' He was making a distinction and marking a difference. For me, that is spiritual possessiveness. He taught us to pray, "Our Father," but He would never say so Himself. In His own personal prayer in John 17, He says, "Father… O Father… Holy Father… Father… O righteous Father" (Jh.17:1,5,11,21,24,25). You never see Him using "our Father." That is spiritual possessiveness.

In the temple He demonstrated His passion for, and possessiveness of God by flogging those who were using the sacred space of God for all the wrong reasons. He would not tolerate the abuse of the temple. He said to them, "Take these things hence; make not MY FATHER'S HOUSE an house of merchandise" (Jh.2:16). He took action because He saw that temple as His Father's house, and He won't let them ruin what belonged to His Father. Indeed a line of one of His prayers says, "All mine are thine, and thine are mine…" (Jh.17:10). That is spiritual possessiveness. It is His Father's business, and so He waits for nobody. It is His Father's house, and so He has to stop the mess going on there.

How do you see or take God? How do you regard all that concerns Christ? Are you really taking God very personal and committing to Him in a personal way? Do you do things around God like no one else exists to do them? What's your attitude like? What's your perspective on God?

Jesus Christ never trifled with the fact of His fondness with God. In bad or good times, God remained His God and His Father. In the Garden of Gethsemane, He prayed, "O My Father." On the cross, He prayed, "Father, forgive them…" "My God, My God." "Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit." He was absolutely confident in His Father. He was proud of His cherished intimacy with His Father, and He would not trade it for anything. Solomon says, "Buy the truth, and sell it not." Jesus was totally possessive of His Father. God was His greatest treasure. In John 8:49, He says, "I honour MY Father…" In verse 54, He says, "If I honour myself, my honour is nothing: it is MY Father that honoureth me." They honor each other - mutual respect. In John 10:30, He audaciously declares, "I AND MY FATHER ARE ONE." In John 14:10, He says, "But the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works." His Father was His total reality. He possessed God as God also possessed Him. There was fondness and bonding between Them.

You can see that this sort of possessiveness is eternally sweet. It is interesting, appetizing, exciting, thrilling, inspiring, captivating, refreshing, invigorating, fulfilling, just name it! That is nothing short of experiencing heaven on earth.

I pray you catch this divine fire and burn with this heavenly passion of God-possessiveness! Own God to yourself. Others will be drawn to your God and cherish oneness with Him. It will change the way you do church or go about ministry. You will give like there is none else in the world to so give to the Lord. You will labor for the kingdom without looking around or looking back. Your worship will be more intense and surging. This is the only possessiveness that is worth having. It is self-fulfilling, not self-debasing.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter