Impulse!

I had an interesting experience early this morning.  My wife had a restless night and my sleep had been on and off from about 3:30 AM.  At around 6:00 I found myself lying on my back in one of those half awake and half asleep modes with my mind going in about twenty different directions!  It wasn’t that I was necessarily worrying about anything, my mind was just very active on a whole range of unrelated subjects, and I really wanted to relax and sleep for another hour or so before I got up.  Then out of seemingly nowhere the name of Jesus popped into my thoughts.  It was just like one of those old “When E.F Hutton speaks, people listen” commercials from the eighties.  The volume of all the other voices that were resounding in my head were suddenly turned down low and name of Jesus became the dominant expression.

At that moment the restlessness that I had been experiencing left and a peace and a sense of faith in His name and in His Word began to prevail in me.  Those feelings stayed with me for the next hour and a half and helped me to rise up with a song of joy in my heart and new found confidence in the promises we have been speaking over our situation.  A little while later as I was finishing up my study in the book of Hebrews, I was reading from the beginning of chapter twelve in S. Way’s translation of the epistle and it dawned on me that “that was what happened to me this morning in bed!”  Hebrews 12:2 declares, “and with strong endurance let us race along the course that stretches before us, turning our eyes away from all else toward Jesus, to Him who gives the first impulse to our faith, to Him who brings it to final maturity.”

It was the word “impulse” that put it all together for me.  According to Webster’s first dictionary (which was in effect when this translation was written) “impulse” is defined as “the effect of motion… a force communicated; influence acting on the mind; impression; supposed supernatural influence on the mind.”  That was what happened in my thoughts when the name of Jesus suddenly entered in.  That “impulse,” that “supernatural impression on my mind” made all those other distracting, sleep robbing thoughts quiet down in the face of everything that His name stands for!

The impulse of that name was like the focusing mechanism on my 75-300mm telephoto zoom lens.  There are times that you can focus right through a close subject in order to zoom in on something in the distance.  When the picture of the name of Jesus came into view in my mind, the other subjects suddenly became blurred unrecognizable objects as my mind’s eye traveled to the new dominating subject that had come on to the scene.  That example goes along with the God’s Word translation of Hebrews 12:2 when it states that “We must focus on Jesus…”

So, in case you find yourselves distracted under a barrage of countless unrelated thoughts that rob you of your peace and faith, I have a solution!  Focus on Jesus!  Let that first impulse of the power of His name make such an impression on you that all the other thoughts have to quiet down and leave your mind from lack of interest!  Let His supernatural influence bring peace, faith and rest unto you!  Have a great day.  Stay in tune to His Word, and keep asking yourself… “What IMPULSE am I expecting today?”