Jesus

I read Colossians 1:13-17 this afternoon. I have read this passage many times. My head knew what was there. My heart did not. Things that awaken in our spirit are often inadequately described by words, so please try to read on with your spirit rather than your head.

"For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves,in whom we have redemption,[a] the forgiveness of sins.
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together."

I knew Jesus spoke us into creation. But this passage was huge for me. Let me pause for a moment to tell you a short story.

The past 2 nights I have woken up to the bed shaking. It felt like a minor earthquake. Now, to the best of my knowledge we have not actually had any earthquakes recently - not even little ones.

Last night, I woke up to the shaking (I am using the term "woke" very loosely!) and thought, "Are we having an earthquake? Do I need to be ready to spring out of bed and rush to the doorway?" "Is my blood pressure doing crazy stuff?" Then, the thought occurred to me that some people have talked of spirits shaking their beds at night. This may sound arrogant, but my automatic response to that was, "What demon would be stupid enough to do that to me?!" (It is not that I never face attack, I often do. They just tend to be more subtle.)

Before I could follow that line of thought anywhere, I felt something (God, I would imagine) prompt me, "Don't follow that train of thought. It will feed fear and you don't have anything to be afraid of." ooookkaayy. "Just say 'Jesus.'"

Now, have you ever been in a state where your mind seems to be quite conscious, but your body is still very much asleep? That is where I was. It took an absurd amount of energy to turn my body over and force out the word, "Jesus." I had a song going through my head, "Jesus, Lover of My Soul" I think. But there was no way my vocal chords were going to squeak out a melody.

I grunted the name of Jesus and almost immediately passed out again. (I was tired!)

You see, I have known for years that we come against evil "in the name of Jesus." I knew demons shuttered at the thought of Him. I knew that He was God. But, for some reason, I always thought of Him as the weaker part of the trinity. (I know, theologically it doesn't make sense, but emotionally that is how I saw Him.) He was kind, loving, etc. He is The Word. He spoke creation into being. He spoke ME into being. What I seemed to miss along the way is that He also spoke angels, demons, principalities, and powers, rulers and authorities "of this dark age" is the way Paul put it to the Ephesians.

Why do we use the name of Jesus when fighting on the spiritual realm? It is not just because Father God wants Him to receive honor. It is because HE CREATED THEM! The thought crossed my mind, "He spoke you into this world and He can speak you right back out." (Mother's often threaten that sort of thing, but Jesus could actually DO it.)

Jesus. So much more than I understood. So much more than I understand. Wow.