It Is Well With My Soul

Over the past four days we’ve taken a brief journey of discovery into how to live with an overwhelming sense of peace and confidence in the future in an otherwise turbulent world. Living from your spirit means living in continual communion with God’s Spirit, enabling you to receive from Him, and assimilate Him into your whole being: spirit, soul and body. When you feed upon God’s Word it will unveil truth that transforms your heart and your life.  Understanding all that is within the fulness of the gospel reveals the righteousness of God and your right standing with Him. These are the keys to a life that is anchored in Christ, and having the ability to weather life’s storms.

The expression, it is well with my soul, comes from an old hymn written in 1873 by Horatio Spafford, an American businessman and believer in Christ. After repeated financial devastation and ruin, Horatio sent his wife and four daughters ahead to Europe where he planned to meet them afterward. A collision with another sea vessel sunk their ship, drowning all four daughters - only his wife Anna survived. En route to comfort his grieving wife, Spafford penned the following words as he passed by the place his daughters had perished:

When peace like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll
Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say
It is well, it is well, with my soul

Such depth of faith is not found in someone who is living under the control and volatility of their soul. This is having a peace that passes all understanding, a calm and unshakeable hope that is borne from a spirit in communion with God. A spirit-led life knows and experiences the comfort of His presence and has confidence in the faithfulness of His promises.

In the face of an uncertain future, this world needs to see God’s people with unwavering faith, untiring commitment and souls that are at peace, come what may.

The lesson of this hope we embrace can be summed up by the writer of Hebrews.

"So now wrap your heart tightly around the hope that lives within us, knowing that God always keeps his promises! …don’t lose your bold, courageous faith, for you are destined for a great reward! You need the strength of endurance to reveal the poetry of God’s will and then you receive the promise in full." – Hebrews 10:23, 35-36 (TPT).