'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.'
Taught to say- 'It is well with my soul.'
Does this mean we won't ever be upset- even a little, or extremely? No.
Truly we are taught this--
Joh 14:27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
These words of Jesus are the embodiment of 'It is well with my soul'.
Not as the world gives.
How does the world give peace?
Our idea of peace is not having anything in an uproar, no arguing, no fighting, no upsets, no traumas, no drama…and the list goes on. We all know that our lives are fraught with a series of ebbs and flows of upsets and the like mentioned. We go through periods of time with very few or even no upsets worth noting. I say that because in truth, most people have tiny upsets almost daily. Tiny, such as a slight annoyance at a situation that arises. Someone irritates you, even a stranger; something online annoys you even momentarily; you see something on television that is a bit bothersome.
You get the idea- the tiny irritations that are quickly felt and quickly dismissed. Then you have the slightly larger upsets - the kind you dwell on for longer than a few moments. And we have to make mention of the huge arguments that can last for a full day or even longer.
Our peace can be disturbed in many ways, in many varying degrees. Our worldly peace is in peril at any moment, the danger of it occurring in our lives - constant. People often live for the weekends- when they can finally have peace from their work life. People long for vacations for the same reason. People also count down the hours until they are off work after a long day, just to unwind and find a bit of peace that has been interrupted by the need to work. Coming home to a peaceful evening, looking forward to a good night's sleep, these are expectations that please us.
When our expectations are met- unfortunately at some point our peace is once more upset, which we all know happens quite often. Not that you fight every day, but by something as simple as running out of something you usually have and an unexpected trip to the store is needed. Or, that show you wanted to watch has been delayed due to a sports event running late. Again, I could go on and on. I think it's safe to say, our idea of peace in our lives is a very fragile thing that can be toppled, or at least sent reeling a bit- at the drop of a hat.
The world's peace, Christ does not offer us the world's peace, NOT as the world gives…. Those are His words. NOT…AS…THE…WORLD…GIVES.
Christ's peace that He offers to give to us is the peace that is eternal. Christ's peace is the peace that extends beyond ALL of our life's upsets- every single one- great or small, devastating or merely annoying. Christ's peace isn't giving us ALL smooth sailing in this life, it's just NOT! Christ's peace isn't making our lives easy, that's the world's peace that so often eludes us.
People, most people, have very chaotic lives. Individually we suffer in ways we could commiserate with one another on, if we chose to divulge our torturous troubles. Most people keep their inmost day to day struggles to themselves though. A lot of people imagine 'others' don't have these troubled lives, when in truth the majority have them. Living means experiencing upsets on a constant basis.
As children, a lot of times, we deal or dealt with our problems by the ever constant- 'I can't wait until I'm older'- thinking that magical being older bit would take away all, or most of our childhood upsets. Once we become that older person we couldn't wait to be, we are given a rude awakening to the fact there are even more problems awaiting us as we take over fending for ourselves.
We live with ups and downs, peaceful times and hard times, and its constant and will always be constant. We will never get to a place in our lives where problems will no longer exist- that is a fantasy, a lie we somehow have been made to believe. At best we will get to a place where we can handle those problems when they come up, in a way that doesn't send us spiraling too badly.
With Christ, His perfect peace, the eternal peace is given to us in hope, in faith, it will be attained. The knowledge of this peace of Christ's is something we must make REAL to us.
Php 4:6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
Php 4:7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
We need to LET the peace of GOD which WILL pass ALL our ability to understand, keep our HEARTS and MINDS THROUGH CHRIST JESUS.
We have to learn that ALL our problems no matter HOW HUGE they are and at times they can seem insurmountable, that they are TEMPORARY to ETERNITY.
Yes, life is hard, and sometimes very hard, but we DO have a SAVIOR who has given us the promise of ETERNAL LIFE, ETERNAL PEACE, all through salvation found in HIM!
I will cry, I will spiral in bouts of upset, I will lose control- maybe too often, but by the GRACE and MERCY of God those things will only be temporary until I am reminded by the Holy Spirit of the PEACE of GOD- not as the world gives, but as He gives. Until I remember there will be PEACE, perfect peace in all ways. Jesus GIVES us HIS peace, and He doesn't want our hearts to be troubled. He wants us to believe in His perfect peace.
As men and women of God were marched to their deaths at the burning stakes, they were known to have a peace about them- we find that incomprehensible, don't we? Yet, it is historically noted on more than one occasion to be very true. They had to have had Christ's perfect peace realized in them through the Holy Spirit.
Joh 14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
May the Holy Spirit teach us all things, and bring all things to our remembrance, all the things our Savior has said to us!
'Be not afraid.' Don't spend every moment in fear. You will be afraid, but don't stay afraid, believe in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, now and forever!
Amen!
Taught to say- 'It is well with my soul.'
Does this mean we won't ever be upset- even a little, or extremely? No.
Truly we are taught this--
Joh 14:27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
These words of Jesus are the embodiment of 'It is well with my soul'.
Not as the world gives.
How does the world give peace?
Our idea of peace is not having anything in an uproar, no arguing, no fighting, no upsets, no traumas, no drama…and the list goes on. We all know that our lives are fraught with a series of ebbs and flows of upsets and the like mentioned. We go through periods of time with very few or even no upsets worth noting. I say that because in truth, most people have tiny upsets almost daily. Tiny, such as a slight annoyance at a situation that arises. Someone irritates you, even a stranger; something online annoys you even momentarily; you see something on television that is a bit bothersome.
You get the idea- the tiny irritations that are quickly felt and quickly dismissed. Then you have the slightly larger upsets - the kind you dwell on for longer than a few moments. And we have to make mention of the huge arguments that can last for a full day or even longer.
Our peace can be disturbed in many ways, in many varying degrees. Our worldly peace is in peril at any moment, the danger of it occurring in our lives - constant. People often live for the weekends- when they can finally have peace from their work life. People long for vacations for the same reason. People also count down the hours until they are off work after a long day, just to unwind and find a bit of peace that has been interrupted by the need to work. Coming home to a peaceful evening, looking forward to a good night's sleep, these are expectations that please us.
When our expectations are met- unfortunately at some point our peace is once more upset, which we all know happens quite often. Not that you fight every day, but by something as simple as running out of something you usually have and an unexpected trip to the store is needed. Or, that show you wanted to watch has been delayed due to a sports event running late. Again, I could go on and on. I think it's safe to say, our idea of peace in our lives is a very fragile thing that can be toppled, or at least sent reeling a bit- at the drop of a hat.
The world's peace, Christ does not offer us the world's peace, NOT as the world gives…. Those are His words. NOT…AS…THE…WORLD…GIVES.
Christ's peace that He offers to give to us is the peace that is eternal. Christ's peace is the peace that extends beyond ALL of our life's upsets- every single one- great or small, devastating or merely annoying. Christ's peace isn't giving us ALL smooth sailing in this life, it's just NOT! Christ's peace isn't making our lives easy, that's the world's peace that so often eludes us.
People, most people, have very chaotic lives. Individually we suffer in ways we could commiserate with one another on, if we chose to divulge our torturous troubles. Most people keep their inmost day to day struggles to themselves though. A lot of people imagine 'others' don't have these troubled lives, when in truth the majority have them. Living means experiencing upsets on a constant basis.
As children, a lot of times, we deal or dealt with our problems by the ever constant- 'I can't wait until I'm older'- thinking that magical being older bit would take away all, or most of our childhood upsets. Once we become that older person we couldn't wait to be, we are given a rude awakening to the fact there are even more problems awaiting us as we take over fending for ourselves.
We live with ups and downs, peaceful times and hard times, and its constant and will always be constant. We will never get to a place in our lives where problems will no longer exist- that is a fantasy, a lie we somehow have been made to believe. At best we will get to a place where we can handle those problems when they come up, in a way that doesn't send us spiraling too badly.
With Christ, His perfect peace, the eternal peace is given to us in hope, in faith, it will be attained. The knowledge of this peace of Christ's is something we must make REAL to us.
Php 4:6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
Php 4:7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
We need to LET the peace of GOD which WILL pass ALL our ability to understand, keep our HEARTS and MINDS THROUGH CHRIST JESUS.
We have to learn that ALL our problems no matter HOW HUGE they are and at times they can seem insurmountable, that they are TEMPORARY to ETERNITY.
Yes, life is hard, and sometimes very hard, but we DO have a SAVIOR who has given us the promise of ETERNAL LIFE, ETERNAL PEACE, all through salvation found in HIM!
I will cry, I will spiral in bouts of upset, I will lose control- maybe too often, but by the GRACE and MERCY of God those things will only be temporary until I am reminded by the Holy Spirit of the PEACE of GOD- not as the world gives, but as He gives. Until I remember there will be PEACE, perfect peace in all ways. Jesus GIVES us HIS peace, and He doesn't want our hearts to be troubled. He wants us to believe in His perfect peace.
As men and women of God were marched to their deaths at the burning stakes, they were known to have a peace about them- we find that incomprehensible, don't we? Yet, it is historically noted on more than one occasion to be very true. They had to have had Christ's perfect peace realized in them through the Holy Spirit.
Joh 14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
May the Holy Spirit teach us all things, and bring all things to our remembrance, all the things our Savior has said to us!
'Be not afraid.' Don't spend every moment in fear. You will be afraid, but don't stay afraid, believe in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, now and forever!
Amen!