(Letter 163 in my series of posts on assurance and fighting for joy...)

Yesterday @TheXangaTeam announced they're going to a paid blogging platform, and that there is a possibility that Xanga may be shutting down for good after July 15 (link).
 
Many thoughts went through my head, the primary one being that I really wanted to have a publicly saved record of what I'd written here in case Xanga does end up shutting its doors for good. I do have all the archives of my blogs downloaded onto my laptop, so that's not really the issue. I started blogging at this site in 2007, and since then I added a couple more blogs...

• this site (http://napthali_deer.xanga.com), opened 2/12/2007, with 1344 public posts.
• tent of meeting (http://tent_of_meeting.xanga.com), opened 3/28/2009, with 204 public posts.
• deerlife (http://deerlife.xanga.com), opened 3/14/2010, with 70 public posts.

If you do the math, that's 1618 public posts, not including this one. Now, granted, as I reread a lot of my first posts here, I squirm, as I had been barely on the edge of and just beginning to dip my toes into the vast and glorious ocean of the doctrines of grace (a.k.a. Calvinism) –– but now I've taken the full plunge! But I have decided to keep all my posts as I had first written them, as they are for a record of the journey God has had me on.

In light of the Xanga announcement yesterday, I could see I was beginning to react out of my flesh, rather than respond in God's Spirit, and I knew I wasn't in a very good place at all –– far from it! I was becoming fearful, worried, upset, and anxious. I was quickly sliding down into that noxious place of grumbling, murmuring, and whining –- headed full-steam down a path very far away from exhibiting the fruit of the Spirit!

I went for a walk yesterday afternoon and tried to listen to some sermons to numb and distract myself, to escape and avoid the circumstance that was looming in front of me –– and in a vain and futile attempt to avoid looking at my own deceitful and desperately wicked heart.

As I was walking, I was chewing on the sovereignty of God in permitting this to happen: for God to lead me here to Xanga and then to lead me to the possibility that all I've written here could be snuffed out very soon...

Then, in His merciful kindness, the Hound of Heaven came down that path pursuing me (Psalm 23:6) and began to shake me and bring me back to my senses with these verses from Colossians 1:

15  He [the Lord Jesus Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16  For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17  And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18  And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. (ESV)

15 He [the Lord Jesus Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. 18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.

God created Xanga. Xanga was created through Him and for Him. And He was and is before all things, including Xanga, and in Him Xanga has held together together. Why?

No matter what's happening here in this little corner of the world known as Xanga, the Lord Jesus Christ will have the preeminence. Xanga or no Xanga –– in spite of all appearances –– the Lord Jesus Christ IS going to get the preeminence! (God's sovereignty continues to be my sanity!)

In Isaiah 63:7-14, there's a recounting of God's deliverance of Israel from Egypt, and we read of God's purposes there:

God's thoughts and God's ways are higher than ours.... inscrutable and unsearchable and unfathomable! Whenever we ... whenever I whine and complain, I am attempting to be His counselor! God, be merciful to me, a sinner!

Romans 11:33 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!

34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has become His counselor?”
35 “Or who has first given to Him
And it shall be repaid to him?”
36 For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.

God's desire is that His name might be displayed and made everlasting and glorious, that He alone might receive glory forever and ever –– or, as the apostle Paul writes in Colossians 1, that the Lord Jesus Christ might be preeminent.

All things (Xanga's continuing OR closing) are heading toward this one great and glorious and wonderful end (in truth, it's just a beginning!):

Philippians 2:9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Revelation 5:8 Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang a new song, saying:

“You are worthy to take the scroll,
And to open its seals;
For You were slain,
And have redeemed us to God by Your blood
Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation,
10 And have made us kings and priests to our God;
And we shall reign on the earth.”

11 Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, 12 saying with a loud voice:

“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain
To receive power and riches and wisdom,
And strength and honor and glory and blessing!”

13 And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying:

“Blessing and honor and glory and power
Be to Him who sits on the throne,
And to the Lamb, forever and ever!”

14 Then the four living creatures said, “Amen!” And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped Him who lives forever and ever.

And everything (Xanga's continuance or Xanga's closing) has been foreordained with that end in mind!

In the meantime, as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, I am to walk worthy of God's calling... no matter what happens ... whether there will be any Xanga after July 15 or not...

And then I was brought back to these earlier verses in Colossians 1, and I was chastened, for I could see how desperately short I was falling:

9 For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; 10 that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy...

I WASN'T walking with joy, and I hated that, and I despised myself for that... particularly because of how much I have tasted and seen God's goodness –– how much God has shown Himself to me and has continued to impress His mercy, love, grace and care upon me in so many wonderful ways, pouring out grace upon grace upon grace; and particularly as I've exhorted others that the joy of the Lord is available to all believers (Psalm 86:4), and even how I had just spoken of those verses in Colossians 1 to a friend the night before! ... I was humbled as I saw how very weak I still am, and how faulty and ill-formed my foundation of faith in Jesus Christ still is, and how wholly reliant I must always be on His strengthening and glorious power, and how constant in prayer I must be for His strengthening and glorious power, so I might rejoice in the Lord always, to shine as a light in this dark world, to the praise of His glorious grace!

Unlike the pilgrims scattered abroad, to whom Peter was writing, in my current trial, I was NOT rejoicing with joy inexpressible and full of glory (I Peter 1:3-9). But thanks be to God for His manifold mercies and His kindness in Jesus Christ –– He continues to stretch His hands out to a disobedient and contrary child such as myself, and leads me to repentance through His Holy Spirit through His Holy Word –– which at that point was continuing to pierce and discern and cut deeper and deeper and deeper ... (Job 5:17 Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects; Therefore do not despise the chastening of the Almighty. 18 For He bruises, but He binds up; He wounds, but His hands make whole.)

Hebrews 4:11 Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

After having been reminded of God's sovereignty over all things for the preeminence of the Lord Jesus Christ, and my lack of joy due to my not resting in Christ as I ought –– on top of all that, the story of the fire that burned up years of William Carey's (1761-1834) work was brought to mind. I was already familiar with this event, but I recently heard about it again in John Piper's sermon "The Lord Stood By Me . . . That All the Nations Might Hear,"  which I'd listened to a couple weeks ago:

William Carey, the father of modern missions left for India from England in 1793 and never came home. He labored 40 years without a furlough. He lost two of his three wives in death. When he had a fever they attached 110 leeches to his thigh. And on March 11, 1812—after almost 20 years of work—a fire broke out and destroyed years of irreplaceable work. The draft of the great polyglot dictionary. The Sikh and Telugu grammars. Ten version [sic] of Bible that had been going through the press. The translation of the Ramayana which he and his partners had been working on for six years.

Carey was out of town in Calcutta. When Marshman told him tears filled his eyes, and later he said,

In one short evening the labours of years are consumed. How unsearchable are the ways of God! I had lately brought some things to the utmost of perfection of which they seemed capable, and contemplated the missionary establishment with perhaps too much self-congratulation. The Lord has laid me low, that I may look more simply to him (Mary Drewry, William Carey: A Biography, p. 154).

Source: http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/sermons/the-lord-stood-by-me-that-all-the-nations-might-hear / By John Piper. ©2013 Desiring God Foundation. Website: desiringGod.org

When I thought of my blogging in comparison to twenty years of Carey's (and the other missionaries') work in frontier missions, there's really no comparison at all! When I thought of the fact that I have full archives of all my blogs sitting safely in the memory of my laptop (as well as in the time machine backup), there's no comparison at all! And with that, I could see how weak and despicable and unprepared for any true suffering I really was.... And, I could also see how I am too prone to much self-congratulation, and how quickly I can forget that anything I write here of any worth, i.e. - anything that will withstand the fire of God's judgment – is all of Him, and it is all to His praise, honor, and glory alone ~ e.g. - Psalm 115:1; Isaiah 26:12; I Cor. 3:7; John 15:1-8.

At that point, as I considered the fire that consumed years and years of Carey's work, more Scripture (this time from Hebrews 10), was brought to mind to show me once more how I was not resting in Christ as I should have been. This commendation of the Jewish Christians was in such marked contrast to my own state:

I was NOT joyfully accepting the potential plundering of my goods (of my blog writings). I had been too easily been tossed about for I had lost sight of the better and enduring possession -- a knowledge of God Himself through the Lord Jesus Christ!

Holy God, forgive me for hardening my heart and not entering into Your rest. Thank You that Your goodness and mercy pursued me even to the pig sty of my own making, and Your kindness brought me back to my senses and to repentance! Grant me an increased sight and taste of Your glorious and all-surpassing riches. Strengthen me by Your Word and Your Holy Spirit, so that no matter my circumstances (Xanga or no Xanga), I might pray without ceasing and be diligent to enter Your rest, to walk with patience and longsuffering with joyfulness, that I might joyfully accept the plundering of my goods as I more fully and firmly embrace and enjoy You alone as the better and enduring possession, and find everlasting rest, durable peace, strong consolation, unspeakable joy, and unsearchable riches, and an incorruptible inheritance in You alone, even as I walk as a pilgrim here in this uncertain, turbulent, and stormy world. Hallelujah! What a Savior! Gracious God, thank you for laying me low like William Carey, that I may look more simply to You!

Scripture quotations marked ESV are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Luke 24:49  And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high...

Acts 1:4  And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. 5  For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.

Today is the celebration of Pentecost Sunday, the day on which the Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled His word to send the promise of the Father –– the day when He baptized His people with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Though the Church's understanding was lacking and deficient in some ways at that time, e.g. - her query to Jesus as to whether He was going to restore the Kingdom to Israel at that time (Acts 1:6) –– (and it's all too tempting for us to point fingers at them, isn't it?) –– yet these first century saints had a knowledge that many of us lack today... they were fully persuaded that without power from above, they could do nothing!

The early Church had been clearly impressed with the vital necessity to tarry in Jerusalem just as Jesus commanded. They had been humbled; they had been brought to see and to own their total insufficiency, and accordingly their need to receive the gift of the promised Holy Spirit. For those ten days between Jesus' Ascension and Pentecost, the 120 were in one accord in prayer and supplication:  the Bride of Christ was "leaning upon her Beloved!"

Even though some of these disciples had had intimate fellowship with Jesus, even though many of them had walked with Jesus and learned from Him and of Him for a period of three years, yet each and every one of them had come to understand they were ill-equipped for the commission Christ had given them – to go and make disciples of all nations. Therefore, they fully obeyed Jesus' command to wait:  they did tarry in Jerusalem, and they did continue in prayer (imagine a ten-day round-the-clock prayer meeting at your church?!) –– until the blessing was poured out –– until they were baptized with the blessed Holy Spirit.

O! that we in the Church today might have a Spirit-imparted sense of our total insufficiency and our poverty and our need to receive the outpouring of the Spirit as did they, so we might persevere with one accord in prayer and supplication as did they!  Luke 11:13 "If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"

Martyn Lloyd-Jones reminds us:

"There is only one sense in which what happened on the day of Pentecost cannot be repeated and that is simply that it did happen to be the first of a series. And, of course, you cannot repeat the first. But the fact that you cannot repeat the first does not mean for a moment that what happened on the first occasion cannot happen again. And every revival of religion, I say, is really a repetition of what happened on the day of Pentecost. It is really almost incredible that people should go on saying that what happened at Pentecost was once and for all."

~ from Chapter 16 (What Happens in Revival) in "Revival" (Wheaton: Crossway, 1987), 199-200.

The following is an excerpt from George Smeaton's "The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit" (orig. published 1882, second edition 1889; Fourth Banner of Truth Trust reprint 1997), pages 287-290...

As to the peculiar mode of praying, we may say that in every season of general awakening the Christian community waits just as they waited for the effusion of the Spirit, with one accord in prayer and supplication, in the interval between the Ascension and Pentecost. No other course has been prescribed; and the Church of the present has all the warrant she ever had to wait, expect, and, pray. The first disciples waited in the youthfulness of simple hope, not for a spirit which they had not, but for more of the Spirit which they had; and Christianity has not outlived itself.  Ten days they waited with one accord in prayer, when of a sudden the Spirit came to give them spiritual eyes to apprehend divine things as they never knew them before, and to impart a joy which no man could take from them. It was prayer IN THE SPIRIT (Eph. vi. 18), and prayer FOR THE SPIRIT, the great promise of the Father. But the prayer which brought down the Holy Ghost was not that style of petition which ceases if it is not heard at once or if the heart is out of tune. The prayer which prevails with Him who gives the Spirit is that which will not let go without the blessing. When the spirit of extraordinary supplication is poured out from on high,––when an ardent desire is cherished for the Holy Ghost,––when the Church asks according to God’s riches in glory, and expects such great things as God’s promises warrant and Christ’s merits can procure, the time to favour Zion, the set time, is come (Ps. cii. 16-18).  When we look at the prayers in Scripture, we find that God’s glory, the Church’s growth and welfare, her holiness and progress, were ever higher in the thoughts and breathings of the saints than personal considerations (Ps. lxvii. 1-7). And if we are animated with any other frame of mind, it is not prayer taught by the Spirit, nor offered up in the name of Christ (Isa. lxii. 1-7).

The praying attitude of the Church in the first days after the Ascension, when the disciples waited for the Spirit, should be the Church's attitude still. I need not refer to the copious references of the apostles to the urgent duty of praying in the Spirit and praying for the Spirit, nor shall I refer at large to the habits of all true labourers, such as Luther, Welsh, Whitefield, and others, in proof of the great truth that prayer is the main work of a ministry.  And no more mischievous and misleading theory could be propounded, nor any one more dishonouring to the Holy Spirit, than the principle adopted by the Plymouth Brethren, that because the Spirit was poured out at Pentecost, the Church has no need, and no warrant, to pray any more for the effusion of the Spirit of God. On the contrary, the more the Church asks the Spirit ¹ and waits for His communication, the more she receives. ²  The prayer of faith in one incessant cry comes up from the earth in support of the efforts put forth for the conversion of a people ready to perish. This prayer goes before and follows after all the calls to repentance. The company of labourers associated together in such work, come to feel as they proceed that they are encircled with a mighty power, and have an authority not their own. The interest taken in the work of advancing the Redeemer’s Kingdom thus has much of a personal concern, and is far elevated above the vague and pointless efforts of mere official routine.

The apostles, in their various Epistles, when referring to their own unceasing exercise of prayer, hold up the mirror to others; and never do men more realize than in a time of revival that in all their previous career they have been scarcely half-awake. In such a time the conviction is borne home upon them that no fitful exercise of prayer will avail to obtain the blessing. And their purpose, as they seek to take the kingdom by force, is to do violence to the lethargy and disinclination of nature, and to act as the Lord's remembrancers, who keep not silence and give Him no rest, till He establish Jerusalem and make her a praise in the earth.

____________

¹ As I do not deem it proper to exceed the limits of the required six lectures; I would take occasion to direct attention to the great work of [John] OWEN, The Work of the Holy Ghost in Prayer, and also to [William] GURNALL'S discussion of the same theme in The Christian in Complete Armour.

² A remarkable passage on prayer, and on working by the power of prayer, occurs in [John] Foster's essay on the application of the epithet “Romantic:" [in Essays in a Series of Letters, published in 1826] “I am convinced,” says he, “that every man who, amidst his serious projects, is apprised of his dependence on God, as completely as that dependence is a fact, will be impelled to prey, and anxious to induce his serious friends to pray, almost every hour. He will as little without it promise himself any noble success, as a mariner would expect to reach a distant coast by having his sails spread in a stagnation of air. I have intimated my fear that it is visionary to expect any unusual success in the human administration of religion unless there are unusual omens; now a most emphatical spirit of prayer would be such an omen; and the individual who should solemnly determine to try its last possible efficacy, might probably find himself becoming a much more prevailing agent in his little sphere. And  if the whole, or the greater number of the disciples of Christianity were, with an earnest, unalterable determination of each to combine that heaven should not withhold one single influence, which the very utmost of conspiring and persevering supplication would obtain, it would be the sign that a revolution of the world was at hand."

Instead of following the latest worldly trends, instead of implementing 21st century solutions, and instead of leaning upon our own power, let us give due glory and honor to the Godhead by returning to the Scripture, by returning to the apostolic doctrine, and by returning to the apostolic practice of full reliance upon the Holy Spirit of God by prevailing in prayer and not letting go until we receive the blessing of the Holy Spirit pouring down from on high in reviving fire!

Let us repent and return to the Lord with weeping, and seek the Lord of hosts and entreat the Lord, and wrestle with Him in unceasing prayer and wait for our God, that He might pour down His favor upon us –– to pour out His Holy Spirit upon us –– just as He did for the saints of old... because, as George Smeaton reminds us, "no other course has been prescribed."

The mirror is being held up to us today, my brothers and sisters... May God have mercy upon us, and may the Spirit give us an ear to hear what these examples in the Bible and throughout Church history have to say to us today, so we might be found faithful in prayer along with the great cloud of remembrancers... for we have the warrant "to wait, expect, and, pray" for more of the Holy Spirit.

Luke 18:1  And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; 2  Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: 3  And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. 4  And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; 5  Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. 6  And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. 7  And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? 8  I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?

Hosea 12
3  In the womb he [Jacob] took his brother by the heel,
and in his manhood he strove with God.
4  He strove with the angel and prevailed;
he wept and sought his favor.
He met God at Bethel,
and there God spoke with us—
5  the LORD, the God of hosts,
the LORD is his memorial name:
6  “So you, by the help of your God, return,
hold fast to love and justice,
and wait continually for your God.”
(ESV)

Acts 1
14  These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication,
with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren...

Acts 2
1  And when the day of Pentecost was fully come,
they were all with one accord in one place.
2  And suddenly there came a sound from heaven
as of a rushing mighty wind,
and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
3  And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire,
and it sat upon each of them.
4  And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost,
and began to speak with other tongues,
as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Related posts...

• The Day of Pentecost ... the first of a series (Martyn Lloyd-Jones on revival)
• Naphtali News: the Ministry of the Word & Prayer (see the second portion on prayer)
• Here I stand & from here I cast (devoted to prayer & the ministry of the Word)
• Revival resources, etc.
• More revival resources: opportunity and eyes to see the ruins, a burden from God
• Silent Night ~ Not!
• 492 years later: You say you want a reformation? (my theses and a call to prayer)
• the lost treasures of Christianity & the call to pray for revival (Bible reading: Ezra 1)
• postcards from England: "The Burden for Revival" (ML-J)
• Postcards from England: Do you care?
• postcards from England: are we excited over a dead fish and a car wreck?
• an advent of a different sort for the "glorious progress of the work of God"
• Are you storming heaven – or are you sleeping?
• Prayer & Revival in Ireland (R.A. Torrey) & Livingstone in Africa: Are we in our closets?
• "It is a dark night on the church, the depth of winter ..." ~ John Elias
• Why not pray for the baptism of the Holy Spirit?
• Phinehas's wife: the mother who opened her mouth with wisdom
• "Brother, we are only half awake" ~ Legh Richmond

Scripture quotations unless otherwise indicated are taken from the King James Version of the Holy Bible.

Scripture quotations marked ESV are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Emphasis mine.

Photo credits:

Work found at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jacob_Wrestling_with_the_Angel.jpg / {{PD-Art|PD-old-75}}
Work found at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:El_Greco_006.jpg  / CC BY-SA 3.0

Work found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Line_of_young_people_at_a_commencement_ceremony.jpg / PD

We're in the midst of graduation season now, and earlier today our youngest son graduated from college. As I was "grazing" once again through "John Elias: Life, Letters and Essays" (e.g. - see my recent posts here, here & here), I reread a letter which Elias (1774-1841) had written to his son John when John was around 18 years of age. I thought it was a fitting letter for my son and for the rest of the 2013 graduates... as well as a necessary exhortation to the rest of us (no matter our age or our stage in life) –– because as Christians, each and every one of us is prone to wander, we are too easily distracted, lured away from, and lose sight of that knowledge which is to be treasured, sought and savored, and that knowledge which leads us to the highest felicity . . .

   A letter was written by Elias to his son at school on education; it shows his mind on that important subject fully and distinctly, especially as to its value. It is the following:

Llanfechell 14 August 1819

I hope that thou now beginnest to take pleasure in thy learning. This is thy harvest, and if thou shouldest neglect this, thy treasure-house will be empty, as long as thou livest, of the greatest worldly wealth, that is, learning! What are gold and silver, houses and land, without knowledge? Nothing! Man is like the brute beast, without education. A person that is unlearned, cannot well enjoy the pleasures that human nature is capable of, especially under the influence of religion. Learning is very important, inasmuch as it teaches the mind to delight in true knowledge, and in making greater attainments in it; - to view the excellencies of others and to follow them, being never satisfied till we acquire them, - to observe the faults of others, and to flee from them. I have said a little respecting the value of learning, being sensible of my own deficiency in that respect. I think if I had to make a choice, whether to have all India, or Sir William Jones's learning, I should prefer the latter.

   It is not in an easy, careless manner that we can get learning, understanding, and knowledge; no, it must be by labour, industry, and toil. It is necessary 'to cry after knowledge, and lift up the voice for understanding - to seek her as silver, and to search for her as for hid treasure' (Proverbs 2.3, 4). We are not to be disheartened and cast down, in not succeeding to obtain knowledge of things at the commencement; it is the work of time. It is not at once that flowers, animals, or mankind, arrive at full maturity; they grow gradually, and that by having a nourishment and support: so learning and knowledge; it is not at once and quickly they are attained, but by application, labour, and hard study. It is true that many a person wishes to be a scholar, and learned, but may not like the pains that are necessary to attain that end, and never enjoys what he desires. How true it is, 'the desire of the slothful killeth him; for his hands refuse to labour. But the hand of the diligent maketh rich‚' (Proverbs 10.4; 21.25).

   Having spoken thus of the value of human learning and knowledge, I must say that there are more excellent attainments; the teachings of the Holy Ghost, and the knowledge of Christ and the Father. The Spirit has been promised, to teach us all things respecting Christ. It is the anointing of the Holy One, that is, Jesus: he teacheth us the knowledge of all things as they are, enabling us to know God, ourselves, and the Mediator; he instructs us how to live godly, to acquire every virtue and excellency, to hate the evil and to flee from it, to die happy, and to obtain eternal felicity. Every knowledge in comparison of that of Christ, is but loss and dung; to know him is everlasting life.

   My dear son, be not disheartened as to the attainment of this knowledge: Christ, the great Prophet, makes the simple wise unto salvation. He is a kind teacher to those that are willing to learn of him, though slowly. It is not all at once that he instructs his disciples, but gives them line upon line, and precept upon precept; a little here and a little there, and that very patiently. So be thou diligent and constant in his school, sitting at his feet, to receive the words that drop from his lips.

~ Excerpt from:  "John Elias: Life, Letters and Essays" by Edward Morgan (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1973, revised edition published in one volume), 63-65, boldface mine.

John Baillie includes the following letter of the Scottish minister W.H. Hewitson (1812-1850) as evidence of Hewitson's "earnestly ... continu[ing] to 'lay hold on eternal life,'" and in it, we're charged to do likewise –– to use our time here wisely, ever-mindful that "this is our time of education for heaven."

Linlithgow, March 20, 1848.

"My Dear Mother,

   "I received father's letter before leaving Edinburgh. Yesterday I communicated in Mr Baillie's church, but did no ministerial work whatever. The season was to me a very refreshing one, and the Lord was sensibly present; the Lord was at His table. Always when I go to the church seeking Christ himself there, and, as it were, to keep tryst with Him—always when I go expressly for the purpose of meeting Christ, and having intercourse with Him,—I experience sweetness in the ordinances of His house, and have reason to return with the voice of thanksgiving. We fail of being blessed in family worship and in public worship, if we do not seek, while so engaged, to meet with Jesus, and to enjoy His Word and fellowship in the exercise of faith and love. It is Christ in the Word, and in all the ordinances of worship, that makes them refreshing and quickening to our souls. Religion is not a form, but a life; and it is not a solitary, friendless life, but a life of intercourse and company-keeping with God in Christ. To be religious, is to be the friends of God—to realise a sense of His presence, love, and favour—to acknowledge Him as a living Person who is always near us, always ready to bless us, and always looking to us for a living obedience.

   "This is our time of education for heaven — these are our school-days; and, alas! how many, who profess to believe, and to look for eternal life, neglect their soul's education, and play the truant's part, instead of attending the school of God! Time is near its end—eternity is at the door. O to be ready—all ready! For many will mourn and weep, when the time to make ready is past for ever!

   "Next Sabbath, God willing, I shall be in the pulpit myself. Till the house be ready, I go into lodgings. I intend to leave Edinburgh on Friday or Saturday, and afterwards remain with my people. My health is not worse —strength returning, but slowly.—With love to dear father and all the rest, I am, my dear mother, your very affectionate son,

"W. H. Hewitson."

Excerpt from:  "Memoir of the Rev. W.H. Hewitson: late minister of the Free Church of Scotland at Dirleton" by the Rev. John Baillie, 4th edition, 1853, 309-310, boldface mine. (HT for the text: http://books.google.com/books?id=bRVMAAAAYAAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s)

Holy Spirit, enlighten the eyes of our understanding to the excellency and surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ! Strengthen us, pour out upon us grace upon grace, that we might fight the good fight of faith and earnestly continue to lay hold of eternal life.

May we show ourselves to be genuine professors, and be diligent to make our calling and election sure. May we not be stagnant, sluggish, and sleeping, may we not play the truant's part, but rather may we be awake and alert and make ourselves ready –– all ready! –– attending the school of God –– looking carefully and walking circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, understanding that the Lord's will for us is to know Him (because every knowledge in comparison of that of Christ, is but loss and dung; to know Him is everlasting life!) –– and redeeming the time, pressing on to know Him and to look for and to lay hold of eternal life: –– to be diligent and constant in His school, to make every effort to sit at His feet, to receive the words that drip from His lips, to educate our souls, to take full advantage of the blessed means God provides –– (O! He is a kind teacher to those who are willing to learn of Him!).

Our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, we acknowledge we cannot obtain or understand one ounce of spiritual truth apart from it being given to us from above. O! Send to us the gift of Your Holy Spirit to teach us line upon line, and precept upon precept; a little here and a little there (will you not give the Holy Spirit to those who ask You?!), so we might be growing in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, because the days are evil, and to know Him is everlasting life and blessing! –– and not to know Him is everlasting death and cursing! To Him be glory both now and forever. Amen! (~ See Ephesians 1:16-22; Philippians 3; I Tim. 6:11-16; Ephesians 5:14-17; II Peter 3:18; II Peter 1:1-11; Deuteronomy 30:15-20.)