Section 1—The Study of the Mind
Chapter 6—A Healthy Normality (Part 2)
Faculties of Mind to Rule the Body—True education includes the whole being. It teaches the right use of one’s self. It enables us to make the best use of brain, bone, and muscle, of body, mind, and heart. The faculties of the mind, as the higher powers, are to rule the kingdom of the body. The natural appetites and passions are to be brought under the control of the conscience and the spiritual affections. Christ stands at the head of humanity, and it is His purpose to lead us, in His service, into high and holy paths of purity. By the wondrous working of His grace, we are to be made complete in Him.—The Ministry of Healing, 398, 399 (1905).
Well-developed Minds and Broad Characters—God’s workmen must labor to be many-sided men; that is, to have a breadth of character, not to be one-idea men, stereotyped in one manner of working, getting into a groove, and unable to see and sense that their words and their advocacy of truth must vary with the class of people they are among and the circumstances that they have to meet. All should be constantly seeking for well-developed minds and to overcome ill-balanced characters. This must be your constant study, if you make a useful, successful laborer.—Letter 12, 1887 (Evangelism, 106.)
Commonplace, Trivial Matters Dwarf the Mind—Upon the mind of every student should be impressed the thought that education is a failure unless the understanding has learned to grasp the truths of divine revelation and unless the heart accepts the teachings of the gospel of Christ. The student who, in the place of the broad principles to the Word of God, will accept common ideas and will allow the time and attention to be absorbed in commonplace, trivial matters, will find his mind becoming dwarfed and enfeebled. He has lost the power of growth. The mind must be trained to comprehend the important truths that concern eternal life.—The Review and Herald, November 11, 1909.(Fundamentals of Christian Education, 536.)
Minds Not to Be Crowded With Useless Things—Education, as it is conducted in the schools of today [1897], is one-sided, and therefore a mistake. As the purchase of the Son of God, we are His property, and everyone should have an education in the school of Christ. Wise teachers should be chosen for our schools. Teachers have to deal with human minds, and they are responsible to God to impress upon those minds the necessity of knowing Christ as a personal Saviour. But no one can truly educate God’s purchased possession unless he himself has learned in the school of Christ how to teach.
I must tell you from the light given me by God, I know that much time and money are spent by students in acquiring a knowledge that is as chaff to them; for it does not enable them to help their fellowmen to form characters that will fit them to unite with saints and angels in the higher school. In the place of crowding youthful minds with a mass of things that are distasteful and that in many cases will never be of any use to them, a practical education should be given. Time and money are spent in gaining useless knowledge. The mind should be carefully and wisely taught to dwell upon Bible truth. The main object of education should be to gain a knowledge of how we can glorify God, whose we are by creation and by redemption. The result of education should be to enable us to understand the voice of God….
Like the branches of the True Vine, the Word of God presents unity in diversity. There is in it a perfect, superhuman, mysterious unity. It contains divine wisdom, and that is the foundation of all true education; but this Book has been treated indifferently.
Now, as never before, we need to understand the true science of education. If we fail to understand this, we shall never have a place in the kingdom of God. “This is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent” (John 17:3). If this is the price of heaven, shall not our education be conducted on these lines?—The Christian Educator, August 1, 1897, par.4.
Making Iron Rule for Others Dishonors God—God will not vindicate any device whereby man shall in the slightest degree rule or oppress his fellowman. As soon as a man begins to make an iron rule for other men, he dishonors God and imperils his own soul and the souls of his brethren.—Testimonies for the Church 7:181 (1902).
Balance of Differing Minds Necessary—Here we are brought together—of different minds, different education, and different training—and we do not expect that every mind will run right in the same channel; but the question is, Are we, the several branches, grafted into the parent Vine? That is what we want to inquire, and we want to ask teachers as well as students. We want to understand whether we are really grafted into the parent Vine. If we are, we may have different manners, different tones, and different voices. You may view things from one standpoint, and we have ideas different from one another in regard to the Scriptures, not in opposition to the Scriptures, but our ideas may vary. My mind may run in the lines most familiar to it, and another may be thinking and taking a view according to his traits of character, and see a very deep interest in one side of it that others do not see.—Manuscript 14, 1894.
The Hyssop, the Cedar, and the Palm—In all the Lord’s arrangements there is nothing more beautiful than His plan of giving to men and women a diversity of gifts. The church is His garden, adorned with a variety of trees, plants, and flowers. He does not expect the hyssop to assume the proportions of the cedar, nor the olive to reach the height of the stately palm. Many have received but a limited religious and intellectual training, but God has a work for this class to do if they will labor in humility, trusting in Him.—Letter 122, 1902 (Evangelism, 98, 99).
Characters as Varied as the Flowers—From the endless variety of plants and flowers, we may learn an important lesson. All blossoms are not the same in form or color. Some possess healing virtues. Some are always fragrant. There are professing Christians who think it their duty to make every other Christian like themselves. This is man’s plan, not the plan of God. In the church of God there is room for characters as varied as are the flowers in a garden. In His spiritual garden there are many varieties of flowers.—Letter 95, 1902 (Evangelism, 99.)
Powers of Mind and Body—the Gift of God—The requirements of God must be brought home to the conscience. Men and women must be awakened to the duty of self-mastery, the need of purity, freedom from every depraving appetite and defiling habit. They need to be impressed with the fact that all their powers of mind and body are the gift of God and are to be preserved in the best possible condition for His service.—The Ministry of Healing, 130 (1905).
God Desires Symmetrical Characters—God reproves men because He loves them. He wants them to be strong in His strength, to have well-balanced minds and symmetrical characters; then they will be examples to the flock of God, leading them by precept and example nearer to heaven. Then they will build up a holy temple for God.—Manuscript 1, 1883. (Selected Messages 1:48.)
https://m.egwwritings.org/en/book/77.267#287
Dear Heavenly Father, Thank You for Your Word, which encourages us in the total, true and right development of character and mind. Please bless us to allow Your Word to develop within us that true religion, which ennobles the mind, refines the taste, sanctifies the judgment, and makes us partakers of the purity and the holiness of Heaven. Please bless us so that a new and divine character may be formed within us, and the debasement of sin overcome. Please bless us so that our minds remain under the direct influence of the Spirit of God and we would know the voice of God, that Satan cannot mold us as he chooses. Please bless us to be strong and healthy mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually, and to allow ourselves to be cultivated almost to the excellence of angels. Because we ask all these in the Awesome name of Almighty Jesus the Christ, we say Thank You and Amen.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
DID YOU KNOW THIS…? Hebrews 13:20, 21 KJV — The God of peace…Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. [The WORD OF GOD—It’s the only flesh tthat is safe to eat (meditate on) to live forever!]
Are you a scion? Do you feel wild, without a place to feel at home or useful? I pray this might touch you in the way it did me. Watch…
https://www.youtube.com/live/2QB6fcwVuws?si=fsEvZU-rkI-BngfD
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
FREE HEALTH TALK* open to the public Thursdays at 5pm at Country Life Natural Foods Store and Vegan/Vegetarian Restaurant, 1217 Eberhart Avenue, Columbus, GA. The topic for Thursday, April 30, is “The Truth About Cholesterol.”
*Exception: $10 for cooking classes
WHGR 91.5 FM went LIVE noon on Thanksgiving Day 2025, for Hurtsboro (my childhood home town) and surrounding areas, including Tuskegee, Alabama.
If you want to support Christian radio programming for these final days, please visit
https://www.ucheepines.org/radio
Thank you!!!
****
I coordinate wonderful health and worship events and conferences online and onsite as a gospel medical missionary at Uchee Pines, a total plant-based health retreat, where doctors and practitioners specialize in lifestyle medicine. For event details, visit https://www.ucheepines.org/events
Therefore, if at any time you fail to receive this post as a text, please visit
https://baiom.org/author/audreystovall/
where devotionals are first posted daily (almost without fail). From there devotionals are publicly shared to my page on FB, LinkedIn, and Signal (in My Story), and to a response-restricted group on WhatsApp (once again when I am able to find the time to successfully rebuild it).
NOTE: These began as daily texts to encourage my academy roommate and dear friend of nearly 50 years, until she suddenly passed March 2023. Now I continue to compile and send them to anyone who will receive them and to her family in honor of their mom. Lately, I have begun featuring consecutive chapter portions of a select Bible-based book.
If you agree to continue receiving them, then this is my personal gift to you; and in this way, I not only honor God but the memory of a very dear friend whom I desperately miss.
My personal prayer is that God will bless me to find ways to multiply this gift, so that we all may be encouraged to be found faithful in the sight of a Holy God, whenever Christ returns or our eyes are shut in the sleep of death.
It is a prayerful process that leads me to share from my personal study.
So please feel free to forward to your loved ones or to anyone, as God leads you. I’m calling them Barb’s Devotionals.