Section 4—The Growing Personality
Chapter 20—The Home Atmosphere (Part 1)
Home Influences Affect Society—The heart of the community, of the church, and of the nation is the household. The well-being of society, the success of the church, the prosperity of the nation, depend upon home influences.—The Ministry of Healing, 349 (1905).
Effective Agencies for Formation of Character—God designs that the families of earth shall be a symbol of the family in heaven. Christian homes, established and conducted in accordance with God’s plan, are among His most effective agencies for the formation of Christian character and for the advancement of His work.—Testimonies for the Church 6:430 (1900).
Worship at Home—I had pious parents, who in every way tried to acquaint us with our heavenly Father. Every morning and every evening we had family prayer. We sang the praises of God in our household. There were eight children in the family, and every opportunity was improved by our parents to lead us to give our hearts to Jesus.—Manuscript 80, 1903.
Greater the Unity, Greater the Influence—The more closely the members of a family are united in their work in the home, the more uplifting and helpful will be the influence that father and mother and sons and daughters will exert outside the home.—Letter 189, 1903 (The Adventist Home, 37.)
Authority With Firmness—Authority must be maintained by a firm severity, or it will be received by many with mockery and contempt. The so-called tenderness, the coaxing and indulgence, used toward youth by parents and guardians is one of the worst evils which can come upon them. In every family, firmness, decision, positive requirements, are essential.—Prophets and Kings, 236 (1917).
Home an Object Lesson—God would have our families symbols of the family in heaven. Let parents and children bear this in mind every day, relating themselves to one another as members of the family of God. Then their lives will be of such a character as to give to the world an object lesson of what families who love God and keep His commandments may be. Christ will be glorified; His peace and grace and love will pervade the family circle like a precious perfume.—The Review and Herald, November 17, 1896. (The Adventist Home, 17.)
The Peace Principle—There is no fretfulness seen in the home if Christ is the peace principle exercised in your soul. There is no uncourteousness there. There is no roughness or sharp speech there. Why? Because we believe and act out that we are members of the Royal Family, children of the Heavenly King, bound to Jesus Christ by the strongest tie of love—that love which works by faith and purifies the soul. You love Jesus and you are constantly at work to overcome all selfishness and to be a blessing, and comfort, and strength, and a support to the souls He has purchased with His blood.
I cannot see why we should not the more earnestly try to bring the peace of Christ right into our family than to labor for those that have no living connection with us; but if we have religion in the home, it will extend outside of the home. You will have it everywhere. You will carry it with you to the church. You can carry it with you when you go out to your work. It will be with you wherever you shall be. What we want is religion in the home. What we need is the peace principle which shall control our spirit and our life and character after the Christlife He has given as His example.—Manuscript 36, 1891.
Love Revealed in Action—From every Christian home a holy light should shine forth. Love should be revealed in action. It should flow out in all home intercourse, showing itself in thoughtful kindness, in gentle, unselfish courtesy. There are homes where this principle is carried out—homes where God is worshiped and truest love reigns. From these homes, morning and evening prayer ascends to God as sweet incense, and His mercies and blessings descend upon the suppliants like the morning dew.—Patriarchs and Prophets, 144 (1890).
Christianity in Home Shines Everywhere—The effort to make the home what it should be—a symbol of the home in heaven—prepares us for work in a larger sphere. The education received by showing a tender regard for each other enables us to know how to reach hearts that need to be taught the principles of true religion. The church needs all the cultivated spiritual force which can be obtained, that all, and especially the younger members of the Lord’s family, may be carefully guarded. The truth lived at home makes itself felt in disinterested labor abroad. He who lives Christianity in the home will be a bright and shining light everywhere.—The Signs of the Times, September 1, 1898. (The Adventist Home, 38, 39.)
https://m.egwwritings.org/en/book/77.895#895
Dear Heavenly Father, Thank You for the privilege of a family molded in Christianity. Thank You for Your Word, which encourages us in the total, true and right development of character and mind culture, resulting in healthy Christian marriages and families that present a unique witness to the world that You are the Eternal God of Life ad Love. Please bless us truly to contemplate the life of Jesus and 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 vibrant health, purity, and holiness of Heaven. Because we ask all these in the Awesome name of Your Son, Almighty Jesus the Christ, our Savior, we say Thank You and Amen.
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DID YOU KNOW THIS…? But thus saith the LORD, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children.— Isaiah 49:25 KJV —[The WORD OF GOD—It’s the only flesh that is safe to eat (meditate on) to live forever!]
Do you feel sorrowful, disconnected—without a place to feel at home or useful? I pray this might show you the way forward. Watch…
https://www.youtube.com/live/2QB6fcwVuws?si=fsEvZU-rkI-BngfD
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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.
Thursday, June 11: Asian Cooking Class
*Exception: $10 for any cooking class
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!!!
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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.