Section 8—Guiding Principles in Education
Chapter 35—The Influence of Perception (Part 3)
Environment Influences—The more the patient can be kept out of doors, the less care will he require. The more cheerful his surroundings, the more hopeful will he be. Shut up in the house, be it ever so elegantly furnished, he will grow fretful and gloomy. Surround him with the beautiful things of nature; place him where he can see the flowers growing and hear the birds singing, and his heart will break into song in harmony with the songs of the birds. Relief will come to body and mind. The intellect will be awakened, the imagination quickened, and the mind prepared to appreciate the beauty of God’s Word.—The Ministry of Healing, 265 (1905).
Surroundings Affect Experience—I was then shown a young girl … who had departed from God and was enshrouded in darkness. Said the angel: “She did run well for a season; what did hinder her?” I was pointed back and saw that it was a change of surroundings. She was associating with youth like herself, who were filled with hilarity and glee, pride, and love of the world. Had she regarded the words of Christ, she need not have yielded to the enemy. “Watch … and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.” Temptation may be all around us, but this does not make it necessary that we should enter into temptation. The truth is worth everything. Its influence tends not to degrade but to elevate, refine, purify, and exalt to immortality and the throne of God. Said the angel, “Will you have Christ, or the world?”
Satan presents the world with its most alluring, flattering charms to poor mortals, and they gaze upon it, and its glitter and tinsel eclipse the glory of heaven and that life which is as enduring as the throne of God. A life of peace, happiness, joy unspeakable, which shall know nothing of sorrow, sadness, pain, or death, is sacrificed for a short lifetime of sin.—Testimonies for the Church 2:100, 101 (1868).
Seeing Molds Personality—The sight of her eyes and the hearing of her ears have perverted her heart.—Testimonies for the Church 4:108 (1876).
Perceptions Confused by Choosing Temporal Advantages—Lot chose Sodom as a place of residence because he looked more to the temporal advantages he would gain than to the moral influences that would surround himself and his family. What did he gain so far as the things of this world are concerned? His possessions were destroyed, part of his children perished in the destruction of that wicked city, his wife was turned to a pillar of salt by the way, and he himself was saved “so as by fire.” Nor did the evil results of his selfish choice end here; but the moral corruption of the place was so interwoven with the character of his children that they could not distinguish between good and evil, sin and righteousness.—The Signs of the Times, May 29, 1884. (Messages to Young People, 419.)
Perceptions Dimmed to Eternal Verities—Those who have made a wrong use of means dedicated to God will be required to give an account of their stewardship. Some have selfishly grasped means because of their love of gain. Others have not a tender conscience; it has become seared through long-cherished selfishness….
Their minds have so long run in a low, selfish channel that they cannot appreciate eternal things. They do not value salvation. It seems impossible to elevate their minds to rightly estimate the plan of salvation or the value of the atonement. Selfish interests have engrossed the entire being; like a lodestone they hold the mind and affections, binding them down to a low level. Some of these persons will never attain to perfection of Christian character because they do not see the value and necessity of such a character. Their minds cannot be elevated so that they will be charmed with holiness. Self-love and selfish interests have so warped the character that they cannot be made to distinguish the sacred and eternal from the common.—Testimonies for the Church 2:519, 520 (1870).
That Which Quickens the Perceptions—When hearts are purified from selfishness and egotism, they are in harmony with the message God sends them. The perceptions are quickened, the sensibilities refined. Like appreciates like. “He that is of God heareth God’s words” (John 8:47).—Testimonies for the Church 5:696 (1889).
https://m.egwwritings.org/en/book/77.1708#1749
Dear Heavenly Father, Thank You that we can dwell upon Your love and by contemplating the perfection of the divine character and claiming the righteousness of Christ as ours by faith, we can be transformed into the same image! Thank You for the privilege of prayer and for knowing that through the name of Your Son we may expect what we ask, because we ask according to Your will to be in communion with Jesus. Please bless us to commit to doing right with the motive of divine love: overcoming every tendency to sin against You. Please grant to us a pure, wholesome, consistent Christian life, which is obtained by daily studying Your Word, the Holy Bible, under the guidance of Your Holy Spirit, to behold and reflect the character of Jesus to each other first and to the world. Like Jesus, please bless us to not be conformed to this world, but to be truly transformed into the persons You would have us be, working fully in the service of the King: Jesus. Please bless us truly to contemplate the life of Christ and to allow Your Word to develop within us that true religion, borne of love, which ennobles the mind, refines the taste, sanctifies the judgment, and makes us patient 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.
DID YOU KNOW THIS…?
Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.—2 Peter 1:4 KJV —[The WORD OF GOD—It’s the only flesh that is safe to eat (meditate on) to live forever!]
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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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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.