Section 9—Interrelationship of Body and Mind
Chapter 43—Mind and Spiritual Health (Part 2)
Body Medium for Mind and Soul—The body is a most important medium through which the mind and the soul are developed for the upbuilding of character. Hence it is that the adversary of souls directs his temptations to the enfeebling and degrading of the physical powers. His success here often means the surrender of the whole being to evil. The tendencies of the physical nature, unless under the dominion of a higher power, will surely work ruin and death. The body is to be brought into subjection to the higher powers of the being. The passions are to be controlled by the will, which is itself to be under the control of God. The kingly power of reason, sanctified by divine grace, is to bear sway in the life.
Intellectual power, physical stamina, and the length of life depend upon immutable laws. Through obedience to these laws, man may stand conqueror of himself, conqueror of his own inclinations, conqueror of principalities and powers, of “the rulers of the darkness of this world,” and of “spiritual wickedness in high places” (Ephesians 6:12).—Prophets and Kings, 488, 489 (1917).
Vital Energy Imparted to Mind Through Brain—The Lord would have our minds clear and sharp, able to see points in His word and service, doing His will, depending upon His grace, bringing into His work a clear conscience and a thankful mind. This kind of joy promotes the circulation of the blood. Vital energy is imparted to the mind through the brain; therefore the brain should never be dulled by the use of narcotics or excited by the use of stimulants. Brain, bone, and muscle are to be brought into harmonious action that all may work as well-regulated machines, each part acting in harmony, not one being overtaxed.—Letter 100, 1898.
Dyspepsia Makes Religious Life Uncertain—The principles of health reform should be brought into the life of every Christian. Men and women who disregard these principles cannot offer to God a pure, vigorous devotion; for a dyspeptic stomach or a torpid liver makes the religious life an uncertainty.
Eating the flesh of dead animals has an injurious effect upon spirituality. When meat is made the staple article of food, the higher faculties are overborne by the lower passions. These things are an offense to God and are the cause of a decline in spiritual life.—Letter 69, 1896.
Rightdoing Is Best Medicine—The consciousness of rightdoing is the best medicine for diseased bodies and minds. The special blessing of God resting upon the receiver is health and strength. A person whose mind is quiet and satisfied in God is in the pathway to health….
There are those who do not feel that it is a religious duty to discipline the mind to dwell upon cheerful subjects, that they may reflect light rather than darkness and gloom. This class of minds will either be engaged in seeking their own pleasure, in frivolous conversation, laughing and joking, and the mind continually elated with a round of amusements; or they will be depressed, having great trials and mental conflicts, which they think but few have ever experienced or can understand. These persons may profess Christianity, but they deceive their own souls. They have not the genuine article.—The Health Reformer, March, 1872.
To Labor for Soul as Well as Body—Our medical workers are to do all in their power to cure disease of the body and also disease of the mind. They are to watch and pray and work, bringing spiritual as well as physical advantages to those for whom they labor. The physician in one of our sanitariums who is a true servant of God has an intensely interesting work to do for every suffering human being with whom he is brought in contact. He is to lose no opportunity to point souls to Christ, the Great Healer of body and mind. Every physician should be a skillful worker in Christ’s lines. There is to be no lessening of the interest in spiritual things, else the power to fix the mind upon the Great Physician will be diverted.—Letter 223, 1905.
The Physician Who Deals With Distracted Minds and Hearts—The physician needs more than human wisdom and power that he may know how to minister to the many perplexing cases of disease of the mind and heart with which he is called to deal. If he is ignorant of the power of divine grace, he cannot help the afflicted one, but will aggravate the difficulty; but if he has a firm hold upon God, he will be able to help the diseased, distracted mind. He will be able to point his patients to Christ and teach them to carry all their cares and perplexities to the great Burden Bearer.—Testimonies for the Church 5:444 (1885).
Christ Illumines the Mind—The physician is never to lead his patients to fix their attention on him. He is to teach them to grasp with the trembling hand of faith the outstretched hand of the Saviour. Then the mind will be illuminated with the light radiating from the Light of the world.—Letter 120, 1901
https://m.egwwritings.org/en/book/78.180#194
Dear Heavenly Father, Thank You for teaching us how intimately connected is the body and mind. Please bless us to follow Your guidance in their harmonious development that we may steadfastly resist temptation to sin in thought or act and be truly transformed to share Your love to those around us. With the right motives, we can be used of Your Holy Spirit to be a blessing. 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 and 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 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.
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DID YOU KNOW THIS…?
Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.
It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones..—Proverbs 3:7, 8 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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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, Aug. 20: “Which Herbs and Supplements to Use and For What”
*Exception: $10 for any cooking class
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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
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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
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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.