Mind, Character, and Personality, vol. 1

Section 8—Guiding Principles in Education

Chapter 38—Balance in Education (Part 1)

Education Has Eternal Implications.—Education is a work the effect of which will be seen throughout the ceaseless ages of eternity.—Testimonies for the Church 6:154 (1900). 

To Restore Harmony in the Being—The true object of education is to restore the image of God in the soul. In the beginning God created man in His own likeness. He endowed him with noble qualities. His mind was well balanced, and all the powers of his being were harmonious. But the fall and its effects have perverted these gifts. Sin has marred and well-nigh obliterated the image of God in man. It was to restore this that the plan of salvation was devised and a life of probation was granted to man. To bring him back to the perfection in which he was first created is the great object of life—the object that underlies every other. It is the work of parents and teachers, in the education of the youth, to cooperate with the divine purpose; and in so doing they are “laborers together with God.”—Patriarchs and Prophets, 595 (1890). 

All Capabilities to Be Developed—All the varied capabilities that men possess—of mind and soul and body—are given them by God to be so employed as to reach the highest possible degree of excellence. But this cannot be a selfish and exclusive culture; for the character of God, whose likeness we are to receive, is benevolence and love. Every faculty, every attribute, with which the Creator has endowed us is to be employed for His glory and for the uplifting of our fellowmen. And in this employment is found its purest, noblest, and happiest exercise.—Patriarchs and Prophets, 595 (1890). 

True Education Is Broad—True education means more than taking a certain course of study. It is broad. It includes the harmonious development of all the physical powers and the mental faculties. It teaches the love and fear of God and is a preparation for the faithful discharge of life’s duties.—Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students, 64 (1913). 

All-round Development for Every Duty—And those who would be workers together with God must strive for perfection of every organ of the body and quality of the mind. True education is the preparation of the physical, mental, and moral powers for the performance of every duty; it is the training of body, mind, and soul for divine service. This is the education that will endure unto eternal life.—Christ’s Object Lessons, 330 (1900). 

All Powers to Reach Their Highest Potential—God designs that the college at Battle Creek shall reach a higher standard of intellectual and moral culture than any other institution of the kind in our land. The youth should be taught the importance of cultivating their physical, mental, and moral powers that they may not only reach the highest attainments in science, but through a knowledge of God may be educated to glorify Him; that they may develop symmetrical characters, and thus be fully prepared for usefulness in this world and obtain a moral fitness for the immortal life.—Testimonies for the Church 4:425 (1880). 

Knowledge of Science of All Kinds Is Power—The schools established among us are matters of grave responsibility, for important interests are involved. In a special manner our schools are a spectacle unto angels and to men. A knowledge of science of all kinds is power, and it is in the purpose of God that advanced science shall be taught in our schools as a preparation for the work that is to precede the closing scenes of earth’s history. The truth is to go to the remotest bounds of the earth, through agents trained for the work. But while the knowledge of science is a power, the knowledge which Jesus in person came to impart to the world was the knowledge of the gospel. The light of truth was to flash its bright rays into the uttermost parts of the earth, and the acceptance or rejection of the message of God involved the eternal destiny of souls.—The Review and Herald, December 1, 1891. (Fundamentals of Christian Education, 186.) 

Youth to Be Thinkers—Every human being, created in the image of God, is endowed with a power akin to that of the Creator—individuality, power to think and to do. The men in whom this power is developed are the men who bear responsibilities, who are leaders in enterprise, and who influence character. It is the work of true education to develop this power, to train the youth to be thinkers, and not mere reflectors of other men’s thought. 

Instead of confining their study to that which men have said or written, let students be directed to the sources of truth, to the vast fields opened for research in nature and revelation. Let them contemplate the great facts of duty and destiny, and the mind will expand and strengthen. Instead of educated weaklings, institutions of learning may send forth men strong to think and to act, men who are masters and not slaves of circumstances, men who possess breadth of mind, clearness of thought, and the courage of their convictions.—Education, 17, 18 (1903). 

True Education Develops Character—The education and training of the youth is an important and solemn work. The great object to be secured should be the proper development of character, that the individual may be fitted rightly to discharge the duties of the present life and to enter at last upon the future, immortal life. Eternity will reveal the manner in which the work has been performed. If ministers and teachers could have a full sense of their responsibility, we should see a different state of things in the world today. But they are too narrow in their views and purposes. They do not realize the importance of their work or its results.—Testimonies for the Church 4:418 (1880). 

https://m.egwwritings.org/en/book/77.1858#1858

Dear Heavenly Father, Thank You that we can 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 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…? 

And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.—John 17:3 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

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

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. 6: “Soups!” (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!!!

****

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.

“It is written”

We shall overcome as He overcame. Speak, live the Word that when the tempter comes, tempts us; we shall meet him with “it is written”. We shall be victorious.

“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:”
‭‭Philippians‬ ‭2‬:‭5‬ ‭KJV‬‬.

“Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.

And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, and saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: And in their hands they shall bear thee up, Lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; and saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭4‬:‭1‬-‭11‬ ‭KJV‬‬

Sweet victory in Jesus Christ!

Mind, Character, and Personality, vol. 1

Section 8—Guiding Principles in Education

Chapter 37—Principles of Study and Learning (Part 3)

Avoid Creating Feelings of Injustice—When you jostle against the elements manifested by those who have no Bible religion but only a profession, do not forget that you are a Christian. You greatly lower your influence and mar your own Christian experience when you lose your self-control and give them the least occasion to think that you have ill-treated them. Leave not this impression upon their minds if you can possibly avoid it. In this probationary time we are forming our characters for the future immortal life; but that is not all, for in this very process of character building we need to be extremely cautious how we build, for others will build after the pattern we give them.—Letter 20, 1892. 

Mind Must Have Pure Food—The mind, like the body, must have pure food in order to have health and strength. Give your children something to think of that is out of and above themselves. The mind that lives in a pure, holy atmosphere will not become trifling, frivolous, vain, and selfish.—Letter 27, 1890. 

We are living in a time when everything that is false and superficial is exalted above the real, the natural, and the enduring. The mind must be kept free from everything that would lead it in a wrong direction. It should not be encumbered with trashy stories, which do not add strength to the mental powers. The thoughts will be of the same character as the food we provide for the mind.—Testimonies for the Church 5:544. (Child Guidance, 188.) 

Infidel Books [See Chapter 13, Food for the Mind.]—The study of books written by infidels does great harm. Thus tares are sown in the minds and hearts of students. Yet this is the food often given to the brain, while many have little knowledge of subjects which pertain to eternal interests, which they ought to understand. 

The talent of time is precious. Every day it is given to us in trust, and we shall be called upon to give an account of it to God. It is to be used to God’s glory, and if we would prolong our lives, if we would gain the life that measures with the life of God, we must give the mind pure food. No time should be wasted that might have been used to good account.—Manuscript 15, 1898. 

Students to Learn to Obey God—I see that a great sentiment must be worked to, and out, under the divine direction in our schools. But the one great lesson the students must learn is to seek with all their heart, mind, and strength to know God and obey Him implicitly. The science of the salvation of the human soul is the first lesson of life. No line of literature or education in book knowledge is to become supreme. But to know God and Jesus Christ, whom He hath sent, is life eternal. 

Let the students take the love and fear of God with them into their school life. This is wisdom more precious than words can express. Connected with God, it can be said of them, as of Daniel, God gave him wisdom and knowledge in all mysteries. 

Learning is good. The wisdom of Solomon is desirable; but the wisdom of a greater than Solomon is far more desirable and essential. Through the learning in our schools we cannot reach Christ, but we can through Christ reach the highest end of the ladder in science; for the word of inspiration says, “Ye are complete in Him” (Colossians 2:10). Our first business is to see and acknowledge God, and then He will direct our path.—Letter 120, 1896. 

https://m.egwwritings.org/en/book/77.1813#1847

Dear Heavenly Father, Thank You that we can 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 to be in communion with Jesus. Please bless us to guard our minds, 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…? 

For with God nothing shall be impossible.—Luke 1:37 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

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

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. 6: “Soups!” (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!!!

****

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.

Mind, Character, and Personality, vol. 1

Section 8—Guiding Principles in Education

Chapter 37—Principles of Study and Learning (Part 2)

Trivial Matters Enfeeble the Mind—The student who, in the place of the broad principles of 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 will become dwarfed and enfeebled; he will lose the power of growth. The mind must be trained to comprehend the important truths that concern eternal life.—Letter 64, 1909. 

Temporal Affairs Not to Be Neglected—Life is too solemn to be absorbed in temporal and earthly matters, in a treadmill of care and anxiety for the things that are but an atom in comparison with the things of eternal interest. Yet God has called us to serve Him in the temporal affairs of life. Diligence in this work is as much a part of true religion as is devotion. The Bible gives no endorsement to idleness. It is the greatest curse that afflicts our world. Every man and woman who is truly converted will be a diligent worker.—Christ’s Object Lessons, 343 (1900). 

The Quality of Men Called to Teach [See Chapter 22, “The School and the Teacher.”]—The cause of God needs teachers who have high moral qualities and can be trusted with the education of others, men who are sound in the faith and have tact and patience, who walk with God and abstain from the very appearance of evil, who stand so closely connected with God that they can be channels of light—in short, Christian gentlemen. The good impressions made by such will never be effaced, and the training thus given will endure throughout eternity. What is neglected in this training process is likely to remain undone. Who will undertake this work? 

We would that there were strong young men, rooted and grounded in the faith, who had such a living connection with God that they could, if so counseled by our leading brethren, enter the higher colleges in our land, where they would have a wider field for study and observation. Association with different classes of minds, an acquaintance with the workings and results of popular methods of education, and a knowledge of theology as taught in the leading institutions of learning would be of great value to such workers, preparing them to labor for the educated classes and to meet the prevailing errors of our time. Such was the method pursued by the ancient Waldenses; and, if true to God, our youth, like theirs, might do a good work, even while gaining their education, in sowing the seeds of truth in other minds.—Testimonies for the Church 5:583, 584 (1885). 

Correct Habits Leave Impress on Character—The formation of correct habits is to leave its impress upon the mind and characters of the children that they may practice the right way. It means much to bring these children under the direct influence of the Spirit of God, training and disciplining them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. The formation of correct habits, the exhibition of a right spirit, will call for earnest efforts in the name and strength of Jesus. The instructor must persevere, giving line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little, in all long-suffering and patience, sympathy and love, binding these children to his heart by the love of Christ revealed in himself.—Christian Education, 153 (1893). (Fundamentals of Christian Education, 268.) 

Characters Not Formed in One Mold—Teachers are to consider that they are not dealing with angels, but human beings with like passions as they themselves have. Characters are not formed in one mold. There is every phase of character received by children as an inheritance. The defects and the virtues in traits of character are thus revealed. Let every instructor take this into consideration. Hereditary and cultivated deformity of human character, as also beauty of character, will have to be met, and much grace cultivated in the instructor to know how to deal with the erring for their present and eternal good. Impulse, impatience, pride, selfishness, and self-esteem, if cherished, will do a great amount of evil which may thrust the soul upon Satan’s battleground without wisdom to navigate his bark, but he will be in danger of being tossed about at the sport of Satan’s temptations until shipwrecked. Every teacher has his own peculiar traits of character to watch lest Satan should use him as his agent to destroy souls, by his own unconsecrated traits of character.—Letter 50, 1893. (Fundamentals of Christian Education, 277, 278.) 

Must Be Christlike in Dealing With Minds—It is a daily working agency that is to be brought into exercise, a faith that works by love and purifies the soul of the educator. Is the revealed will of God placed as your highest authority? If Christ is formed within, the hope of glory, then the truth of God will so act upon your natural temperament that its transforming agency will be revealed in a changed character, and you will not by your influence through the revealings of an unsanctified heart and temper turn the truth of God into a lie before any of your pupils; nor in your presentation of a selfish, impatient, unchristlike temper in dealing with any human mind, reveal that the grace of Christ is not sufficient for you at all times and in all places. Thus you will show that the authority of God over you is not merely in name but in reality and truth. There must be a separation from all that is objectionable or unchristlike, however difficult it may be to the true believer.—Christian Education, 148 (1893). (Fundamentals of Christian Education, 263, 264.) 

Continual Censure Bewilders the Child—Heaven sees in the child the undeveloped man or woman, with capabilities and powers that, if correctly guided and developed with heavenly wisdom, will become the human agencies through whom the divine influences can cooperate to be laborers together with God. Sharp words and continual censure bewilder the child but never reform him. Keep back that pettish word; keep your own spirit under discipline to Jesus Christ; then will you learn how to pity and sympathize with those brought under your influence. Do not exhibit impatience and harshness, for if these children did not need educating, they would not need the advantages of the school. They are to be patiently, kindly, and in love brought up the ladder of progress, climbing step by step in obtaining knowledge.—Christian Education, 147 (1893). (Fundamentals of Christian Education, 263.) 

Must Be Christlike in Dealing With Minds—It is a daily working agency that is to be brought into exercise, a faith that works by love and purifies the soul of the educator. Is the revealed will of God placed as your highest authority? If Christ is formed within, the hope of glory, then the truth of God will so act upon your natural temperament that its transforming agency will be revealed in a changed character, and you will not by your influence through the revealings of an unsanctified heart and temper turn the truth of God into a lie before any of your pupils; nor in your presentation of a selfish, impatient, unchristlike temper in dealing with any human mind, reveal that the grace of Christ is not sufficient for you at all times and in all places. Thus you will show that the authority of God over you is not merely in name but in reality and truth. There must be a separation from all that is objectionable or unchristlike, however difficult it may be to the true believer.—Christian Education, 148 (1893). (Fundamentals of Christian Education, 263, 264.) 

Continual Censure Bewilders the Child—Heaven sees in the child the undeveloped man or woman, with capabilities and powers that, if correctly guided and developed with heavenly wisdom, will become the human agencies through whom the divine influences can cooperate to be laborers together with God. Sharp words and continual censure bewilder the child but never reform him. Keep back that pettish word; keep your own spirit under discipline to Jesus Christ; then will you learn how to pity and sympathize with those brought under your influence. Do not exhibit impatience and harshness, for if these children did not need educating, they would not need the advantages of the school. They are to be patiently, kindly, and in love brought up the ladder of progress, climbing step by step in obtaining knowledge.—Christian Education, 147 (1893). (Fundamentals of Christian Education, 263.) 

Care in Suspending Students—Be careful what you do in the line of suspending students. This is a solemn business. It should be a very grave fault which requires this discipline. 

Then there should be a careful consideration of all the circumstances connected with the case. Students sent from home a short distance or a long distance, thousands and thousands of miles, are away from, and deprived of, the advantages of home, and if expelled are refused the privileges of school. All their expenses have to be met by someone who has had hope and confidence in these subjects that their money would not be invested in vain. The student enters into or falls into temptation, and he is to be disciplined for his wrong. He feels keenly that his record is marred, and he disappoints those who have trusted him to develop a character under the influence of his training in his scholastic life, which will pay all that has been invested in his behalf. 

But he is suspended for his foolish course of action. What will he do? Courage is at the lowest ebb, courage and even manliness is not cherished. He is an expense, and precious time is lost. Who is tender and kind and feels the burden of these souls? What wonder that Satan takes advantage of the circumstances. They are thrust on Satan’s battleground and the very worst feelings of the human heart are called into exercise, and strengthen and become confirmed.—Letter 50, 1893.

https://m.egwwritings.org/en/book/77.1813#1829

Dear Heavenly Father, Thank You that we can 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 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…? 

For with God nothing shall be impossible.—Luke 1:37 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

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

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. 6: “Soups!” (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!!!

****

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.

There is always a way out, just choose it

Elohim through the Holy Spirit gives every soul a way out—no one has to, nor needs to choose to give in to Satan’s temptations. Elohim provides an escape that each soul be able to bear the temptation. Remember, being tempted is not sin. Giving in to the temptation—contemplating upon the thoughts from Satan, speaking the words from the thoughts of Satan, contemplating upon the dreams he places in the mind (even in our dreams who are we yielding ourselves servants to obey?) doing what he is tempting—this is sin: Sin is transgression of the Law of Elohim. When we are filled with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit; even in our dreams we will rebuke the devil in the name of Jesus Christ.

Be strengthened.

“There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”
‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭10‬:‭13‬ ‭KJV‬‬

The male and female joined, as One

It’s about salvation. It’s about glorifying Elohim. It’s about the two living as if one person—having the mind and love of Elohim, His character within, lived out in the life through the Holy Spirit.

They are made holy by Elohim daily by their faith trusting Him, believing in Him—living being hearers and doers of His Word. They choose to love Elohim with His own love that He puts in us; and love ourselves and love others as we love ourselves.

A holy marriage is all about the male and female joined together glorifying Elohim first and foremost and individually—it’s by the will being daily surrendered to Elohim that the Holy Spirit sanctifies, perfects love in the soul that they be delivered from sin.

The husband is to be a godly man. He is daily surrendered to Elohim being converted by the Holy Spirit—the husband knows that He is the priest of his home, leading out in his home teaching His household the love the character of Elohim—teaching Elohim’s commandments, statues, judgments by words and his daily choices in living by example. He is helping, and building up the wife and being a godly example, especially if he has children. He is not a people pleaser but by faith pleases Elohim, and His wife. Therefore, the godly husband knows that he is the savior of his wife, he is the protector, the provider. He is not a brute. He does not seek to rule over her. He does not tear down. He does not in anger nor in frustration yell at her, (nor at the children if they have them) nor speak, live out anger sinning against Elohim, etcetera.

Therefore, the helpmeet being the wife, this is her work in being a godly, virtuous woman of Elohim—that Proverbs 31 woman unto Elohim in living His will unto her husband, by faith pleasing Elohim in her life each and every day.

The holy pair are one as Christ and His bride are one—as the Holy Father, the Holy Son, and the Holy Spirit are One. The husband and wife are to be the examples of the relationship between Elohim and His people, Elohim and each individual soul.

“Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: for we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless, let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.”
‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭5‬:‭17‬-‭33‬ ‭KJV‬‬

“Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives; while they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear. Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; but let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands: even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord: whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement. Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered. Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous: not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing. For He that will love life, And see good days, Let him refrain his tongue from evil, And his lips that they speak no guile: Let him eschew evil, and do good; Let him seek peace, and ensue it. For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, And his ears are open unto their prayers: But the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.”
‭‭1 Peter‬ ‭3‬:‭1‬-‭12‬ ‭KJV‬‬

Mind, Character, and Personality, vol. 1

Section 8—Guiding Principles in Education

Chapter 37—Principles of Study and Learning

The Mind and Affections Must Be Trained—God has given reason, the mental faculties of the mind; but if left to themselves uneducated and untrained, they leave man as is revealed in the fierce heathen. The mind and affections require education and direction by teachers. It must be line upon line, and precept upon precept, to guide and train the human moral agent to work in cooperation with God. God works in the human agent by the light of His truth. The mind enlightened by the truth, sees truth in distinction from error.—Letter 135, 1898. 

Highest Culture of Mind Receives God’s Fullest Approval—The human mind is susceptible of the highest cultivation. A life devoted to God should not be a life of ignorance. Many speak against education because Jesus chose uneducated fishermen to preach His gospel. They assert that He showed preference for the uneducated. Many learned and honorable men believed His teaching. Had these fearlessly obeyed the convictions of their consciences, they would have followed Him. Their abilities would have been accepted and employed in the service of Christ, had they offered them. But they had not moral power, in face of the frowning priests and jealous rulers, to confess Christ, and venture their reputation in connection with the humble Galilean…. 

Jesus did not despise education. The highest culture of the mind, if sanctified through the love and fear of God, receives His fullest approval. The humble men chosen by Christ were with Him three years, subject to the refining influence of the Majesty of heaven. Christ was the greatest educator the world ever knew. 

God will accept the youth with their talent and their wealth of affection if they will consecrate themselves to Him. They may reach to the highest point of intellectual greatness; and if balanced by religious principle, they can carry forward the work which Christ came from heaven to accomplish, and in thus doing be coworkers with the Master.—The Review and Herald, June 21, 1877. (Fundamentals of Christian Education, 47, 48.) 

Not Satisfied With Second-rate Work—The true teacher is not satisfied with second-rate work. He is not satisfied with directing his students to a standard lower than the highest which it is possible for them to attain. He cannot be content with imparting to them only technical knowledge, with making them merely clever accountants, skillful artisans, successful tradesmen. It is his ambition to inspire them with principles of truth, obedience, honor, integrity, and purity—principles that will make them a positive force for the stability and uplifting of society. He desires them, above all else, to learn life’s great lesson of unselfish service.—Education, 29, 30 (1903). 

Mind to Be Carried Higher—I am instructed that we are to carry the minds of our students higher than it is now thought by many to be possible. Heart and mind are to be trained to preserve their purity by receiving daily supplies from the fountain of eternal truth. The Divine Mind and Hand has preserved through the ages the record of creation in its purity. It is the Word of God alone that gives to us an authentic account of the creation of our world. This Word is to be the chief study in our schools. Here we may hold converse with patriarchs and prophets; here we may learn what our redemption has cost the One who was equal with the Father from the beginning, and who sacrificed His life that a people might stand before Him redeemed from every common, earthly thing and renewed in the image of God.—Letter 64, 1909. 

True Education Combines Intellectual and Moral—The Lord has been waiting long for our teachers to walk in the light He has sent them. There is need of a humbling of self that Christ may restore the moral image of God in man. The character of the education given must be greatly changed before it can give the right mold to our institutions. It is only when intellectual and moral powers are combined for the attainment of education that the standard of the Word of God is reached.—The Review and Herald, September 3, 1908. (Fundamentals of Christian Education, 527.) 

True Piety Elevates and Refines—Our people everywhere allow their minds to take too low a range, too narrow a view. They allow the plans of human agencies to guide them and a worldly spirit to mold them, rather than Christ’s plans and Christ’s Spirit. I am instructed to say to our people, Look above the earthly to the heavenly. Numbers are no evidence of success; if they were, Satan might claim much. It is the degree of moral power that pervades our institutions, our schools, and our churches. It should be the joy of all, from the highest to the least, to represent Christ in Christlike virtues. Let all our teachers learn that true piety, love shown in obedience to God, will elevate and refine.—Letter 316, 1908. 

Thoroughness Necessary—Thoroughness is necessary to success in character building. There must be an earnest desire to carry out the plans of the Master Builder. The timbers used must be solid; no careless, unreliable work can be accepted; it would ruin the building. The whole being is to be put into this work. It demands strength and energy; there is no reserve to be wasted in unimportant matters. There must be determined human force put into the work, in cooperation with the Divine Worker. There must be earnest, persevering effort to break away from the customs and maxims and associations of the world. Deep thought, earnest purpose, steadfast integrity, are essential. There must be no idleness. Life is a sacred trust; and every moment should be wisely improved.—The Youth’s Instructor, February 19, 1903. (Our High Calling, 84.) 

https://m.egwwritings.org/en/book/77.1813#1813

Dear Heavenly Father, Thank You that we can 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 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.

Visit this link to watch today’s Sabbath service livestreamed on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/UcheePinesInstitute.  Invite your family and friends to join us online beginning at 9:15 am Eastern Time.

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DID YOU KNOW THIS…? 

And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.—Mark 12:30 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. 6: “Soups!” (Cooking Class)

*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
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.