Section 13—Personality
Chapter 65—Indolence (Part 2)
Mind to Be Trained Not to Look at Self—The mind should be trained to look away from self, to dwell upon themes which are elevated and ennobling. Let not the precious hours of life be wasted in dreaming of some great work to be performed in the future, while the little duties of the present are neglected.—The Signs of the Times, June 15, 1882.
Inaction Detrimental to Health—Invalids should not allow themselves to sink down into a state of inaction. This is highly detrimental to health. The power of the will must be asserted; aversion to active exercise and the dread of all responsibility must be conquered. They can never recover health unless they shake off this listless, dreamy condition of mind and arouse themselves to action.—The Signs of the Times, June 15, 1882.
Too Indolent to Exercise Faculties—Those who are too indolent to realize their responsibilities and exercise their faculties will fail of receiving the blessing of God, and the ability which they had will be taken away and given to the active, zealous workers who increase their talents by constant use.—Testimonies for the Church 4:458, 459 (1880).
Well-regulated Labor Essential for Success—Some young men think if they could spend a life in doing nothing they would be supremely happy. They cultivate a hatred for useful labor. They envy the sons of pleasure who devote their lives to amusement and gaiety…. Unhappiness and heartaches are the result of such thoughts and conduct. Nothing to do has sunk many a young man in perdition.
Well-regulated labor is essential for the success of every youth. God could not have inflicted a greater curse upon men and women than to doom them to live a life of inaction. Idleness will destroy soul and body. The heart, the moral character, and physical energies are enfeebled. The intellect suffers, and the heart is open to temptation as an open avenue to sink into every vice. The indolent man tempts the devil to tempt him.—Manuscript 2, 1871. (Our High Calling, 222.)
Ravages of Indolent Habits (counsel to parents)—You have been blind to the power that the enemy had over your children. Household labor, even to weariness, would not have hurt them one-fiftieth part as much as indolent habits have done. They would have escaped many dangers had they been instructed at an earlier period to occupy their time with useful labor. They would not have contracted such a restless disposition, such a desire for change and to go into society. They would have escaped many temptations to vanity and to engage in unprofitable amusements, light reading, idle talking, and nonsense. Their time would have passed more to their satisfaction and without so great temptation to seek the society of the opposite sex and to excuse themselves in an evil way. Vanity and affection, uselessness and positive sin, have been the result of this indolence.—Testimonies for the Church 4:97, 98 (1876).
To Strain Every Muscle—Man is allotted a part in this great struggle for everlasting life; he must respond to the working of the Holy Spirit. It will require a struggle to break through the powers of darkness, and the Spirit works in him to accomplish this. But man is no passive being, to be saved in indolence. He is called upon to strain every muscle and exercise every faculty in the struggle for immortality; yet it is God that supplies the efficiency.
No human being can be saved in indolence. The Lord bids us, “Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able” (Luke 13:24). “Wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Matthew 7:13, 14).—Manuscript 16, 1896.
https://m.egwwritings.org/en/book/78.1201#1211
Dear Heavenly Father, Thank You for the power and encouragement to establish and practice the very best of habits. Please bless us to always keep our priorities in order and find joy in doing our best and choicest work for You. Please bless us to steadfastly share the gospel so that it inspires cheerful obedience and sets free those captive to debasing habits. Please grant to us that strength of abiding faith, which produces good works of service and continual contentment. Bless us with a submissive heart to Your Holy Spirit that we might love and be merciful and compassionate toward others, according to Your divine purpose. Through the power of Your Holy Spirit, please bless us to lay hold on eternity and in this world be exactly all You would have us be. Please grant to us the mind and love and faith of Jesus that others might be drawn to You eternally through how we live and what we say, especially in the most trying of circumstances. 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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DO THIS…
Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the LORD.—Palms 34:11 KJV
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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, October 29: “Defeat High Blood Pressure”
*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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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.