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Mind, Character, and Personality Volume 1
These unhappy traits of character, with a strong, set will, must
be corrected and reformed, or they will eventually cause you both to
make shipwreck of your faith.—
Testimonies for the Church 1:708,
709
(1868).
Dwell Not on Satan’s Power—It is by beholding that we become
changed. By dwelling upon the love of God and our Saviour, by
contemplating the perfection of the divine character and claiming the
righteousness of Christ as ours by faith, we are to be transformed into
the same image. Then let us not gather together all the unpleasant
pictures—the iniquities and corruptions and disappointments, the evi-
dences of Satan’s power—to hang in the halls of our memory, to talk
over and mourn over until our souls are filled with discouragement.
A discouraged soul is a body of darkness, not only failing himself
to receive the light of God but shutting it away from others. Satan
loves to see the effect of the pictures of his triumphs, making human
beings faithless and disheartened.—
Testimonies for the Church 5:744,
745
(1889).
[338]
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