As
Used by the Prophets of Old.
That word "Heaven" is perhaps the most
misunderstood
word in
the Bible. In the original Greek text, the word used for it is OURANOS
which, translated literally, means EXPANSION. And what is expansion? It
is increasing, spreading out, multiplying, is it not? "Seek ye first
the Kingdom of EXPANSION, and all these things shall be added unto
you." Seek a place or a state of being where you can expand, grow,
increase, multiply, bring forth fruit.
This idea is further strengthened by Jesus' own
description
of what the Kingdom of Heaven is like. "The Kingdom of Heaven is like a
grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field; which
indeed is the least of all seeds, but when it is grown, it is the
greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air
come and lodge in the branches thereof." "The Kingdom of Heaven is like
unto leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal,
until the whole was leavened."
What is the property of a mustard seed?
It spreads a single seed
will grow into a tree, a single tree will produce enough seed to plant
a great field. And what is the property of leaven or yeast?
It expands in a single night
it can expand a hundred times in size.
Go back over any of the miracles of increase in
the
Bible and
see if they are not all miracles of EXPANSION. How did Elijah make the
oil and meal last, so that one measure of oil and a little meal fed him
and the widow and her soon for an indefinite period? How did Elisha
increase the pot of oil for that other widow who came to him to saver
her son from bondage, so that she had enough to fill all the vessels
she could borrow from her neighbors?
By EXPANDING them, did they not? And how can you
expand
things? We know of only two methods :
1 By PRESSURE from within.
2 By HEAT.
If you want to expand something elastic, you can
blow
air or
liquid into it and thus force it up under pressure, or you can push it
out with your hands. But that sort of expansion lasts only as long as
the pressure is applied.
To produce INCREASE, expansion must come from
within
the
object itself, just as it comes from within every seed that grows. Such
expansion comes only from HEAT. To expand water, for instance, you heat
it until it becomes steam, and from that expanded vapor, you can get
power to do greater work that thousands of men or hundreds of horses
could do.
If you want to expand metal, you bring it to a
white
heat,
and while in that state, you can make of it anything your skill can
contrive.
If you want to expand coal, and draw from it the
rich
gases
and coal tar and dyes and other derivatives hidden under its hard
exterior, you have only to heat it. If you want to expand a seed of
corn or wheat or any fruit or vegetable, and have it grow and bring
forth fruit and multiply, you must plant and water it so it will heat
and burst its shell and send its shoots upward. In short, the one
prerequisite to the expansion of almost any element from within seems
to be HEAT.
But how can we use heat to expand our riches?
Should we
then
throw everything into the fire and hope to get our increase from the
flames? By no means. Certainly that was not the way Jesus did it. Nor
the Prophets.
They used heat, but it was a different kind of
heat. It
was
the heat of LOVE, of PRAISE and BLESSING, fanned by the breath of
FAITH. Take the time, for instance, when the multitudes had followed
Jesus out of the cities into a desert place. In front of Him stood
5,000 hungry people. To feed them, Jesus had only five loaves and two
small fishes. What did He do?
He first BLESSED the bread and the fishes. He
PRAISED
them.
He THANKED God for them.
You who have worked with people especially
with
children or simple-minded folk know the effects of praise.
Children expand under it. They do things they would otherwise find
impossible. It seems to increase their energy. Certainly it taps
well-springs that are ordinarily closed to them. The same is true in
the handling of animal or people.
A famous Sales Manager was having difficulty with
his
men.
Their sales had slumped, and all his "prep" talks, his urgings, his
threats, had failed to bring them up again. He put up a large electric
sign in the main corridor of his building, where everyone who came
through would see it: "The salesman whose work has been most
outstanding this week is..."
Immediately the sales jumped, and from that week
on he
never
had to worry about a slump again.
How does this apply to inanimate things? The
answer is that there are no inanimate things. Science today shows us
that everything is full of life. Inside the apparently inert lump of
lead or iron are tiny atoms of whirling energy, dashing here and there,
bounding and rebounding and circling around like miniature solar
systems, with a rapidity to which the speed of an aeroplane is as
nothing. The mass as a mass may be quiet, but inside is boundless
energy.
Where there is ceaseless energy, there is Life.
Where
movement is orderly and seemingly in accord with a well-laid plan,
there is bound to be Intelligence. And where there is Intelligence,
there must be RESPONSIVENESS.
It is this Responsiveness on the part of
everything in
life
that makes it possible for you to prove the truth of the Scriptural
promise that man should have DOMINION over the earth and over
everything upon or under the earth.
How can you exercise that domination? Not by
force. Not
even
by prayer. But by PRAISE!
As Charles Fillmore puts it "There is an
inherent
law
of mind that we INCREASE whatever we PRAISE. The whole of creation
responds to praise, and is glad. Animal trainers pet and reward their
charges with delicacies for acts of obedience; children glow with joy
and gladness when they are praised. Even vegetation grows better for
those who love it. We can praise our own ability, and the very brain
cells will expand and increase in capacity and intelligence, when we
speak words of encouragement and appreciation to them."
God gave you dominion over the earth.
Everything is your
servant, but remember it is said in the Scriptures that God brought
every beast and fowl to Adam, to see
what he would call them. You are like Adam in this, that you can
give to everything and everybody you come in contact with the name you
like. You can call them good or bad. And whatever you call them, that
is what they will be to you good servants or evil ones. You can
praise or curse them, and as you do, so will they be to you.
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