In Biblical times for both the Old and New Testaments, all of the societies lived in agrarian conditions.  Agriculture, animal husbandry, and fishing were the major means of production and sustenance to all of the people.  The different lessons taught by God in the Bible are connected to or referenced to the fields of agriculture, fishing, and husbandry.  Still to this day, the lessons all make sense to the masses of people because, even with all of the technological advances we enjoy and use today, people can still envision and understand how seeds are sown and how they grow to yield an abundant quantity of harvest.  Understanding how things germinate and grow through sowing, cultivating and harvesting is the very basis of understanding what God was saying to us through all of the stories, analogies, and parables He spoke throughout the Bible.

Everything within agricultural operations deals with patterns, seasons, ordered activities, and planned cyclical work and rest periods.  All of these related activities are repeated annually at generally the same times or seasons throughout the year.  The overall theme of activities is (1) Soil Preparation, (2) Sowing, (or Planting), (3) Cultivating, (or Weeding), and (4) Harvesting (or Reaping).  The overall mission statement is “Sow Abundantly in order to Reap Abundantly.”  Pretty simple guidelines for growth, wouldn’t you agree?  That is usually the way that God does things.  He does them in His Simple Way, so that His methods can be done or performed by anybody, anywhere, anytime.  God is no respecter of persons.  His same rules of physics work for everybody, all of the time……But so do His Laws of Success.

Come with me now, let’s take a little stroll through pastures of your mental meadows and think a little “outside the planter box.”  I will leave the “gate” open in the fences of limitations-of-your-own-mind so as to enable you to wander as often and as far as you would like.  Walk with me.  If for any reason you get lost or wander too far off the beaten path, just stop where you are, drop to your knees, and ask God for help in getting you back on the correct pathway.  He will be glad to do it!

What if God in all of His Infinite Wisdom was trying to tell us more…much more….than about how seeds are to be sown in the ground and cultivated so as to produce an above-the-ground harvest.

What if God was ALSO trying to give us a foreshadow,  a sneak-peek, if you will, of how each of our individual minds (brains) work in concert with our own personal thoughts, efforts, work habits, and related accomplishments.  NOW that would really be something wouldn’t it?

Well dear friends, I personally believe that that is exactly what our Creator God was indeed telling us as He shared His Law of Sowing and Reaping.  Man got it half-right…He got the part that took no faith…right.  He got the part that everyone could see,… right.  He got the part above the ground… right.

But he missed the “UNSEEN” part.  He missed the part that takes place inside of his own brain,….the part that requires exercising increased levels of faith to begin to understand.

I believe we can all agree that a person’s brain is their most vital and powerful organ.  It is sort of like a control center.  It is like a command center.  It is the place where all thoughts are initiated.  It is the communication device through which we all pray and talk with our Heavenly Father God.

Napoleon Hill studied, for over twenty years, all of the great successful people of the world as well as the great failures.  He learned from first hand experience what the greatest achievers did to accomplish their individual purposes and also what they learned to avoid.  Here is just a little of what Mr. Hill had to say about the human brain….the human mind:

“The mind of man would lead all other miracles of life if they were described in the order of their importance,….because….. the mind is the instrument through which man relates himself to all things and circumstances that effect or influence his life.

The mind is the citadel of the soul….. It is the switchboard, so to speak, through which man may tune in and communicate directly with the great universal reservoir of Infinite Intelligence (i.e. God) and draw wherefrom the answers to all of his problems; the way of fulfillment of all his hopes, dreams, and aspirations.

The mind is the one and only thing over which The Creator has given man the complete right of control;

The mind was intended for man’s exclusive use; that it is the most important of all the gifts of The Creator, and the means by which man may control the major portion of his earthly destiny.”

I would point out to you that I am in full agreement with what Mr. Hill has to say.  After over twenty years of study, examination, personal interviews and observation of the world’s most successful men and women, I would like to think he definitely knows what he is talking about.

The power of desire within the human heart, becomes a very strong force when coupled with personal suggestion (dreams and goals) and supported by strong belief (faith).  The whole idea meshes into the agrarian concept of a major production (reaping) of a harvest.

Let us examine the sowing or planting of vegetable or flower seeds and compare that to the initiating of a new thought, dream or idea in to the human mind.

Once the soil is properly prepared and the tiny seeds are placed in it, it is but a short time until the seeds germinate, put forth tiny roots and sprouts begin to appear.  The moment they start upward through the soil in search of light, sunshine, and moisture, any and all obstacles mean nothing to them.  The sprouts and roots will push aside small stones, hard clods or bits of wood, and if they can’t do that, they will extend themselves and grow around them.  They are determined to emerge from the ground.  Plants from these roots will blossom and give forth fruit, vegetables, or flowers, and they succeed unless some greater force destroys them. 

Although no man knows all of God’s secrets, particularly as relates to the sowing of seeds and what really causes them to sprout and grow, we may observe the seed buried for a long time in the dark gradually expanding and exerting itself until it becomes a thing of beauty or usefulness.  You cultivate that seed, attend it, give it sunshine and water, and it grows into full life.  Remember it always produces after its own kind regardless of whether the seed is single and simple, or hybrid and complex.

And so goes the same process with your own thoughts and mental suggestions that you impart from your conscious mind into your subconscious mind.

The result will be pure or complex, depending upon the original seed and the attention which you give it.  In other words, plant the right kind of seed—thought of a pure strain—and habitually feed it with strong affirmative thought always directed towards the same end, and it will grow into a mighty force, finding ways and means of overcoming all obstacles.

It will reach forth with its roots to find more food on which to grow and expand its foliage to gather more sunshine.

This is the way things work….the way God has designed them to work in every person’s brain regardless of race, color, creed or sex.

May I urge you to understand how your mind really works,…and then put it to work for you and your own benefit,….. all for the glory of God!

Peace and Love to All of You…………. Poppa Bear