Your Daily Dose
Theme: Sometimes, You Gotta Take It Personal
Scripture : II Samuel 23:11-12
And after him was Shammah, the son of Agree, the Hararite. And the Philistines
were gathered together into a troop, where there was a piece of ground full of
lentils: and the people fled from the Philistines. But he stood in the midst of the
ground, and defended it, and slew the Philistines; the Lord wrought a great
victory!
Points To Ponder
This is one of my favorite short stories in the Old Testament. Shammah only got
mentioned once in the Scriptures, but this story just screams that he deserves to
be known. Here is a man who had had enough. Every year, the Philistines came
through their country and—took their Lentiles! It got to the point that the people
just ran, knowing they could not do anything to stop them. But at some point, my
boy Shammah had had enough!
He declared “Not on MY property you won’t!” and he stood his ground. He
defended what was his!
Shammah took it personal!
When’s the last time you took it personal!
I will tell you that the first time I preached this message, I told the congregation
that we needed to quit praying for souls. We needed to call them by name!
I yelled out that night “Lord, I am standing up for Joe! I will not let the Philistines
have him—It’s personal!”
Joe was my older brother who had lost his only child to a drunk driver. He was
angry at God and he didn’t want anything to do with church or us because we
were in church, serving the Lord!
As God is my witness…
One week after I preached this sermon, Joe showed up at our church, in the back
row…and he kept coming, until one day, he asked if he could work with the
children…he came alive and started an outreach program called NITRO
(Neighbors Involved Thru Reaching Out). It was a Saturday Sunday School in the
underprivileged neighborhoods around our church.
Joe thrived in NITRO.
NITRO was blessed by Joe.
It helped him heal.
All because I declared that day “You’re not taking my brother! I claim JOE for
JESUS!”
Who do you want to make it personal for?
Take a minute and think “specific” and claim “personal!”
It can make a difference in a life!
Let’s Pray Together
Dear Jesus…remind me that I need to take it personal. Like Shammah, I need to
stand my ground, fight the enemy for my lentils and show the enemy that I will
not let them have my loved ones. I take a moment right now to declare that (name
the person) is claimed for Jesus—I take it personal! I will stand in the gap for this
specific soul because you know them by name!
Thank you for hearing my prayer,
Amen