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All of us are familiar with the fact that the Word of God being placed within our mind works very similar to a seed being planted in a ground. There are numerous references in scripture comparing spiritual things to growing plants from seeds. Jesus said if you just had faith "AS a grain of a mustard seed..." and James commanded us to receive the word of God with meekness "engrafted" in our hearts. Of Jesus' 35 parables, 9 of them have to do with plants or seeds. In Matthew chapter 9, Jesus spent an entire day teaching parables having to do with sowing seeds and perhaps one of His most well-known, the parable of the sower. I will give you a brief overview of the parable of the sower because I want to move to the step beyond it.

In the parable of the sower, Jesus likened the preached or taught Word of God to a seed being sown by a sower. Our mind was the ground and different types of ground represented the various steps that a person goes through before being blessed by the Word of God. The first ground was "wayside" ground and that represented when someone hears the Word of God but does not understand what they have heard. The devil has "snatched" the Word of God and away and the seed has fallen by the side of the good ground. The second ground was "stony" ground, and represented when a person receives the Word of God and it begins to grow but then they give in to persecution and quit serving God. The seed has fallen upon stony ground because no roots were able to be established. The third ground was the "thorny" ground and was when someone receives the Word of God and it begins to grow only to allow the cares of life or to get to busy for the things of God and so the Word of God is choked out and dies. The last ground was the "good ground" and when the seed fell into that particular ground, it brought forth much fruit!

This is a very important parable and we will all go through these steps every time that we hear a promise from God's Word preached or taught to us! When you hear that God will or can do something, the Word of God enters the ground of your mind. The devil will immediately try to plant confusion so that you do not understand. If you get past that, then the devil will bring persecution against you. If you hold fast and keep believing in the Word of God, then the devil will try to get you so busy and concerned with other things that the cares of life will choke out any effect the Word of God had. But when you get past those things, the Word of God falls upon the good ground and you begin to see the bountiful blessings of God to develop into your life!

Don't fall for the trap of not understanding, but seek to understand God's Word! Don't allow persecution or the cares of this life to force you into not being productive, because let me tell you the secret of the parable of the sower that the devil would rather you not realize! The seed of the Word of God cannot fail! As long as you understand it, it always grows! It's not going to be like popping microwave popcorn where there is a few kernels left unpopped in the bottom of the bag! But every nugget and promise in God's Word is powerful and will grow when planted into your mind! You have just got to understand it and hold on to it! When God says that He will never leave you nor forsake you, then as long as you hold on to that promise, it will be true in your life! If God said that the Holy Ghost was to "all flesh" then as long as you hold on to that promise, it will begin to come true in your and your families' lives! If God said that He was a healer, and that no sickness was beyond His ability to fix, then hold on to it, and as long as you do, God will begin to heal! If God said that He would send us power to be witnesses after the Holy Ghost had come upon us, then He will as long as we hold on to the seed of the Word of God! What the devil doesn't want you to realize is that as long as you understand and hold on to it, the Word of God is a "can't miss" deal! The Word of God cannot help but to begin to bring forth fruit in our lives!

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But let's go beyond that parable and get to where we live as Christians day in and day out. You see after the plant is growing and after the fruit begins to show, there is still some time before the ripening and then comes time for the harvesting! And the devil doesn't give up then. But He has a vendetta against the church, a grudge match if you will and he loves nothing more than to come in and try to "spoil" the harvest. Do you know what "spoil" means? Not the "spoil" like veggies going bad, but to "spoil" as in an army "spoils" a city by taking all the valuables of the conquered city. It means "to strip or remove all of the worthy possessions of an enemy." Time and time again, we find that the enemies of the people of God would try to "spoil" them and come in just long enough to steal everything valuable and of worth. They knew that they could get "into the minds" of God's people with a spoiling raid every now and then.

Let me just say that the enemy still comes against the people of God like this. In Colossians 2:8, Paul warned the church in Collose' to beware the enemy coming in like this:

If you listen to the philosophies of men and what they say to do rather than the Word of God, then it can "spoil you" by taking away the power of everything that God wants to give you! They will tell you not to trust in the name of Jesus! They will tell you that you don't need to be baptized in the name of Jesus. They will tell you that you don't need the Holy Ghost and if you listen to them you will never know the life changing experience of the power of the blood of Jesus and His Spirit living within you! Don't listen to them, they are just trying to spoil what God wants to do in your life!

You see the devil is not the only one who can spoil in the Spirit. Jesus Christ spoiled him at Calvary and took back every thing that the devil had stolen from Him! The Lord beat the devil at his best game! That's why the devil hates you and I who are baptized in Jesus' name and have the blood applied to our lives because we are some of the people that God has stolen away from him! Don't think for a minute that the devil has the best interests of any human being at heart. But with the devil it is even a more personal agenda against you and I! He knows that he cannot take away the power of the blood of Jesus or the Spirit of God so his last ditch effort to discourage you is to wait until you have fought through not understanding. To wait until you have overcome persecution and the cares of life and have already gotten excited because you see the harvest of God's blessings coming. And then the devil likes to come in and swipe your harvest right before you are able to reap the fruit! He knows that nothing discourages you more than grabbing your promise just as you had begun to rejoice about receiving it! The devil doesn't mind you hearing and obeying the Word of God. He really doesn't even mind you rejoicing a little bit at the first sign of the promises of God coming true in your life AS LONG AS he can come in right before the harvest and steal your blessing from you! He is a deceiver and a spoiler and he wants to steal your joy!

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And so we come to the story of Shammah in our text. Shammah is not a very famous person. He was an ordinary Israelite in the time of King David. Shammah was a part of David's army but he relied upon his farm to feed his family and to make it in life. The Philistines were the enemy in those days and they troubled the people of God because they had a sword monopoly. They were the only ones who knew how to make and form iron. David eventually defeated them through God's help, but their armies were a terror in that time. Now get this: the Philistines knew that they were not strong enough to win an all out battle against the army. They knew that they could fortify and take over the land, what they began to do was wait until it was harvest time. Wait until the Hebrews had done all of the plowing and hoeing and tending and watering. Wait until the Hebrews had even done most of the reaping and then come in and "spoil them" and take away their precious harvest. Then they would go away long enough to allow the Hebrews to plant and cultivate something else and then come in again at harvest time and "spoil it."

And this had been happening to Shammah! He had no doubt spent hours plowing with oxen and hoeing by hand the tough, rocky soil of Judea. He and his family had worked long hours into the night forming rows and planting the seeds. They had weeded and cultivated and watered tirelessly for months. And as he would look out over his fields, Shammah realized that it was going to be a great crop. And then just at harvest time, a garrison of Philistines would come in and take away the hard-earned crop from them and spoil them and Shammah's relatives and servants would run in terror only to come back to a worthless field full of stripped bean plants and would dejectedly begin to plow and plant again knowing that the enemy was very likely to do the same thing.

There is something about Shammah that you need to know. His very name means "desolate," or "barren." It signifies that this stealing of the fruit of his labor had been going on a long time. But his daddy's name was Agee which means "I shall increase." His dad had been a Hararite which means "mountain dweller." Not only was Shammah's efforts at reaping the harvest being stolen away but he lived haunted by the tales of how great his dad had been and the stories of living on top of the mountain drove him to not give up and still press on in his planting and reaping.

But one day, the day that we read about in our text, everything changed. The Bible says that Shammah and his family and servants were out in the bean field. And the field was "full of lentiles." God had blessed them with a great harvest but their excitement at reaping the blessings of God quickly gave in to discouragement when they looked up and over the horizon saw a whole army of Philistines coming to spoil their crop. Just like they had done time and time before, they began to run for their lives, but something got into Shammah. Something in his mind snapped and I don't know if it was just desperation or great faith, but Shammah said to himself: "Everybody else may run, but I've left my bean field for the last time." I don't know what he grabbed or what he had to fight with. Maybe just the handle of a plow or maybe he had a sword by his side or something that he was using to reap the beans. But the scriptures say that Shammah stood his ground, refused to leave, and GOD began to help him! It was one man against a whole Philistine army but when it was all over, all of the Philistines were dead, Shammah was still standing and the harvest was still there!

Now you listen to me: I know what it feels like to be in Shammah's shoes! I know what it is like to stand on the promises of God and see them about to come to pass in my life when all of a sudden it seems the enemy rushes in and steals my victory. I know what it is like to put hours and even months and years into someone only to see them walk away. I know what it is like to reach a new level of anointing and power in the Spirit only to seemingly have my feet knocked from under me by the adversary. And I'm preaching to some people that know the same feeling. That feeling of dread that gets you scared to plant any of God's promises into your life and makes you afraid of stepping out with real faith because you are afraid of getting your hopes up at the prospect of harvest and then have everything that you have worked for suddenly taken away.

But tonight, the spirit that came over Shammah so many years ago in a lentile patch has come upon me! I've got news for the devil: "I've left my bean field for the last time!" I refuse to run! I refuse to give in to discouragement and despair and believe the lies that the great anointing and outpouring of God's Spirit is not for me to see in this area! I see the fields ripe with harvest! I see the hungry souls out there! I will not run or become discouraged! I will continue to step out in faith and I will fight! I don't care how much of the enemy comes against me and I really do not care if anyone else gets the same attitude! I've left my bean field for the last time! And if that attitude worked for Shammah in the Old Testament, then what more will my God do for one of Spirit-filled children today!? I refuse to be intimidated by anything the enemy shows me or brings my way! I'm going to stand and God will give me victory!

I'm preaching to some Christians tonight that you have been on the verge of total victory so many times and had it snatched away that you have questioned whether or not it is really God's will for you reap a harvest. You've thought to yourself "well, maybe God doesn't want to use me to bring people to church." or "well maybe God can't use me in the Gifts of the Spirit or in praying through someone to the Holy Ghost!" But that is a lie from the pits of hell! The truth is that you have stopped pushing in the Spirit or stopped witnessing or stopped praying for the blessings of God at the first sign of adversity or when it seemed like things weren't as easy as you had thought! Nobody said that it was going to be easy to reap a harvest, but it is still God's will! Get those thoughts out of your mind forever! Get the attitude of Shammah: "God wants me to have a harvest, and God has put me here. So I know that there is a lot of them and only one of me, but I'm going to stand my ground!" "I've left my bean field for the last time!" I wonder what would happen if God could get past those fears of his people of the unknown? I wonder what could happen if God could really get through to you that He wants to use you as a mighty harvester to bring souls into the kingdom of God? I wonder what would happen if we would all grab hold of the attitude of Shammah and make up our minds: "no matter what happens, even if I die, I've left my bean field for the last time!" It may just be beans, but they are what God has promised me and I refuse to allow the enemy take what God has said is rightfully mine!

Don't give in too easy! Apostolic revival and miracles and signs and wonders and healings and victory is yours for the taking! Don't let the devil just come in and take it away! Shammah! fight! God will fight with you! But you've got to get the attitude that "I will not run any more! I will fight and either die or have victory!"

Too many Christians think that they do not have enough to fight with! But one person with God is enough! All Shammah had was a piece of a plow or an old hoe, but you and I have the blood of Jesus, the power of His name, and the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God! The devil cannot stand against us if we will just fight! When you read about the armor of the Spirit in Ephesians you will find that Paul said we have a piece of armor covering every major part of your body except for one area: your back! You are never more vulnerable than when you run from trouble! But you are never more powerful than when you stand and fight! Maybe that's why the scriptures about fighting against the devil say:

You have the equipment but what are your orders? To stand! Do not run! Do not doubt! Do not waver! Do not check to see how many others are living for God with you! Do not count the size of the enemy or discouragement and then make up your mind! But stand! Get the attitude of Shammah: "I've left my place of harvest for the last time!" "Devil if you want to steal the blessings that God has given me, then you are going to have to fight," and then dive off into the battle with all of your heart, and midway through the battle you will notice that somebody is helping you! I don't know how exactly God gave Shammah the victory that day but I like to think that maybe God sent an angelic army to help fight. Maybe Shammah couldn't see them, but he could see the men falling from their swords. I wonder how far into the battle it was before Shammah realized that there wore more of the enemy slain than he had had an opportunity to kill!?! I'm telling somebody: God has said for us to have a harvest and an Apostolic revival! Don't worry about other people, and don't worry about God just dive into the battle and stick to your ground and somewhere during the heat of the fight you will realize that you are not alone! God is fighting along side of you! God will ALWAYS help someone with the attitude of Shammah! I've left my bean field for the last time!

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In our other text, Peter showed that he had the same attitude of Shammah:

The curious thing about Peter's situation and Shammah's story is that God allowed the devil and the Philistines to come in and raid. God could have just killed all of the Philistines with a snap of a finger. He could bind up the devil with just one measly angel, but God for some reason allows the devil to continue to go on "spoiling raids." Why? It is not because God is trying to beat up His children, but it is because of two reasons: First, God loves to see human beings who were the ones tricked at first by Satan wreak havoc in the enemies' camp! God loves to see someone who was bound to the vices of this world praise and worship God and give God everything because it gives the devil a sucker punch in the jaw! Actually the scriptural terminology that God told Eve was that our "heel would bruise his head." That's the only reason that God allowed the devil to stay in the world was to serve as a punching bag for overcomers! God wanted you to have an opportunity to defeat your enemy!

The second reason is that God wants to see how important your harvest is to you! You see God loved others that He came down to earth and gave His life. We will never be like Him until we get a burden for other people. God allows the devil to come in and fight to see how important winning other people and the harvest is to you! What's your attitude when the devil seemingly wins somebody that was coming to church? Is it "oh well it was just a bean field anyway?" Or does it get you fighting mad in the Spirit? Does it get you to a place where you want to pray and fast and worship until Satan's entire kingdom is destroyed in this town and county? How much does the harvest mean to you? Is it easier to run and plant again or does it make you willing to fight?

I can't answer for you, but the attitude of Shammah has gotten hold of me! I'm sick of losing people and seeing people bound to their sin and not being set free! I refuse to run and then try to plant another harvest. I do not care whether it seems that the people that I have tried to reach in the past or interested or not, I will fight hell for them! These are the people that God has put into our lives, and now is the time for a harvest! I will not wait until another group of interested people come in, but I will choose to fight here and now! It's important to me! I have left my bean field for the last time!

You see bad things happening in your life do not necessarily mean that you are out of the will of God! But it is never the will of God to run! Now get this and never forget it: you can never really destroy the devil and the enemy of your soul unless you really hate him! To really run him ragged, to really beat him soundly into defeat, you need to fed up with his raids and deceits! So when bad things happen in our lives, it is often God trying to stir up a little "righteous indignation" within us and try to get us to hate sin so much that we will fight! God is trying to get you out of your comfort zone of do nothing and is saying "come on, what are you going to do? Allow the devil come in and take everything that you've dreamed about and worked for, or are you going to fight!?" Come on and get the attitude of Shammah. It is never the will of God to run, so I will fight, and I will do so with the passion of being sick and tired of losing what God has for me can bring! I will not stop at saving the harvest, but will continue until I utterly destroy the enemy in my life! Christian you have the most powerful weapons available in the Spirit world, now pick up your weapons and fight! Don't give in to the intimidation of the enemy! Stand and fight -- God will give you the victory!

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I could go on and on with other example from the Bible and history that illustrate how that God will bless someone who will stand their ground and fight! It was not until Gideon got tired of threshing in secret behind the barn just enough food for his family to live on, that God was able to get his attention and get him to fight! The enemy was doing the same thing to him that it was doing to Shammah, but finally Gideon got fed up with it enough to step out in faith. God helped him defeat an entire army just by blowing trumpets and showing lanterns!

Don't fall for the same trap: Don't think that your walk with God has got to be a constant scrounging for spiritual food and you've got to get just enough victory to make it from Sunday to Sunday! No, God has never intended for His people to live that way! God has brought you to a promised land that is overflowing with bountiful blessings, but Gideon, you've got to mad enough to fight! Stop trying to just make it and go to experiencing the overflowing blessings of God! How? Stand and fight! Make up your mind that you've left your harvest for the last time!!

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Many of you are excited because of the Word tonight, but you are also a little timid because you have left services before pumped up for Jesus and then experienced defeat. So instead of giving you many other instances of scripture where God cam through for someone who was willing to stand and fight, I'd like to close with this thought:

All of us are familiar with that story of the children of Israel's victory over Jericho. We like the story of how they marched for seven days around the walls and then on the seventh day with shout, the walls fell flat. We probably are also familiar with the fact that Jericho was the first city of the promised land to be conquered and as such God demanded that all of the spoils of war, the gold, silver, fabrics, food, cattle, and everything else in the city was to be His. All of the rest of the cities, the children of Israel would get to keep the stuff, but Jericho was God's tithes! So God commanded a special curse to be put upon anyone who kept some of the stuff for themselves. All obeyed except one man named Achan. He took some gold, silver, and a few coats and hid them under the floor of his tent.

The next city to conquer was the little city of Ai. The army was so small that Joshua only sent 3,000 men to take the city. But as they attacked the city, God caused a great fear to come upon them and they began to run for their lives. Before it was all over just under 40 Israelites had been killed and the small army of Ai had wrought a great victory over the mighty army that had taken Jericho.

God eventually revealed to Joshua who had sinned and once Achan was killed and the stuff returned to God, they were able to go get victory against Ai. This time, Joshua took a few hundred men and sent them by night to the back of the city. Then the next morning the main army attacked again the front of the city. The little army, rushed out and the Israelite army began to act like they were running away. The little army of Ai got so excited because they thought they were winning that every man of the region began to chase the Israelites and they even left the town gates wide open! The several hundred men of Israel waltzed in the gates without any fighting and set fire to the city. When the retreating main army saw the smoke from the city they turned and began to fight! They wiped out the entire army and Ai, the scene of an earlier defeat became a great victory.

There are three points that I want you to learn from this story! The first is that the earlier defeat setup the victory for them! The enemy was lulled into thinking that they would win easily again. The second point is that it was sin that caused the fear to fight to come over them and cause them to run in the first place. The third point I want you to notice is that is was the army "behind" the enemy that actually slipped into the city and brought victory because when the armies in the field saw the smoke, it brought fear and retreat to the army of Ai and encouragement and strength to Israel! With those three things in mind I would like to plant a promise within you from the book of Isaiah:

Notice that the first call is to repent. To get all things sinful out of your life. And when you do so, the scripture says, you will not flee or go by "flight." We need to realize that sin is what causes us to have fear when facing the enemy and what causes us to doubt God's Word! That is why we must not disobey the scripture! We must obey everything in God's Word. If you are constantly facing doubt, then you need to check to make sure that you are not willfully sinning! We will all accidentally sin some times but willfull sin will always cause us to run from the enemy.

But the best part of this promise is that if we will get sin out of our life and stand and not run away, that the "God of Israel will be your rereward!" Do you know what a "rereward is?" It means to cover the backside! It means that God says "I got your back!" The Living Bible says "God of Israel will protect you from behind!" That means that you may be running from the enemy now, but if you will repent and get everything right with God, then as you are running from the enemy, God will slip into the enemies stronghold and take the city! He will win your victory from the backside! And when you see the smoke of the enemies strongholds, you will know that God has given you the victory and your enemy will be an easy target for defeat! But you've got to turn around and stop running! Do not lose hope: You're earlier defeats have just set up a great victory in your life!

Get the attitude of Shammah, and Gideon, and Joshua: I've left my harvest and my fruits to the raiding of the enemy long enough! I will not run, but I will fight and God will give the victory! I've left my bean field for the last time!