The author attended City Harvest Church’s Emerge Conference, a youth event held between July 13 and 15.

Wu Yuzhuang, the pastor who oversees Emerge, delivered an encouraging message on a virtually unknown Bible character, Shamgar.

Titling his sermon “The Man with a Wooden Stick”, Wu referred the audience to Shamgar in Judges 5:6. Shamgar came from a pagan people and he was a farmer. His only asset was an ox goad – a long piece of wood used to guide oxen.

“The ox goad is not a weapon of war,” Wu said, explaining that Shamgar was an ordinary man that God used to wipe out 600 Philistine warriors.

HOW DID SHAMGAR RECEIVE GOD’S ANOINTING?

Shamgar means to “hear and obey”. Wu inferred that Shamgar was a man given to praying and hearing the voice of God.

“Prayer is like breathing to our spiritual life,” Wu elaborated, “the more you pray, the larger you become on the inside.”

When a person prays, he may see the dreams and visions God gives to him. He will begin to step out of the realm of limitations, into the realm of possibilities.

For Shamgar was also audacious. Wu imagined how Shamgar’s neighbours might have reacted when they found out that he wanted to fight the Philistines. They would have discouraged him and told him that he was just one man – that they needed a real leader like Joshua.

“You will hear that all your life,” warned Wu. “Whenever you desire to do something great for God, the cynics will say, ‘What can you do? You are only one man or woman, you are only a youth.’”

Prayer is like breathing to our spiritual life

Wu told the youths that to have faith is to have the capacity to take risks, even in the face of possible failure. He told stories of his own failures as a youth, how the first evangelistic meeting he conducted with his cell group was a flop, and how badly he prayed and preached the first time he did it in front of a crowd.

“But it takes courage to see a revival in your campus,” Wu encouraged. “Step out in faith and face your fears. If you’re not willing to take on the odds, you will never do anything great with your life.”

Another great quality Shamgar possessed was his emphasis on being anointed.

Reading 1 Samuel 10:26, Wu highlighted the fact that among these men that went with Saul, there was a group “whose hearts God has touched.”

“When a person experiences a touch of God, an ordinary man can become a mighty deliverer!” declared Wu. “A young shepherd like David can slay the mighty Goliath!”

He continued that although Saul was appointed as king of Israel, he was not anointed. On the other hand, David was anointed. Anointed by God, David did great works for Him in his lifetime.

Like David, Shamgar also went for the anointing. Wu turned his attention to the ox goad that Shamgar used as a weapon: “It was a three-meter stick, a very clumsy weapon. It was all Shamgar had, it was all that God put in his hands,” Wu said. “It doesn’t matter what is in your hands, but who is using it.”

The pastor challenged the youth, “What has God put into your hand? Are you willing to let God anoint it? Are you willing to pray until the anointing comes?”

It doesn’t matter what is in your hands, but who is using it.

God always use the hands of the willing, Wu told the congregation. Shamgar was willing to leave his home, his farm and his family to fight the Philistines.

“The opposite of willingness is stubbornness, and God can’t work through a stubborn person,” Wu said.

Wu told the youth that in his 21 years of ministry, he learned that it is difficult to find a willing Christian. Many Christians are full of excuses why they cannot serve.

Wu said, “If God can find just one willing person, He can bring a great revival in that generation.”

Shamgar also had persistence. He did not kill those 600 Philistines at one go. He did it one at a time, over weeks and months.
“For Shamgar, there was no shortcut,” the pastor pointed out. “No matter how long it took, Shamgar gave it his all. And how many of you know that persistence will always outlast persecution?”

Wu closed by encouraging the youths to be Shamgars of their generation. Even if they do not have much, he said, God can use them as long as they are willing.

This article was published on Citynews’ website, and is republished with permission.