The air was clean and the westward breeze had just begun to settle in; Thresher was still glancing at the mobilization order on the table. He had been in the army only for three months now. He was being called out to war! Not just any war, this one was going to be a game changer. For the last seventeen months, several aid workers had been held captive in a hostile zone. The army in the vicinity; the tenth infantry had been commissioned to get the prisoners out before the hostiles kill their prisoners. These aid workers had been the key to bringing normalcy with the absence of racial discrimination among the native population in the region and it is critical that they continue their work without hindrances. Although, it seems to present the view of a straight forward infantry battle, the city has been controlled by ten deadly machine gun units perched at vantage points; Special D units from companies called PD, LT, UF, GD and SD.

Thresher and his class had studied the combat capabilities of these soldiers. They were more than a match for any ground operation strategies. The only way to destroy them was to call an air strike; however, the aid workers are scattered throughout the city and the risk of killing them is far greater. It would be up to Thresher to sneak up and eliminate these units. The mobilization order was specific. A large scale invasion would be futile with the machine guns active. Hence, Thresher and his company of three in Mako, Cookie and Craius have been tasked to eliminate the machine guns. While his company have more than twelve years of experience, Thresher was just getting out of his training boots!

At 21:00 Thresher was inserted through zodiac unto the northern border of the city. They would have until 2:00 the following morning to eliminate all hostile machine guns. As soon as Thresher entered the city, he felt the fear of war and the fear of death at the same time. He was not built for this, at least not yet. He still couldn’t believe that his section commander had recommended him for the job! The sight of tanks, mortars and regular soldiers made matters worse. He quickly decided that he would scale the hill just outside the city and watch the proceedings from a safe distance. After all there were three veterans in the city and they would take care of the situation.

In concordance with Thresher’s strategy, five of the ten machine guns fell silent by midnight. However, Thresher’s relief was short-lived. Mako’s gun had been jammed while attempting to load it in a hurry a little after midnight and he was forced to exit the city.

A little afterwards, one of UF company’s machine guns spotted Cookie and started drawing the other soldiers to Cookie’s location. Overwhelmed by the strength in numbers, Cookie abandoned her position and exited the city also. That left five machine guns for two or was it? Thresher was in sheer disbelief when he heard over the radio that Craius had been injured and was expecting Thresher to rescue him!

If Thresher had followed the plan, Craius wouldn’t have been shot since the young soldier would have eliminated the soldiers on the route! Finally, gathering all his nerves together Thresher makes his way to the city. Instead of entering it, he climbs a eucalyptus tree and marks his targets. Four silenced whistles later, there is only one machine gun left! In the next hour, Craius and Thresher have safely made it out. Remarkably, the reminder of the terrified army holding the city surrendered in haste as the tenth infantry approached the city! They lost five of their finest machine gun units in less than an hour to five bullets. Thresher fired eleven bullets in all and changed the war completely.

Now, imagine yourself as Thresher and his company as the elders of your fellowship/church prayer chain. The companies of PD=Pride,LT=Lust,UF= Unfaithfulness, GD = Guilt and SD = Shame are always on the prowl. The aid workers are missionaries. The tenth infantry is the regular army of believers. The machine guns are powerful spiritual forces that will only fall to an attack from intercessory prayers. Thresher and his company are intercessory prayer warriors. They move like snipers and strike with deadly precision. God has chosen His snipers from His vast armies. These sniper prayer warriors are the most feared in the realms of hell. We usually feel overwhelmed by the thought of praying for the sick or financially troubled people. However, we should bear in mind that God chose David to fight Goliath. Similarly, if He has chosen us to play a part in a similar episode in the spiritual realms, we should feel encouraged. Hence the next time you get a call for a prayer service or receive a prayer request sms, ensure to respond positively and decisively!

Prathap Samuel

The author lives in Chennai with his wife and three year old daughter. He serves as a Business Manager of a writing company. He is involved with EU EGF Ministries in Chennai. His mission is to write about Biblical Ethics and its correlation with present world’s young adults.