1 Timothy 6:12 ‘Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.’
DAILY READING ; • 2 Thessalonians 3; Isaiah 29-30; Psalm 119:1-32
In 2010 many international news outlets celebrated the bravery of a British soldier, Acting Sergeant Dipprasad Pun, who single-handedly defeated 30 Taliban soldiers.
On the night of 17th September 2010, Sergeant Dipprasad Pun was keeping guard on the roof of the checkpoint at their military unit’s compound in Afghanistan. He was alone because the rest of his platoon had gone out on a patrol for a coming parliamentary elections in Afghanistan. When Pun heard some clinking noise, he at first thought it was a cow, but it turned out to be Taliban soldiers who were trying to plant a bomb at the gate of their military unit’s compound. The attackers came at the complex from all sides with rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47s.
As they shot at him, Pun fought back, firing from his machine gun. Though grossly outnumbered, being on the roof gave him an advantage as he fought fiercely. Pun fought until he had exhausted the ammunition of his machine gun. He tossed 17 grenades on the attackers. He also detonated a landmine on the enemy. When he was out of grenades, he started shooting from his service rifle SA80. At all times, the Talibani militants who were about 50 ft from him, kept shooting, yet Pun was able to overcome them all. By the time he was finally out of ammunition, all the terrorists had been gunned down except for one remaining Taliban soldier, who tried to climb up the roof where Pun was. With no ammunition left, Pun threw the metal tripod of his machine gun at that last man, causing the attacker to instantly fall off the roof. It took less than an hour for Pun to defeat them all. In all, he fired 400 machine gun rounds, 180 SA80 rounds, threw 17 grenades, and threw one claymore mine. Pun’s astounding display of bravery perhaps was not so surprising, considering that he was trained as a Gurlack warrior. Gurlack warriors are special soldiers from Nepal who are considered one of the fiercest militaries in the world and are employed to fight in the British army. Pun’s valor was later rewarded in a ceremony at the Buckingham palace by the Queen. He was awarded a Conspicuous Gallantry Cross, the second highest British military decoration awarded for bravery.
This Gurlack warrior was able to overcome, because he made good use of his weapons. Likewise to be victorious in our battles, we must know how to wield the weapon of our faith.
2 Corinthians 10:4 ‘For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;
As believers, God has given us superior and mighty weapons with which to overcome in every battle. And the superior weapon that will constantly guarantee us victory is the weapon of faith.
In Ephesians 6, we find that faith is a principal aspect of the whole armour of God. Ephesians 6:16 tells us ‘Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked…’
Indeed faith has the capability to immobilize every dart and arrow of the wicked. This is why it is the victory that overcomes the world.
The truth is that a fight of faith awaits every believer who will enter into the fullness of God’s destiny. Paul told Timothy to fight the good fight of faith. (I Timothy 6:12). To lay hold on our glorious destiny, we must indeed be prepared to fight the good fight of faith.
Matthew 11:12 says that the kingdom of God suffers violence and it is only the violent that takes it by force . And that force is the force of faith. The weapon of faith is indeed crucial to our victory.
In the world we live in today, we can’t afford to go about without being spiritually armed. Neither do we wait for battle to arrive before we begin to prepare. We must daily build up our faith, so as to be ready to confront and conquer whatever comes our way. There is a serious spiritual warfare going on and we can’t ignore that fact and hide our heads in the sand. And these battles have no timetable, they can come suddenly. This is why we must live ready, and constantly armed with the faith to overcome. Let us therefore daily build up our stronghold of faith through diligent study of God’s Word. Through the entrance of God’s Word we will indeed see that we are more than conquerors and bound to be victorious in every battle of life.
PRAYER: Father please open my eyes to behold the wonders that are stored up in in Your Word. Please grant me the grace to always dig deep into Your Word so as to access the faith that will enable me to be a constant winner in Jesus’ Name.
Quote :
The battle you are faced with today is a good warfare because God has already foreordained a victorious end for you. WORDBITE 222.