Now is the time ...... To be Tolerant

"....as much as it depends upon you, live at peace with everyone”. Romans 12:18

In the early morning I sat at a table enjoying the changing colours of the lake as the sun rose behind me. A Currawong (similar to a Magpie) and a Magpie wandered over to investigate intrusion into their territory. One hopped up onto the bench beside me and the other ventured onto the table. We exchanged greetings (yes I talk to the birds!), and off they went to find their breakfast.

Later, from a different place, I watched a Currawong feeding near that same table till a Magpie came and chased him right away. Not to be intimidated too much, the Currawong flew a few paces away and resumed feeding, but the Magpie wasn’t done; he once more rose and flapped and finally chased the Currawong far away. Then Mr Magpie landed on the table and stood in solitary splendour. Mission accomplished!

What struck me was that now he was alone. He’d gotten his own way – he had his space, but no companionship of other birds because of his selfish, bullying ways. How depressing!

Sometimes it’s difficult to get along with others but we need to unless we want to be left lonely. Romans 8:6 says “…. Letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.” Again it says, ”as much as it depends upon you, live at peace with everyone” Romans 12:18.

We choose to live in peace by what we allow to control our mind and emotions. Yes, there will always be those difficult neighbours, colleagues or classmates, sometimes even family members or fellow Christians; but we can choose not to allow them to disturb our peace. We do this by praying for them and praying for God’s grace and strength for ourselves so that we can choose to walk in love toward them.

Remember, we are all different and we all have our strange or difficult ways that irritate others, so if we want others to be tolerant towards us, then we had better show tolerance towards them. Different is not wrong, it’s just different. God loves diversity, he made it. Let’s grow in our love for others and enjoy our differences lest we be lonely in the end.

Heavenly Father, please grant me a tolerant and loving heart and help me to appreciate people even though they are different from me which I sometimes find annoying. Help me to remember how much you love them as well as me. Amen

Now is the time... To Be Honest

Yes, what joy for those whose record the LORD has cleared of sin, whose lives are lived in complete honesty! Psalm 32:2

I love honesty because it is the key to so many things; the one I am thinking about at this moment is that it is the key to revelation from God.

Recently I attended a women’s retreat where the theme was “Priceless Women”. In one of the discussion groups one of the women honestly confessed something that I’m sure others were thinking. She said, “I can believe that I am valuable to God, but I am finding it difficult to believe that I am priceless.” Some discussion ensued, then one woman shared this revelation she received from God. “When something, like a jewel or a rare artifact, is discovered it is valuable, but when it is the only one of its kind in the whole world, it is unique and therefore priceless. Because you are unique – even your fingerprints are one of a kind – then don’t you think that makes you priceless?” What a joyous revelation that was to all of us. One person’s honesty enabled revelation to come forth.

If we walk in honesty before God we allow him to reveal his grace and mercy to us – especially when we confess our weakness, struggles and sins. It is only then can he forgive us of our sin. If we are honest with others it keeps us humble and enables others to see us as we really are. It also kills any lurking spirit of competition because we are not trying to be something we are not. Honesty enables us to demonstrate God’s grace and love because when we’ve received forgiveness and unconditional love we are more able to offer it to others. Honesty is also our defence against pride, judgmentalism and hypocrisy and who doesn’t want to be protected against those horrible sins!

You will be surprised at the effect your own honesty will have upon you if you are used to living in pretense. It is hard to keep up a façade all the time. Being honest is so freeing. It also frees others to be honest with themselves and with God. It can enable them to become more accepting of their own frailty, and to love themselves in spite of it. It can be a key to helping them to feel secure enough to love and accept others rather than feeling they have to compete.

Honesty brings freedom, not only to ourselves but to others. Start the ball rolling. Dare to be honest and find great freedom…. today!

Prayer: Heavenly Father, please give me the courage to be honest in all my conversations and always in everything I do. Amen

Now is the time ...... To Hold Your Ground

……but Shammah held his ground in the middle of the field and beat back the Philistines. So the Lord brought about a great victory. 2 Samuel 23:12

One of the things that must be very hard to do, is to hold your ground in the face of the enemy. To stand and look into the face of the enemy as they did in battles of years past, and not flinch but face them down. Such was the stand Shammah, one of David’s mighty warriors took. He just stood and beat back the enemy. Did he know that he was going to win? I don’t know, but I know that the Lord brought about a mighty victory through him.

As I write this, we have a fairly young woman in our church who is holding her ground in the face of cancer. She is not shrinking back, she is not submitting to it, but she is ‘beating back the enemy’ who is seeking to destroy her life – quite literally. Does she know if she is going to win the battle? I guess not, but she does know that it is her Lord who can bring about her victory and she is standing on the promises in his word. She refuses to be intimidated. I pray that the Lord will bring about a great victory for her.

I remember another battle that the Israelites fought in 2 Chronicles 20:17. King Jehoshaphat and all Israel were afraid because a great army came to fight against them. When they came before the Lord to enquire what they should do, the spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel, and he gave them God’s message. It went like this ‘Don’t be afraid or dismayed, this is not your battle, but the Lord’s. Go down, set yourselves before them then stand still and see the salvation of the Lord.’ As you read this wonderful story (and I hope you will), you will see that Jehoshaphat set singers at the front of the army and as they sang praises to the Lord, the Lord had the army destroy itself. Only God can do that! When the Israelites came all they found was dead bodies and lots of loot! They got rewarded for a battle they didn’t have to fight. What a mighty God we serve!

I cannot help wondering if I would be so strong and brave in the face of such a battle but I do know that God promises that his grace is sufficient for each trial. He gives strength and grace when it is needed.

What is your battle today? Is it the mind games the devil plays with you? Is it sickness, persecution, discouragement or grief? No matter what your battle, hold your ground, don’t back down. Remember the battles you’ve won in the past and be encouraged. Sing a song of praiseto the Lord. He is the one who gives the victory.

Prayer: Mighty God, you are my strength and my victory. I choose to sing praises to you today in the face of my enemy. Thank you for your strength and grace for each new day. Amen.

Now is the time ...... To Stand Firm

…….then after the battle you will still be standing firm. Ephesians 6:13 (NLT)

Have you ever tried to dress an active toddler? What a task! They wriggle and fidget, squiggle & squirm; they are anxious to get on with their day. The next adventure beckons them; getting dressed is just an inconvenient and unwelcome interruption in their busy life. If only they would stay still the job would be done much quicker!

Notice in Ephesians 6:14 it tells us to ‘stand your ground, putting on the belt….” It is possible to get dressed while ‘on the run’, but really it’s much quicker to stand still and focus while dressing. Many Christians tend to run from one thing to another, reluctant to stop and spend time in God’s presence. We need to be still to focus on his word and listen for his voice. We could save ourselves a lot of anxiety if only we would spend time in God’s presence and get his wisdom and peace for our day.

Dressing in the armour of God needs focus; we need to remind ourselves of his instructions as we face spiritual battles. If we do that, the enemy won’t be able to knock us out in the fray. Verse 13 says that if we put on every piece of God’s armour, ‘Then after the battle you will still be standing firm.’

When Peter speaks about watching out for the enemy who ‘prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour’ (1 Peter 5:8), he goes on to say ‘Stand firm against him and be strong in faith.’ Again in verse 12 he encourages ‘stand firm in this grace’. What grace? In verse 12 he says something that deserves serious thought. ‘My purpose in writing is to encourage you and assure you that (the trials) you are experiencing are truly a part of God’s grace for you.’ That’s rather a strange thing to say, but he has reminded them that what they are experiencing is the same experience of their brothers and sisters all over the world. When we are going through tough times we do well to remember and pray for fellow Christians who also suffer. In doing that we can find courage because one of the things the enemy likes to do is to make us think that we are the only one getting such a rotten deal. That’s his way of getting us to spiral into self pity and isolation.

Don’t go there – remember the devil is a liar, and that there are plenty of people going through difficulties just as bad if not worse than yours. Pray for them and your focus will change for the better. As we stand firm, then the wonderful promise is that ‘after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support and strengthen you and place you on a firm foundation.’ (Vs 10). That's the grace that results from suffering trials. So, stand firm, you can win!

Prayer: Heavenly Father, help me to take time to stand firmly when the enemy attacks me, knowing that you will strengthen me and help me because you are my strong place of refuge. Amen

Now is the time for battle......

8 - Pray


Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.

Ephesians 6:18 (NLT)

Some of the churches in our area have joined together to enter into a season of 40 days of prayer and fasting for the region. It’s so good to have times of special focus, so today I am spending some hours in the sunshine with the purpose of prayer – and writing. It just so happens that today is my time to write on prayer as part of our battle plan.

After telling us to clothe ourselves in the armour of God, Paul then urges us to ‘pray in the spirit at all times’. Prayer is our lifeline to heaven. On the battle field communication with the commander is vital because from him come strategies and orders on how to proceed. The Holy Spirit is our communications specialist. He’s the one who directs our prayers to the Father and communicates the Father’s directions back to us. We need him in our communication.

It is easy for us to bombard heaven with our prayer list but it’s quite another to say, “Holy Spirit please help me to pray according to the will of the Father today. Show me how I should pray and for whom I should pray.” It is vital to stay in tune with the Holy Spirit.

Staying in union with Christ and being mindful of and thankful for all that he has accomplished for us on the cross will also help us maintain an attitude of humility which is so endearing to God. James 4:7-8 urges ‘So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Come close to God and he will come close to you.’ Also Hebrews (4:16 and 10:19) reminds us that we can come boldly before God’s throne of grace. We have confidence towards God if we come with sin cleansed. Then we can hear from God and pray according to his will knowing that he hears and answers our prayers (1 John 3:21-22)…… in His time, not necessarily ours.

Prayer is an amazing privilege because it can touch lives near and far, people in places of high authority and people in prison. Prayer does not discriminate and is not limited. We shouldn’t only pray for our immediate family and friends; we need to remember to extend our prayers to cover leaders in our church, community and country – in fact all in authority, so that they can rule well and we can live in peace (1 Timothy 2:1-2). I confess that I often fall short in this area. By the way, it is fine for you to pray for yourself too. It is not selfish as some would think. God has room for all our prayers.

We have been given great power and authority in prayer by Jesus Christ. Let us not neglect to use his gift to us, under the leadership of the Holy Spirit.

Prayer: Holy Spirit help me to recognise the great privilege of prayer and please keep me walking in close communication with my Heavenly Father through you. Amen

Now is the time for battle......

7 – Use Your Sword

…and take the sword of the spirit which is the word of God. Ephesians 6:17

Today I have the pleasure of spending the day with my two younger grand- children, Dan & Leah. It’s a gorgeous day and I have been watching Dan bouncing on the trampoline. He wasn’t doing his double somersaults which he often likes to do. Today he had a large plastic sword and was bouncing and wielding the sword in deep cut and thrust movements – no doubt as he’s seen happening on his computer games or in the movies. He sure knows how to use that thing!

His timing was great as an opening for my writing of today’s Daydrops because our next piece of God’s armour is the sword and Paul tells us that our spiritual sword is the word of God. So how do we use God’s word as a sword, and how do we use it skillfully?

Jesus is our best example of using the word of God as a weapon. When he was tempted by the devil in the wilderness, (Luke 4), Jesus always used the scriptures to withstand or counteract the enemy’s temptations. When tempted to do a creative miracle and turn the stones into bread, he countered with “The scriptures say, Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God”. He was saying that there is more important food, the food for our spirit that truly satisfies the deepest part of us.

When tempted with power and authority when Satan offered him rule over kingdoms of this world in return for Jesus bowing down to him, Jesus resisted the temptation and submitted to the headship of God his father. Acknowledging the truth of God’s word that “The scriptures say, you must worship the Lord you God and only serve him.” In his final thrust Satan tempted Jesus to throw himself down from the highest point on the temple and when he did he quoted scripture to support his ‘test’. Jesus recognised his subtlety and deception – we are not to test God with foolish actions. He said again, “The scriptures also say ‘You must not test the Lord your God’.”

Jesus had been brought up knowing the scriptures. Jewish boys learn from a very young age to memorize God’s word and talk about it and how it applies to life. We too must know the scriptures well. Colossians 3:16 invites us to “Let the word of God dwell in you richly…” If we will read the word and allow it to become a part of our thinking every day, it will dwell in us richly. The Holy Spirit can then draw from that storehouse of the word within us, when the need arises. At times when the enemy comes with temptations, the Spirit of God then has that rich store from which to draw to help us counteract the attacks of the enemy.

Allow the Holy Spirit to help you wield that sword with great skill and you will have all that you need, but we must do the work of putting the word into our hearts so that it can be drawn upon in time of need.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you for your holy and powerful word which is my weapon against the attacks of the enemy. Help me to study it and allow it to become a part of my daily life. Amen