Our family used to stay at a ranch for a short while and not far from it, our neighbours owned many horses. It was always such a great sight to watch the horses leap and run but during certain seasons, the horses would wear mask over their eyes. For the longest time, I pitied the horses as I thought they were forced against their will and were ‘blinded’ by the mask.

It was not till I learned that the mask were made of mesh allowing to horses to still see and it actually protects the horses’ eyes from disease causing flies. The mask actually is preventing the horses from getting blind!

Many non-Christian or even sometimes us, Christians often think that God puts all the rules and teachings in the Bible as a mask so that we will miss all the fun in life. Many thinks living a Christian life is sad because we don’t get to enjoy life to the fullest. Non-Christians on the other hands, seize the day; they live in such desirable pleasures and they seem more interesting as a person than some boring Christian person

Now, what I did not know about the mask, they don’t know about the Bible. The Bible does not keep us from experiencing and seeing all that is good; it is protecting us from being infected by lies that may cause spiritual blindness. The Bible does not keep Christians from enjoying life; it is teaching us how to truly enjoy our God given life and it gives us wisdom to discern lies from the truth.

Psalm 119.34
Give me understanding, so that I may keep your law and obey it with all my heart.

- John W.

There is an Asian proverb that says “A mother’s love goes all the way but a child’s love goes as long as the length of a spear.” The proverb speaks of the persevering love of a mother that often is taken for granted by their children.

A mother is certainly one of the greatest blessings that God gives in our life. Yes, true enough that mothers are not always the fun one in the family. It is mostly mothers that stops us from doing and trying many things whilst fathers tend to be more lenient or funnier. When my mother says no, I often go to my father for second opinion; all these because I do not know that mum’s rules were meant to teach me and what I think is constant nagging is actually my mother worrying over my own wellbeing.

So now I believe God created mother to show us His tender heart and the perseverance of His love that forgives all offences including rebellion and rejection. Though mothers’ love may still be conditional, they are still the reflection of God’s loving nature that constantly nurtures, hopes and cares. If a mother could love the way they do, how much more our God could love us with His unconditional and immeasurable love?

Just like how you can’t explain the love your mother has for you, so you too can’t explain God’s love for you; it can only be experienced and appreciated. 

Ephesians 3:17-19
And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

- Irene Soon

In ancient days, the heart was not just an organ that pumps blood. The heart could hold emotions, thoughts, desires, reasoning. It could think, feel, learn and understand.

The bible is an invitation from God to each one of us to share His heart. He created humankind because he desired to share life with us. The Old Testament tells of the journey of the Israelites through challenges and victories, and a God that longed to share his heart completely with his people. The New Testament reveals the extent that God had to go though by sending his son Jesus to make a way for us to share in God's heart. Jesus came to remove all separation, all brokenness, to make us clean, perfect and justified so that we can share in God's thoughts, feelings, desires, purposes and all that is in the depths of his heart!

Know that no matter where you have been or what you have gone through, you have free access to the heart of God through the price Jesus paid on the cross! Ask God to fill you daily with His heart and let Him do amazing things through you!

1 Corinthians 2:16 For who has known or understood the mind (the counsels and purposes) of the Lord so as to guide and instruct Him and give Him knowledge? But we have the mind of Christ (the Messiah) and do hold the thoughts (feelings and purposes) of His heart. 


-Jo Voon-

King Solomon left among his wise sayings a prescription for sick and sad hearts, and it is one that we can safely take. A merry heart does good like a medicine. Joy is the great restorer and healer. Gladness of spirit will bring health to the bones and vitality to the nerves when all other tonics fail and all other sedatives cease to quiet.

Are you ill? Begin to rejoice in the Lord, and your bones will flourish like an herb, and your cheeks will glow with the bloom of health and freshness. Worry, fear, distrust, care-all are poisonous but joy is balm and healing, and if you will but rejoice, God will give power.

He has commanded you to be glad and rejoice, and He never fails to sustain His children in keeping His commandments. Rejoice in the Lord always, He says. This means no matter how sad, how tempted, how sick, how suffering you are, rejoice in the Lord just where you are-and begin this moment. The joy of the Lord is the strength of our body.

Proverbs 17:22
A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person's strength.

- Anonymous

Luke 24:31 NKJV
'Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him...'

He was a militant non-believer, who summed up his worldview with a verse from Lucretius: 'Had God designed the world, it would not be a world so frail and faulty as we see.' 

So Jack turned his attention to academia, excelling in each field he studied. Yet, far beneath the surface, his doubts were taking their toll. He described his mental state with words like 'misery and hopelessness'. He said, 'I maintained God did not exist. I was also angry with God for not existing.'

Then two friends, both devout followers of Christ, urged him to do something he'd surprisingly never done: read the Bible. So he did. Jack began to wrestle with the claims Christ made, concluding that He was either deluded, deceptive, or the very One He claimed to be: the Son of God.

On the evening of 19 September 1931, Jack and his two friends took a long walk through the Oxford campus. And Jack, C S 'Jack' Lewis, would later recall a rush of wind that caused the first leaf to fall - a sudden breeze, which possibly came to symbolise for him the Holy Spirit. Soon after that night, Lewis became a believer. The change revolutionised his world and consequently the worlds of millions of readers. 

Could it be this simple? Why don't you come to Christ and find out for yourself?

"I gave in and admitted God was God." - C.S 'Jack' Lewis

- Bob Gass (Word for Today)

The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him – Ps 25:14

There are secrets of Providence which God’s dear children may learn. His dealings with them often seem, to the outward eye, dark and terrible. Faith looks deeper and says, “This is God’s secret. You look only on the outside; I can look deeper and see the hidden meaning.

” Sometimes diamonds are done up in rough packages, so that their value cannot be seen. When the Tabernacle was built in the wilderness there was nothing rich in its outside appearance. The costly things were all within, and its outward covering of rough badger skin gave no hint of the valuable things which it contained.

God may send you, dear friends, some costly packages. Do not worry if they are done up in
rough wrappings. You may be sure there are treasures of love, and kindness, and wisdom hidden within. If we take what He sends, and trust Him for the goodness in it, even in the dark, we shall learn the meaning of the secrets of Providence.

- A. Simpson

When Jesus was on the cross, He did more than just die for your sins. His one sacrifice did not just remove your sins, but it also clothed you in His righteousness and perfection. Jesus became the true “burnt sacrifice”.

In the Old Testament, whenever someone offered a burnt sacrifice, the perfection of the animal came on him. In the same way, every perfect attribute of Jesus your “burnt sacrifice” comes on you when you take Him as your Savior. And because God sees you clothed with Christ, you have the same acceptance and favor with Him that Jesus has!

When Jesus was offered on the cross, the fire of God brought out His perfections like perfume to God. In that one sacrifice, Jesus’ obedience and perfections rose as “a sweet aroma to the Lord”, which is what is emitted when the offering is burnt. This “sweet aroma” speaks of a savor of rest to God. Jesus’ perfect sacrifice gave God so much satisfaction that He rested.

You can also rest in the perfect sacrifice of Jesus, knowing that what He did, He did for you—“Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma”. (Ephesians 5:2) You can rest knowing that God the Father is satisfied with you because His Son’s sacrifice has caused His heart to rest with regard to you. You can rest because Jesus is God’s satisfaction for you.

Today, as you come before God, say, “Father, I thank You that Jesus is such a delight and joy to You. He satisfies Your heart completely. And what He did, He did for me. Because Jesus so satisfies You, I know that You are satisfied with me. Because Jesus is Your delight, I am also Your delight. Because Jesus so pleases You, I know I please You too. And because Jesus is my righteousness and perfection, I stand righteous and perfect before You.”

Beloved, when you speak of Christ and His finished work, it goes up to God as a sweet-smelling aroma, a savor of rest. And if God can rest in the perfect sacrifice of His Son, you can too!

Leviticus 1:9
…And the priest shall burn all [the pieces of the bull] on the altar as a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the Lord.

Excerpt from Joseph Prince's "Daily Grace Devotionals"