THURSDAY 20TH AUGUST 2026 Topic: You Are Not Behind Bible Reference “Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin.” Zechariah 4:10 (NLT) A Short Story Samuel was twenty seven, and he had started wondering whether he was already too late. Some of his friends had built successful businesses. Others had secured good jobs, bought cars, travelled to different countries, or started families. Whenever he opened social media, it seemed as though everyone was moving forward except him. Samuel had a small business that was barely growing. He was also learning a new skill, but the progress felt painfully slow. One afternoon, he sat with a friend and said, “I think I have wasted too much time. Maybe I should have achieved more by now.” His friend looked at him and asked, “Who told you that your life must follow their timetable?” Samuel became quiet. He realized that most of his frustration was not coming from his actual situation. It was coming from constantly comparing his journey with other people's journeys. That evening, he returned home and looked at the small notebook where he had written his goals months earlier. He noticed something he had forgotten. He had actually made progress. It was not dramatic. It was not something he could proudly display on social media. But he had learned new skills, become more disciplined, grown spiritually, and taken steps he had once been afraid to take. For the first time in a long while, Samuel thanked God for the little he had. He decided that instead of spending his energy asking why he was not where someone else was, he would focus on becoming faithful with where God had placed him. Today's Message Comparison can make you despise your own journey. You look at someone else's finished product and compare it with your beginning. You see their achievement but do not see the years of preparation, sacrifice, failure, and waiting behind it. God does not measure your life by another person's timeline. The Bible tells us not to despise small beginnings. Something may look small today and still become significant tomorrow. Do not be ashamed of starting small. Do not be discouraged because your progress is not yet visible to everyone. Your responsibility is to be faithful with what God has placed in your hands today. You are not behind simply because someone else arrived before you. Keep learning. Keep growing. Keep praying. Keep working. Keep trusting God. Your journey is your journey. What To Do Today 1. Stop comparing your progress with what you see on social media. 2. Write down three areas where you have genuinely grown. 3. Identify one small step you can take toward your goal today. 4. Thank God for where you are while trusting Him for where you are going. Prayer Lord, deliver me from the pressure of comparison. Help me to appreciate my journey and remain faithful in small beginnings. Give me patience, discipline, and confidence to keep moving forward with You. In Jesus' name, Amen. Daily Challenge Write down three things you have accomplished or improved in the past year, no matter how small they may seem. Thank God for each one. ©️ Anthony Ijere Christian Author and Revivalist https://chat.whatsapp.com/BDs9qaNMQumKTicv7uU7SJ?s=cl&p=a&mlu=0&ilr=0 https://t.me/anthonyijere

Doing the Proverbs 4 Walk We make multiple decisions each day, and that's why we need to learn to do the Proverbs 4 Walk. "We're always making a decision to give up something that we value less for something we value more." Paul Richard, President, Consumer Financial Education Institute Have you noticed grocery stores put staples like milk and eggs at the back so we have to go through the store to get them? To avoid temptation, we can go prepared with a list and keep our eyes straight ahead instead of glancing at the aisles of temptation along the way. Satan employs this tactic too. He lines our life path with costly choices and distractions: immoral sex, selfishness, fear, anger, resentment, envy, etc. He'd like to divert, delay, or derail us, making us spend all we have before we reach YHWH's goals for our lives. To avoid temptation, we can do the Proverbs 4 walk: "Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you. Give careful thought to the paths for your feet.…" Proverbs 4:25-26 What are some practical ways you walk in the Proverbs 4 path? Some helpful truths about temptation: YHWH always provides a way out. Let’s take it! 1 Corinthians 10:13: "No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And YHWH is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it." It’s all a matter of whom we submit to, YHWH or Satan. James 4:7: "Submit yourselves, then, to YHWH. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." When we give in to temptation, we have no one to blame but ourselves. James 1:14: "Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away."

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Brenda Walsh Ministries Fear of Failure. There’s an old African proverb that says, “He who wants to cross a river must not be afraid of getting wet.” Too many times people don’t accomplish their dreams and goals because of fear of failure or fear of what they’ll encounter. That kind of fear keeps you from going on a diet to lose weight, changing jobs, exploring a relationship, or even accepting a promotion. But being locked in a prison of fear will destroy you. Author Paulo Coelho once said, “There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.” Stop being afraid of what could go wrong and start being positive about what could go right. Not once does the Bible say to worry about it, stress over it, or figure it out. But over and over again, it clearly says, “Fear not.” Plain and simple, God doesn’t want His children to live in fear! He wants you to trust Him and go forward with faith that He knows what He is doing and will lead and guide you every step. Fear paralyzes your dreams, steals your happiness, and limits your relationship with God. When you start thinking, “I can’t do this. I’m just an idiot - everyone is going to laugh at me. Look at how many times I’ve failed. Everyone else can do it - I’m clearly the problem,” don’t listen to any of that nonsense and push those negative thoughts from your mind. That’s just the kind of weapon the devil loves to use against you, but don’t let fear keep you from going where God wants to take you. Claim God’s promise in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” Text: Psalm 56:3, Isaiah 41:13, Psalm 118:6, 2 Timothy 1:7

And he arose and came to his father. For they themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we had to you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God. Luke 15:20; 1 Thessalonians 1:9 Yesterday, we saw that repentance is part of faith in Jesus Christ. It‘s an inner change of mind, a rethinking about God and about myself. After his change of mind, the young man in the parable of the prodigal son resolves, “I will arise and go to my father”. And he doesn’t stop at this resolution but puts it into action: he indeed rises and goes to his father. When the Bible speaks of conversion, it means this literal turning to God. Repentance has to do with our hearts: we think differently in our hearts when we repent. Conversion, on the other hand, has to do with our feet. In conversion, we – figuratively speaking – change the direction in which we are heading, and this becomes evident in our lives. Regarding the Christians in Thessalonica, it is said that they turned from idols “to serve the living and true God”. This example shows us what conversion is: on one side, the idols; on the other side, the living and true God. Idols are goals, desires, hobbies, friendships or things to which my heart clings and which hinder me from living entirely for God. And now I turn away from the idols and turn to the living and true God. Previously, I was on a path of life that led me away from God. Now I turn to God. I go a completely different way. I make a U-turn of 180 degrees. That is conversion. (to be concluded tomorrow) Today’s reading: Joshua 12:1-24 · 1 Corinthians 10:23-33 https://gbv-online.org/calendar/262/date/2026-08-11

Lifeline Today Tuesday August 11 Living Life to the Fullest Paul, Apollos, and Peter; this world, life and death, the present and the future---all these are yours, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God. 1Corinthians 3:22, 23 (GNB) God has made all things available to enable you live life to the fullest. All things are yours. You are not lacking in anything. You are not deficient in any way. So, stop looking for who will carry or help you and begin to use or apply what you have to pursue your dreams, goals, and life assignment. God does not need more than what is in your hand to hand over all that are in His hand to you. Stop living your condition and start living your conviction. Conviction is what you believe you are in Christ even if your situation and circumstances around you are showing or saying otherwise. Believe every promise in the Word to be empowered to become who God says you are. And start behaving what you believe and in due time, you will become. (John 1:12). This is your day. Wisdom Fountain: “The purpose of life, after all, is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.” Prayer: Father God, expand my vision and my territory. Help me to look past my mistakes, my current struggles, and see with the eyes of faith. Fill me again with Your Holy Spirit so I can walk in supernatural strength, cross old boundaries, and step into the wide-open spaces You have prepared for me. Let Your favour go before me, opening doors that no person can shut. I declare that I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength in Jesus’ name.

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Seek God First (Matthew 6:33) Every day, something is competing for your attention. Your phone. School. Work. Money. Relationships. Goals. Entertainment. Social media. None of these things are automatically wrong. But when they become more important than God, our priorities begin to change. Jesus gives us a different way to live: “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness.” Notice the word first. God doesn't want to be an afterthought in our lives. Not the person we remember only when something goes wrong. Not someone we squeeze into whatever time remains after everything else. He calls us to put Him first. Before the notifications. Before the pressure to impress people. Before chasing success. Before making major decisions. Before worrying about tomorrow. Seek God first. But what does that actually look like? It can begin with something simple. Start your day with prayer. Spend time reading God's Word. Ask Him for wisdom before making decisions. Choose obedience even when doing the right thing is difficult. Let your relationship with Christ influence the way you work, study, speak, spend, create, and treat people. Seeking God first doesn't mean ignoring your responsibilities. It means allowing God to guide how you handle them. You can pursue your education while seeking God. You can build your career while seeking God. You can pursue your dreams while seeking God. You can build relationships while seeking God. The question is: Who is leading whom? Are you asking God to follow the plans you've already created? Or are you willing to follow where He leads? Sometimes we spend so much energy chasing things we believe will make us happy. More money. More recognition. More followers. More possessions. More opportunities. Yet even after gaining them, the heart can still feel empty. Because nothing created can replace the Creator. Jesus reminds us to reorder our priorities. God first. Everything else in its proper place. When God becomes your foundation, success doesn't define your worth. Failure doesn't destroy your identity. People's opinions don't control you. And uncertainty doesn't have to rule your future. Your life becomes anchored in something greater than changing circumstances. So today, before you rush into everything demanding your attention, make room for God. Talk to Him. Listen through His Word. Surrender your plans. Ask Him to guide your priorities. And then go into your day determined to honour Him in everything you do. Don't give God what is left of your life. Give Him the first and best of your life. What is one practical change you can make today to put God first? #SeekGodFirst #Matthew633 #JMSM #KNKA #KingdomFirst #PutGodFirst #DailyFaith #FaithInAction #ChristianYouth #JesusSaves #ShareJesus #Lordsbook