*We Mustn't Have Misplaced Priorities*

The Lord Jesus encourage all His followers to trust in God wholeheartedly, and not follow the pattern of the heathens with misplaced priorities. They seek wrong things.
He further said what should be most important priority for His followers:

*Matthew 6:33 "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."*

*Meaning of the Verse The Kingdom of God:*
Putting God's rule, will, and purposes at the center of our daily life.

*His Righteousness:* Living by God's standards of goodness and moral truth instead of our own.

*All These Things:* Daily needs like food, water, and clothing that Jesus said people worry about too much.

*How to Apply It*

*Let go of worry:*
Trusting that God knows what we need and will help us.

*Making God our priority:*
Put prayer, kindness, and obedience before money or stress.

*Focusing on daily:*
We must not permit fear of tomorrow ruin our peace right now

*Prayer To Seek God First*
Dear Father in heaven, we thank You for loving us and pursuing a relationship with us. You are everything to us, and we want to seek You first each day. Please be part of every decision, every thought, every word, and every action we have. Our life is Yours, we live and move through You. You are our source of life, and without You, we are nothing. Let Your presence lead us always: Your pillar of clouds in the day time and Your pillars of fire in the night time.
Rather than worrying about how to get what we need, we will seek You and watch You meet our needs.
You are our sufficiency, and in You is our hiding place. Thank You El-Shaddai, the double breasted One.
In Jesus’ Mighty Name, Amen.

*Blessed Sunday!*

August 23, 2026 (day 235/365)
SUNDAY

GOD'S WORD FOR THE DAY

“Giving God Our Best”

2 Kings 12:11

“Then they gave the money, which was weighed out, into the hands of those who did the work, who had the oversight of the house of the Lord.”

This is the Word of God. 2 Kings 12 describes how King Joash took action to repair the temple of the Lord. The work required careful stewardship of the resources that had been entrusted to them. The people gave, the workers served, and the temple was restored.

This reminds us that what we give to God should be handled with faithfulness and responsibility. Our time, abilities, possessions, and resources are all gifts from Him, and we are called to use them for His glory.

Serving God is not merely about giving something; it is about giving our best with an honest and willing heart. Whether our contribution seems great or small, God values faithfulness.

May God help us to be faithful stewards of everything He has entrusted to us and to give Him our best in every area of our lives. Amen.

Have a blessed day with the Lord.

-- Pastor Emmanuel Serto

August 23 - Jesus Touches an Untouchable

#LifeOfChrist

“A woman who had been suffering from a hemorrhage for twelve years, came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His cloak; for she was saying to herself, ‘If I only touch His garment, I will get well.’ But Jesus turning and seeing her said, ‘Daughter, take courage; your faith has made you well.’ At once the woman was made well” (Matthew 9:20–22).

When the godly Sir James Simpson was on his deathbed, a friend said to him, “Well, James, soon you will be able to rest on the bosom of Jesus.” But Simpson replied, “I don’t know that I can quite do that, but I do think I can take hold of His garment.”

In her shame at being ostracized from her family and being ceremonially unclean, the woman here wanted to be unnoticed. She merely desired to touch Jesus’ garment, confident that such contact was enough to receive healing. In keeping with such confidence, she received immediate healing from her defilement.

Our Lord became aware of what had happened only as He realized that divine power had gone out from Him (Luke 8:46)—a realization that happened before He humanly knew of the woman specifically. His statement, “your faith has made you well,” simply assured her and the crowd that miraculous healing had occurred. Jesus did not care that her touching Him would make Him ceremonially unclean to the Jews. The Lord was touchable even by an untouchable.

Even though the woman’s expectations were likely not fully informed by Scripture—she might have superstitiously thought Christ’s clothes had inherent healing powers—He spoke to her caringly and compassionately: “Daughter, take courage.” In spite of other factors, the woman’s faith was genuine and acceptable to the Lord. It was enough to make her well.

Ask Yourself

Part of the balance of Christian faith is realizing that we are unworthy to touch the hem of His garment, yet are welcomed into His full embrace as an adopted member of His family. How do these two seeming incongruities come together and balance out in your worship?

THE PILGRIMS GUIDE

SUNDAY AUGUST 23, 2026

STEADFAST UNTIL VICTORY

A WORD FROM THE WORD:

"So now, beloved ones, stand firm, stable, and enduring. Live your lives with an unshakable confidence. We know that we prosper and excel in every season by serving the Lord, because we are assured that our union with the Lord makes our labor productive with fruit that endures." 1 Corinthians 15:58 TPT.

Faith is not only believing God for miracles, it's required steadfastly also when results are slow and answers seem to be delayed. Many believers start in faith but end up in the flesh, and unstable when pressure increases. Yet Scripture makes the call of God upon us to stand firm, that is to remain unmoved by situations, circumstances, opinions, and momentary setbacks.

Steadfast faith is quiet but powerful. It is not given to panic, neither is it spasmodic or subject to mood swings. It does not quit or fluctuate with emotions. It is faith that remains rooted in God’s Word even when feelings disagree and situations resist. Those blessed with steadfast faith do not waste energy fighting fear, rather they stay and are focused on obedience. One undeniable product of steadfast faith is undeniable results.

God is strengthening your spiritual footing, to give you undeniable and unshakable victory. May you not be distracted, and remain firmly focused until your victory manifests.

PRAYER BULLETS:

LORD Jesus, thank You for the privilege of faith. Help me to stand firm and remain faithful regardless of the situations and circumstances I am faced with.

FURTHER READING:

Hebrews 10:35-36; 12:1-3; James 1:2-4; Galatians 6:9.
__________________________________________

Amaobi Nwachukwu 2026.

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7 - CANONS OF PUBLIC PRAYER
C. H. Spurgeon

First, public prayer should be a matter of the heart.
A man must be really earnest in prayer. You can pardon a man’s familiarities and vulgarities too, when you clearly see that his inmost heart is speaking to his Master, and that it is only the man’s defects of education or experience which create his faults, and not any moral or spiritual vices of his heart. Cast your whole soul into the exercise of public prayer. So pray, that by a divine attraction, you draw the whole congregation up with you to the throne of God. So pray, that by the power of the Spirit, you express the desires and thoughts of every one present, and stand as the one voice for hundreds of beating hearts which are glowing with fervor before God’s throne.

Second, public prayer should be appropriate. There is no need to make the public prayer a gazette of the week’s events, or a register of the births, deaths, and marriage of your people, but the general movements that have taken place in the congregation should be noted by the minister’s careful heart. He should bring the joys and sorrows alike before the throne of grace.

Third, public prayer should not be long.
John Macdonald said, “If you are in the spirit of prayer, do not be long, because other people will not be able to keep pace with you in such unusual spirituality; and if you are not in the spirit of prayer, do not be long, because you will then be sure to weary the listeners.” Ten minutes is the limit to which our public prayer ought to be prolonged.

Fourth, do not use cant phrases.
Be done with these vile things altogether. There should be no grotesque mingling of Scripture texts, alterations of Scripture texts, or abuses of Scriptural truth in prayer. It ought always to be a point of honor among ministers always to quote Scripture directly. Make us of an expression fresh from your own mind, and it will be quite as acceptable to God as a scriptural phrase defaced or clipped. Vehemently strive against garblings and perversions of Scripture, and renounce forever all cant phrases, for the are the disfigurement of free prayer.

Five, vary the order, length, and current of your public prayers.
Vary the order of your prayers, then, for the sake of maintaining attention, and preventing people going through the whole thing as a clock runs on till the weights are down. Also vary the length of your prayers. Do you not think it would be much better if sometimes instead of giving three minutes to the first prayer and fifteen minutes to the second, you have nine minutes to each? Would it not be better sometimes to be longer in the first, and not so long in the second prayer? Finally, vary the current of your prayers. There are many topics which require your attention; the church in its weakness, its backslidings, its sorrows, and its comforts; the outside world, the neighborhood, unconverted hearers, the young people, the nation. Do not pray for all these every time, or otherwise your prayers will be long and probably uninteresting.

Six, keep from all attempts to work up spurious fervor in public devotion.
Do not labor to seem earnest. Pray as your heart dictates, under the leading of the Spirit of God, and if you are dull and heavy tell the Lord so. It will be no ill thing to confess your deadness, and bewail it, and cry for quickening; it will be real and acceptable prayer; but simulated ardor is a shameful form of lying.

Seventh, prepare your prayer.
Proper preparation means solemn consideration beforehand of the importance of prayer, meditation upon the needs of men’s souls, and a remembrance of the promises which we are to plead; and thus coming before the Lord with a petition written upon the fleshly tables of the heart. This is surely better than coming to God at random, rushing before the throne at haphazard, without a definite error or desire.

If we wanted to summarize the canons with adverbs we could say, “Spurgeon exhorts pastors to pray soulfully, appropriately, quickly, authentically, variously, and prepared-ly.”

Spugeon’s conclusion of the lecture is a most fitting place for this post to end:

Let your prayers be earnest, full of fire, vehemence, prevalence. I pray the Holy Ghost to instruct every student of this College so to offer public prayer, that God shall always be served of his best. Let your petitions be plain and heart-felt; and while your people may sometimes feel that the sermon was below the mark, may they also feel that the prayer compensated for all.

From the viewpoint of God’s eternal purpose, the church exists to be
• the incarnation and manifestation of the ultimate passion of God
• the organic expression and physical extension of the Trinitarian Community
• the corporate image-bearer of the Lord Jesus Christ on the earth
• the family of God
• the divine building whereby every living stone is being transformed, reshaped, and fitted together to form the Lord’s temple
• the colonial outpost of the coming kingdom
• the masterpiece of God
• the spiritual “Bethany” where Jesus of Nazareth is received, obeyed, and adored in the midst of a rejecting world
• the vessel in which the power of Christ’s resurrection life is visibly displayed
• the object of God’s supreme affection and delight
• the willing vehicle for Christ’s manifested presence
• the torchbearer of the testimony of Jesus
• the “one new man”—the new species—the “third race”
• the fiancée of Jesus Christ—His very body, His very bride
• the new humanity marked out in the Son of God before time and brought into existence by His cross
• the Christian’s native habitat
• the spiritual environment where face-to-face encounters between the bride and Bridegroom take place
• the living witness to the fullness and headship of God’s Son
• the colony from heaven that bears the image of its Ruler

lord God your the strength that strengthens me. my rock and salvation.keep me United with Christ and fill me with your Holy Spirit and gift of eternal life.Amen

From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the LORD'S name is to be praised.
#praiseAdonai #Yahweh