DAILY DEVOTIONAL FOR YOUTHS AND STUDENTS. Today’s devotional for 23rd October 2026, inspired by the teaching of Apostle Arome Osayi. Topic: Why Your Plans Keep Failing Despite Your Prayers.
MEMORY VERSE: “There are many devices in a man’s heart; nevertheless the counsel of the LORD, that shall stand.” (Proverbs 19:21, KJV)
TEXT: Acts 7:20-36
TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL
Many young believers pray hard and still watch their plans collapse. The admission letter does not come, the business idea stalls, the relationship ends, the timetable falls apart. It is tempting to conclude that God is not listening. But there is another possibility worth examining: we may be praying for God to bless plans that were never His to begin with.
Look at Moses. He grew up in Pharaoh’s palace, was educated in all the wisdom of Egypt, and lived a life very different from the average Israelite. Yet Acts 7:23 tells us that when he was forty years old, “it came into his heart” to visit his brethren. That was the moment his whole story came into focus. Everything that had happened to him, the adoption, the education, the privilege, was pointing to one purpose. Before that purpose gripped his heart, he was only a man with a good background.
Here is the sobering part. When Moses tried to fulfil that purpose in his own strength and on his own timing, he killed an Egyptian, ran away, and spent forty more years in a desert. His desire was right, but his method and his timing were not aligned with God. Good intentions pursued out of step with God still end in failure.
This is why prayer cannot be a way of getting God to sign off on our blueprint. Prayer is meant to bring us into alignment with His. When we are out of alignment, our resources, gifts, and energy can end up serving purposes that do not please Him, even when we mean well. The question to ask is not only “Lord, will You bless my plan?” but “Lord, what is Your plan, and how do You want me to walk in it?”
To the student and young person: You may be planning your course, your career, your relationships, and your future, and that is wise. But hold every plan with open hands. Before you submit that application, take that job, or make that big decision, spend real time asking God what He wants, and be willing to hear “wait” or “no.” Let Him measure you into His timing. A plan that fails in your hands may be God protecting you, and a plan surrendered to Him will stand.
God did not abandon Moses in the desert. He used those forty years to strip away self-reliance until Moses could be sent by God and not by his own zeal. If your plans keep failing, treat it as an invitation to come back to the Planner, to seek His purpose with a humble heart, and to let Him do for you what you could never do for yourself.
KEY POINT: Prayer is not for getting God to endorse your plans; it is for aligning your life with His purpose and His timing.
FURTHER READING: Proverbs 16:3, 9; Psalm 37:5-7; Jeremiah 29:11-13; James 4:13-15; Exodus 3:1-10.
DAILY PRAYER
Father, I surrender every plan of mine into Your hands today. Forgive me for the times I asked You to bless my ideas without asking for Your will. Align my heart, my desires, and my timing with Your purpose. Teach me to wait when You say wait and to move when You say move. Let Your counsel stand in my life, and let every resource and gift You have given me be used for Your glory alone. Order my steps and lead me into the destiny You designed for me, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
