6 September 2026: WHAT DO YOU VALUE ENOUGH TO PAY FOR? – Proverbs 4:7; Proverbs 23:23

One of the major differences between people who build lasting wealth and those who remain financially stranded is their value system. People usually find money for what they truly value. A man may refuse to attend a seminar because registration and transportation will cost him, yet he will spend more than that on something that produces no future. His problem is not necessarily lack of money; it is a wrong estimation of wisdom. In the early days of our ministry, many of the people around us were students. They could not contribute much financially, and sometimes they ate our food and still received transport fare from us. However, they gave themselves to prayer, fasting and spiritual labour. If we had valued their money above their prayers, we could have despised the seed that produced the grace operating in the ministry today.

There are seasons when what you need most is not immediate cash but spiritual strength, knowledge, training or access to wisdom. Those students gathered from different places for three-day and seven-day periods of intensive prayer. They were generating spiritual capital for a future they could not yet see. In the same way, you may need to pay for a course, buy a book, travel to learn, sit under a mentor or create time for prayer. If you judge everything only by its present cost, you may sacrifice tomorrow to protect today. Any man who will pay the necessary price to obtain wisdom will eventually attract resources, but the person who always chooses money above wisdom may lose both. God gives supernaturally, but man must receive and translate what God gives into natural, practical and measurable results.

Examine your spending and ask what it says about your priorities. Do you invest in entertainment but complain about the cost of knowledge? Do you desire financial enlargement while resisting every instruction that could enlarge your mind, spirit or competence? Wisdom often cries through books, messages, conferences, skilled people and divine instructions, but many prefer pity because pity demands no discipline. Stop asking only, “How much will this cost me?” Begin to ask, “What will this produce in me, and what future will it open?” This does not mean spending carelessly in the name of learning; it means discerning the value of what is before you. Protect the spiritual and intellectual investments that will give voice to your assignment. What looks small today may be the seed of a global expression tomorrow. Settle it in your heart that wisdom will not be too expensive for you, because ignorance will always cost more. Your present sacrifice for wisdom may look unnecessary to people who cannot see your future. Nevertheless, remain patient. The right value system will preserve what God is building in you and prepare you to handle opportunities, influence and resources that come.

THOUGHT TO PONDER

What does my present spending reveal about what I truly value? Which investment in spiritual strength, knowledge or competence have I been postponing because of its immediate cost?

PRAYER

Lord, correct my value system and teach me to place wisdom above temporary comfort. Help me to pay the right price for everything necessary for my future.

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR

Song of Solomon 1:1-4:16, 2 Corinthians 8:16-24, Psalm 50:1-23, Proverbs 22:22-23