Arise shine for thy light is come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee (Isaiah 60 v 1) KJV.

Ye are the salt of the earth but if the salt have lost his savor wherein shall it be salted. It is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and to be trodden under foot of men. Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel but on a candlestick and it giveth light to all that are in the house.

Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven (Matthew 5 v 13-16) KJV

Beloved in the Lord we are bound to give profound praise and adoration to our God who has brought us to the threshold of another year and the beginning of another journey to a place that only our God knows. It is therefore important for us to pause after our year of total transformation to ask direction from the Lord who is the beginning and the end of all things.

When we undergo total transformation we must make a significant impact in our world and in the areas where God has called us to operate and it is my prayer that in this new year our impact or influence or contribution will be so noticeable that it cannot be ignored.

We have been called to arise or make a positional change and then to shine or let our influence make a difference and the basis of this impact we are to make is that we have received the light of God which represents his revelation and illumination and which must necessarily bring about a clear change in our environment for Jesus.

We have been called to bring taste to the world as salt does to food and if we do not carry out this responsibility then we will be irrelevant and we would have received the grace of God in vain. It is significant to note that salt finds it function when it affects its environment or the food into which it is put. We are in the world but not of the world but the world must take note of us by the examples we set.

We cannot make significant impact if we do not see ourselves as a reflection of God’s light. When a city is set on a hill it is significant in that it is visible When a candle is put on a candlestick it is significant because it gives light to everyone in the house. In this year everyone in our house representing not only our homes but the various vocations to which God has called us must be infused with the light of God.

The mandate God is thus giving us in this New Year is to organize ourselves in such a way that we will make an indelible mark everywhere that God will lead us to.

We have been called to influence the world with the character and power of God and this will call for deep commitment by the allocation of our time and skills in the major areas of influence in our world which include religion and the church; education; the arts; government; business and finance; the family and the media.

We will need to discover what God has given us and do it with all our might until we make a significant impact (Eccl 9 v 10) We will need to harness our strengths and learn to complement each other instead of competing with each other.

In this year by seeking to make significant impact in these major spheres of life we will be fulfilling an important responsibility of the church which is to make manifest to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places the manifold wisdom of God (Ephesians 3 v 10)

We must be strategic in our actions ensuring that we allocate resources to ensure optimum use of the gifts God has placed in the church so that we will indeed be the light of the world and then we will be better placed to share the full gospel of Jesus Christ to a world that is very quickly deteriorating and moving away from its creator.

In seeking to make a significant impact we will need to fully use our spiritual resources of focused prayer, consistent warfare and pulling down strongholds erected by the enemy to take control of the world system.

In this new year the clarion call is for us to wake up to our responsibilities as a church and as individual members of the church and to build strong capacity that will enable us make a significant impact in the world. We must trust God for his guidance to impose his rule and values in the world and by so doing to establish a better world focused on biblical values for future generations.

Every one of us must get ready to take his mountain and by working together seek to reflect God light and save a dying world.

My prayer is that in this year we as a church will establish strategic institutions which cut across denominational barriers which will equip the people of God to make a significant impact in our world.

Ultimately in this year we must seek the lost and declare to them the liberating gospel of Christ .We must do this both when it is convenient and when it is not because Jesus is coming soon and it is only the Son of God who can set us really free. May God give you a vision of making significant impact starting from this year and may we remember that we can do all things through the indwelling power of Christ (Philippians 4 v 13).

Have a very significantly impactful 2019.