New Year Blessings 2026
“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.”
Last year in October as I was praying and asking the Lord to speak His will for 2026 I sensed Him saying that He wanted me to know Him as my Covenant God. A covenant is a sacred agreement, a binding relationship that God has established with His people. I felt a thrill go through me during this prayer time and an excitement that got me studying to know the God of Covenant.
What does it mean to be in covenant with God? There are promises and blessings God has given us through covenant but there are also responsibilities.
As I studied I found myself repenting. Repenting because I knew I had not kept my part in covenant. God will never break His covenant but people will. As His character is loving, forgiving and merciful, He accepts us back when we stumble, become spiritually dry and neglect our relationship with Him.
This year I will be teaching a mini series on the God of Covenant on Thursdays at our Bible Study on zoom. I invite you to join us and let’s study together to know our God of Covenant and anchor ourselves in the Scriptures. Physical, mental, and emotional healing is a part of His covenant blessings. His Word is forever settled in heaven.
I pray God’s covenant Blessings on you and your family in 2026 and beyond.
You are highly favoured, greatly blessed and deeply loved by the Father, Son & Holy Spirit.
Happy New Year!
Marita Rochelle Soza
December 25th Christmas Street Ministry
36 But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. 37 Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. 38 Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”
On December 25th, Jacquelyn and I decided to go visit people living on the streets in Whalley and let them know that Jesus loves them, and He cares for them. There is a community of people who live on the streets as sometimes facilities that are provided by organisations are full. Jesus will truly identify with this as there was no room for Him at the Inn and He was born in the manger.
December 25th this year was a very cold chilly day but there were people sitting on the streets covered with whatever they could find to keep themselves warm. We gave them care packs filled with toques, gloves, socks and other necessities. As we share the Gospel, we must also share what we have.
14 What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? 17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
May we live 2026 with purpose, in active faith to be blessed and be a blessing to others so that the name of Jesus, our God of Covenant is lifted up and glorified! Hallelujah!
With joy,
Rochelle Soza
Founder
Sound of the Lord Mission
Waylaid New Year Resolutions
December 2024, sitting at my kitchen table, I scribbled down my New Year Resolutions for 2025, and this time, (like every other year), I was determined and resolute to follow through on my ‘absolutely-must-do, can-do, will-do’ list.
- Read the whole bible in a year
- Pray more
- Eat healthy
- Exercise / walk daily
- Save more
- Learn to play the guitar
December 2025, a frustrated version of myself sat at the same kitchen table. I had not accomplished one thing on the list. I couldn’t even remember all the things I had written on that piece of paper, which seemed to have mysteriously disappeared.
What intercepted my good intentions? What made me look away from my goals and replace them with something else along the way? Why does it happen every year?
I realized with sudden clarity what nudged my resolutions aside was not profound, significant, impressive projects. It was lack of discipline and the 101 niggly, day to day things that kept me running, rushing, and hurrying through the day, draining my energy and taking me off track. They were not necessarily ‘bad’. None of them would be classified as evil, wrong or sinful. Yet they stole my time. Moment by moment, day by day, week by week, month by month.
I feel I’ve done ‘things’ but left the God directed ‘things’, undone. Each year, it leaves me wondering how different my life would be, had I set my ‘forehead like flint’, and kept to my goals.
Jesus had a goal too. To do the will of the Father by offering His life for the sins of the world. He had plenty of interruptions to deal with along the way and could have easily got side tracked, but He always returned to His God ordained path. Imagine our plight if He veered off course and began attending to the demands of the crowds and made that His primary goal.
For the Lord God will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.
How can we make our resolutions for the coming year different from previous years?
- Pray and ask the Lord what He wants you to do this year, and write them down.
- Doing more is not always better. It is best to focus on a few goals rather than attempt many things and be overwhelmed.
- Look at your list every day. What you see daily will remain in the forefront of your thoughts. Don’t tuck your list away in a drawer.
- Find an accountability partner and share it with them.
- Do a quarterly check on your progress.
- Distractions are inevitable, but be disciplined to get back on track quickly.
13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
2026 is a New Year. Let’s forget the things behind us. This is the year of breakouts and breakthroughs, upward progress in areas we have stagnated for too long. Jesus is ready to partner with you in the coming year.
Let’s set our forehead like flint and finish what we start. Next year by this time, you will look back and celebrate what God has done because of your diligence and commitment.
Wishing you all a blessed New Year like no other you have experienced before, as we press forward together.
In His Service,
Sohani Faria
Director
Sound of the Lord Mission
We would love to pray for & with you!
Prayer requests can be emailed to
soundofthelordmission@gmail.com
Redeem the time and maintain a strong prayer life. Stay Blessed!
Rochelle Soza
Founder, Sound of the Lord Mission