Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits. Who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with loving-kindness and tender mercies, who satisfies your mouth with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. (Psalm 103:1-5)

Appreciation includes three aspects:

• Appreciation for His goodness in the past season. Everything good we saw, including the gift of life itself, came from His hand.

• Appreciation for the possibilities in the new season. He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20).

• Appreciation for the perfection of all things. The Lord will perfect all that concerns you (Psalm 138:8).

Many people ruin the year before it even starts by complaining and murmuring about what happened last year or what never happened. Do not approach the new season with murmuring and complaining. Approach it with appreciation.

2. Completely Hand Over the New Season Into His Hands

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

Why is this critical? Consider three reasons:

• Nothing gets out of hand from the hands of God. You cannot put anything in the hands of God and have it go out of hand.

• Nothing in His hand can go wrong. Most things go wrong outside His hand. But even if there is a challenge while it is in His hand, He will repair it. The clay was marred in the hands of a potter, yet he molded it according to his desire (Jeremiah 18).

• Nothing in His hands ever remains the same. Five loaves and two fishes could not remain five loaves and two fishes. Once they passed through His hands, they became food for thousands.

If you hand over your year 2025 into the hands of God, that year cannot get out of hand. It cannot go wrong. It cannot remain the same.

3. Refuse to Dwell on the Past

No man, having put his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. (Luke 9:62)

The past includes everything that is behind you. Specifically, refuse to dwell on:

• Failed expectations of the past. You had an expectation in 2024, but it did not come to pass. Do not dwell there.

• Unfulfilled expectations of the past. You looked forward to something last year; it did not happen. Do not dwell on unfulfilled expectations.

• Lost opportunities of the past. The opportunity was there, but for one reason or another, it slipped out of your hands. Perhaps you ask, "What did I do wrong? Where did I miss it?" The truth is: there is no future in the past. You do not progress backward.

• Negative memories of the past. Some people depress themselves by remembering things that happened. Refuse anything that does not contribute to your joy—it is not qualified for your attention.

We live in a highly depressed world where you can depress yourself with all manner of garbage in the air. Refuse it. If you are to have a future in this season, you must not dwell on the past. Remove certain pictures, certain messages, certain things in your possession that charge you negatively.

4. Be Open To and Believe For the New Possibilities and Opportunities

Every new season carries divine possibilities:

• Every season comes with divine pregnancy for delivery. Thy people shall be willing in the day of Thy power in the beauties of holiness. From the womb of the morning, Thou has the dew of Thy youth (Psalm 110:3). A womb is for delivery. Every day comes with a delivery, every month comes with a delivery, every year comes with a delivery. Look out for and believe for the deliveries.

• Every new season is designed to be an improvement on the previous. There is no stagnancy in God. The path of the just is a shining light that shines more and more unto the perfect day (Proverbs 4:18). The year 2025 has been designed to be an improvement on 2024 in all realms.

Do not allow the devil to fix your mentality on how things were last year. Before January is midway, it will be clear that this year is better than last year. Let your faith declare: This new season is better for me than the past season in every way.

The Bible said, "As a man thinks in his heart, so is he." Let it be unto you according to your faith.

5. Be Sensitive to Receive God's Voice of Revelation or Direction

I will hear what God the Lord will speak. (Psalm 85:8)

Before God does things, He says things. He said, "Let there be light," and there was light. God has something to say. Listen. Pay close attention to His voice of direction.

God may want to:

• Tell you something He wants you to know. Knowledge brings freedom: You shall know the truth, and the truth will make you free. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

• Tell you something He wants you to pay attention to. There may be an area you are not paying attention to—perhaps Kingdom service, your covenant practice, ordering your life, your relationships. Maybe you are too distant from your spouse or your children. God may want you to pay attention to this area.

• Tell you to do something differently. You have done this kind of thing a certain way all this while and seen certain results. Why not do it differently? It may be a business approach, a ministry approach. The voice of God is a trigger for change. Everything changed in the life of Moses when he heard God.

When we speak of hearing God, it is not necessarily like hearing me with a microphone. It can come in a dream at night, in a still, small voice, in an inward witness, or while you are reading the Bible. God wants you to do something differently. Do not miss His voice for this season.

6. Be Prompt in Obeying God's Voice

If you be willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land. (Isaiah 1:19)

Many people have their books full of revelations, directions, and instructions, but the problem is in the action. There is no revelation without responsibility. It is the responsibility of the revelation that brings the possibilities out of the revelation.

The power of obedience lies in several truths:

• Every revelation comes with responsibilities. When God speaks, He expects you to act.

• Obedience is powerful when it is prompt. When you act on time, you get more results. God spoke to Abraham, and Abraham departed. He was not waiting for anybody, not consulting anybody. He departed.

• The good of the land always answers to the willing and the obedient. There is good in the land, but it answers to the willing and the obedient. The unwilling and the disobedient never eat the good of the land. It answers only to the willing and the obedient.

• When obedience is complete, struggle disappears. At the wedding in Cana of Galilee, there was no struggle between pouring water and fetching out wine. They filled the pots with water—no struggle, no extra prayer. They just took the water, and it was already wine. Struggle disappears. If there is any area of struggle in your life, I declare its disappearance now in the name of Jesus.

7. Be Lost in Kingdom Soul-Winning Assignment

When I sent you without purse, without scrip, without shoes, lacked you anything? And they said, Nothing. (Luke 22:35)

Finalizing our year entails that you be engaged in Kingdom soul-winning assignment.

Two foundational principles:

• It is not possible to make God's interest your interest if God does not make your interest His interest. Draw near unto me, and I will draw near unto you (James 4:8). What you do to me determines what I do to you. The interest of God is the souls of men. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.

• You never lose in life winning for the Kingdom. When a football player is playing for the national team and scoring goals, that goal is not necessarily for himself alone; he is scoring on behalf of a nation, on behalf of a mega-team. In the cause of that, his profile rises, his rating and value increase. You never lose in life making gains for the Kingdom of God. Every soul pulled out of hell is a loss for hell and a gain for heaven (John 4:36).

Be deliberate and intentional about soul-winning. Not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord (Romans 12:11).

Two approaches to soul-winning:

1. Genuine love and care for the lost. When your heart is genuine and you have care for the lost around you—in your family, in your community—show genuine love, care, and interest. You will notice someone who is not looking well, who looks depressed, abandoned. You go close to them and ask, "Is there something wrong? Is there anything you want me to pray about with you?" This is where it starts. Show the genuine interest, not because you want to add a number to the church or to your soul-winning record, but because you are genuinely concerned about this life.

   The Bible says, Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33). Tell them about the love of God. Many people today face battles—financial struggles, children out of school, all manner of challenges. Say, "Let's pray to God. Let's trust God for intervention." But this starts from genuine interest and care.

2. Share life stories and experiences. The Samaritan woman in John 4:29 said, "Come, see a man who told me all things that I ever did. Is not this the Christ?" And she dragged the whole city of Samaria out to meet Jesus. One experience, one story—is not this the Christ? They all came and saw the man. That is how the whole of Samaria was pulled to Jesus.

   If you do not know how to preach the gospel, you know how to tell a story. Everybody knows how to tell a story, everybody knows how to share an experience with a friend, with a classmate, on your old school platform. There are things we have not heard at all. Share your testimony—how you were sick and God healed you, how you were afraid to sleep at night and the forces of oppression tormented your life, how you looked like a shadow of yourself until God encountered you and everything changed.

   Place your story on your page. We have a lot of garbage in our generation. It is time to fill the air with positivity and reality. Let your evangelism start this week. Make a soul-winning target for the year. Do not let the year go so fast. After this Sunday service, tell the story of your life—just one story of the difference Jesus has made in your life. Put it out, and let all your friends and loved ones read it.

The light shines in darkness, and darkness comprehended it not (John 1:5). Place the story. We can hashtag it #MyDunamiTestimony. If anybody is trying to find out, "Is there any possibility for me in this place?" it will give direction. Someone is trusting for the fruit of the womb; they come across your testimony. Someone is trusting God for healing from hypertension or diabetes; they come across your testimony—it will redirect them.

If the testimony of one woman can drag a whole city out, let us drag our generation to Jesus. Let mine go out. Let yours go out. Let theirs go out.

Conclusion

Let us start this one by one from the beginning:

1. Approach the new season with appreciation.
2. Completely hand over the new season into the hands of God.
3. Refuse to dwell on the past.
4. Be open to and believe for the new possibilities and opportunities of the new year.
5. Be sensitive to receive God's voice of direction.
6. Be prompt in obeying God's voice.
7. Be lost in Kingdom soul-winning assignment.

You are armed for the year. You are ready for the year fully. This is a new day, beloved brothers and sisters.