We are thankful that God establishes us as a strong, upwards, and outwards, looking church whose touch reaches out into the community and far beyond. We are thankful that we have seen and continue to see new life coming into being. We give praise and glory and honour for what He has done for us in 2020, and as we enter into 2021 we stand and say ‘’here we are Lord’’ as we look forward to all that is to come and the part we are to play.

Are you open, willing to be used, and alive to a future with Christ in 2021?

Shortly before Isaiah says to the Lord ‘’here I am, send me’’, he describes himself as undone, unclean, and a sinner. Isaiah knows his helpless human state and sinful nature, yet he knows he has seen the Lord of Hosts and that the Lord sees his heart. God performs a miracle in Isaiah, taking him from his human state into a place where he is clean and fit for use, and he becomes one of the greatest prophets of all time. God provides this miracle to us also, so that we too can become useful. We may not be called to be a great prophet, but we are called to usefulness in God’s kingdom. We know the voice of God in the draw and call upon our spirit to go His way, but it is up to us to respond.

Are you in need of a miracle to be useful to God? Ask Him afresh to clean you, set you free and let you become of use to Him. There is not a person on this earth who does not need this miracle that Isaiah speaks of.

‘’The Lord looks down from heaven upon the children of men, To see if there are any who understand, who seek God. They have all turned aside, They have together become corrupt; There is none who does good, No, not one.’’ (Psalm 14)

When God looks down, He sees the mess and degradation of mankind, and in His love provides for us a miracle in Jesus Christ who came to bring light and life to all those who sit in the shadow of death (Matthew 4). Sadly, many Christians are still sitting and waiting in the shadows, waiting for their church to close and their day to come. This is not where God would have us to be, we are free from darkness and as Christians we are called to stand and go forward in strength and usefulness in the light of Jesus Christ. Sitting in the shadows of death will only take you to one place, and that is unto death itself.

Are you going to be spiritually poor and weak in 2021? Are you going to continue to live in the shadows, in fear, guilt, indecision, dread and anguish of all kinds?

Ask God to bring you out from the darkness and into His light, ask Him for forgiveness, new life, new joy and new strength. Ask Him to enable you and plead with Him that you would not be left in the shadows of death. Cry out to Him and He will lead you out and build you into His church for the accomplishment of His works, but for this miracle to take place you must go before Him and say, ‘’here I am Lord, Send me’’.

Amen.