Your destiny is influenced by these three. Principles, Relationships, Actions
They alter your destiny. Be careful about these things. What you will be in life depends on these.
A principle is a moral rule or belief, or an assumption that controls, influences, or explains how something happens. It’s an idea that forms the basis of anything.
Relationships have something to do with your life. It has an influence on your life; either they make you happy or sad. Your spiritual life also has an impact. They affect you for Good or evil, whether you know or you don’t. Actions also have an impact on what you have done; it affects your destiny.
There are people who choose to follow their parents consciously or subconsciously…unless you look at those three factors in your life.
Changing the place where you live doesn’t change you, but a change in the spirit changes you.
Leadership is the ability to influence others toward achieving a goal.
But before you influence others, you must be able to influence yourself.
That statement dismantles the illusion many of us carry. We want titles. Platforms. Followership. But leadership does not begin with a crowd; it begins with character.
If you cannot lead your emotions, your habits, your reactions, and your thoughts, you will eventually misuse influence when it comes.
Leadership starts with vision. But vision is not only about the future; it is about perception.
What you constantly look at shapes what you normalize.
If you constantly see mediocrity, compromise, and chaos, your mind begins to adjust to it.
If you consistently expose yourself to excellence, integrity, and discipline, your internal standard shifts upward.
A leader must guard their eyes because sight programmes belief.
What you hear repeatedly becomes your inner voice.
If you hear “you can’t” long enough, you begin to whisper it to yourself.
If you hear wisdom consistently, your thinking matures.
Leadership requires selective hearing. Not every noise deserves access to your spirit. This is where insight and discernment become very key
Whatever you entertain auditorily, it eventually speaks through you verbally.
Seeing and hearing gather information.
Insight is interpretation.
Two people can see the same problem; one sees a limitation, and the other sees an opportunity.
Insight is the difference between reaction and revelation.
It is developed through reflection, prayer, study, and deep thinking.
Leaders do not just consume information; they process it.
Insight without decision is wasted clarity.
This is where leadership becomes costly.
You may see clearly.
You may understand deeply.
But can you decide courageously?
Formulating decisions means choosing alignment over comfort.
It means acting based on long-term vision, not short-term emotion.
You cannot transform what you have not first filtered.
You cannot influence people beyond the level of your personal transformation.
This is the deeper truth:
Whatever you consistently see and hear enters your heart.
Whatever enters your heart shapes your life.
And whatever shapes your life determines the kind of leader you become.
Leadership is not first positional. It is internal.
It is the daily management of inputs, thoughts, and choices.
The SHIFT principle is not just a strategy.
It is a discipline of consciousness.
If you want to lead others well:
Audit what you see.
Guard what you hear.
Develop insight intentionally.
Make courageous decisions.
Allow transformation to be visible.
Because the greatest leadership failure is not failing people.
It is failing to lead yourself first.
“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. 14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:13-16)
Where are we to be light and salt? Why are we to be light and salt? Let’s look for answers in our gospel reading under three headings:
However beautiful and good, the Bible describes our world as dark, corrupt and dying. Our world has a dark side.
At every election, our politicians compete with one another to promise a brighter, better future under their leadership, but none can change human nature or improve the morals of our country.
When Christians seek to do so, they are often criticised or penalised. In many countries, it is much worse.
“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (Matthew 5:10-12).
Notice Jesus didn’t say “if people insult you…” but “when… when” because persecution is inevitable. Think about it, Jesus calls us to be his peacemakers.
Where are peacemakers needed? Jesus calls us to be his ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5). But where? Where do ambassadors serve? On foreign soil.
“You are the salt of the earth…You are the light of the world.” (Matthew 5:13-14)
In both verse 13 and verse 14, the pronoun ‘you’ is emphatic. The idea is, “You are the only salt of the earth” and “You are the only light of the world.”
The world’s decay will not be retarded or its darkness dispelled unless God’s people act like salt and light. The very ones who are despised and persecuted by the world are ironically the world’s only hope.
You are the Salt of the Earth
“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.” (Matthew 5:13)
Salt has always been valuable in history, often much more so than it is today. In ancient Greece, it was called theon, which means divine.
The Romans held that, except for the sun, nothing was more valuable than salt.
Often, Roman soldiers were paid in salt, and it was from that practice that the expression “not worth his salt” originated.
Some think Jesus is emphasizing the purity of salt, or the flavour of salt, or the preserving nature of salt.
Each has some merit and you can find verses that stress our role in these ways. But none of them actually fit the wording of the text or the context of what Jesus says about salt in the Gospels.
Be the person God made you – model your life on Him, and you will be the salt of the earth. Jesus reinforces this analogy with another.
You are the light of the world
Whereas salt is hidden, light is obvious. Salt works secretly, while light works openly. In John 8:12, Jesus said, “I am the light of the world,” If Jesus is the light of the world, how can we be the light of the world as well? In his place, we reflect the light of Christ.
“Children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life” (Philippians 2:15-16)
A secret Christian is as incongruous as a hidden light.
“In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16)
The word (kalos) for ‘good’ that Jesus uses here does not so much emphasize quality but rather attractiveness and beauty. Letting our light shine allows others to see the beautiful thing that God is doing in us, transforming us to become like Jesus.
This is not something we can create or make up, but simply something we allow the Lord to do through us. It is God’s light; our choice is whether to hide it or let it shine.
I invite you to write your obituary. It is not as morbid as you might think.
Why leave such important matters to someone else to write? It is not about dying but about living. Ask yourself, ‘What is my purpose in life? What has God called me to be and to do? What do I want to be known for?’
Jesus has called you to be the salt of the earth, the light of the world. Let him help you become the person he intends you to be. And if you don’t like where your priorities or values are leading you, change them. Change them today. You can.
Let me close by telling you about someone who did just that.
Alfred Nobel bought a newspaper to read his brother’s obituary. He was shocked to discover that a dreadful error had been made. The paper had confused their names, and the obituary he was reading was his own.
Alfred was a Swedish chemist, engineer, inventor, and businessman. He made several important contributions to science, holding 355 patents in his lifetime.
Alfred’s most famous invention was dynamite, a safer and easier means of harnessing the explosive power of nitroglycerin, which was patented in 1867. As a result, he became very, very wealthy.
His premature obituary described the terrible death and destruction this powerful force had brought into the world. Nobel was devastated.
He wanted instead to be known as a man of “peace”.
He realised that if his obituary was to be rewritten, he would have to do it himself by changing his priorities. So Alfred Nobel did just that. He bequeathed his fortune to establish the Nobel Prize. As a result, he is better known for his contribution to peace, not war.
What will you be known for? What would you like to be known for? Then start today.
-GSW-
GSWMI Burning Light Conference 2026