The month of Repentance is the first month in the year of The Lord’s attention to his people. It is the first step after a divine cross over from the year of 2023-2024. As the first step to enter into the abundance of God’s goodness for his people, we entered with humble and repenting hearts. The month of January was and is a turning point to the Authentic Word family around the world. It was a season to choose, renew our commitments and grow in our journey with God. However, it is just the beginning of the journey. The road to enter and dwell into the promises of God is still long.
What took place in the month of Repentance?
Every week, every day and every hour counts before God as a result to his people as well. As the Authentic word ministries and Zion temple celebration, every week and down to every day count in this phase of repentance that ushers us into a divine revival in all areas of life , and we have been blessed to be with our father throughout the month.
The week of “A call to repentance”.
Repentance is not the act of repeating one’s sins and faults over and over again. It is also certainly not offering sacrificing of blood to appease an angry God. But is the intention and dedication of the hearts of men to turn back to God. As we live everyday, and coming from various background; more things than one are established in our hearts. But the Lord God should be the only master and owner of our hearts.
This week was dedicated to reflect, evaluate ourselves, call upon the Holy Spirit to bring out the small idols and distractions in our hearts, our minds, and our surroundings and fully and completely turn to the Lord. This is not just for our sake but for our families, and our nations. Because sinful and carnal people are recipients of the enemies’ attacks and the wrath of God on judgment day.
Reference scripture;
Joel 2: 12-14: Now, therefore,” says the Lord, “Turn to Me with all your heart, With fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.” So rend your heart, and not your garments; Return to the Lord your God, For He is gracious and merciful, Slow to anger, and of great kindness; And He relents from doing harm. Who knows if He will turn and relent, And leave a blessing behind Him— A grain offering and a drink offering For the Lord your God?
It is the purpose of God to dwell with his people, speak to his people, work and walk with his people in this year where He is paying attention to us. However, God does not work with double minded people or those whose hearts are far away from Him and would rather give big and extravagant offerings. That is why through His mercy and grace, he is allowing us to repent from all worldly and carnal ways and embrace a divine life in Christ Jesus!
The week of “Unity in the body of Christ”
In this sequel of a season of repentance implied that now the body of Christ shall be one and in unison in our Lord Jesus Christ. The enemy is a master of division but our Lord Jesus is a lover of unity and oneness as he is also one with His Father and the Holy Spirit. Throughout the bible, from the old to the new testament, we saw what great power manifested when two or more people stand together in agreement.
In this season of revival, we are to take the world, change the course of destiny in unity as we pray, intercede, worship and serve our Lord. Let alone the kingdom of God, we also saw through the teaching of our Man of God, Apostle Dr. Paul M. Gitwaza that the kingdom of darkness uses this principle to attack the children of God.
References criptures;
John 17:21: That they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.
1 Kings 18:30-33: Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come here to me.” They came to him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord, which had been torn down. 31 Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, “Your name shall be Israel.” 32 With the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord, and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two seahs of seed. 33 He arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces, and laid it on the wood. Then he said to them, “Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood.”
This call to unity was marked by a 7 days journey of prayer and fasting in unity. We looked at the communal work of the enemy through locusts, their different kinds and how they affect the lives of the believer. On the other hand, by the power and authority of Jesus Christ emerged as locust eaters who stand to cancel the works of the enemy. The week concluded on a phenomenal note of prayer for the unity of our region and embracing the plans of God in our Great Lakes Region; a land of wisdom, beauty and wealth.
The week of “Choosing whom to serve: God or Satan”
After a week of prayer and fasting, a time for concentrating our bodies, souls and hearts to God, it was time for critical decisions that map out the course of our lives. Human beings have unconsciously or consciously made choices and these whether they like it or not determine the outcome of their lives. We were blessed to be ushered into a deeper revelation of this concept by our father; Apostle Gitwaza.
As he broke down how we choose among the two masters of the world everyday, we saw illustrations in the bible of men and women who made choices and what their resolutions looked like. A man like Joshua chose God over fear, over uncertainty and over the gods of Canaan while A man like Ahab chose to defile his life firstly by marrying Jezebel and the rest is history that shaped the outcome of the nation of Israel.
Reference scriptures;
Joshua 24:14-15:“Now therefore, fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord! 15 And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
1 Kings 18:20-21: So Ahab sent for all the children of Israel and gathered the prophets together on Mount Carmel. 21 And Elijah came to all the people, and said, “How long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.” But the people answered him not a word.
1 Corinthians 10:18-22: Observe Israel after the flesh: Are not those who eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar? 19 What am I saying then? That an idol is anything, or what is offered to idols is anything? 20 Rather, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons. 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord’s table and of the table of demons. 22 Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?
Choice is powerful when it comes to the spiritual realm, and to God, you can not choose two or multiple sides. It is either you are with me or you are not. This week was a time to choose. Who do you give your time to, who do you believe, what will be the story of your life. Because your choices of today are the determinants of your future. Our father taught us how our choices were influenced by the knowledge of Egypt which is our understanding and subscription to sciences and worldly knowledge.
They are also influenced by the gods of Cannan, our surroundings, background, families and more. That is why in this year of The Lord’s attention to his people, we are called to study The Word, Pray and fellowship with the Holy Spirit so that we are truly cleansed and without blemish in our choosing of God over any other master.
The week of “Repentance that brings refreshment”
This was a special and blessed week indeed. We were blessed by a mighty woman of God who has walked with God for decades; Apostle Mama Domitila Nabibone. The church of God sat to listen and learn from the wonders of heaven and the New Jerusalem that God prepared for His saints. The testimony refreshed the people of God as what some thought to be unreal or metaphoric is indeed more true than the reality we see on earth. In that same testimony, the apostle of God shared the journey to enter heaven and how what we do here has a literal translation of outcomes in heaven.
It was yet again a moment to repent and relinquish every sin, habit that may impede on our successful entry to heaven. The woman of God’s encounters throughout her life shows that it is possible to walk and operate in the supernatural but it requires a humble and pure heart. A heart that focuses on Jesus alone. In her old age, she is still fiery and full of strength. Renewed every day by the Holy Ghost as should be of every believer who sheds away the garment of sin through repentance.
Reference scripture
Acts 3;19: Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,
Genesis 26:25: So he built an altar there and called on the name of the Lord, and he pitched his tent there, and there Isaac’s servants dug a well.
Our father, Apostle Gitwaza emphasized this as we learnt the power that is in releasing our sins and burdens to Jesus. As we do so, immediately the Holy Spirit sends a wave of refreshment and newness in our lives and the tape of our lives’ faults and mistakes are forever deleted in the records of heaven. God is calling us to truly repent and LET GO. It is not complete repentance if you do not turn away from your past and look unto God because He wants us to dump all we carry on the cross and enjoy the liberty and grace He only can provide
Other amazing highlights:
The number one microfinance is open for business;
TC KIRA microfinance is up and running. Members of Zion Temple Celebration center and others are opening bank accounts, performing transactions and our eyes are now on what the future of banking is with Jesus in the picture. This bank comes from the mind of God for his people, as He takes care of us this year, this is one of the many ways to prosper us. Do not stay behind in such a move and get yourself involved. Branches are open in Nyabugogo, Remera and the headquarters of the AWM in Gatenga.
The Authentic Development Agency is focusing on the youth;
This stems from the passion from our father to empower the youth into entering the promises of God. Hence, ADA is working with external partners and launching programs to upskill, empower and transform youth into the next change makers in the kingdom of God and the society. In January, ADA partnered with ALX to engage friends of Daniel in tech programs designed to create a uniqueness in the labor and business markets.
Youth Services are ongoing with Apostle Dr. Paul M. Gitwaza;
This is a series of testimonies, prayer sessions, and impartation of knowledge and wisdom from our father. This is fundamentally changing the youth across the world and in Rwanda as we delivered and we conquer through the word of testimony. This is a season to learn and repent and more young people are healing through these services which will extend through the month of Fire; February.
A warm welcome to the month of “FIRE”
We are crossing over to February, the month of Fire in the divine season of revival. In the month of repentance, we have seen the fire sent by God to burnt the offering in the times of the prophet Elijah. Hence, we are looking forward to seeing yet again other dimensions of fire. In the month of fire, we will also join a journey of seven days of prayer and fasting with evening revival services with our father, Apostle Gitwaza.
We are looking forward to seeing how God pays attention to you in this month. Shalom!