‘’The essence of revival fire is for believers to engage in audacious spiritual warfare to advance God’s kingdom…to win in spiritual warfare, you must be bitter about sin and the works of Satan.’’
By Samuel Ita
The annual spiritual revival programme, Gathering of Warriors, GOW, Convention 2024 hosted by the Senior Pastor of Full Life Christian Centre, Uyo, Rev Ntia I. Ntia and his wife, Pastor Mrs Ukamaka Ntia lived up to the expectation of thousands of participants from across Nigeria and outside the country, including over 80 pastors from various denominations who thronged the massive Noah’s Ark Auditorium venue and online followers.
Renowned anointed gospel ministers mightily used of God to bless the audience on the conference theme ‘’Revival Fire’’, besides the host were: International Evangelist Rev Dr Uma Ukpai, Rev Samuel Olubiyo, and Apostle Anselm Madubuko both based in Lagos from the start on Sunday June 23 to Sunday June 30, 2024. Hundreds of souls convicted by the Holy Spirit repented and surrendered their lives to Christ at the morning and evening sessions in response to soul stirring anointed gospel messages by the preachers.
On day 1, Sunday June 23, Rev Dr Uma Ukpai citing Luke 24:49, Acts 1: 8, Acts 19:2,6 stressed that the Holy Spirit is the source of revival and facilitator of consecrated and impactful Christian life. He prayed for believers who needed the baptism of the Holy Spirit and renewal of the fire of God for impactful Christian life and over one hundred people were baptised in the Holy. Ghost and spoke in tongues, while some fell under the power of the Holy Spirit.
Speaking on the topic, ‘’Consequences of Partial Obedience’’ with the text from 1 Samuel 15:1-15, admonished all believers to learn from the downfall of king Saul who deviated from God’s instruction that he should completely destroy the Amalekites without sparing anyone by sparing king Agag, which was partial obedience. ‘’God wants us to obey Him. Don’t let partial obedience stop you from doing what God wants you to do. The Spirit of God can depart from you if you don’t obey God. Repent from your sins and God will restore you.’’
Evang Umah Ukpai charged all believers to prioritise soul winning and prayer to sustain the revival fire in their lives. ‘’The main reason God saved you is so that you will win souls. When you stop winning souls, you are spiritually dead… when you fail to pray you are dead.’’ The renowned evangelist called on believers to awake from spiritual slumber because ‘’the future of Nigeria will always rest on believers’’.
Speaking earlier in an opening charge on the topic, ‘’ Let Revival Fire Fall’’, based on 1 Kings 18:36-39 and other related scriptures, Rev Ntia I. Ntia said, ‘’now is the time for revival… I have great pain in my heart that many Christians don’t know what God is doing now…God has a plan to make you a fire carrier’’. He said Elijah cried to God to send fire from Heaven and God gave an answer of fire to restore the worship of God and His glory. Rev Ntia defined Revival Fire as: ‘’The outpouring of God’s presence and power like fire’; the fire of God that reveals that God is real; and the fire of God that reveals the almightiness of God’’.
The fiery preacher revealed that Satan’s agenda as exposed by the Lord Jesus Christ in John 10:10 includes ‘’ to cut off or cut short and, to confront or resist believers and that the devil cages people through sorcery and witchcraft, insensitivity as in the case of Samson, timidity as in the case of the ten spies who gave a fearful report not to enter Canaan, negativity, conspiracy, scarcity and poverty.
Also speaking on the convention theme, ‘’Revival Fire’’, Rev Samuel Olubiyo based on Joel 2:1-11,Ezek 37 and other relevant scriptures said every revival changes people’s story.
He called on believers who need revival fire to engage intense prayer following Jesus’ example. ‘’ The strength of your life is the function of your prayer life. Your worth in spirituality is a function of your prayer life. When you seek God, men will seek you.’’ He charged believers who want to receive and retain anointing of fire to; pray continuously with strict schedule and time of prayer; commit to a righteous living, and commit to a life of fasting and regular study and obedience to the word of God.
On Day 5, Apostle Anselem Madubuko, General Overseer of the Revival Assembly, Lagos who spoke on the topic, ‘’The Army the Lord is Raising to Carry Revival Fire,’’ citing Habakkuk 1:1-5, 1 Peter 1:10-13, said the essence of revival fire is for believers to engage in audacious spiritual warfare to advance God’s kingdom. He said the church today has become too cold, timid, slow and fearful to do exploit for the Lord. He charged: ‘’ To win in spiritual warfare, you must be bitter about sin and the works of Satan…you cannot destroy Satan’s works unless you have bitterness against sin…you also need to be fast, that is, be in a haste to fight the Lord’s battle. ‘’Prophetically, I say to you, run… the Lord says. May you hear when I say run… the people I am raising are bitter and hasty…David was bitter against Goloiath, tht is why he ran into battle against Goloiath…Pastors need to be bitter against the diseases afflicting their members and pray with compassion for them to be healed. Be bitter against poverty. The church has lost the hastiness…we have lost the speed of God…don’t postpone the evangelism or vigil you need to do today…the church has lost the cutting edge…the church has no strikers (soul winners) anymore. Apostle Madubuko charged believers to be passionate about God’s work and God will not let them go hungry.
The Gathering of Warriors, GOW, 2024 Convention also featured Ministers Conference and Mentorship, Couples Communion, Leadership and Business sessions and soul stirring worship and praise session led by the Full Life Shepherd’s Choir, Classical Choir, Acapella Choir, Mass Choir as well as inspiring presentations by Reality Theatre, the Film Ministry of the Church, Medical Outreach to participants by the Balm in Gilead, and a Talk on How to Recover Wrongly Transferred Money from Banks by the legal team of the church.