May history repeat itself
This Saturday my team is leaving to go to the other side of the island to Hilo for six days to help out with a church over there. I volunteered to research the history of the town. Boy, did I ever find some interesting facts. Back in 1840 Hilo had the largest Protestant church in the world! It was larger than Spurgeons'. 13,000 people were in the first church. Talk about a mega church. 70% of the town were Believers. The town grew in size from 1,000 to 10,000 because people wanted to be closer to the church to learn about God. I became so curious to find out what brought this about. Hence, the story begins; A farmer's son named Titus Coan, educated at a military school, became a school teacher. He taught in a Prison school in 1828 and introduced 2000 inmates to Jesus. He goes to seminary for two years and than gets married. The newly weds go to the big island of Hawaii , to a small town named Hilo as missionaries. It takes him two years to learn the language. He starts out on foot to meet every person on the island and tell them about the love of God. He takes a notepad with him and writes down everything about each person he meets. Love is the driving force behind him; he loved God, loved his wife and loved people. There had been a Great Awakening Revival 20 years prior to this but now there was to be another outpouring of God's spirit only this time to the island of Hawaii. Are you curious like I was to find out what prompted this next revival? Grab a coffee and get comfortable.
Marks of the Hawaii Revival: 1.Whole hearted Prayer. People would go to the school house before the light of day and pray for the coming of the Holy Spirit. Earnest, humble, perservering , wrestling in prayer. Children prayed and weeped. The style of prayer was unique in it's day and would be for today as well, but guess what, this is how they pray at ywam! The prayer was united, spoken out loud, and done individually. This is how the Koreans pray. It has to be a beautiful sound to God. No wonder Korea has the largest church today. During class here we will here the birds singing all at once, but over top of each other. It's enough to stop the teaching until they stop. God spoke to me that this is how we sound to him, yet he hears each prayer as if ours was the only voice. These people back in Hilo would intercede over what the Holy Spirit had impressed on their hearts to pray. Very scriptural;"The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results." James 5:16
2. Genuine Repentance. This is so much on God's heart for people today and always has been. This is not merely being convicted of sin. A person can be convicted but never change their heart nor activity. Genuine repentance is where you are repulsed by your sin and burdened to be rid of it. People back then would be down on the floor wailing and weeping before God over their sin. God loves this because only then can he pour out his love and destroy the strongholds that hold us captive. Do you have anything in your life that repulses you and you want free from? We cannot receive freedom from self-help or positive thinking. We cannot earn freedom or strive for it. Sheer human will cannot bring lasting change. We cannot wish away our bondage. We must have a spiritual transaction!
3.Hunger for the word of life. People became so hungry for the bible. It was printed in their language. Croan would send people out from his church, two by two, to teach around the island because people were so hungry to learn.
4.Generosity. Even though they were poor they gave according to their ability. One would bring to church a pile of wood for fuel to share, one a little salt, one a potatoe, one a cabbage, the old and feeble and children who had nothing gathered grass to cover soil. People gave of their time to built churches everywhere from scratch. People had concern for others, to hear the word which motivated them to reach out and bring others to church.
5. Work of the Holy Spirit ws recognized by everyone. People realized this was a supernatural power outside of them responsible for all this stuff going on. "It is not by force, nor by strength, but by my Spirit, says the Lord." Zechariah 4:6
But what happened that it's not going on today, I pondered? The answer: Other religious expressions came to the island after this revival. With the rise of the sugar industry came workers from China and Japan bringing their beliefs and customs. The gold rush in California caused lifestyle change. The shifting of peoples minds from concern of their souls to that of secular matters. Political changes brought confusion and hardened hearts to the gospel. Coan, the missionary became a dying breed, others didn't have the same committment for the lost. By 1870 the American mission closed it's doors leaving the work to the national church. There was a need for men of vision without that the church settled into the task of simply maintaining the work. Help from missionaries' children who still lived in the islands was disappointing as far as the preaching of the gospel, since most chose to go into business and politics. But let's fast forward to the year 2006, God is raising up a generation of vision. For without vision people perish. The youth of today want authenticity. They don't want hypocrisy. They are looking for the real deal. Once again, God is raising up teachers, preachers, evanglists, and intercessors that have a heart for the next generation. To see them set free from the lies being fed them from the media. Our team has the privilege to be a small part in this.
"...if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14 AMEN!
Marks of the Hawaii Revival: 1.Whole hearted Prayer. People would go to the school house before the light of day and pray for the coming of the Holy Spirit. Earnest, humble, perservering , wrestling in prayer. Children prayed and weeped. The style of prayer was unique in it's day and would be for today as well, but guess what, this is how they pray at ywam! The prayer was united, spoken out loud, and done individually. This is how the Koreans pray. It has to be a beautiful sound to God. No wonder Korea has the largest church today. During class here we will here the birds singing all at once, but over top of each other. It's enough to stop the teaching until they stop. God spoke to me that this is how we sound to him, yet he hears each prayer as if ours was the only voice. These people back in Hilo would intercede over what the Holy Spirit had impressed on their hearts to pray. Very scriptural;"The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results." James 5:16
2. Genuine Repentance. This is so much on God's heart for people today and always has been. This is not merely being convicted of sin. A person can be convicted but never change their heart nor activity. Genuine repentance is where you are repulsed by your sin and burdened to be rid of it. People back then would be down on the floor wailing and weeping before God over their sin. God loves this because only then can he pour out his love and destroy the strongholds that hold us captive. Do you have anything in your life that repulses you and you want free from? We cannot receive freedom from self-help or positive thinking. We cannot earn freedom or strive for it. Sheer human will cannot bring lasting change. We cannot wish away our bondage. We must have a spiritual transaction!
3.Hunger for the word of life. People became so hungry for the bible. It was printed in their language. Croan would send people out from his church, two by two, to teach around the island because people were so hungry to learn.
4.Generosity. Even though they were poor they gave according to their ability. One would bring to church a pile of wood for fuel to share, one a little salt, one a potatoe, one a cabbage, the old and feeble and children who had nothing gathered grass to cover soil. People gave of their time to built churches everywhere from scratch. People had concern for others, to hear the word which motivated them to reach out and bring others to church.
5. Work of the Holy Spirit ws recognized by everyone. People realized this was a supernatural power outside of them responsible for all this stuff going on. "It is not by force, nor by strength, but by my Spirit, says the Lord." Zechariah 4:6
But what happened that it's not going on today, I pondered? The answer: Other religious expressions came to the island after this revival. With the rise of the sugar industry came workers from China and Japan bringing their beliefs and customs. The gold rush in California caused lifestyle change. The shifting of peoples minds from concern of their souls to that of secular matters. Political changes brought confusion and hardened hearts to the gospel. Coan, the missionary became a dying breed, others didn't have the same committment for the lost. By 1870 the American mission closed it's doors leaving the work to the national church. There was a need for men of vision without that the church settled into the task of simply maintaining the work. Help from missionaries' children who still lived in the islands was disappointing as far as the preaching of the gospel, since most chose to go into business and politics. But let's fast forward to the year 2006, God is raising up a generation of vision. For without vision people perish. The youth of today want authenticity. They don't want hypocrisy. They are looking for the real deal. Once again, God is raising up teachers, preachers, evanglists, and intercessors that have a heart for the next generation. To see them set free from the lies being fed them from the media. Our team has the privilege to be a small part in this.
"...if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14 AMEN!
posted by Sharon at 4:03 PM
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