[u][b]IT WAS JUST a SIMPLE INVITATION to PRAY[/b][/u]

by Michael Edds


It was just a simple invitation to pray that led a small group of
people in 1898 to meet on Saturday evenings from 9 to 10 for
prayer. They met at the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago to cry
out for an awakening. Within a short time, the group grew to 300
passionate intercessors. A few members remained to agonize
and intercede into the early hours one Sunday morning.

R. A. Torrey joined this small group to pray for a worldwide
revival. During that intense intercession, Torrey asked God to
send him around the world. Within a week of the close of the
prayer meeting, two strangers approached Torrey and asked
him to come to Melbourne, Australia to preach. These two men
had left Australia months before in search of a man that they
believed God would use to bring revival to their nation. Upon
meeting Torrey, they felt they had found God's man.

The result of that Chicago prayer meeting was an invitation for
Torrey to come to Australia. Torrey arrived in Australia in 1902.
15,000 tried to pack themselves into the meeting hall. It is
estimated that Torrey and his partner Alexander led over 100,000
souls into the Kingdom of God.

All this had its beginning in Chicago with a small group of people
praying, "Revive thy work, Oh Lord!" May God raise up such prayer
warriors in our day who will daily cry out, " REVIVE THY WORK,
OH LORD!"