It was just a simple invitation to pray 1898 that gave birth to an incredible world-wide awakening.

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 antagonize and intercede into the early hours one Sunday morning. R. A. Torrey joined this small group to pray for a world - wide revival. During that intense prayer session, Torrey asked God to send him around the world. Within a weeks 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 whom 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 a building that could only seat 8,000. 8,000 conversions took place in that one meeting. For six months, Torrey and friend Charles M. Alexander traveled from town to town preaching. Revival swept the nation. Torrey believed that the key to the awakening was prayer. A lady in Melbourne read his book on prayer. She was so moved by his teaching, that she organized her friends into prayer circles. The groups grew to 1,700 bands meeting regularly to pray for revival. This move of God spread into Britain, Ireland and into other countries. By 1904, 30,000 of God's people were enrolled in daily prayer groups. Their prayer was "Revive Thy work, Oh Lord." These prayers resulted in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in 1905 in Wales, Britain, America, in India and China! Wales was rocked by a mighty awakening. London experienced a five month long revival. A mighty choir of 4,000 made Londoners wonder what music must be like in Heaven!
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 THEY WORK, OH LORD!"