Pastor Jentezen Franklin on the Overwhelming Power of Short Prayers in Our Lives

Pastor Jentezen Franklin. Photo image courtesy JentezenFranklin.org
NASHVILLE - Prayer has long been a source of strength, hope, and transformation for millions of people around the world. It is our earnest requests to God that connect us to foundational truths that align our minds and hearts with His will for our lives.

Jentezen Franklin is one of America's most influential pastors. This Georgia megachurch leader and bestselling author believes that our most effective prayers aren’t necessarily our longest ones. They can be short and to the point. In his new book, The Power of Short Prayers, Franklin explores how simple, heartfelt conversations with God can bring peace, guidance, and breakthrough in everyday life.

I recently sat down with Franklin to discuss the power of prayer, why brevity can sometimes make prayer more effective, and how anyone can deepen their connection with God through even the shortest prayers.

If you were trying to convince a friend to pick up a copy of The Power of Short Prayers and give it a read, what would you say to encourage them? What would your sales pitch be?

It's a great question. I would tell them that this book is more than a book to me. It is 40 years of being in ministry. And it is the prayers that I have prayed over my family, over my ministry, over people in dire situations. How to pray short prayers that are purposeful and passionate. And I believe they are the greatest prayers in the Bible. We tried to make the book short. The chapters are short because I wanted men to read it because the fathers will begin to pray short prayers. One of my favorite prayers comes from Numbers 6. It is the ironic prayer where Moses instructed Aaron and his sons to speak over the children of Israel. And that prayer, I have been praying over my children.

My wife and I have been married for 38 years, and we have five children. We prayed it over them every day of their life. They would hear my voice; I'd take them to school when they were in school and they would hear my voice … “The Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make His face shine on you. The Lord be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.” And I break that prayer down as to why it's so important. When I wrote this book, I wanted to say to people, you don't have to be a professional pray-er. Most people are intimidated about prayer work. It's the power of short prayers that gets God's attention. Most of the miracles that God did, He did when people interrupted him with a short prayer.

What made this book a “must write” for you? You are at a point in your ministry where you could have chosen any topic to immerse yourself in but you selected prayer. Why?

When I was studying one day, I began to see how Jesus with only three years of ministry had to build a worldwide kingdom that would cover the planet with the message of salvation. Every minute counted, every day counted, every hour counted. He had a purpose. His purpose was to go to the Cross. But He kept being interrupted with short prayers. And when He would get interrupted, short prayers would stop him from his purpose for a possibility. And that's the power of short prayers. It's like, God, even on the Cross, this was that moment for me. Jesus is dying. I would say Calvary was His purpose, if you want to sum it all up. He's come to seek and to save by His own blood and His own sacrifice took our sins on Calvary. He's dying. And right in the middle of saving the world through His shed blood, a thief who's never done one good thing starts talking to Him. He's never gone to church. He's never forgiven anybody. He's never helped anybody. He's never given a tithe, nothing. And he cries out with a short nine word prayer.

“Lord, remember me when you come into Your Kingdom.”

And Jesus puts everything on hold. It stopped Him from dying. He stopped from speaking. It is finished. And He turns in recognition of the power of that short prayer. And He said, “This day you will be with Me in paradise.”

Why is it your belief that brief, sincere prayers can lead to spiritual breakthrough?

It’s because Jesus said this in Matthew 7:6. He said, “Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.” The Pharisees thought that if they prayed long prayers, a lot of prayers, through ritual and vain repetition, that they would be more spiritual. That's not what the Father is after. He wants our heart.

There is something in short prayers. And I think if people will start praying short prayers, our prayer lives would be more impactful. It's just like coming to work today. I said a short prayer. “Lord, be with me today. Help me today. Speak through me today.” And it's just acknowledging Him. He'll come anywhere you acknowledge Him. And when you go on the job, you can pray a short prayer. Have a two-word prayer. “Grace. Grace.” Did you know that Zerubbabel had an unfinished building project that he had tried for 16 years to get finished and couldn't do it? Then God gave him an angel and gave him a two-word prayer. He said, “Speak this to the building project. Grace. Grace.” And enabling grace kicked in. The Bible says, ‘It's not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit.’ Do you know that God can enable you to do a thing and you will do it quicker and better than you could do it in your own strength and your own might?

Is there any right or wrong way to lift up a short prayer to God? Or is it all instinctual and fueled by the Holy Spirit?

I think it's led by the Holy Spirit, but I think it's also a routine. We should acknowledge Him in all of your ways, and He will direct your path. If you don't acknowledge Him, there's no guarantee that He's going to direct your path. I know He is sovereign, but He said, “You have not because you asked not.” So, I have spoken short prayers every day over my children's life. I do this for my grandchildren too. I have a granddaughter that just came home from the hospital a couple weeks ago and the first thing I did when they put that baby in my hands is I began to speak Numbers 6, “May the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face shine on you. Be gracious unto you.” And I went through that quick prayer. What a powerful thing. If people would start praying with the understanding of what each one of those lines means and carries the weight of. And then, when you say grace, grace to a mountain. When you say, Lord, bless my children and you do it, God said, ‘I'll put my name on them.’ We know that part. But He said, “If you do this, I'll put my name on them and I will bless them.” And He said, “Speak it over the children, Israel.” And that's God's promise. It's just really simple. It's a short prayer, but it's taking the time to do it. Pull the family together (and pray over them).

While researching and writing this book, did you learn anything new about prayer that you never realized before? An A-Ha moment so to speak?

Yes, I did. While I was researching for the book, I realized that my grandmother, who I never met, consistently prayed for my family each and every day. That’s saying something since she and my grandfather had 18 children. We still have the old home where they lived in the family. But here's the bottom line. I had a praying grandmother, and I didn't know this, but there was an outhouse (on their property), before they put electricity and plumbing in the house. She kept the outhouse because when you have 18 children, and she was 37 years old, you needed a quiet place to go. Now listen to this. So, you can imagine, you're cooking meals, and you’re out in the country in North Carolina. So, you don't get a lot of alone time. Her alone time, even after she got plumbing in the house, was to keep going out to the old outhouse. It turned into her prayer closet. And if she went out there, my grandfather told the children, ‘Don't bother mom. She's going out there to pray.’ And she prayed. And I have the actual prayer she offered up to God each time she went there. Because if you go to the old stone house in North Carolina today, there's prayers written all over that outhouse’s walls.

And one of those prayers was written there in 1940. And she wrote, “Polio is spreading all through the community. God, don't let the baby get it.” She wrote things like that. I guess my A-Ha moment was when I recognized that I am where I am and what I'm doing is because of her prayers. I had a grandmother, and all over that outhouse, even before I was born, she was praying for my mother and praying that God would bless my mother's family with a future pastor. My mom is 90 and she’s still alive. Every day I see her. We don't understand the power of short prayers, but that one little prayer on the wall, I believe God heard that prayer. And I believe the reason I've been so blessed is because I had a dutiful grandmother who was a prayer warrior. Sometimes I look back and say, God, how did I get a ministry like this? I'm not worthy. But I believe it was my grandmother's short prayers that had power and purpose over my life and calling.

After people have had a chance to read The Power of Short Prayers, what would you like your readers to take away from that experience? What is your greatest hope for the book?

I know if you read the book, you're going to start praying more. That's my great hope that you will begin to pray. And if you ever start praying short prayers, it's a matter of time before you start praying long prayers. And when you are making prayer a major part of your walk with God, not just going to church, not just being a religious person, you will benefit greatly. The Lord said, ‘Ask and you shall receive, seek and knock and it'll be open and you will find.’ I just want to encourage people to pray. Why did Jesus pray so much? He prayed all night three times. All night long. Why? Because he was modeling prayer to you and the urgency of having the discipline of prayer in your life. And it begins with short prayers. If you will do it, I really believe that God will honor it and you will see His help in your life.

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