Short Prayers That Will Change Your Life | The Power of Short Prayers | Jentezen Franklin

Together, we're inspiring people to live for Jesus. If you're looking for more in life, to live with purpose and peace, to make a difference for your family and those in need around the world, Jesus is the answer. And our mission is to simply point you to Him. You're watching Kingdom Connection with Jensen Franklin. I'm continuing today in our book that we are doing a series out of entitled The Power of Short Prayers. I want you to understand that when I wrote this book and preached these sermons, a lot of the things that I'm going to share with you, we began last week and I'm going to go to part two today. But it's five pages a chapter because I wanted short prayers and I wanted short chapters. But these are the prayers that I have prayed for 40 years now. And I don't hope they work. I don't think that they work. I don't kind of wish and hope and I know these prayers have done miraculous things through the blood of Jesus Christ. And if I can inspire you to pray, I can inspire you to be like Jesus because He was a prayer warrior. Now, look with me in Matthew chapter six. Jesus is about to teach the Lord's prayer to His disciples and two verses before He would give them that great 68 word prayer, He says this, and when you pray, do not use vain reputations as the heathen do. Catch this part. You may have just ran right over it. For they think that they will be heard for many words. They think they'll fall into the trap of thinking that long prayers are better prayers. But the more they talk, the more persuasive they become to God in making His hand move. That is not true. And Jesus rebuked them for praying many word prayers with no heart and no passion. It is James that said in James 5 and 16, the Apostle James, that it is the effective fervent

prayer of a righteous man avails much. It's the fervent, which means red hot, the passionate. The passionate, purposeful prayer avails much. And Jesus said, don't think that you'll be effective by praying religious prayers over and over in vain repetition, trying to impress people with many words. I'm not interested in words. I want to hear your heart. And when you pray, pray from your heart with faith. Short prayers produce profound results in the Bible. As a matter of fact, almost every, really every miracle in the Bible was the product of a short prayer, not hours and hours of somebody prayed. Elisha prayed a 64 word prayer and the fire fell from heaven and consumed the sacrifice. Simon Peter prayed a one sentence prayer and a man who had never walked stood up and ran one sentence. It was the Apostle Paul in Acts chapter 16 who prayed a 14 word prayer and a demon possessed woman and witch and in the occult, the power of Satan was broken off of her life. It was Hezekiah in Isaiah 38 who prayed a 29 word prayer and God, and why did he pray? He was given a death sentence. God sent his prophet and said, set your house in order. You're going to die. He prayed 29 words and the prophet was sent back by God and said, God's going to give you 15 more years. 29 words of prayer produced 15 more years. The prayer of Jabez is a 33 word prayer. Oh, that you would bless me indeed, that you would enlarge my territory. Give me more influence. Bless me, bless me in an unusual way. way. Oh, that you would bless me indeed, enlarge my territory. Let your hand be upon me. Don't take your hand off of me and keep me from evil. He prayed that prayer and God granted him

what he requested. 33 words. A man who was born out of sorrow, the Bible said, became very powerful because he prayed a short prayer. Even the Lord himself, when asked, teach us to pray, he did not go through some kind of thing that was never ending. He had 68 words of power. And he said, if you pray this prayer, learn this prayer, speak this prayer, it will cover you and your family in miraculous ways. I want you to see a prayer this morning in the book of Habakkuk. And it's a man crying out because he did not see in his generation what others saw in their generation concerning a move of God. And he got hungry for it. And in Habakkuk chapter 3 and verse 2, he said, oh Lord, I've heard your speech and I was afraid. Oh Lord, here it is. Revive your work in the midst of the years. Lord, I want you to do what you did in times past in my family and in my life and in my nation. And then verse 3, look at this. And God came from Timan. He prayed and God came from where he was. I know God is omnipresent. I know he's at all places at all times, but he does not manifest at all places. And the Bible said God was in a place called Timan. Let me tell you what that means. Timan was part of a famous mountain called Mount Sinai. It's a horseshoe ridge. And Timan is one side and Mount Paran is the other. All of it is Mount Sinai. How many of you would agree Mount Sinai, God is doing something very purposeful up there. What's he doing? He's going to give Moses the 10 commandments on that mountain. He's going to give Moses the tabernacle plan on that mountain for which spoke of Jesus Christ coming to die for our sins. He's going to download a moral code into all of the things that would form the five first books of the Bible. It all was coming down on that mountain. So God is busy. He's purposeful. He's doing what he purposes to do. But

the scripture said when a prophet prayed, Lord, will you not revive your work in my time, in my generation? And God left where he was to come where prayer was. He left Timan to come where this prophet was. Jesus' ministry, he was 33 and a half when he died on the cross. He was a young man, 33. Do you understand? When he started his ministry, he was 30. He never preached a sermon, never taught a message, never healed, never did anything until 30 years of age. He was just identifying for the first 30 years, seeing what life is like for every day, average person, every feeling, every emotion, every hurt, every joy. And then he had three years to establish a worldwide kingdom. But one thing you will notice as he was going about his purpose on an urgent mission and limited time to get the job done with a crazy task that is so far out of reach, it seems impossible. And yet he was constantly being interrupted with short prayers. He's important. He's doing important stuff. He's acting out the New Testament. And as he's going, here comes a woman with an issue of blood, and she reaches out and tags on the hem of his garment and pulls the string. And Jesus stopped. And he said, I know I've owned my purpose going to Calvary, but I just felt a possibility. And she said, if I can but touch the hem of his garment. Harmon, I will be made whole that was a little prayer a little prayer a little reach out to Jesus and suddenly He stopped his purpose and turned to a possibility and he said who touched me bring her to me and he healed her It was little children that came to him They wanted to they wanted to they wanted to jump in his lap They wanted him to notice them probably had sticky fingers a little booger on their nose the unimportant He's the king of kings. He is Establishing a kingdom. He doesn't have time for you And yet Jesus said suffered the big shot disciples said he's not busy

Don't bother the master and Jesus said you leave them alone I have time because he is willing to interrupt what he's doing When he sees somebody pray with purpose and power and he says I see a possibility Nobody is unimportant to it The lepers that nobody else would touch they cry out Lord have mercy on us And he says well I'm going over here and I need to get this sermon down on the beatitudes and I need to get this one down because they Don't really need it, but I'll put the brakes on everything cuz I just heard a short prayer. Oh You're gonna drown Peter Peter just said Lord save me Three words and Jesus said I'll walk on the water to get to him Just a short prayer with passion and purpose Can move and God says to the whole universe wait, I know I got this going on I know we got China going on. I know we got Russia going on I know America's in a mess but when I hear one of my children's call with a heart of urgency and passion and prayer and They're praying in faith. I'll stop everything For a possibility You are a possibility You count Jesus left the 99 he said that told the parable the Good Shepherd left the 99 sheep to find the one possibility You are that possibility one matters to God one One person matters to God People don't have time for you Family may not believe in you, but God sees possibility when he sees one person call his name and reach out to him in prayer Calvary being his purpose He carried the cross They laid him on the cross nailed the nails in his hands the crown of thorns on his head

His Back was beaten Weak from loss of blood They raised that cross up in the middle and the third of it hid in his body Shook And on one side was a thief and And he cursed him with his dying words he cursed the Savior and went into eternity But there was another thief on the other side listen carefully Who would pray a nine-word prayer now how many of you understand Calvary is as important as Anything and everything that would ever happen on planet Earth Had Jesus not died on Calvary. We would all be lost with no hope of eternity life after life and We would be bound for hell But as he was dying speaking the last words Father into your spirit into the hands. I commit my spirit father it is finished He's speaking his last words and right in the middle of it before he could get it's finished out of his mouth the thief Who has never? Gone to church one day of his life Who has never? helped anybody all he did was steal and steal and steal and Steal again you they didn't crucify somebody for stealing the first time this was multiple Over and over, chance after chance after chance, he never forgave anybody, he never did anything good, he never helped anybody, he did nothing to earn it.

He's simply in the middle of the most important plan of heaven, angels are holding their breath watching, demons are watching, hell's having a party, Satan is laughing, he's dying, he's dying, and right in the middle of it, here comes a short prayer that puts the whole kingdom of God and plan of salvation on pause, because the thief cries out nine words, Lord, when you come into your kingdom, remember me. And Jesus says, death, hold it, I hit the brakes, I pause everything, I hear one more possibility, I'm gonna stop my purpose on this cross for one miserable thief who has done nothing to deserve my forgiveness, nor has he deserved to go to paradise with me. But because he's praying a short prayer, I see a possibility, it's never too late. Oh, I don't know, some of you've had children that died in terrible accidents, some of you had things happen, and I just want you to know it didn't take a lot, we act like if you pay your tithes and you come to church every week and all of that, that has nothing to do with your salvation. James said that when you have faith, it will manifest into work, so you know that you have faith when it starts changing your lifestyle. But don't get it wrong, you don't add one bit to your salvation,

you're just like that thief, you have nothing to offer him except Lord, call on his name, ask him to forgive you, ask him, and in that moment, without you earning it at all, notice his response. I love it that he said, Lord. He didn't look like a Lord, but see, that's a passionate prayer of faith. You're Lord, I feel it. Can you imagine being that close to the blood and we preach about him and stuff and we celebrate him in type through the bread and that man was probably having blood splattered on him from Jesus. And he says, Lord, watch, when you come into your kingdom, he didn't look like a king, but in that quick, short prayer, he was saying a lot, you are Lord. Every knee shall bow, every tongue shall confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of the Father and you are king of kings and you don't look like a king, but you got a kingdom and I see it in your eyes and I wanna be a part of it. And instantly Jesus said, this day, you shall be with me in paradise. It is finished, now I can die. Grab hold of my cocktail, we're going to paradise.

And he dies. And can you see Jesus walking into paradise? And I'm simply teaching you today that prayer can change anything and everything. See, here's a fact and I'm closing. We say that you can pray, you don't have to worry. Pray about it, don't worry about it, but this is a generation that says, I wanna worry. And the reason is because we don't pray. Be anxious for nothing. Pray about everything, worry about nothing. Lord, help me today to be my best for you. You just prayed a short prayer. Lord, I wanna think about you today. I wanna love you today. I want you to be Lord of my life. That whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And in this room this morning, and in all of our campuses, and all of you online, and even in the prisons, and the prisons that we are going into live this very moment, I'm telling you, he sees you. he doesn't see your shame and your failure he sees your possibility and he's waiting on you to call upon his name and he will save you and he will help you and he will be with you and he will make a way for you I believe he'll open every door that's supposed to open in your life but you got to be like that

thief say Lord King of Kings help me help me stand to your feet all over this room if you need salvation and you know you're far from God nobody will know if you come forward and not nobody but God but get out of your seat and say I'm making a gesture with my physical body to move toward Calvary where he shed his blood and died for me if you're in this room today you're watching me you're not here by accident I believe all of heaven has hit pause and the moment that you cry out to God he will stop whatever he's doing you know this is biblical because Luke chapter 15 said that the angels take a praise break and start rejoicing over one lost soul one that comes home that means they are aware of everyone that gives their heart to Jesus in any given moment and so is the Father Jesus Christ he's ready to save you pastor pray for me I need salvation I'm far from God I'm like that thief I really can't raise up a bunch of things that should make me worthy to be saved good you can't get saved till you find out you're lost a lot of religious people are gonna go to hell with religion and there's lost as they can be you have to say I don't have anything that I can do to save myself I need a Savior Jesus so if that's you and you would say I want to get right with God unashamedly raise your hand high and say I want salvation right here right now beautiful raise those hands unashamed unashamed you say well I'm a little bit embarrassed I don't know what people to think I could care less when I got saved I threw my hand up and I know this prayer works cuz I prayed it changed my life throw the hand up keep it up if you see anybody around you just take your hand and put it on their shoulders an act of support everybody in this room and everybody listening to me pray this prayer out loud behind me with faith and urgency it's your choice it's your decision he said behold I stand at the door and I knock I just need you to open the door and I'll stop everything in heaven and I'll record your name in the Lamb's Book of Life and I'll call you mine from this day forward pray it with the sincere heart say Jesus I surrender to you my entire life I want to be like you I want you to change me I want you to transform me wash me and cleanse me in the blood of Jesus I take my stand with you you are Lord you are King and I

want to be a part of your kingdom and I ask in faith and you see my possibility and I receive your forgiveness your grace I don't earn it I don't deserve it it's a free gift and I receive you into my heart as my Savior in Jesus name I am free I am forgiven everybody give the Lord the biggest shout of praise that you can