Pastor Jentezen Franklin is on a transformational mission to explore the power of prayer — and it comes at a time of chaos and uncertainty in American culture and across the globe.
Franklin, who has a new book, “The Power of Short Prayers,” said he released the project because he believes a lot of people “don’t understand what prayer is all about.”
“Jesus made a comment in Matthew 7, verse 6 — He said, ‘Don’t pray like the Pharisees pray, because they think because of their many words that they will be heard,’” he said. “And so He was saying that longer prayers, that’s not what I’m looking for. I’m looking for your heart. I want to hear your heart.”
Franklin continued, “The greatest miracles in the New Testament happen and the Old Testament when people simply prayed short prayers.”
These prayers, he said, came with “great purpose, great passion, great urgency,” elements the preacher believes are important to the success of these invocations.
“It’s the urgency behind a prayer and the faith connected to it,” he said. “It’s not how long you pray, it’s how short you believe, and if you pray and believe the power of short prayers. … People feel like if they don’t pray an hour a day, they’ve really failed the Lord.”
So, Franklin focuses on short prayers from the Bible and encourages people to pray them over their families — their children, marriages, businesses, and other elements. When people start with these shorter prayers, Franklin said they eventually graduate to longer ones as they “pray continually.”
In his own journey, the preacher has seen how God has worked through his prayers for his family, ministry, and other life issues. Franklin believes prayer isn’t only a fixture to heal and help individual lives, but one that can also help our culture.
And “The Power of Short Prayers” comes at a time when culture is experiencing what many believe to be a spiritual renewal.
“I think there is a revival that is taking place,” Franklin said. “We certainly have seen it at our ministry and at our church.”
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Conservative commentator Charlie Kirk’s assassination seemed to spark, among young people, what Franklin described as a “stirring.” Prayer is a tool that can help people navigate these changes and many others.
“Every one of these moves of God that seems like they’re breaking forth and mighty moves on campuses and things, it is the result of many prayers that have been stored up, I believe, and prayed,” Franklin said. “It’s an exciting time, and I think pastors are being called to shepherd and steward mighty moves of the Spirit, and this is a great time to be alive.”
The preacher wasn’t done there, as he implored Christians to take action.
“The end times are not happening to the people of God,” Franklin said. “The people of God are happening to the end times, and His hand is on us now, but we’ve gotta pray and we’ve gotta fast, and when you pray, you are storing up those prayers, and God can do great things.”
