{"id":18738,"date":"2026-02-13T04:19:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T04:19:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/?p=18738"},"modified":"2026-02-13T04:19:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T04:19:16","slug":"want-to-improve-your-prayer-life-try-shorter-prayers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/?p=18738","title":{"rendered":"Want to improve your prayer life? Try shorter prayers"},"content":{"rendered":"


By Jentezen Franklin<\/span><\/span>, Christian Post Contributor Wednesday, February 11, 2026<\/span>Getty Images<\/span><\/p>\n

What Christian doesn\u2019t want to pray with more confidence and impact? To pray with more power. To move Heaven and earth when they come to the throne of grace for help in time of need. I know I do! When I intercede\u00a0for myself, for my family, for my church, or for God\u2019s plans and purposes for the ministry, I want to know I\u2019m opening Heaven\u2019s windows when I open my mouth.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I also know that it\u2019s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that longer prayers are better prayers. There is a temptation to believe the more we talk, the more persuasive we are in moving the hand of God. But that is not what the Bible shows us.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Your Bible is filled with examples of short prayers that brought break throughs, miracles, deliverance, and heavenly help \u2014 Prayers for nearly every circumstance and season of life.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Your Bible declares: \u201cThe effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much\u201d (James 5:16). Please notice that it does not say, \u201cthe long, eloquent prayer…\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

You can get a lot done with a short prayer. Let me give you a few reasons why.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For one thing, short prayers often carry a sense of urgency that long prayers don\u2019t. I\u2019ve watched the mother of a toddler running out into a busy street shout the name \u201cJesus!\u201d and then witnessed every car miraculously swerve or come to a sudden stop. That one-word prayer is as effective as the tongues of men and angels. Even Peter\u2019s short prayer, \u201cLord, save me!\u201d in Matthew\u00a014:30, was enough to bring Jesus to his side when he was sinking.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Secondly, short prayers are powerful because the Bible says that when we pray, even briefly, God moves. Now that phrase, \u201cGod moves,\u201d may prompt a question in your mind. \u201cIsn\u2019t God omnipresent? In what sense does He move? Isn\u2019t He everywhere, all the time?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The answer is, \u201cyes, of course.\u201d But when you pray, God, in a sense, \u201cmoves\u201d from where He is to where you are. After all, doesn\u2019t the Word say, \u201cDraw near to God, and He will draw near to you,\u201d in James 4:8? Crying out to God in prayer is the best way to \u201cdraw near\u201d to your heavenly Father.\u00a0<\/p>\n

You never know who God will call to do the impossible. Or when He will call upon you to partner with Him in bringing about a miracle. God can fix anything if we\u2019ll just pray. God is committed to restoring His creation, unwilling to leave it in a state of brokenness or abandonment. With divine wisdom, He knows how to mend what is broken. When you pray, He responds, accomplishing what is beyond your ability.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What is impossible with man is possible with God.\u00a0<\/p>\n

God\u2019s ears are ever and always inclined to the voices of His people. In the Gospels, we see that Jesus was frequently stopped by cries for help while on a journey to a specific place. Over and over, He stopped and brought about a miracle in response to those cries.\u00a0<\/p>\n

You may only see where you are right now, but God sees the glorious possibility of where you could be. You see where your loved one is right\u00a0now, but God sees what is possible for them. In other words, just as Jesus\u00a0demonstrated, God will pause His purpose to bring about your possibility.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I hope that as you look at each prayer throughout the Bible, you\u2019ll feel encouraged\u00a0that God is kind and loves to answer the prayers of His people, making your\u00a0faith stronger. And I hope you\u2019ll find ways to apply to your own life and circumstances the truth and principles they contain.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Please don\u2019t misunderstand, though. I\u2019m not suggesting that you spend less time talking to God. Fellowship with Him. Pour out your heart to\u00a0Him. Spend all the time you can in intimate connection with Him. By all means, carve out as much time as you can to quiet your soul and listen\u00a0for His voice of wisdom. Just don\u2019t make the mistake Jesus pointed to in Matthew 6:7: \u201cWhen you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Longer isn\u2019t necessarily better. Sometimes less is more.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This is an adapted excerpt from Jentezen Franklin\u2019s newest book, The Power of Short Prayers<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Pastor Jentezen Franklin\u00a0is the senior pastor of Free Chapel, a multi-campus church, and the founder of Jentezen Franklin Media Ministries. Each week, his television program, Kingdom Connection, is broadcast on major networks all over the world. He is also a New York Times best-selling author of several books.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jentezen Franklin, Christian Post Contributor Wednesday, February 11, 2026Getty Images What Christian doesn\u2019t want to pray with more confidence and impact? To pray with more power. To move Heaven and earth when they come to the throne of grace for help in time of need. I know I do! When I intercede\u00a0for myself, for<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18739,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[6072,331,56,57,6073],"class_list":["post-18738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-christian-living","tag-improve","tag-life","tag-prayer","tag-prayers","tag-shorter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18738"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18738\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}