Part 1: Short Prayers That Hit Heaven
Most Christians have quietly wondered if their prayers are good enough. The words feel simple and the wording is not eloquent. And somewhere in the back of the mind there is a whisper that says God is probably not paying much attention because we did not pray long enough or use the right words.
I have felt that same at times, and it is a lie.
Let me clear something up before we go one step further. I am not against long public prayers. Some of the most powerful prayers in the Bible were long public prayers. Solomon dedicated the temple with a prayer that took thirty verses, and fire fell from heaven when he was done. Jesus prayed for twenty-six verses in John 17 with His disciples right there listening. Nehemiah, Ezra, and Daniel all prayed long prayers publicly, and God moved in each of them.
So this is not about length. This is about what makes a prayer powerful. And over the next three blogs, we are going to see something most Christians have never thought about. Some of the shortest prayers in the whole Bible were the most powerful ones ever prayed.
The Short Prayers That Hit Heaven
Watch what happens when we line them up.
Peter sinking in the water. Matthew 14:30 “But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.”
Three words and Jesus immediately stretched out His hand and caught him.
The publican in the temple. Luke 18:13 “And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.”
Seven words and Jesus said this man went home justified before God.
The disciples in the storm. Matthew 8:25 “And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish.”
Four words and Jesus rebuked the wind and the sea and there was a great calm.
Jesus at Lazarus’s tomb. John 11:41-42 “Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I know that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.”
Two sentences. Then a dead man walked out of the grave still wrapped in graveclothes.
Elijah on Mount Carmel. 1 Kings 18:36-37 “LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word. Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the LORD God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again.”
Three sentences and fire fell from heaven. It consumed the altar, the wood, the stones, the dust, and licked up the water in the trench.
Nehemiah before the king. Nehemiah 2:4-5 “Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven. And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers’ sepulchres, that I may build it.”
A silent prayer squeezed between two sentences. So short it is not even fully recorded. And God moved the heart of the most powerful king on earth in that split second.
Jesus on the cross. Luke 23:34 “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”
Nine words from a dying man. And it became one of the most quoted prayers in human history.
Jesus dying. Luke 23:46 “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.”
Seven words and He gave up the ghost and the veil of the temple was rent in twain.
The Common Thread
Not one of those prayers was long and not one of them was eloquent. There was no magical formula or pattern. Some of them were prayed by prophets, others by apostles, and some by the Son of God Himself.
And every single one was answered and moved heaven.
Why This Should Change Something For Us
If you have ever felt that your prayers are not good enough, this is your reminder. Thankfully, God is not scoring prayers on length and is not weighing them by vocabulary. He is not comparing your prayer to someone else’s who prays with more polished words.
God answers the heart.
Psalm 34:17-18 “The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles. The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.”
Psalm 145:18 “The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.”
Every one of those short prayers above was prayed in truth. That is what God heard and that’s why God answered.
But Here Is The Question
If God answers such short prayers, and if the shortest prayers in the Bible were the ones that shook heaven, then what made them so powerful? What was behind them? Because a three-word prayer that brings fire from heaven is not a small thing. Something had to be underneath it.
That is what we are going to find out in Part 2.
Because the men and women who prayed those short powerful public prayers all had something in common that is easy to miss.
For now, let this land: Your prayers do not have to be long to be heard. They do not have to be eloquent to be answered. They just have to be honest and humble.
The Lord is nigh to every Christian who calls upon Him in truth. Even if all we have is three words.
