H.B. Charles - It Happens After Prayer: Biblical Motivation for Believing Prayer

Reading It Happens After Prayer is like plugging your prayer life into an electrical socket. You will walk away motivated and inspired by the truths of Scripture about the centrality of our prayer lives.

BRYAN CARTER
Senior Pastor, Concord Church, Dallas

Pastor Charles is a man of prayer. This and his knowledge of Gods Word shine through this book. He is faithful to the text as well as practical in his presentation. If you want to apply such knowledge to your personal life, this book is for you. H.B.s work will be an extreme help.

GEORGE E. HURTT
Senior Pastor, Mt. Sinai Baptist Church, Los Angeles

In a day when people have reduced prayer to skillful negotiation and a means of manipulating the will of God, Pastor Charles makes it clear that prayer is mysteriously simpleand that for this contemporary generation we can set up a cyber space cafe and a chat room with God anywhere.

MELVIN V. WADE SR., Senior Pastor,
Mt. Moriah Baptist Church, Los Angeles

In It Happens After Prayer, H. B. Charles encourages all Christians to pray with the confident belief that God hears and answers prayer. Read this book, and your prayer life wont be the same! Pastor Charles is not only one of the powerful preachers of his generation, but he has proven to be equally persuasive with pen in hand. He writes with both a commitment to biblical accuracy and the loving heart of an experienced pastor.

MAURICE WATSON, Senior Pastor,
Beulahland Bible Church, Macon, Georgia

2013 by
H. B. CHARLES JR.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright 2000; 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Edited by Jim Vincent
Interior and Cover design: Smartt Guys design
Cover image: Wavebreak Media / 123RF
Author Photo: Derrick Wilson

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Charles, H. B.

It happens after prayer : Biblical motivation for believing prayer / H.B. Charles, Jr.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8024-0725-2 (alk. paper)
1. PrayerChristianity. I. Title.
BV210.3.C43 2013
248.32dc23

2013002309

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To my father,
H. B. Charles Sr.

I first met H. B. Charles Jr. through the Internet.

I had written a brief note on my weblog about a well-known preacher who was, in my estimation, a true pastoral expositor. I made the comment more or less in passing and didnt even stop to define it. A few days later I received a note from a young pastor in Los Angeles asking me to explain what I meant. Little did I know that that simple query would lead to an enduring friendship.

For many years H. B. (which is how his friends refer to him) pastored the church in Los Angeles that his father had pastored. Following your own father into the same pulpit would be quite a challenge for anyone. He mentions in this book how that challenge shaped him and taught him to depend upon the Lord.

A few years ago H. B. accepted the call to move across the country to pastor a large congregation in Jacksonville, Florida. By Gods grace, my friend has proved to be more than equal to the task. I have seen with my own eyes the great work being done at Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church. Under his guidance, the church has grown numerically, spiritually and in influence locally and across the nation.

Not long ago I had the chance to sit under his ministry for three days. What a feast we enjoyed as he opened the Word of God with clarity, passion, and much spiritual power.

How it is that a young man (he is not yet forty) not only pastors a large congregation but preaches in some of the largest churches in America with evident blessing along the way? I cannot explain it all, but I know this much. H.B. Charles Jr. is a man of prayer. He knows how to pray, he knows the power of prayer, and he believes that when God is taken at His Word, we may pray and see great things happen in our day.

To that end he has written this wonderful book called It Happens After Prayer. As I read it, I thought to myself that it is easy for preachers to make people feel guilty about prayer. We can always pray more. We know that. We ought to pray more. We know that too. Who among us would dare to say that we are masters of prayer?

Because H.B. knows this, he writes not to increase our guilt but to encourage us to pray. God wants us to pray; He has opened the very door of heaven and said, Bring your petitions and come right in. I want to hear from you.

I cant think of a higher compliment than to say that a book on prayer made me want to pray.

I hope that happens to you too. If your prayer life feels anemic, read this book and let Gods truth fill your heart and give you strength.

RAY PRITCHARD
President, Keep Believing Ministries
Author of An Anchor for the Soul, Stealth Attack

Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.

JEREMIAH 33:3

L ife happens. Faith weakens. Temptations attack. Satan oppresses. Needs overwhelm. Sickness comes. Finances disappear. Divorce looms. Loneliness suffocates. Friends betray. In addition, decisions paralyze. Worries strangle. Careers stall.

The challenges of life confront us all. You cannot cancel your appointment with trouble. And you do not know when pain will show up in your life. Just be sure its coming. There is nothing you can do to stop it.

Thats the bad news. Here is the good news: Though you may not be able to control what happens to you in life, you can control how you respond. This is the wonderful benefit of the Christian life. To trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord does not bring an end to all of your troubles, no matter what some high-profile religious personalities falsely teach. To the contrary, following Christ will produce trials that you would never face otherwise (John 16:33; Acts 14:22; 2 Timothy 3:12). Christianity is a battleground, not a playground. But faith in God ensures that you will never have to stand and fight alone (Ephesians 6:1020). The believer can live with the assurance that the Lord is there (Psalm 46:1).