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I love practical tools that help me connect with God. I want to share one with you that will help you grow in the spiritual discipline of prayer.

Why Make a Prayer List

In my experience, having a prayer list keeps me focused during my prayer times and it helps me know what to pray when I want to talk to God but I’m having trouble finding the words. It also helps me remember to actually pray for things I want to pray about and not just say I’m going to pray about it later. And it helps me to pray faithfully for topics I feel like God has invited to pray for over an extended period of time. 

If you’ve ever struggled in any of those areas, I bet you’ll find a prayer list helpful too! Even if you don’t use these three categories below to make an actual list, you can still use the prompts for each section to inspire ideas of what to talk to God about when you pray.

How to Make a Prayer List

There are several prayer list models out there (such as the ACTS model or the PRAY model) that are great and I recommend you check out. Blogger and Bible teacher Amy Gannett uses prayer cards and a prayer schedule to help her pray. There are so many great resources out there! This prayer list structure I want to teach you here is one I use in my prayer times, tweaked from tips I’ve learned about prayer from my own Bible study and from pastors and Bible teachers throughout my Christian life, and modeled after The Lord’s Prayer Jesus taught in Matthew 6. But feel free to use whatever model you resonate with most.

Over the years of using this tool, I created some prompts and questions for each section that help prompt me in conversation with God and give me ideas of what to pray about at each section of the list. You can pray through this whether you have 10 minutes or one hour to pray. 

WORSHIP (Prayers of worship and communion with God)

Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. (Matthew 6:9)

Take a few moments to worship God and connect with Him. Here are a few ways of praying and worshipping God devotionally that you might choose from. You can choose whatever you feel led to do in the moment each time you go to pray.

• Pray a Psalm
• Sing Scripture
• Sing a Worship Song
• Thanksgiving
• Meditate on the character of God in a specific Bible passage (e.g. Colossians 1, Hebrews 1, etc.) and pray it back to Him
• Pray in the Spirit

PERSONAL PRAYER REQUESTS

Give us today the food we need, and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us. And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one. (Matthew 6:11-13)

These are prayers for the spiritual and practical needs in your personal life, and you might see them referred to in Scripture or in conversations at church as prayers of petition.

List a few things you want to pray for in your personal life. Here are some ideas of themes you might include. Pour out your heart freely to God, but I would also suggest you ask God to highlight to you a few biblical prayers or promises you can pray over these needs.

• What’s on your heart right now? (Share the joys and cares with God. Joys are things you’re excited about, grateful for, etc. Cares are tough emotions, worries, burdens, struggles you’re going through, etc.)
•  What spiritual and practical needs do you have right now? (ways you want to grow in your relationship with God, sin you need to confess to God and repent of, tangible needs of provision, questions where you need God’s counsel and direction, problems or trials you need God’s help with etc.)
  
  *I love to pray the New Testament Prayers over my walk with God. They are prayers the apostles prayed for early Christians to mature in their faith that are recorded in Scripture.
  

INTERCESSORY PRAYER REQUESTS

May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10)

These are prayers for others and for the world around you, and you might hear them referred in Scripture or conversations at church as prayers of intercession.

List a few things you want to pray for outside of your own personal life. These could be things God has asked you to pray for, prayer requests others have shared with you, or just things you care about. Here are some ideas of themes you might include. 

• Family, friends, neighbors, co-workers/classmates, church family and leaders, government leaders, people groups, nations, ministries, spheres of culture, current events or needs, the Church in general, etc.

When I pray for other people and situations outside of my own life,  I like to follow the model of 1 Timothy 2:1-4, which I explain more in my blog 3 Ways You Can Practically Pray For Others: (1) thank God for them, (2) ask God to help them in whatever is going on in their life/situation, (3) pray for their relationship with God. 

What to Pray

Now that you’ve got prayer needs written on your list, what do you actually say to God when you’re ready to pray about them? Here are a few tips. 

1. Pray from your heart.

Be honest with God and pour out you heart. You can talk to Him like you talk to a friend. (Psalm 62:8)

2. Follow the Holy Spirit.

Your prayer list is meant to be a tool to help you focus, connect with God, and intentionally bring needs to Him. It’s not meant to restrict you from sharing your heart freely with God or from “going off book” when the Holy Spirit leads you to do so. Remember that your prayer list and the leading of the Holy Spirit work together to help you pray.

If you feel God leading you to pray about something different, or you only pray through one part of your list today, that’s fine! The Holy Spirit helps and guides us in our prayers, especially when we don’t know how or what to pray. (Romans 8:26-27) Ask Holy Spirit to lead you in what to pray. You could even take a few minutes to wait on Him in silence and see if you sense any specific His prompting from Him.

3. Pray the Bible over your prayer needs.

When we pray God’s Word we have language to express our prayers, we’ll talk to God about things we wouldn’t have otherwise, and we know we are praying for things that agree with God’s will.

I refresh and change my prayer list as often as needed. It could be once a week, once a month, or when certain prayers are answered. There are certain people and topics I keep on it permanently and some that rotate based on the season. You do what God leads you to do. I hope this helps give you confidence and direction as you talk with God!

Let’s Talk: Have you ever used a prayer list before? How did it help your prayer life? Discuss this post in the comments below.