50 Prayer Journal Prompts & What to Write

A blank page is the hardest part of journaling. If you've ever sat down to write a prayer and not known where to begin, these 50 prompts will help. They're grouped into five themes — thanksgiving, confession, intercession, scripture, and reflection — so you can pick whatever fits the day. Use one, use several, or let one prompt lead you somewhere unexpected.

Thanksgiving — gratitude prompts

1. What are three specific things I'm thankful for today?
2. Where did I see God's kindness this week?
3. Who is a person I'm grateful for, and why?
4. What's a prayer God has already answered that I can thank Him for?
5. What ordinary gift do I usually overlook?
6. What about God's character am I most grateful for right now?
7. What hard thing am I learning to be thankful in the middle of?
8. What did today give me that I didn't earn?
9. Where have I seen provision when I was worried?
10. What would I miss most if it were gone tomorrow?

Confession — honesty before God

1. Where do I need to be honest with God today?
2. What have I been carrying that I haven't named in prayer?
3. Is there someone I need to forgive — or ask forgiveness from?
4. What fear has been steering my decisions?
5. Where have I trusted myself instead of God this week?
6. What habit do I want help breaking?
7. What am I tempted to hide?
8. Where do I need grace rather than a fresh resolution?
9. What have I been anxious about, and can I hand it over?
10. What's one way I want to grow in the next month?

Intercession — praying for others

1. Who in my family needs prayer right now?
2. Which friend is going through something hard?
3. Who in my church or small group can I lift up today?
4. Is there someone I find difficult to love? Pray for them.
5. Who is sick, grieving, or waiting on news?
6. What leader or situation in the world is on my heart?
7. Who doesn't yet know God's love that I can pray for?
8. Which request from my group do I want to keep praying for?
9. Who has asked me to pray for them recently?
10. Who could use an encouraging word from me this week?

Scripture — praying God's Word

1. What verse stood out to me today, and why?
2. Turn a psalm into your own prayer.
3. What promise of God do I most need to hold onto?
4. Pray a passage back to God, line by line.
5. What is one command in Scripture I want help obeying?
6. Which name or attribute of God do I want to praise Him for?
7. What question does today's reading raise for me?
8. How does this passage change how I see my situation?
9. What would it look like to live out this verse today?
10. Write a one-sentence prayer based on the Lord's Prayer.

Reflection — listening and noticing

1. What is God seeming to teach me in this season?
2. Where do I sense Him at work, even subtly?
3. What's weighing on me, and what does it reveal about what I trust?
4. What prayer am I still waiting on? How am I holding the wait?
5. What would I love to see God do in the next year?
6. Where do I need patience, and where do I need courage?
7. What is one word I'd use to describe my walk with God right now?
8. What's a recent answered prayer, and how did the answer compare to what I asked?
9. If God sat across from me, what would I most want to say?
10. What do I want to remember from today?

Turn prompts into a prayer you can follow

Prompts get you writing; a prayer journal keeps what you write. As you respond to a prompt, note the date and, when it's a request, follow it over time. In Faithvine, each prayer moves through a status journey from Praying to Answered, so a prompt you write today becomes part of a record you can look back on — and, if you choose, share with friends or your small group.

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." — Philippians 4:6