How to Organize Your Prayer Life + Free Printable Prayer Cards

Have you ever thought that you needed to brainstorm ways for how to organize your prayer life? How does this phrase sit with you? For some people, organizing prayer sounds silly- just spend time pouring out your heart to God! To others, it may feel necessary as it seems impossible to remember all the things you want to pray for each week.

Or how about this scenario (I’m sure it’s one we all face multiple times each week!): You are talking with a friend about something going on in their life that they are really struggling with. As you get up to leave you say, “I’ll pray for you.” Then off you go about your day, forgetting to pray for that person until the next time you see them and realize that you never really did pray for them like you said you would. You feel guilty, maybe whisper a quick little prayer right then and there, or resolve to not tell people you are praying because you don’t want to say something you aren’t actually going to do.

None of these seem like the right solution, especially if you are someone who truly desires to pray diligently for those you care about.

I recently shared about the importance of prayer in discipleship. I took a look at why we should be praying for those we are discipling and shared some helpful verses of scripture to be praying for them.

Ephesians 6:18 (along with many other verses), makes it clear we are to pray continuously for one another:

“And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.”

Colossians 4:2 tells us to pray with watchfulness and thankfulness:

“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.”

How do we escape this “I’ll pray for you” culture that so many of us experience and ACTUALLY remember to pray for those we care deeply about? How do we do so with watchful and thankful hearts?

There are several things in my life that have helped me to diligently pray for those I care about, as well as to pray intentionally for the world and other needs that I am quick to forget to bring before the Father. Here are some of the ways that I have used in different seasons of life.

New to the idea of praying? Go read this post first!: Prayer: A Helpful Tool to Get You Started

7 Ideas for How to Organize Your Prayer Life

1. Use a Prayer Journal

Prayer journaling is one of the most refreshing things for me. It allows me to focus as I pray and pour out my heart to God. There are several ways to do this and so many people who have developed great resources around prayer journaling. One that I’ve had my eyes on lately is from Growth Roots, Co. Check out their Growth Book here. It looks amazing for so much more than just organizing your prayer life!

Personally, I use this to respond after spending time in the Word and to share whatever is on my heart with the Lord. I am not super intentional with specific prayer requests with this method, but I know many resources help you to use this method to thoughtfully pray for others. Nonetheless, I love prayer journaling.

One of my favorite things about this method is being able to look back to see how God has answered prayer. Because my prayers are written out, I can read back and I am always blown away by the answered prayers that I didn’t even recognize before! This gives a great opportunity to praise God for His answers and gives me a desire to pray more as I see the true power of prayer.

2. Use Prayer Cards

A friend shared the idea of using prayer notecards with me years ago and it was revolutionary! This is probably my most recommended way of how to organize your prayer life! Here’s what you’ll need:

• Notecards
• Dividers to organize. I like to use a small expandable folder like these from amazon.

I like to separate each slot between the dividers by the day of the week. I also have a slot for daily prayers and one for answered prayers. Each day of the week has a theme of who I am praying for that day. Mine is organized like this (but use your own depending on who you are praying for in your life!).

• Everyday: My husband, children, myself, and urgent needs.
• Sunday: Local church, friends from church, small group, etc.
• Monday: Missions- pray for the world, missionaries we support, local and global ministries we are connected to or support.
• Tuesday: Those I am currently discipling or ministering to.
• Wednesday: Specific non-believing friends in our community, neighborhood, or relational networks we are reaching out to.
• Thursday: Friends: local friends and friends who live far away.
• Friday: Extended family members.
• Saturday: Catch all day. This day is anyone else that I’d like to pray for. This often includes women I discipled in the past, friends I don’t stay as connected with, or can be a catch up day for any that I missed throughout the week.

Then, I make a notecard for each person I want to pray for on those days and add a verse and a few prayer requests for that person on to the card. I tuck each card away into the day I want to pray for them and on that day of the week I pull out the cards for that day and pray!

I try to not only stick to these things, but pray as the Lord leads me on the day as well. There are often major things on my mind that I want to pray for, issues around the world, or urgent requests from friends. I don’t wait until their allotted day to pray for them, I still pray as I am led and as people come to mind throughout the day. This is just a helpful guide to help me to remember to pray for those I want to be intentional about praying for each week.

3. Prayer List By Day

This one is essentially the same as the last one, but a little simpler. Instead of putting each day’s requests on notecards, I simply have one notecard per day with the names of who I am praying for that day. This is currently the way I am intentionally organizing my prayer life because much of my praying happens in the car. It is a great on the go method and is easily implemented as I keep it in the car for easy access (or wherever that place may be for you!).

I mentioned that the notecard method is my favorite over this one because there are more thought out ways to pray for others on the notecards and it is easier to notice answered prayers that way. That being said, this is still so helpful to guide me in my morning prayers on my long car drive each morning!

4. PrayerMate App

The PrayerMate App pretty much does the notecard method in app form!! And it is truly amazing! You can customize each day by adding pictures of who you are praying for, put in verses from scripture to pray for, or connect the prayers from an organization you are praying for directly in to the app. You can do all sorts of other things as well like add prayer for a different nation each day, put a daily time to remind you to pray, and even sync it with your address book in your phone so that you can text the person after you pray for them!

The kids and I like to use this on our way to school as I have set up a specific prayer list for us to pray for together each day. They love to see the faces of their family members as we pray for them or see a picture of the people group we are praying for that day. Definitely go check this app out if you prefer digital over paper!

5. Prayer Prompts Around the House

I love to use my simple, daily activities to remind me to pray. At times in my life, especially as a busy, young mom, I used this method the most! Again, I basically use the same idea around the daily prayer groups, but use the different points of my day to prompt me to pray. For example, when I shower, I pray for my husband and children. When I wash the dishes, I pray for the nations. Here are a few ideas of other daily activities that can remind us to pray for others:

• Showering
• Washing the dishes
• Hanging the laundry
• Folding the laundry
• Driving
• Making breakfast/lunch/dinner
• Brushing your teeth
• Climbing into bed
• Walking to the train/work/school

And so on. This idea focuses my often scattered brain to still pray diligently and thoughtfully for others all throughout my day. Sometimes I will have a verse posted in that place to be praying for those specific people or a list of names nearby to remind me who to pray for.

6. Develop a Prayer Notebook

Again, this is similar to the notecard idea, but with much more space to write! This is taking the same idea, but having a page of paper to write a running prayer list for each person. It also gives more flexibility to add more pages, add what you learned in your time in the Word to pray over, or to write out your prayers more specifically. Then, each day, you can open to the tab for the day of the week and find who you are praying for with more specific requests over a longer period of time.

What I really like about this is that I can use it for a few purposes. I specifically have used this with those I am discipling. I can have a page for the person, but can also write more notes about things we talked about that day or areas they want to grow in to discuss further/pray about. This has been huge for me to have this all organized in to one place!

Intentional by Grace has a great walk through of how to make a prayer notebook! Check it out here.

7. Pray Right Then!

Lastly, a practice I am trying to get better at is to just pray right when someone asks for prayer. This may be while I am with them or after I received the text to pray. Stopping and praying right then shows care to those who are asking, provides an opportunity to pray together in that moment, and causes me not to be the person that says “I’ll pray for you,” but instead, says, “I’m praying for you now” or “I just prayed for you.”

Scriptures to Pray for Others

If you are looking for some great scriptures to add to your prayers for others, check out these posts with tons of scriptures + free printable verse sheets!

Trusting in the Promises of God + 30 Days of Praying the Promises of God

Importance of Prayer in Disciples: 5 Prayers for Those You Disciple

Free Printable Prayer Cards Template

Want to use pretty cards to write your prayer requests on for each day of the week? Here’s your free template to print off! Enjoy!

I pray these resources bless you as you seek to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) for others in your life, and that they will help you to figure out how to organize your prayer life in new, creative ways as you seek to pour out your heart to God in prayer!