How to Make a Prayer Journal to Pray with Power

Are you ready to make a prayer journal and start praying with power and confidence?

Making a prayer journal does not have to be hard or complicated. In fact, it’s as easy as going to the dollar store and buying a composition notebook.

The purpose of a prayer journal is to talk to your Abba Father. There are so many different ways to do this! 

The Lord has heard my cry for mercy; the Lord accepts my prayer.

Psalm 6:9

We can open our mouths and actually talk to him aloud.

We can silently ponder our prayers in our minds, since God knows our every thought.

We can physically get on our knees and whisper our prayers in the quiet solitude of our bedrooms.

Let’s take a look at what a prayer journal is, and the various ways you can make a prayer journal that suits your needs and gets you excited to meet with God each day in prayer!

What is a Prayer Journal?

A prayer journal is simply a journal or notebook that you can use to record your thoughts and prayers to God. A prayer journal consists of written prayers, reflections, and Scriptures that help individuals connect with God spiritually. Some people even choose to use Bible journaling as a way to creatively record their thoughts and prayers by using art supplies, paint, stickers, washi tape, and other mixed media.

What are the Benefits of Writing our Prayers?

According to many healthcare professionals, journaling has proven to be a very therapeutic activity that can benefit our overall health and well being (source). Studies have shown that journaling can:

• Reduce stress
• Decrease your risk for illness
• Improve your memory
• Improve your mood and regulate your emotions 

If health professionals have expressed the wonderful benefits to writing in a journal, imagine the powerful outcome we can have when we journal our thoughts and prayers to the God of the universe!

There is power in prayer–and writing down our prayers in a journal is a great way to connect with God and experience greater joy!

How to Make a Prayer Journal to Pray with Power

So how do you make a prayer journal that you will enjoy using every day? You can just go to your local store and buy a simple notebook. Pick up some pens, and you’re ready to go!

If you want a prayer journal with a bit more personality, you can pick up a cute traveller’s notebook or a notebook size you like, and decorate the pages in your notebook with stickers and scrapbook paper.

Some prayer journals, (also known as war binders), are beautiful works of art–filled with colorful paper, washi tape, die cuts, and other mixed media materials. If bling is your thing, then go for it! 

If not, that’s okay too!

Remember that your prayer journal is a special place for your personal conversations with God–like going into your prayer closet and closing the door behind you. No one needs to see the contents of your journal, because that is your precious time with our Lord!

But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Matthew 6:6

How to Organize your Prayer Journal 

Have you ever sat down to pray, and just didn’t know what to say, or where to start? Sometimes we can be so overwhelmed by the sheer volume of things to pray for, that we can experience “brain fatigue”, and just not know where to begin! 

Sometimes, the only prayer we can muster in our hearts is “Lord, help me.” Sometimes our prayers are weeping and tears. There is no wrong way to express our needs to our Father. 

He hears every cry and groan, and he collects every tear.

You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.

Psalm 56:8

That’s when the Holy Spirit steps in and intercedes for us, transferring our thoughts, prayers, and groans straight to the Father’s throne of grace.

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. Romans 8:26-27

There are other ways we can organize our prayer journals so that we can easily identify the categories we desire to pray for. We can also designate certain days of the week to pray for the items in our categories. 

These categories can include:

• Prayers of praise and gratitude
• Prayers of thanksgiving
• Personal prayer requests
• Prayers for our nuclear family
• Prayers for our immediate family
• Prayers for friends
• Prayers for our church family
• Prayers for our local and national governments
• Prayers for our nation
• Prayers for our world

You can better organize your prayers by creating tabs or dividers with some of these categories, or create more tabs with specific members of your family that you desire to pray for.

Some people also like to keep inspirational quotes, sermon notes, Bible study notes, and meaningful Scriptures and other items in their prayer journals.

Many prayer journals are almost like a memory book or prayer scrapbook, filled with inspirational items that spur them on to draw closer to God.

Remember, create your prayer journal based on what works best for you!

What do you Put in a Prayer Journal?

In Priscilla’s Shirer’s bestselling book Fervent: A Woman’s Battle Plan to Serious, Specific and Strategic Prayer, she outlines ten powerful prayer categories in order to pray specifically and strategically.

I read this book while back and it was a game-changer in my prayer life. If you haven’t read it, you need to check it out!

These categories include:

• Your passion
• Your focus
• Your identity
• Your family
• Your past
• Your fears
• Your purity
• Your pressures
• Your hurts
• Your relationships

These are areas in our lives where the enemy tries to attack, causing us to doubt our worth and value in Christ–which discourages us from praying. 

And isn’t that exactly what the enemy wants? Satan does not want us to call out to our wonderful God in prayer, because he knows how powerful prayer is! 

Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings. 1 Peter 5:8-9

We can powerfully resist Satan by praying against his tactics and schemes, and by calling on the name of our Lord Most High.

Use these prayer categories and fervently pray for the Lord to help you in every area of your life!

Five Different Types of Prayer Journals

There are many different ways to create a personalized prayer journal that meets your specific needs. Here are at least five unique ways to start a prayer journal that you can use to pray with power each day!

Use a Composition Notebook 

You can easily make a prayer journal by purchasing a simple composition notebook. These are available at a local dollar store or office supply store. If you want to decorate the cover of your composition notebook, you can use materials like wrapping paper, washi tape, construction paper, glue, and stickers.

Inside your prayer journal, you can use the ruled lines to write down prayer requests, praises, Scriptures, and prayers.

Make a Prayer Journal with a 3-Ring Binder

You can also start your own prayer journal by three-hole punching decorative paper, loose leaf paper, or printing paper. Put those sheets into a three-ring binder, and use those sheets to write down your prayers each day. You can also use dividers to separate your papers into various sections so that you can pray for different areas of your life. I like using three-ring binders because you can easily add new paper to your prayer journal.

Create your own Prayer Journal Inserts

If you like using three-ring binders to make your prayer journals, you may also consider creating your own prayer journal inserts. You can easily create prayer journal inserts in Microsoft Word. You can create prayer journal pages that are custom-made to your individual prayer needs. Check out this post on how you can create your own prayer journal inserts by using a free design program called Canva. You can also download free prayer journal inserts in that post!

Make a Digital Prayer Journal

Have you ever considered making a digital prayer journal? Making a digital prayer journal is a fun option for people who like digital Bible journaling. You can use free photo editing programs like Ipiccy, Photopea, BeFunky, or Canva. You can also use more advanced programs like Photoshop Elements, which is a premium program. You can make digital prayer journals by adding png elements to a blank canvas on your computer screen. 

A png image is an image with a transparent background that you can add to your digital prayer journal. I like to think of pngs as digital stickers that you can place anywhere on your digital prayer journal page! You can find free pngs for your digital projects by going to websites like pngtree, freepik, or favpng. You can also purchase great digital scrapbook png elements from Sweet Shoppe Designs. 

Check out this post on how to make digital prayer journal inserts.

Create a Prayer Journal with Journal Prompts

Still not sure what to pray about? Try making a prayer journal with prayer journaling prompts! Many people enjoy using prayer journal prompts because they are great “conversation starters” with God. 

Examples of prayer journal prompts could be:

• Lord, I thank you today for…
• Help me today to remember…
• I lift up (name of person) to you and ask…

Julie from Loving Christ Ministries offers great free monthly prayer journal prompts that are perfect for adding to your prayer journal!

50 Power-Packed Scriptures for your Prayer Journal

Here is a list of 50 power-packed Scriptures that you can use as you pray. Praying God’s Word is hands-down, my favorite way to write prayers in my prayer journal. You can use Scripture as your own personal prayer prompts as you use God’s Word to pray.

You can download the free Scripture printable HERE.

In Conclusion

I pray that you are inspired and encouraged to make a prayer journal where you can pour out your thoughts and prayers to our wonderful Savior!

He hears our every prayer, and he desires that we spend intimate time with him!

Related Posts

How to Move Mountains in Prayer

The Power of Praying God’s Word

Free Armor of God Scripture Reading Plan

The Power of Intercessory Prayer

Join the Prayer Challenge!

Looking for even more ways to go deeper in your prayer life? Join the FREE Bold Prayers of Jesus Challenge! In this 5-day email series, we take a look at five different prayers of Jesus.

In the prayer challenge you also receive a free printable prayer journal, prayer guide, Scripture cards, prayer prompt pages, journaling stickers, and more!

Join the challenge by clicking HERE!