FREE Prayer Journal Printable Worksheets (For Adults)

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I’m excited to share the printable template I created and use in my prayer journaling!

If we took a survey and asked a large number of Christians who deliberately set aside time to pray every day to describe their prayer lives, no doubt we’d get a wide variety of answers.  

Consider just a few differences that may be mentioned:

• Some people have a specific time of day when they pray, and others at various times.

• Some people pray first thing in the morning. Others when they lie down at night.

• Some have a designated spot where they go pray, while others just plop wherever and don’t give a moment of consideration to their location.

• Some people prefer to schedule their days in blocks of time, and they specify an exact time frame to be certain their day doesn’t get away from them without having spent time in God’s Word and prayer, while other people (who are just as busy) have no idea exactly how much they spend praying and in God’s Word.

• Some people enjoy journaling when they pray, others have no desire to pick up a pen during this time. 

Please hear my heart regarding the good news about the above differences:

They’re ALL OK.

God created us with different personalities and preferences.

It should not come as a surprise that our prayer lives will be reflective of our differences!

If you’ve gone through a Bible study I’ve written, attended a class I teach, or have read a blog post or two on this website, you know my teachings are a place where grace abounds. 

I caution against absolutes where God’s Word doesn’t contain them. 

Our Sunday School class was just talking about the importance of being careful that we don’t impose absolutes on ourselves (or other people) regarding things NOT specified in the Word of God. 

And we certainly don’t want to turn a personal preference into a demonstration of pride.

We never want to think our way of praying is superior to anyone else’s, nor do we want to impose what we believe to be a great way to pray on someone else with prideful motives.

A prayer life that honors God

God is much more concerned about the condition of our hearts as we come before Him in prayer than any external variable. 

Jesus had harsh words for the religious folk (Pharisees) who imposed man-made regulations on others.

The Pharisees made it their business to tell others what they should be doing and how they should be doing it!

The Pharisees were steeped in pride.

Religious pride.

God forbid I ever walk in this type of pride before you…

Jesus had very sharp words for the Pharisees who emphasized what was seen on the outside for others to see for the accolades of men – including praying!

We don’t want to be a modern-day Pharisee!

God forbid we ever become prideful in our prayer lives, emphasizing things we do, or how we pray.

God forbid our focus sways from our Lord Jesus Christ and become fixed on any part of us or anything we “do” regarding the gift of prayer. 

God is not impressed with perfectly crafted journal pages, eloquent-sounding, elaborate prayers, or the amount of time we spend in prayer. 

God looks at the condition of our hearts. 

He desires that we pour our hearts out before Him with sincerity, authenticity, and humility.

To approach Him confidently, yet reverently.

Now that we’ve set our foundation to prioritize the condition of our hearts when we pray, let’s turn the corner and discuss some of the benefits of journaling! 

Benefits of journaling

I enjoy journaling.

In addition to this being my favorite way to communicate, I’ve also experienced many other benefits of journaling, and I’ll share a few of those with you in this post as well.  

Journaling helps me stay focused

The first one that immediately comes to mind is that journaling helps me stay focused – especially since my mind is prone to wandering.

When my children were little, I would spend time in prayer when they went down for their nap. 

I distinctly remember being so exhausted one day, sitting with my Bible in front of me, when a piece of Captain Crunch on the floor became my focus.

My mind started to race:

“I need to clean the floor… that reminds me I’m out of Spic and Span… which reminds me I need to put gas in the car… and oh I can’t forget to make an appointment for the dentist… I should really go pick up that peice of Captain Crunch on the floor right now…”

Can you relate?!

It doesn’t take much for my mind to go off in a million different directions!

For me, having a pen in hand and writing my prayers is helpful to keep me focused when I pray.

Having a written record

There is something awesome about having a record written to look back and see how God intervened in your life, your loved one’s lives, and in regards to the things you prayed about in the past.

• How God intervened in your circumstances and situations in a mighty way.
• Times when God chose to change YOU rather than choosing to change your situation!
• Looking back on the prayers that weren’t answered in the way you wanted, but realizing looking back that God’s fingerprints were all over your situation and the outcome was His plan (even though you may not understand the “why” behind it.)
• Looking back through a journal that records a journey, God will often open your eyes to recognize an unanticipated blessing on the other side of a trial.

You will never hear me say, “My way is the best way!“, or “THIS is the secret to the best quiet time!” 

Nor would I suggest any prayer journal or method is best — mine or any other. 

I can share some things that have helped me draw closer to the Lord through journaling; however, in the hopes some will be a blessing to you.

Keeping all of the above points in mind, I humbly present to you the components of the template I created and used in my devotional time.

5 prayer prompts of my prayer journal template using the acronym, WRAPS

Worship

I begin my time before God in worship. 

When we worship, our focus gets off of ourselves and on our Heavenly Father.

God must be the center of worship. 

• His character
• His attributes
• Who He is

You and I cannot help but be humbled in response to our worship.

I used to plow full steam ahead with a list of prayer requests when I approached the Lord in prayer with a very self-centered mindset.

The Lord showed me I needed to shift my focus from ME to HIM as I entered His presence.

Taking time to change my focus in this way causes a shift in my:

• Mindset
• Attitude
• Heart

During worship, I may do one or more of the following:

• Write one or more Bible verses of praise and reflect on their truth.
• Write a proclamation of praise as I exalt our God. 
• Write the lyrics to a worship song (or play/sing the tune) as I worship.

Repentance

There is a distinction between confessing a sin and repenting from it. 

Confessing a sin means I am coming into agreement with what God’s Word says regarding sin in my life.

When we recognize the presence of sin in our lives we must:

• Identify its existence in our thoughts, words, actions, and/or motives.

• Confess it to the Lord, acknowledging that it opposes God’s Word.

The next step is repentance.

Repentance means turning away from that specific sin and determining to go in the opposite direction… which is obedience to the Lord according to His Word. 

I ask the Lord for His strength, courage, and empowerment to yield to the power of the Holy Spirit who will enable me to die to self when faced with temptations to walk in that specific sin and to choose instead to walk in step with the Spirit in obedience to the Lord.

I ask the Lord to reveal areas of my life He wants me to repent from and areas that need to be refined. 

I pray Psalm 139:24, “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead in the way everlasting.”

It’s possible to have confession without repentance. 

It’s possible to identify a sin, agree that it is a sin, and continue to plow forward in that particular sin.

Repentance involves a change in heart – that’s the distinguishing factor between the two.

It may be a process to completely break free from a particular sin; however, I want my heart to include repentance, not merely confessing, so I try to keep that principle at the forefront of my mind. 

This is the reasoning behind my intentional label of the term repentance for this portion of my prayer time.

Appreciation

The Lord is pleased, honored, and glorified when we stop and express our gratitude to Him for the blessings in our lives. 

It would be impossible to list everything we should express gratitude to God.

Our list could include every breath we make and every step we’re able to take.

The ability to see a sunset and smell a rose.

Here are a few topics to get you started and serve as a springboard to expressing gratitude:

• Spiritual blessings – The gift of thy salvation. Thankful for who our God is, and who I am in relationship to Him. My spiritual blessings in Him, and my spiritual position in Him. His grace, mercy, love, peace…
• Relational blessings – Family members. Friends. The Church body. Neighbors. Coworkers. Teachers… and how God is working among these relationships.
• Physical blessings – Our home, physical health, food, water, clothes. Our jobs, the ability to work, and transportation to get us to and from. Financial provisions.
• Emotional blessings
• Mental blessings – the ability to think, reason, understand, plan
• Answers to prayers.

For all the blessings in my daily life, I pour out gratitude to God.

Personal prayer requests 

Here is where I bring my own list of prayer requests before the Lord. 

I typically begin by praying for myself and my family.

I pray about any area of my life as the Holy Spirit leads me.

Then I move to specific prayers of intercession for others:

• Friends
• My home church, and the Body of Christ
• People to whom I said, “I will pray for you.” 
• Others I feel compelled to pray for 
• Issues on the world landscape – political issues, the persecuted Church, Israel

Still myself before the Lord

This is a NOT-TO-MISS SECTION! 

Adding this section was more than a great addition to my journaling, it paved the way for an amazing transformation in my prayer life as well as a closer walk with Jesus.

Allow me to forewarn you… it can be tempting to skip over or rush through.

Resist these temptations, my friend.  

We need to be still before the Lord and LISTEN to what He wants to say to us!

Prayer is two-sided communication –never forget that.

If the God of the Universe is going to speak to me, I’m going to write it down.

I don’t want to miss what God speaks to me.

Nor do I want to take a chance on forgetting what He said!

I want it written. 

Chronicled for my remembrance. 

I star those sentences and sections and make sure I can easily find them when I leaf through the pages of my journal.

Remember – prayer is two-way communication so He may speak to us at any moment as we pray. 

• A Bible passage may come to mind. 
• He may impress something on us in a new, deeper revelation of who He is as we study His Word.  
• We may come to a better understanding of who we are in relationship to Him – our identity in Christ. 

At ANY time during ANY of the five sections, when He speaks – TAKE NOTE of what He reveals, and write it down! 

Take note and star those sentiments.

I enjoy the expository study of Scripture, meaning verses by verse.

I’ve come to appreciate digesting small portions at a time rather than trying to read large chunks at once. 

So during my devotional time, I often start at the beginning of a particular book in the Bible and read a little bit of it daily.

I want to take time to: 

Reflect. 

Ponder. 

Pray His Word back to Him when appropriate.

Study.  

3 bonus tips to keep in mind while journaling!

1. The Holy Spirit guides us 

I want to suggest to you that we hold onto our outline very loosely, not with a tight grip!

We don’t want to prioritize our own agenda, our own format, or our own way!

God is God and if He wants to rearrange my outline, interrupt my order, or even if I walk away with a blank journal page after meeting with Him because I didn’t feel compelled to write down one word, that is all ok!

We want to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit when we pray, so that may mean we get jumbled in our order… and once again – that’s ok!! 

We need to guard against:

• Rigidity
• Emphasizing our own agenda
• Setting our own expectations.

We want the Holy Spirit to be our guide as we pray! Not ourselves, any other person, and certainly not our agenda on a piece of paper.

That means we yield to His promptings as well pray – even if that means “going out of order” of the five sections of this template.

Our prayers aren’t always neat and orderly… sometimes they’re messy with raw honesty and emotion as we come to the Lord and in that we pour our heart out before Him.

And our God delights in that.

2. Privacy

We all have different ways of doing things, and I’m going to tell you something very unique in the way I journal.

You’re either going to think this idea is genius, or crazy!

There’s always the concern that someone will pick up and read our journal, right?!

At least I can speak for myself and say this has been a concern of mine.

I don’t want my private thoughts read by others!

So, many years ago when I began to journal, I instituted my personal, made-up “code.”

When I write down things I want to be kept private, I write only the first letter of every word of a sentence as I’m writing it to God. 

I’m still “praying” in complete sentences, but I only write down the first letter of each word of my sentences!

I know full well what I’m saying as I’m praying, and so does God, but no one who picks up my journal ever will! 

For example, let’s say I pray, “God forgive me for my demonstration of pride.”

In my journal it would look like this: GFMFMDOP

Now I have certain things I confess regularly, pride being one of them. I have a desire NOT to be prideful before God, so I try and keep close accounts with Him regarding this sin.

Since I write that word down daily, I circle the letter P, and that cues me to know what it is at a later time.

Sure, I’ll have little idea of the surrounding text, but I will know the topic!

If the Lord brings a specific Scripture to mind regarding that portion, I’ll write that out so I can understand it, and I’ll link it to the “P” and know what it’s about.

So if there is a recurring struggle with a particular sin or with a particular relationship I circle that letter (or his or her initials) and I’m able to remember at a later date what that meant.

I told you… Genius or crazy?!

3. Review

Finally, here is my favorite, possibly the greatest blessing for me from journaling.

After I complete every page in my journal I go through it and look at all the starred places when God spoke to me while praying.

I go through with a highlighter and highlight all the portions where God spoke to me as I was in His Word. 

As I go through this process I often notice themes throughout that particular prayer notebook of things God was speaking to me. 

Themes.  Common subjects.

Something He wants me to get through my (sometimes thick) skull! 

It never ceases to knock my socks off when I flip through the pages and take notes of these recurrent topics or messages woven throughout that particular journal. 

This sentence warrants repeating, my friend:

If the God of the Universe is going to speak to me, I don’t want to miss one single bit of what He has to say. 

The Holy Spirit opens my eyes to see themes woven together and I gain wisdom and insight into what God is revealing to me.

Often through these themes He reveals:

• A change in my perspective, thoughts, or attitude.

• An area of my life He desires to conform to His likeness.

• A specific direction He wants me to move in.

• Clarity for a decision I need to make.

I put the date I began that particular journal on the inside of the cover as well as the date it was completed, and I write the themes the Lord impressed on my mind and heart during that timeframe.

FREE Prayer Journal Templates

Fill out the form below for your printable prayer journal template!

I hope these printable templates will help enhance your prayer time. 

I’d love it if you came back and left a comment to let me know if these prayer printables were a blessing to you!

Don’t forget your FREE prayer journal printables for personal use for your own prayer journal!

Related Posts to Free Prayer Worksheets for Adults:

Free Bible Lesson on Prayer for Adults

Free Printable: Put on the Whole Armor of God

Prayer Points to Grow Closer to Jesus

ACTS Prayer Model: FREE Printable

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