Want to start on paper? The free printable prayer list is one page for a week, with the columns this guide describes.
Most people who keep a prayer list start one after the same small failure: telling someone “I’ll pray for you” and forgetting by the weekend. A list fixes that, if it stays short enough to read and honest enough to trust. This method works on paper or in any app, and for any tradition.
1. Write it down when you say it
Add the prayer the moment you make the promise, before the day moves on. A few words are enough: “Ana, job interview Friday” or “rain for the farm.” Use your own words. Nobody needs to read the list but you.
Put the date beside it. The date does two jobs. It tells you how long you have been holding something, and later it turns the list into a record.
If someone else might see the list, keep private details to a word or use initials. A neighbor’s diagnosis is theirs to share.
2. Add updates as things change
When there is news, add a short dated line under the prayer instead of starting a new entry. “Nov. 3: surgery moved to Monday.” A week later, “Nov. 10: home on Saturday.” Read together, the updates tell the story. The next time you pray for that person, you pray for where things are now.
3. Pray the oldest first
A list grows from the top, and the newest worries feel the most urgent. That pushes the oldest ones, the long illness or the estranged brother, to the bottom, where they are easy to skip. Starting each time with whatever has waited longest keeps that from happening.
You do not have to cover the whole list every day. Two ways people keep a long list manageable:
- A few at a time. Go oldest first, stop when you run out of time, and pick up there next time.
- A day for each part. Family on Monday, friends on Tuesday, work on Wednesday, and so on. Many paper prayer notebooks are laid out this way.
A tick for each day you pray for something helps here. Once a week, look for the lines with no ticks. Those are the ones slipping.
4. Choose a time and a place
A list works best tied to something you already do: the morning coffee, the drive home, the last few minutes before sleep. Keep the paper where that happens, or set a reminder for that time. Some people set two or three short moments a day, others one longer one. Either works if it happens.
5. When a prayer ends, keep it
Every prayer on a list ends one way or another. Mark the ending with the date and a word about what happened, then move it off the active list without throwing it away.
Not every ending is the one hoped for. Some prayers end in a loss, and some simply stop being yours to carry. It helps to have a second word for those. We use set down, with answered for the rest. Keeping both kinds gives an honest record, and a set-down prayer can go back on the list if it needs to.
Read the old entries now and then. They show what you held, for how long, and how each one came out.
6. Start a fresh page often
Once a week or once a month, copy what is still open onto a clean page, oldest first, and file the old one. Rewriting by hand is a natural review: anything you no longer want to copy out has probably ended, and can be marked as such.
Keeping a list with others
A family can keep one list on the fridge, with everyone adding to it. A group that prays together usually has one person who keeps the list and passes on updates. In either case, ask before adding someone else’s news, and ask again before passing it on.
Some prayer apps let a group share one list on everyone’s phone. We compared the ones that do, and the ones that keep a list private, in apps like Echo Prayer and apps like Prayer Notebook.
On paper or on a phone
Paper is quiet, private and easy to start. Its weak points are that it stays at home, it cannot remind you, and a long list gets crowded with crossings-out. A phone is with you when someone asks, and it can remind you, but it brings notifications and other apps with it.
Let Them Pray, our app, follows this method: your own words, the longest waiting first, dated updates, reminders, and the two endings, answered and set down, kept in a journal. It has no scripture, set prayers or religious symbols, no account, and nothing you write leaves the phone. It does not share a list with a group. It is free on the App Store.
Download on the App Store▶ Not on Google Play
Frequently asked questions
How do you keep a prayer list?
Write each person or need in a few words of your own, with the date you added it. Add a short dated note when something changes. Each time you pray, start with whatever has waited longest. When a prayer ends, mark it answered or set down, and keep it somewhere you can read back.
What should be on a prayer list?
Who or what you're praying for, the date it went on the list, and any news since. Keep private details short, or use initials, if anyone else might see the list.
How do you organize a long prayer list?
Pray for a few each day, not all of them. Many people give each weekday its own part of the list: family on Monday, friends on Tuesday, and so on. Others go oldest first and stop when they've run out of time, then pick up there next time.
Should you remove answered prayers from your list?
Move them off the active list, but keep them, with the date and a word about what happened. Keep the ones that ended differently too. Read together, they're a record of what you held and how it came out.
Is there a free printable prayer list?
Yes. Our printable prayer list is a free one-page PDF for a week, with room for updates, a box for each day and how each prayer ended. There's no sign-up.
Is there a prayer list app for any faith?
Let Them Pray, which we make, has no scripture, set prayers or religious symbols, and its tradition labels are optional. It's free with one banner ad, on the App Store for iPhone and iPad, and not on Google Play.