30 Prayer Prompts for a Better Prayer Life

How has your prayer life been lately?

One of the most essential things in our Christian walk is Prayer. Whether praying in the morning, before meals, or at night, we must talk to God daily.

You may be reading this and thinking, “I need to Pray more,” or “I do not talk to God every day like I should.” I want you to know you are not alone.

I recently returned home from my travel nurse assignment to visit family. However, once I made it home, I became pretty sick. I started to have symptoms that resembled Covid and freaked out. Since I never had Covid, I did not want to get it, especially if I would be seeing my family. I got tested, and thankfully, I was negative, but I still had to fight this illness that I got.

Days went by, and I realized something. I have not been talking to God since I made it back home. I did not thank Him that my illness was Covid. Honestly, I did not pray much at all! I prayed before I left to go to the airport, but that is pretty much it. I was so consumed with seeing my family and this illness (a cold, by the way) that I honestly forgot about God.

That made me really think about my prayer life and how often I talk to God. Do I let the stress of everyday life get to me to the point that I do not run to God first or at all?

However, if we are honest, this happens with people’s prayer life. If you are someone who prays without ceasing as the Bible commands us to do, that is incredible! For those of us that don’t, I’m here to help.

First Thing First

Let’s think about why someone doesn’t pray as much or at all:

• Stresses of life take over the mind
• A busy schedule
• New to the faith and don’t really know what to pray about
• Constant Distractions (social media, phone notifications)
• Doesn’t feel like it
• Laziness

Are those good reasons? Not at all. Not one bit. Does it still hold us back? Yes.

Take a couple of minutes to figure out your reasoning for not praying as much.

Good, you are back!

I also found this article about praying for beginners while you were gone.

So now, you may be at a point where you are encouraged to talk to God more. Now, let’s get to the nitty gritty. What should we pray about?

We should be thanking God for what He has done, Praising Him for Who He is, confessing sins, etc. Why not add new prayers to our prayer life? Well, that is the point of these prayer prompts. In some of these prompts, you might think to yourself, ” I have prayed about this before.” That is awesome if you have! However, when was the last time you prayed about this topic?

You can add these prompts to your daily prayers or pray for this separately. It is up to you. Just as long as we get the conversation started with God.

1. Your Parents

Pray for both of your parents. If you do not have a good relationship with them, still pray for them. If both of your parents are deceased, pray for yourself and that you will continue to be a great parent. However, if you do not have kids, pray for some parents that you know. Moms and Dads need coverage from God during these times.

2. An Injustice that is currently happening in the World

If you turn on the news or if you open up your social media app, you will see some form of injustice. Whether it is based on race, religion, gender, or class, there is always an injustice out there. Why not spend some time with God and talk to HIm about it? You can pray for the situation and talk to God about how you feel about it. Remember, He doesn’t mind at all listening to what you have to say.

3. A Sin that you have been struggling with

We all have a sin that is a thorn in our side. It can be lying, cheating on your spouse, sex outside of marriage, gossip, etc.; if there is a sin that you enjoy doing, talk to God about it. Yes, you read that right; sometimes, we don’t want to stop doing a sin because it “feels good” to us. If it is a sin that you keep trying to overcome, but you keep failing, ask God for the strength to overcome it. Jesus overcame the power of sin when He died on the cross and rose on the third day. So, please do not think a sin you have been struggling with has power over you because it doesn’t. Pray to God about it.

4. Your Job

Of course, thanking God for the job that you have is great. However, let’s pray for the coworker or manager at your job that you have been having issues with. Talk to God about it if you go to work and hate being there. If you have been applying for another job, ask that His will be done. If you had a bad day at work, vent to God about it. Even if you had a great day at work, let God know.

5. Your Friends

Ask your friends what they need Prayer for, and pray for them. Better yet, pray with them. In your quiet time, pray about something that you notice your friend struggles with and for strength in their daily life. If you are someone who doesn’t have friends, ask God for some friends who can encourage you and help you in your faith. Also, you can ask to be a better friend as well.

6. Your Purpose

Talk to God about what purpose He has for you. Talk about the goals that you have and see if they line up with His Will. I will encourage you to have this talk with God more than once because you never know what He wants you to do in different seasons of your life.

7. Your kids

Pray for your kid’s health, the school year, etc. If you do not have any kids, pray for someone who does have kids. However, to add to this prompt, if you work with kids (teacher, pediatric nurse, social worker), pray for the kids you work with regularly. Pray for a safe home environment, that they will get better, and pray that God just covers them.

8. Your Spiritual Gifts

If you do not know your spiritual gift, talk to God about it. If you know your spiritual gifts, ask God to help you find ways to exercise them daily. Reference 1 Corinthians 12: 7-ll for the list of Spiritual gifts.

9. Your Aniexty

What have you worried about? What have you stressed out the moment you open your eyes? Lay it before God. 1 Peter 5:7 states to cast your anxieties on Jesus because He cares. Start doing that today.

10. Pray for someone who you do not like

There is most likely someone you do not like in your life, who has greatly upset you, or you struggle to love. Pray for them. I am not talking about a negative type of Prayer but a prayer that God will bless them and protect them. Sometimes, people are just mean just to be mean, but sometimes, people have bad things going on in their lives, and they like to take it out on others. Regardless, pray for them.

11. A Skeptical Question that you have

Why does God allow suffering? Why do people who are Christians get terminal illnesses? There are so many questions that are out there that sometimes we do not understand. Write the question down and tell God about it. He may reveal the answer right then or months down the line, but still talk to HIm about it. I remember reading the Word, which mentioned that God wants us to be gentle. I remember asking God why He wants us to be so gentle. At that time, I saw gentleness as a weakness. Did I get an answer then? No.

However, I was watching a TV show with three judges. Two of the judges were loud and yelling at the contestant, which resulted in the contestant yelling back at them and not listening. However, the third judge was calm and gentle in his criticism, and the contestants listened to him and thanked him. I watched the show and got upset with the two judges’ aggressive behavior until I realized I had prayed about gentleness a while ago. So God can show you the answers to your questions.

12. Your Romantic Relationship

Pray that your husband continues to be the head of the household and keeps Christ over him. Pray that your wife respects you and keeps Christ in her life. If you have a boyfriend/girlfriend, pray that they are not leading you away from your walk with God. If you are single, pray that whoever you are dating will not hinder you from your walk and that you do not make them an idol in your life.

13. Your pastor

The pastor of the church needs Prayer just like anyone else. The pastor goes through struggles and sins every day that they need to overcome. Also, pray for them to continue preaching the Word of God correctly and not stray the congregation away from the Word.

14. Your Fruits of the Spirit

Love, Joy, Peace, goodness, long-suffering/patience, self-control, gentleness, kindness, and faithfulness. Which ones are you practicing daily? Which one do you struggle with the most? Ask God to help you in this area.

15. What you are grateful for

Tell Him what you are thankful for in your life and how He has blessed you. Also, talk about the blessings you have seen in others’ lives. Thank Him for just being an awesome God.

16. Your Church

You can ask God for several things when it comes to your church. You can ask that the members continue to exercise their gifts and talk about prayer requests that you heard during service to help resolve a conflict between two members, whatever the case may be.

17. The first person you see on your Social Media Account

If you are someone who likes to be on social media a lot, I have a prayer suggestion for you! Every time you open up a social media app, whoever you see first on your feed, pray for them. You never know who might need it that day.

18. Boldness

Are you scared to talk to someone about Jesus? Are you fearful about praying in front of others? Ask God for boldness so that you can get over your fear of reaching people for Christ.

19. Your health

If you do not have any health issues, praise God and thank Him. If you have some form of illness, talk to Him about how you feel and for the strength to keep going. Also, ask for help with being consistent with exercising, having a healthier diet, and getting more rest.

20. Your Prayer life

Earlier, I asked you what was holding you back in your prayer life. Well, this is the perfect time to talk to Him about it so your prayer life can get better!

21. Something New

You might have gotten a new job, car, child, or promotion. Thank God for that new thing in your life that you just got. Even if it is something you may consider small.

22. Your Worth

Is your worth in men, women, social media like, or what your parents think? Ask God to help you put your worth in Him. He is the one who created you, not men or social media likes.

23. Understand His Word

Before you read His Word, ask for wisdom and knowledge so you can understand the text in a deeper way. You never know what might be revealed to you.

24. Backsliding

If you are someone who was on fire for God but now does not spend as much time with him. Talk to Him. If you start getting thoughts that God doesn’t want to talk to you because you are slowly getting away from HIm, God wants to talk to you. No matter if you are on fire or not, He is always there, ready to talk to you at any moment.

25. School

If you are in High school, undergrad, graduate school, or getting your doctorate, pray about it. Even if you are making straight A’s, do not forget about God. I remember praying many nights while I was in nursing school because it was a rough journey for me.

26. Your Business

If you are a business owner, pray that you do not forget about Him no matter how much money you make. Especially if this is a business idea that came from HIm. Pray to keep HIm at the center of it all.

27. Your Social Media Account

Pray for the strength to delete people who are a hindrance to your walk. Also, make sure you are not a hindrance yourself. Social Media can be a big distraction and can warp your mindset depending on what you see on a regular basis. Pray for Wisom on how to navigate your social media accounts.

28. To Keep going during a tough time

You may be going through a tough time, and you are so close to giving up. Pray to God about it. Do it daily. Do it until the tough time is over. You will be able to make it through this time; God is right there with you.

29. Your Needs

What do you need in this current season? Ask God about it. He wants to hear your needs. Sometimes, you might need one thing, and God may have something better for you that you never thought you needed.

30. Your Personal Walk

Are you spending enough time with God? When was the last time you went on a fast? Spend some time with God and just talk about your day. Have a casual conversation. Talk about how ya’ll relationship can get better. Just talk to Him.

Final Thoughts

The point of all these prompts is to improve your prayer life. Also, these prompts can not only help you but help out others around you. You never know; your prayer life can be the reason for saving someone’s life or saving your own. If you have more ideas, list it below. I would love to hear about them!