The blank page is the commonest reason prayer journals are abandoned. Not doubt, not busyness — the plain experience of sitting down with ten minutes and nothing to say.

These prompts exist for those mornings. A word on using them first, because used badly they make the problem worse.

Take one, not the list. Working through prompts in order turns prayer into a worksheet. Read until one catches, then stop reading.

Answer it in one sentence if that is all you have. A prompt is a door, not a quota.

Let it take you elsewhere. If the prompt about gratitude turns into three paragraphs about your brother, follow the brother. The prompt has done its job.

When you are grateful

  1. Name one thing from yesterday you had not noticed until now.
  2. Who has been kind to you this week, and did you tell them?
  3. What do you have that you once prayed for?
  4. What is going well that you have stopped mentioning because it has gone on so long?
  5. Write a thank you for something ordinary — water, a door that locks, a working knee.
  6. What has God given you that you would not have chosen?
  7. Which relationship are you most glad of today?
  8. What went right this week that could easily have gone wrong?
  9. Name three things about the place you live.
  10. What are you taking for granted right now that someone else is praying for?

When you are anxious

  1. What exactly are you afraid of? Write the specific thing, not the feeling.
  2. What is the worst realistic outcome, and could you survive it?
  3. What part of this is yours to carry, and what part is not?
  4. Write the sentence you are afraid to say out loud.
  5. What did you fear this time last year, and what came of it?
  6. Who could you tell about this?
  7. What would you say to a friend in this situation?
  8. Is there a step you could take today, however small?
  9. Name the thing you keep checking — the phone, the inbox, the symptom.
  10. Ask for one night's sleep.

When you need to confess

  1. What do you not want to write down?
  2. Who have you wronged this week, and what would repair look like?
  3. Where were you unkind when it cost you nothing to be kind?
  4. What are you pretending not to know about yourself?
  5. What have you been blaming on circumstance that was a choice?
  6. Where have you been dishonest, including by omission?
  7. What are you envious of?
  8. Who do you find it hard to forgive, and what would it cost you to begin?
  9. What habit do you keep confessing without changing?
  10. Write what you would want said about you, and where you fall short of it.

When you are deciding something

  1. What are the actual options, written plainly?
  2. Which one are you hoping someone will talk you out of?
  3. What would you choose if you were not afraid?
  4. Who would you ask, and why have you not asked them?
  5. What do you already know that you are working hard not to know?
  6. Which option makes you a person you would like?
  7. What is the reversible choice here?
  8. If you decided today, what would you regret in ten years?
  9. What would you advise your closest friend to do?
  10. Ask plainly for wisdom, and write the date.

When you are grieving

  1. Write their name and one thing about them nobody else would remember.
  2. What do you miss most this week — it changes.
  3. What do you wish you had said?
  4. What are you angry about?
  5. Who has been present to you, and who has not?
  6. What do you not want people to say to you?
  7. What has been hardest about today specifically?
  8. Write one line to God without tidying it.
  9. What small thing has still been good?
  10. Ask for the strength to get to the evening.

When prayer feels dry

  1. Write that it feels dry. Say so plainly, to God.
  2. When did it last feel alive, and what was different?
  3. Write one sentence and stop. Today that is enough.
  4. Copy out a psalm and let it pray for you. Psalm 42 or Psalm 88 know this ground.
  5. What are you too tired for at the moment?
  6. Pray for someone else instead of yourself.
  7. What would you want to be true, even if you cannot feel it?
  8. Read an old entry and write a line back to yourself.
  9. What has changed in your life that might explain this?
  10. Ask for nothing today. Just sit, and write the date.

Common questions

What should I write in a prayer journal when I have nothing to say?

Write that. I have nothing to say this morning is a true sentence addressed to God, which is all prayer requires. From there, one prompt — something you are grateful for, something you are afraid of, one person's name — is usually enough to open the page. Honesty about having nothing beats manufacturing something.

How long should a prayer journal entry be?

Long enough to be true and short enough that you will do it again tomorrow. Three lines is a legitimate entry. People who aim for a page most days stop within a month; people who allow themselves three lines on a bad morning are still writing a year later.

Should I use the same prompt every day?

You can, and structure helps more than variety for most people. A fixed shape — one thanks, one confession, one request — removes the daily decision about what to write, and the decision is usually what stops people. Keep a list of prompts for the mornings when the fixed shape produces nothing.

Are prayer journal prompts a crutch?

They are a door. Nobody who prays well got there by waiting for spontaneous eloquence — the historic prayer books exist for the same reason these prompts do. Use them when the page is blank and ignore them when it is not.

Devout gives you a prompt every morning. A verse, a reflection shaped to your tradition, and a written prompt drawn from the passage — so the page is never blank when you open it.

What you write stays private to you, autosaved, searchable and exportable whenever you want it. Try Devout free for seven days.