prayer
How to Organize a Prayer List You Can Revisit
Organize a prayer list into today, ongoing, and follow-up, then use a worked example to record a later update or leave room for no news.
Give a prayer list three places: what you want to pray about today, what remains ongoing, and what you want to revisit. Keep each entry short enough to recognize later. A return date is a cue to read your note again, not a deadline for an answer.
Begin with the list you will use this week
Choose a few entries from the list you already have. You do not need to reconstruct every request you have ever heard before you can begin.
The Logos guide to prayer lists describes organizing and scheduling prayers in its tool. The paper layout below is an editorial illustration, not a Logos feature. It does not require that tool or imply that Morning Shepherd has the same features.
If you also keep a journal, How to Start a Prayer Journal Without Overcomplicating It offers a first-page structure.
Give each entry enough context to recognize it
Use a short label, a date, and one neutral line about what you want to remember. You do not need to copy someone’s message or retell their story.
For each item, leave space for:
- A label: the person, place, or concern.
- A starting note: what you know now.
- A return point: when you plan to read the note again.
- A dated update: new information, or a plain statement that there is none.
These are notes for your own use. A short label or initials are not a promise that nobody else could identify the person.
Separate today, ongoing, and follow-up
Today
Put the entries you want to bring to prayer now here. This might include a responsibility in front of you or someone you expect to see. Keep the section small enough to use without having to work through the whole list.
Ongoing
Keep items here when you want to return to them but have no new information. Leave the original note in place and add dated updates underneath it.
Follow-up
Use this space for a return date or an action you have chosen. Distinguish “read my note again” from “contact this person.” One does not automatically require the other. A person does not owe you an update because you wrote a date in your notebook.
Follow one item through a week
This is an illustrative example. The labels and events are invented to demonstrate the layout; they are not a person’s prayer entry or testimony.
| When | Section | Note | Next step |
|---|---|---|---|
| September 21 | Today | Friend’s moving plans. They mentioned looking for a place. | Revisit my note on September 25. No contact arranged. |
| September 25 | Ongoing | No new information. Keep the September 21 note unchanged. | Read it again when reviewing the list next week. |
| September 28 | Follow-up | Friend said the move is now planned for next month and welcomed a check-in then. | Write an October return date. Check in only as agreed. |
The September 25 line is a complete update. “No new information” is enough; it does not need a guess about what happened or why.
The September 28 line shows a possible later update, not an expected result. If there is still no news, leave the item ongoing. If no check-in is wanted, remove the contact action. You can still decide whether the item belongs on your own prayer list.
If you move an item to a new page, copy the short label and note where the earlier entry is. Do not rewrite the earlier note to make it look as though you knew the later information all along.
Keep the list in perspective
Philippians 4:6 sets requests alongside thanksgiving. One plain use is to name a single request and a single gratitude as you read.
That reference does not rank your requests, explain why something happened, or forecast how it turns out. The layout sorts notes; it does not grade prayer.
Review what still belongs on the page
Choose a regular moment to look again: once a week, at the start of a month, or when beginning a new page. Move an item to today if you want to focus on it. Add only an update you can state honestly. If a follow-up action is no longer useful, cross out that action without forcing a conclusion about the concern itself.
For a fuller date-and-update method, read How to Revisit Prayer Journal Entries. If the first entry is still the hard part, What to Write in a Prayer Journal When the Page Is Blank lists other starting points.