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I would tend to bet that many people think prayer is very important, but those same people feel guilty that they don’t do it enough.

We should remember that prayer is a way of talking to God. It doesn’t need to be overly formalized. Prayer when when you can, and look for ways to pray more often.

The problem I have is that when I think about prayer is that I often think about all the things I should be praying for, and it exhausts me. I get so stressed thinking about the things I’m not praying about that I rather just ignore the whole thing.

I needed a basic framework where I could spend time in prayer each day without feeling guilty that I was forgetting something.

So what I did was make a small spread sheet that I’ve put in the back of my Bible. I’ve broken it down day by day. Each day I pray for different things in a few categories: Family, Friends, Neighbors, Concerns or Ministries. So for instance today is Thursday and I prayed:

• My wife and son (thats the first item each day)
• My brother-in-law
• A few members of our community group
• Three of our neighbors
• The needs of single mothers in Pittsburgh
• A few Pastors that are doing ministry around the country
• Finished with a prayer for Church Planting and Evangelism(Also each day)

That ends up being 15 item. I also leave a few spaces intentionally blank so that I can add to the list as need be. I’ve been using my current list for a few months now, and I’ll probably change it out soon.

I admit that these aren’t the only things that someone should be praying for, but its a helpful start. For instance I sometimes add to this a slow walk thru of the Lord’s prayer. You’ll also notice that I’ve omitted Saturdays, this was just because things are so varied on that day, and I wanted to make something that I could do well, rather than just make something else to feel guilty about.

What I decided to do is spend about a minute praying for each item, which means that in the end I spend about 15 minutes praying for these specific items each day. At the end the week I can look back and be encouraged that though there might be other things I could add to my list, I have prayed for a number of important areas of my life.

I’m not suggesting that you have to follow this model, but if you are looking for a framework to help you pray about lots of things while not feeling guilty that you left something out I would recommend using something like this.

I’ve included a prayer template that could be filled in as you like.(I print it out on a normal sheet of paper and fold it in half so it fits in the back cover of my Bible.)

In the end find a way to stop feeling guilty that you aren’t praying the way other people pray and just start praying.