6 Ways to Use Prayer Cards to Deepen Your Prayer Life

Prayer cards are a great tool to deepen your prayer life.

Have you ever found yourself in a position where you just could not pray? You could not find the words, you were exhausted, you were weary, and overwhelmed because life was so hard that the thought of trying to find the words to even express what you’re feeling was just too much. 

I have been there many times and prayer cards are something that have helped me end those seasons. Today, I want to share with you how you can use prayer cards during these hard moments and hard times to help you stay consistent with your prayers and stay connected to God. 

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Confession, I have a slight addiction to office supplies and all things pen and paper. One of the things that I have a ton of around my house is index cards. I use them for all kinds of things, but especially for my spiritual growth and my quiet time with God.  I use my index card for Bible study for praying. 

I want to share how I create prayer cards and how I use them because they’ve been so instrumental in helping me focus and continue to pray even in those dark, overwhelming, hopeless moments. When I can’t even open my mouth to form the words. 

If I have to think through what to say, I’m just not going to make it. Prayer cards are a great solution. When I say prayer cards, I am talking about simply having an index card where you have either written out a bible verse or written out an actual prayer. Sometimes, I do both. 

If someone has asked for specific prayers, like health concerns or healing, I will get out my bible and find verses specific to healing. Then I will write those on the card and I use those verses to pray. I will also go to scripture, find a verse, turn that into a prayer, and write it out on an index card. 

You can do them both ways. Make these as simple or as beautiful as you want them to be. You can use index cards and diy it yourself or I have seen some that you can purchase. They have watercolors and other pretty pictures on them. So whichever way you want, it’s fine. I’m going to share with you just a few ways that I have used these in my life to pray for myself and others. 

Keep Track of Prayer Requests

The first thing that I started to do with the prayer cards was to use them to keep track of prayer requests. For a long time, my prayer notebook with pages and pages of requests in it. It was really hard for me to organize them by person. 

If my friend Sally asked for prayer and then she asked for another prayer or changed the prayer, I didn’t have space on my list to go back and make those updates. So she’d be on page one and then she’d be on page four. I didn’t like that and I needed something where I could have people with all their stuff in one place.

That’s when I made my first prayer card. I use those really big index cards and write my friend’s name at the top. If they’re married or have kids, I put the whole family on there so I can remember names. I will begin to collect requests on that one card. 

I like to find a verse or two that’s specific to whatever their request is, and I keep that all in that card. I’ll have everybody’s names, I’ll have the request, and I’ll have the verse or two that I am going to pray for over them. Anytime that I’m praying for that person or if I have time to pray, I pull that card out to remember them and refresh my mind of what the request is and pray for that need. 

Use Prayer Cards for Yourself

I also do the same thing for myself. A while ago I was feeling hopeless and thankfully I had the presence of mind to listen to the prompting of the Holy Spirit to get out my note cards and start collecting verses. I started writing down anything that spoke to me and anything that I found even remotely comforting. 

It was fantastic for me because about three days later, I was so deep in the pit that I could not even pick up my bible to open to start reading. If I had to gather that stuff at that moment, it never would’ve happened. But because I had done the work already, all I had to do was grab my stack of index cards. 

I’d read them to myself or I’d read them out loud. That was my prayer time, just having the cards right there with the verses already on there. For some of them, I changed the pronouns. so it was as if God was speaking directly to me. What I had to do was pick them out, read them, and pray them. 

During that season, it was really helpful for me because I didn’t have anything left in the tank. I’m going to be 100% honest. I was not reading my bible every day. It just wasn’t happening because I wasn’t able to manage that. But I could pick up a card and read the words that were already written on the card. 

Use Prayer Cards on the Go

Another thing I like to do with my prayer cards is stick them on a little key ring and throw them in my purse to take with me. If you are in a season of playing taxi cab to your kids, or just spend a lot of time commuting, this is a tip for you. 

I like to keep the cards in my purse if I am waiting for a child to come out of an activity. If we get somewhere early, which hardly happens, I can sit down with my cards and flip through them and begin to pray for people.

When I have friends who are going through hard stuff I really like to take those moments to pray whenever I can find them. Sometimes I use those moments for myself. Even if it’s just a few minutes. It’s three minutes I can spend talking to God. 

Use Around Your Home

I like to stick prayer cards up around my house as reminders to pray. I stick them on the wall, on a mirror, and over the light switches. It’s a great reminder to stop and take 30 seconds to pray. They’re also really great as a teaching tool. 

Use as a Teaching Tool or Gift

If you have a group of people that you’re mentoring or discipling or you’ve got kids, having these prayer cards already done is a great way to teach them how to pray. You can show them how to take verses and turn them into prayers for the cards. 

Then give them the card to read out loud and practice praying from the words on the card. The goal is that they’re able to eventually find their confidence and find their voice and then begin to pray for themselves. 

I also like to give these cards as gifts. They make great gifts when somebody’s going through something hard. They might be in a place where they just cannot do all of that work themselves. They’re not able to dig into the word, they can’t focus because they’re overwhelmed. They just are trying to get through the day, one minute at a time. It’s perfect for that time. 

Use Prayer Cards in Small Groups

You can also use them in your small groups, bible study groups, or MOPS groups so that you can spend time praying for each other. This is something that my church has done. Before Easter, our pastor had this wonderful idea to have 10 days of prayer. 

They set up the foyer and sanctuary with different stations you could go through with a prayer focus at each station. I believe hundreds of people came through. It was great. At the tail end of that, they provided prayer cards so you could write out your requests, and they had a prayer board where you could stick them up there. 

When I went to go through the setup I didn’t write my own prayer request. I stood there and I took some time to pray over those cards. It was great being able to pray for somebody else. Our prayer ministry team that meets on Sunday mornings has those cards and people can fill out cards with new requests. 

We get those cards and we’re able to go through and pray through them as a group. Our leadership staff prays for them as well. When you’re using these in a group remember that confidentiality is key. Please, do not use somebody’s personal, vulnerable, special, private prayer request as fodder for gossip. You can always leave things anonymous and take names off. 

Other Helpful Resources:

• Calm Your Anxious Heart with Breath Prayers
• 5 Reasons You Should Have Prayer Partners
• How to Seek God

Using prayer cards can help you be more consistent with your prayer life.