How to pray for people when you don't know what to pray for

Do you sometimes struggle to pray for people? I often pray for people for whom I don't know what to pray. 

We try to pray for all our prayer supporters. We work our way through our long list of them, probably getting to everyone once every couple of months. But how do you pray for someone who you haven't talked to for a couple of years, or perhaps even a couple of decades? Yes, we have people on our prayer list that we met before our 18 y.o. was born, and who we haven't seen since. We hope they are still praying for us, but we still try to pray for them.

This is what I've been doing in the last year or two, when I'm lacking inspiration, I pray part of one of these prayers in the New Testament: Paul's prayers. This morning I opened my Bible to Ephesians 3 and prayed that today's "group" would "have the power to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ."

These prayers of Paul's are incredible, really. He goes on in a way that is hard for mere un-theologically-educated mortals like me to keep up, especially before breakfast. His enthusiasm about God and for the people he's writing to just overflows all over the page and he barely stops to take a breath. But they make for wonderful prayers, especially if you don't have something specific you can pray for a person.

I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. (Eph 1:16-23 ESV)

And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1:9-11 ESV)

There are more, especially check out Colossians 1:9-12; Ephesians 3:16-19.

People write books of prayers, but I'd actually rather go straight to the Bible. Another time I go there is for prayers of praise. It's hard to go past the Psalms for those!