Praying through the directory.

It's hard to pray through the directory. Prayer is not a strong point in my life to begin with, let alone pray through two pages a day of several faces that I don't know. But at the same time, we know that Paul prayed for churches that he had never personally visited before; and yet knowing that they were children of God was enough for him to approach the throne of grace and intercede for them. I pray that I can become more diligent in praying for my brothers and sisters at CHBC, who I have covenanted with to bring up in "the love and admonition of the Lord."

I think a temptation in praying through the directory is to pray to get through both pages. When you're praying and keeping an eye on how far down the page you'e gone, you kind of instinctively keep a count of how far you are till the end of the page. I usually have strategies of praying through so many people without ending up praying the same thing for every one of them; these usually include praying for them things that I've learned in my quiet time, praying for each individual something from the Sermon on the Mount, going through the fruits of the Spirit, etc. These are good, but how do I make these into prayers from the heart and not just mechanical? I pray that the Holy Spirit would soften my heart and increase my love for those I pray for.