Romans 1:8 – 13 First, I think my God through Jesus Christ
for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. For God
is my witness whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his son, that
without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers, making request if,
by some means, now at last I find a way in the will of God to come to you. For
I long to see you, that I may impart you some spiritual gift, so that I may be
established – that is, that I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual
faith both of you and me. Now I do not want you to be unaware, brother and,
that I often plan to come to you (but was hindered until now), that I might
have some fruit among you also, just as among the other Gentiles.
As we returned the data Romans chapter 1, we are going to
look further into Paul's request. Paul in his prayer to God was requesting the
opportunity to visit the Romans. His statement in verse 10 and his statement in
verse 13 make it clear that this had been his desire for some time. Yet he
makes it all so clear in verse 10 that he does not want his desire to overrule
God's will. Though he recognized the good that could come from his visit to the
Romans he also understood that to be blessed and it it needed to be according
to God's will. One writer put it this way," we must be concerned with
doing things right (management), but we also must be concerned with doing the
right things (leadership)." Paul's comments reveal that he was truly
concerned with both of these areas.
One of the primary reasons for Paul's desire to visit was so
that he might impart a spiritual gift to help strengthen our established the
believers at Rome. Paul getting to spend time with the Romans would allow his
spiritual gift of teaching and preaching to be used to build their faith and to
strengthen them as a body of believers. But Paul also realized that by being
there not only could he encouraged the Romans but they through their faith
could also encourage him as well.
In this request we find Paul praying desiring God's will he
and at the same time desiring to see the growth the Romans. How often do we
become selfish and our prayers ignore the will of God and what his desire is
and forget about the benefit of others and their need to grow spiritually? When
we recognize the opportunity to minister are we patient enough to wait for
God's timing?
May our prayers
like Paul's be concerned with the will of God and the growth of other believers
that we might see fruit in their lives.
The Video version of this is available at www.youtube.com/user/churchoflittleton FW # 63
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