Romans 1:8-17 (Rena)

Romans 1:8-17

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world. ⁹ God, whom I serve in my spirit in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you ¹⁰ in my prayers at all times; and I pray that now at last by God’s will the way may be opened for me to come to you.
¹¹ I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong— ¹² that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith. ¹³ I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that I planned many times to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so until now) in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles.
¹⁴ I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. ¹⁵ That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome.
¹⁶ For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. ¹⁷ For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

"I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift..." I've never really prayed for this. I understand the longing that Paul describes. The deep heartfelt longing to see someone. Even in now with facebook, blogs, cell phones, and skype, there is nothing that compairs to physically seeing someone face to face. There is a realness to it that can not be duplicated, even with all our technology.

Still when I do venture homeward to see family or even just travel to see friends. I never pray that I would be able to do this so I can impart a spiritual gift, that we can encourage each other in faith. I'm more interested in just seeing people, in getting from them some satisfaction that I'm indeed loved. Or I feel some obligation to go and be a good daughter, a good sister, a good friend. But to truely pray that I might do something, not for my sake, but for the growth of another. That we might together, despite our fallen human nature, grow closer to God, is never really been a part of my prayer.

I am continually struck by my need to grow deeper in prayer. Deeper in my faith. I hope that you will pray that I might be open to God's teaching in my life, that I would come more often in prayer before Him. And pray that although we are seperated by distance, that when we do see each other that we would be more intentional with our time.