10 Making request, if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you.
11 For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established;
12 That is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me. (Romans 1:10-12)
Paul prayed in Romans 1 for a “prosperous” journey by the will of God. He was NOT praying to go to Rome First Class on Italia Airlines without any engine trouble, air sickness or diarrhea in order to bring a “house-warming” gift.
He went on to say that meant he longed to impart a spiritual gift that would first “establish” them and that both Paul and the Roman saint’s would be “comforted together” by their and his faith being “mutual”, that is, in total harmony in Christ. His prayer had nothing to do with the “way” he went; it had all to do with the spiritual results of the trip.
Of course you know how his journey FROM THE FLESHLY, PHYSICAL COMFORT viewpoint turned out!!
But God gave him more than he asked as the power of the gospel overshadowed the power of his chains, the power of the storm, the power of the snake venom, and the power of devil worship among the barbarians.
So many times my prayers have been for the trivial fleshly comfort of “me arriving without any trouble on the way” instead of prayer for those I go to and myself to have a mutual faith that produces spiritual fruit.
Meditate on Paul’s prayer. If God grants the prayer for the results, does not that also include the “way” we get there?
And, now that we are in Christ, should this not be our longing desire as we travel through this brief trip of earthly life?
