#2. For God, whom I serve in my spirit by preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness that I continually remember you and I always ask in my prayers, if perhaps now at last I may succeed in visiting you according to the will of God. (Rom. 1:9-10)
Paul had never been to Rome. He didn't found this church, yet he "adopted" them. One of the desires that he expresses in his letter is the desire to finally visit them - something he asks God about. In God's will and timing, he wanted to spend time with them for mutual edification.
He would eventually go to Rome, in chains. The book of Acts ends with Paul in Rome under house arrest, being visited by the church members (who had read this letter by that time). He is proclaiming the word of God "unhindered" as Acts 28 closes.
How does this relate to becoming world Christians? Your missionaries want to visit you. They crave fellowship with you. But they are foremost submitted to the will of God. If they don't get to your church or home on this furlough, don't take it personally. Assume that they are praying for the opportunity, and join them in that prayer for fellowship in the will and timing of God.
Prayer: Father, guard us from self-centered, petty feelings when those we support don't visit us on this trip. Help us to not take it personally. We ask You to bring them to us for fellowship and love in Your timing and within Your will.
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