8Church, let me begin with thankfulness. I am filled with thankfulness because, everywhere I go I hear of you and your faith. Your abandon to King Jesus is reported all around the world.
Because of His work in me and in you I thank God. 9Father God is my witness; the God I live for and serve, in proclaiming the Good News of his Son, sees and knows how overflowing with thankfulness I am. He knows how I pray for you without faltering without missing a moment. And how I have prayed for the moment to arrive for me to come to be with you. I’ve prayed that God would open up the way before me.
11The reason I long to see you is this; I long for you to be strong. And so I long to give to you what the Spirit of God has given to me for your strengthening 12and equally I long to receive whatever the Spirit of God has given to you for me. All of this so that, together we may be encouraged and strengthened in our faith. 13I want you to know, my dear brothers and sisters, that I have planned and hoped so many times to be with you. Each time and continually I have been prevented from coming. But now I feel liberty to prepare to come. I feel that now is the moment for me to repeat in Rome what I have done in so many other places. Now is the time for a harvest in Rome.