March 2  Monday                             Romans 1.1-15

1 Paul, a servant of Jesus the Anointed called by God to be His emissary and appointed to tell the good news ² of the things promised long ago by God, spoken by prophets, and recorded in the Holy Scriptures. ³ All of this good news is about His Son: who was (from a human perspective) born of David’s royal line ⁴ and ultimately designated to be the true Son of God with power upon His resurrection from the dead by the Spirit of holiness. I am speaking of Jesus, the Anointed One, our Lord.

⁵ And here’s what He’s done: He has graced us and sanctioned us as His emissaries whose mission is to spread the one true and obedient faith to all people in the name of Jesus. ⁶ This includes you: you have been called by Jesus, God’s Anointed.

⁷ To all those who are God’s beloved saints in Rome:

May grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus, the Anointed One, surround you.

⁸ First, I thank my God through Jesus the Anointed for all of you because we are joined by faith as family, and your faith is spreading across the world. ^9-10 For I call God as my witness—whom I worship in my spirit and serve in making known the gospel—He alone knows how often I mention you in my prayers. I find myself constantly praying for you and hoping it’s in God’s will for me to be with you soon. ¹¹ I desperately want to see you so that I can share some gift of the Spirit to strengthen you. ¹² Plus I know that when we come together something beautiful will happen as we are encouraged by each other’s faith.

¹³ If, my brothers and sisters, you did not already know, my plans were set to meet you in Rome, but time and circumstances have forced every trip to be canceled until now. I have deeply desired to see some good fruit among you just as I have seen with so many non-Jewish believers. ¹⁴ You see, I am in tremendous debt to those of various nationalities, from non-Jews to barbarians, from the wisest of the wise to the idle wanderer. ¹⁵ So you can imagine how eager I am to join you and to teach the good news in the mighty and diverse city of Rome.