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The Focus
by Dennis Wheeler
Have you ever been overwhelmed with hopelessness?
My mother-in-law is coming to visit soon...please pray for me! Whenever my mother-in-law visits our home she loves to engage us in some challenging games of Scrabble. Of course whenever I play scrabble I love to cheat and make up words...so my mother-in-law now brings a Webster's Dictionary to the table when we're playing Scrabble to make sure that I'm not trying to bluff her!
Now - if you were to take a Webster's Dictionary and look up the word 'confidence' (as seen in the Scripture text above) - you would find that it is a real word that can be used in any Scrabble game. But take a brief moment and read the definition for 'confidence'..."full belief in the trustworthiness or reliability of a person; the confiding of private matters; a confidential communication; and a confidential friendship."
In the classic movie The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy, the Tin Man, the Lion, and the Scarecrow make a long and difficult journey in order to ask the wizard to grant their deepest, most desperate desires. But when they were finally granted an audience with him, it took everything they had not to turn and run in terror. They had absolutely no confidence coming before him because they had no idea what he would do. They had no prior relationship or friendship with him to help them predict his reaction.
Now - let's bring the point home! Do you realize that when we, as Christians, stand before the throne of grace there need be no fear and trembling? Are you fearful in approaching the throne of the Most High God? Rest assured - we can stand there with 'confidence' because we know the nature of the King we pray to. In fact, we are there at His throne by His invitation and desire!
"This is the confidence we have in approaching God; that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us."
He serves as the Senior Pastor with southwest Virginia church... a loving church family in Abingdon.
He and his wife Sharon have been married for over 27 years and are the proud parents of two beautiful daughters, one son-in-law, and two precious grandchildren, the second arrived arrived on the scene in September 2004!!
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