CityLight Church

I remember as a child, at one stage one of my favourite toys was the magnifying glass. I would do all sorts of things with it - some not so productive things (which I won’t go into) but also some very interesting things.
One of the things I noticed was how we can look at things in much greater detail. I could focus on an ant… and see how much detail I could see... before…
Anyway, I noticed that through a magnifying glass I  could see things that I couldn’t with the natural eye. I noticed that the detail increased. The object not only looked larger, but clearer. The further away I took the glass the more detail I saw, until I took it to a point where it became blurry, and I could no longer focus on it. I also noticed that I needed to be close to the object in order to see it. Looking at the world as a whole through a magnifying glass, depending on where you hold it, does nothing more than blur the image, or turn it upside down. 
It’s interesting that as we get older, we never really put away the glass. We don’t physically hold onto one, but we do regularly use an internal glass a lot more often than we realise.
The question we need to ask ourselves is, “What am I focussing on? The things we focus on are what become magnified. It’s really quite simple: Focus on problems, they will only get bigger. Focus on Jesus, and He will get bigger. The things you ‘focus’ on will be the things that you will focus on and they will ultimately control the direction of your life. 
Have an awesome week, 
Adrian Nyhuis.

We live in a time when Champions are a ‘dime a dozen’. The media portrays many of our sports people in particular as heroes and champions, and even recently advertisements label them as immortal.
So what makes a champion. People recognise the fact that there is the proverbial blood, sweat and tears that go into making someone a champion, but there is actually more than that. The word ‘Champion’ has the root of its meaning in battle, and yes, we could term the sports field as a place of ‘battle’, but realistically, a sports champion is one who competes against others for fun. It doesn’t matter whether they win or lose, they are still referred to as a champion because they are disciplined, and they work hard, because of who they are and what they do.
A battle champion is different. They compete against others as a matter of life and death. They are a champion, not just because they have worked hard, not just because they have trained well, not just because they are disciplined, not because of how others see them, but because of one thing – they are still alive. They continue to fight the battle, knowing three things: 1) The enemy IS the enemy, 2) Whilst fighting the may - die and 3) The enemy needs to be - destroyed.
We need to be aware that as Christians, we are in a battle. The enemy is the enemy and he’s not playing games with you, or your children. The other great thing is that it’s not really much of a battle. Jesus defeated him at Calvary, so he was stripped of all his authority - leaving him with nothing...
In Matt 28:18-20 Jesus says three important things:  1) All authority has been given to Me (Jesus); 2) Go and make disciples; and 3) He will never leave us nor forsake us.
In addition to that, Isaiah says, “The God of Israel will be your rear guard.” Not only are you in permanent contact with the God of the universe, who has all authority and who is your personal bodyguard, you are also fighting a battle that you can’t lose. James says having done all to stand, STAND!  
God invested into you because He sees you His champion. Let’s continue to stand, and resist the devil, because he will not win, and you already have.
Have an fantastic and victorious week,   
Adrian Nyhuis