I greet you in Jesus' precious Name. It is Monday morning, the 30th of December 2024, and this is your friend Angus Buchan with a Thought for Today. We go to Mark 4:34:

"And when they were alone, He explained all things to His disciples."

It is vital to spend time alone with our Lord Jesus Christ. As we look forward now, in a day or so, we will be facing 2025. Now, I'm looking forward to it with great excitement, but I know some people are looking forward to it with trepidation, not knowing what the future holds. But if you spend time alone with the Lord Jesus Christ, He will comfort you, direct your path, give instructions, show you which way to go, and show you what to do and what not to do. He is the ultimate Council; my dear friend, it is vital that we spend time alone with the Lord Jesus Christ every morning.

I want to tell you a simple story; many of you were there. I'm talking about the big tent we hired in 2008 for The Mighty Men Conference at Shalom. That tent was gigantic! It was the biggest tent in the world at that time. It could seat 30,000 people inside, and we filled it with men. 30,000 men inside, but we had 30,000 men outside - Making a total of 60,000 men. Can you believe it? I find it hard to believe myself! Do you know that it took three weeks to erect with professional riggers? No farmers were allowed to touch it, and between 15 and 17, 40-tonne trucks brought it here to the farm. It even had a built-in weather station because those guy ropes, about an inch thick steel cable, had to be tensioned according to the weather. It was the size of 4 rugby fields, end-to-end. It was amazing.

The event was incredible, and we gave God all the glory. We saw men changed forever - maybe you were one of them. Now, this is where it's very important to hear God's voice and be alone with the Lord: After the event, a group of businessmen, well-meaning, godly businessmen from Johannesburg, contacted our office and said they wanted to buy the tent for us. Now, who has to pray about that? Well, I did. I asked if I could get back to them. It's very kind of you, but I need to pray and be alone with Jesus. When I went before the Lord, I was quite shocked; He said, do not touch it. I said thank you so much for the kind offer, but I can't accept it. They said well, that's up to you.

But you see, folks, that tent cost a million Rand just to erect, and then it would cost another million Rand to take it to the next destination. The following year, 2009, we had over 120,000 men at the Mighty Men Conference. That tent wouldn't have even housed a quarter of them.

Today, listen to the word of the Lord and obey only Him.

Jesus blessed you and goodbye.