Thought For Today

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Thursday morning, the 15th of October, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the Gospel of John 15:13:

“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”

Then we go straight to 1 Corinthians 13:1:

“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.”

Very powerful words! 1 Corinthians 13 - known as the chapter on love. This is a very special chapter for me. 

I have done many weddings. In fact, I have married two of my own daughters to their husbands in the little chapel on Shalom Farm, two sons and another daughter. I have many children, and it is such an honour and a pleasure, but I want to say to any young, budding preacher, if you are ever stuck at a wedding and you don’t know what to say, just read the full chapter of 1 Corinthians 13, and there is your sermon, there are your instructions for the young couple. It is the most beautiful and challenging chapter. The Lord speaks through Paul, but He speaks very clearly. He says, “If I have no love,” he says, ”though I bestow all my goods, feed everybody, and I even give up my body to be burnt, if I have not love, it profits me nothing.” 

A wedding is a very sacred time, and we make vows. We make a promise to God, “Till death do us part, we will stay together." That is a huge commitment. I made it myself, not far off 50 years now, and I want to tell you, I remember the day like yesterday. Count the cost before you ask that young lady to be your wife. Count the cost before you accept that proposal because it is very serious, and then put into action everything in this chapter, and even if you are a young married couple, I want to encourage you to read this chapter often. It really does challenge us and God will enhance and make your wedding day all that much more purposeful. 

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day, goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 14th of October, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We go straight to Matthew 8:16:

”…,and healed all who were sick,… “

Then we go straight from there to Isaiah 53:5:

”And by His stripes we are healed.”

Then we go right to the back, to 1 Peter 2:24:

'”…by whose stripes you were healed.” 

I want to speak to you this morning about divine healing. As I’m talking, I know it’s a very sensitive subject and there’s a lot of controversy, but my dear friend, I can tell you from experience that our God still heals.

"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” Hebrews 3:8

I want to tell you two miracles…and I can tell you miracles until the cows come home, and then I want to pray for you, for healing for your body, your mind and your soul because I believe in the power of faithful prayer. The first one, in the northern part of KwaZulu-Natal, it was a very big meeting, we had a big tent. The tent was full. By the middle of the week we had to get more chairs. We had to bring in more trucks, the people were coming in. One night, a man came up to me. He was a Sikh and he said, ”My son is mute, he cannot speak. Can you pray for him?” I said, ”Of course we can pray for him.” They brought him up to the platform in front of everybody. I told the people what the problem was. I took the mic, I put it by his mouth and I said to him, ”Say “Jesus,” straight away he said, ”Jesus.” The whole tent erupted. Instantly healed!

Another time in Durban at a big meeting, we prayed for the sick. A deaf man came up, but I didn’t know that this man had hearing aids, one in each ear, and when I said, Can I pray for you for healing?” he took out two hearing aids from his ears, I got a big shock. We anointed him with oil like we always do, prayed the prayer of faith. I told him to walk away from the platform, about ten, fifteen paces, turn, face the crowd. I said everybody must be quiet. I whispered his name, ”Johan.” He spun around. People went ecstatic. I said, ”Hang on. Go to the other side of the auditorium maybe fifty metres away. Face the wall. When I call your name, turn around.” He walked there. It was absolutely quiet. Folks, I called his name and he spun around like a top, completely healed.

Today, Father, I pray for my dear friend who listens to this thought for the day every single morning. They are struggling, Lord, with sickness. They are struggling with physical sickness, some mental, some spiritual. Jesus Christ, You said, “Call unto Me and I will answer you”. I’m praying divine healing now over my friend. In Jesus name, be healed.

Please write to us and tell us about your miracle. 

God bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Tuesday morning, the 13th of October, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects; Therefore do not despise the chastening (discipline) of the Almighty.” Job 5:17

Then we go to Psalm 94:12:

”Blessed is the man whom You instruct, O Lord, and teach out of Your law,…” 

I want you to focus on one word in both of those Scriptures, “happy”. Why is he happy? Because he has been disciplined? Because he or she is secure, safe, respectful, confident, trustworthy and polite. Discipline makes him or her obedient and so dependable. You’ll find that when those children grow up, they will climb the corporate ladder very, very quickly. Why? Because people can trust them, because they are respectful.

I want to tell you something, in the Afrikaans tradition. Any man who is older than you by ten years, you call him, ”Oom” which means “Uncle” or “Mister”. You treat him with respect. You take your hat off when you speak to him, and folks, I’m telling these things are serious because if you get someone who’s arrogant, a little child who comes up and calls you by your first name without you telling him to, straight away he’s losing brownie points big time.

We need to respect one another. We need to respect God. He is not “the man upstairs”. No, no, no. He’s the Saviour of the world, and this is what the Lord is saying. Happy is the man or woman who is disciplined and chastened, because then we respect other people, their property, and who they are, whether they’re black, white, coloured, or any other colour, old or young. It’s a wonderful way to live. I’ve always told the young preachers, ”When you preach from that platform, you preach up to people. You never preach down to people. Never think of people inferior to yourself because if you’re a minister, the word “minister” means servant. You are a foot-washer, you need to act like one.”

So today the Lord says, ”Happy are you when you are put straight.” So when somebody comes and gives you some good advice, don’t be proud, don’t be arrogant. Just say, ”Thank you very much, sir.” Eat the meat and spit the bones out.

Have a wonderful day.
Jesus bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Monday morning, the 12th of October, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We go straight to the Book of Psalms 32:8. The Lord says:

”I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye.”

Then we go straight to the Book of Romans 5:3-4, in the New King James version:

”And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope.”

Jesus allows us to go through tough and difficult times. Why? Because He wants to teach you and me a lesson, because He has greater things for us to do as we achieve each and every one of those tests. I want to tell you a little story. Many, many years ago, I was twenty-three years old, actually, and I got a job in Central Africa. Two partners, two old gentlemen, had a huge farming operation. These men ran 1500 beef cattle, 1000 acres of commercial maize, 160 acres of seed maize, and 40 acres of vegetables. These men were operators. Two Englishmen, the one came from Yorkshire, he was tough and he was rough. The other man was an absolute gentleman. He was soft and he was gentle.

These men said to me at 06h05 in the morning (we started work at 06h00), “I don’t want to see one worker standing in the yard.” We had 150 workers. I was the only manager. We had to get the work done. He taught me to carry a notebook in my pocket, this gentleman, and he had a mind like a scalpel. He would ask me any question about the farm and I had to give him the right answer. Three times I tried to resign, walked into the office, said, ”I can’t take it anymore, sir, I’m leaving.” He took the resignation, tore it up, chucked it in the waste paper basket and said, ”Come on, my boy, you can do this. Get back to work.” But folks, I tell you what, that man taught me more about life and staff management. 

He was an absolute blessing, but at the time - I could have killed him, but I want to say to you today, young man, young lady, you’re going through a tough time, don’t worry. God is teaching you a lesson through that situation, and when you overcome it, He’s going to take you to the next level.

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day.
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Sunday morning, the 11th of October, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

Romans 12:4: “For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, …” 

Then we go straight to 1 Corinthians 12:14:

“For in fact the body is not one member but many.” 

In the Kingdom of God, there is no superstar, there are no one-man shows. Take a football team: there are 11 players. Each one has a specific job to do. A football team is not 11 defenders. If they were, no one would ever score against them, but they would never win a match because there would be no one to put the ball in the other net. They are not all strikers. Why? Because if they were strikers, the match would probably be about 20 goals, but the opposition would have 25 goals because there is no one to defend the team. They would lose on goal average. 

I want to tell you a true story. Many years ago, I am not going to tell you which team, because they were so wealthy they bought all the best players they wanted, so they had 11 superstars, and each one had his own idea of what he wanted to do. It got so bad that, in desperation, the manager, a very brave and famous soccer player himself, did something drastic. He dropped the first team completely and brought in the youngsters, the under twenty’s. They were young men, full of talent but raw, and completely dedicated to whatever the manager said. With that young team, they won the triple crown. They won all the different competitions. Why? Because these young men listened first to the manager and only did what he told them to do.

Now we have a manager. His name is Jesus Christ. He has made us all differently. We need to start to pull together as a team and then the world will hear the Gospel.

Today, work in the area God has gifted you for, and you will see the difference.
Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day. Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Saturday morning, the 10th of October, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the Book of Psalms 90:10:

“The days of our lives are seventy years; And if by reason of strength they are eighty years,…” 

Then we go to James 4:14 which says:

“For what is your life? It is even a vapour that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.” 

Where are you and I spending all our time worrying? We worry so much about temporary things. We worry because somebody doesn’t like us, because somebody has decided not to speak to us, because we are not as popular now as we were a few weeks ago. Why are we crowding our minds and our thoughts all day long because we have been offended, because things are not going the way we think, and we neglect to concentrate on eternal things. The worldly things we can see, the eternal things we can’t see and maybe that is the reason.

So we can see that person there who doesn’t like us and we have to deal with it. We can see the situation around us. We can hear it, we can even smell it, sometimes we can taste it, but eternal things, things of great consequence, we are going to spend time with Jesus forever and ever and ever. How much time do we spend thinking about those things? If we do, it will make the things of this world become insignificant. They won’t count. They won’t mean a thing!

We are so worried about what we are going to eat tomorrow and we don’t think about spending millions and millions and millions of years in the presence of Almighty God, where there is joy, peace and hope and every good thing you can think of. If Christ is for you, the Bible tells us, there is no man that can stand against you.

Let us start to concentrate on things that have eternal value. Let us start to develop our prayer life, to talk with Jesus, to spend time with Him, because we are going to be spending time with Him forever and ever, and those silly little things and those accusations and those little words which are not true that are spoken about you, don’t worry about them! Just dust them off your shoulder like you would a little leaf or something that has fallen on your shoulder, just dust it off. 

Today, let us concentrate on things worth praying about.

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day.Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Friday morning, the 9th of October, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the Book of Judges 14:18:

“What is sweeter than honey? And what is stronger than a lion?”

That is a riddle.

I looked up the definition of what a riddle is in the Oxford Dictionary, it is a puzzling question, and that is what Samson, one of the strongest men in the Old Testament, asked the men at the wedding.

Then we go to Psalm 119:103:

”How sweet are Your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” 

Isn’t that beautiful? And then, of course, John 1:1:

”In the beginning was the Word…”

Oh yes, His name is Jesus!

I’m a honey-keeper. It’s a hobby of mine, and that honey, when it comes out of the comb, is so sweet and so strong, sweet to the mouth, and it lingers in your mouth all day long. That’s why honey-keepers enjoy their profession so much, but folks, I want to tell you: I used to work for a company in Swaziland many, many years ago, and they exported all their sugar to Great Britain. There was a company there called Tate and Lyle. Their syrup was in a green tin and on the cover of that tin was a picture of a lion lying dead and a swarm of bees coming out of that lion’s carcass. That is the story of Samson.

Samson was on his way to a wedding. He was a very strong man - he killed a lion! He left the lion there and carried on to the celebration and then on his way back he saw a swarm of bees inside the carcass of the lion. He took some honey out, ate it and it was sweet and then he said to the men, ”If you can work out this riddle, then I will give you some garments.” Of course they couldn’t, except his newlywed wife told them the secret, but I want to tell you today, there is something much sweeter than honey, and there is something much stronger than a lion. It is God’s Holy Word.

Please, every day, spend time in His Word. It will make you sweet and it will make you strong.

God bless you and have a wonderful day.
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Thursday morning, the 8th of October, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the Book of Psalms. Psalm 91:3:

”Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler…”

Then we go on to Psalm 124:7:

”Our soul has escaped as a bird from the snare of the fowlers…”

The last scripture, John 10:10:

”The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.” (Jesus says) ”I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” 

The fowler is a hunter. He is concerned about trapping birds for his food. Now up in Central Africa, I remember as a young boy, there were some very clever hunters. They would take glue they got from a tree and make it nice and sticky. Then they would pour the glue along the top of one of the smaller branches of the trees and then they would sit, and they would wait, and a flock of birds would come along, and they would settle on that nice branch which is exposed to the sun, and they would like to keep warm, and so they would just settle together. Two or three and then some more would come, and eventually the hunter would come with a big bag, and as he approached the branch all the little birds would try in vain to fly away but they couldn’t, and he would pick them off the branch, one by one, and he would put them in his bag and take them home to eat.

We are so aware of big dangers. We prepare ourselves properly, but the little things - the things that will catch us out if we don’t take note of them. What am I talking about? I’m talking about not paying your accounts on time. There was a young mechanic who used to come and do private work for me, but eventually went bankrupt. Do you know why? Because people did not pay their accounts and sadly to say, most of them were wealthy people.

What about reading that cell phone when you are supposed to be driving? I know of a man who did exactly that. He’s no longer here. He died. He drove straight into a truck coming the other way. I want to say to you today, be careful of the little traps.

God bless you and have a wonderful day.

Goodbye. 

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 7th of October, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in 1 Corinthians 11:23-25:

”For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread;  and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”  In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”

We are talking about Holy Communion. We must not forget to do it often. It is in remembrance of the Lord. When we do this, we remember what Jesus did for you and me on the cross of Calvary, and you know, when we partake of Holy Communion, I have seen it. I have experienced it. There is healing that takes place in your body. There is also forgiveness. There is confession. 

Now, who can administer Holy Communion? Well, folks, I want to tell you, the priest, he can do it, of course he can, and so can the pastor, but I also want to tell you so can the head of his house, the father of the house. Jill and I break bread continually at home. We can do it after breakfast, we can do it after supper, we can do it after lunchtime if we have the opportunity. I have seen the most beautiful communion services take place at the Mighty Men Conferences where hundreds and hundreds of men come forward and partake of the bread and the grape juice. I really want to encourage you to do it, and I want to encourage you to do it with your children and teach them, when they are young, what it represents, and you must do it with the utmost love for God and respect for God.

Some people will tell you, ”No, you can only do that in church, and you can only do it when there’s an ordained minister.” I don’t agree with that at all. What about the man who works on an oil rig? When does he find the opportunity to find a minister? No, he can do it with his friends on the oil rig. What about the game ranger in the bush that comes in once a month or once in six weeks? Does that mean he has to wait? No, he can do it anytime. He can do it in the campsite.

The Lord says the whole purpose is to remember what He has done for you. What has He done for you? He’s died for your sin. He’s given you a new opportunity to start again. He’s given you a chance to say sorry and to remember that the Lord is coming back soon.

Jesus bless you and break bread today with your family, it is a beautiful thing. 
Goodbye

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Tuesday morning, the 6th of October, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We go to the Book of Judges 13:7:

”And He said to me, ‘Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. Now drink no wine or similar drink, nor eat anything unclean, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.” 

This is now the wife of Manoah, and Manoah was the father of one of the strongest men that ever lived by the name of Samson, but you see they couldn’t have a baby, but the Angel of the Lord came and told Manoah’s wife, ”Get ready.”

Then we go to Matthew 7:7, a very well-known scripture:

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”

The Lord is telling you and me to get ready to receive your gift from the Lord. You say, “What gift is that?” Well, maybe you also, like Manoah’s wife, just could not conceive. I am going to pray for you at the end of this message that you will receive that gift from God, a baby. Maybe it is a business opportunity. You have been waiting for so many years. The door never opens, you just don’t quite get it. It is coming, I am telling you, it is coming, a business opportunity. 

What about a wife? Many men write to me and say, “I am looking for a wife. I am lonely.” Today, we are going to pray that God will get you ready. I want to say something to the men now. There is a young man listening to this message, you are not getting ready, you are out of shape. I am sorry, I am being honest with you because I love you. Why? Because you don’t train. You don’t eat properly, you don’t look after yourself. Get yourself ready because the girl is coming! What about that young lady? She has been waiting for a husband for how long? Get yourself ready and I am telling you, the man’s on his way.

Do you know what happened to me? I came into my prayer room early this morning. It has been very cold on the farm. I have got a little fire that I make every day when it is cold, to warm myself. And I made a fire this morning, and it went out. So what must I do? I must remake it which I did do and it is roaring as I talk to you now. Do not give up! Some of you have given up. Remember, Manoah’s wife was barren, she couldn’t have a child. Pray this after me:

Heavenly Father,

First of all, I want to say sorry. I have not been getting myself prepared and ready for the gift that is on its way. Today, I make a promise to You that I will get myself ready physically, spiritually and mentally to receive the gift that is coming. And when I receive it I will tell the world that Jesus Christ has answered my prayers. I pray this in Your precious name, amen.

God bless you and have a wonderful, expectant day! Goodbye.