Thought For Today

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 20th of December, 2023, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We go to Ezekiel 3:17: 

Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore hear a word from My mouth, and give them warning from Me…"  

That was one of the foundational scriptures that God used to call me into the work I am doing at present, namely telling people about Jesus Christ. I had a clear picture of a watchman on the top of a castle, and he had a trumpet in his hand. The purpose of that watchman is to keep watch for the people in the city. It is evening time, the people are all settled down, the gates of the castle have been closed so no enemy can come in, and the watchman's purpose is to ensure they are safe. If any enemies are coming, he is to blow the trumpet and warn the people of the ensuing enemy, but unfortunately, the watchman is sound asleep. I saw a picture of the enemy putting ladders on the walls and steadily climbing up to go into the city to destroy it.  

You and I have a responsibility; we have an obligation to the world and our families. You see, the scripture is that the Lord has made us watchmen to the House of Israel, which is our own family, to warn them about the soon-coming of the Lord, about the shortage of time. We must warn them about how the devil is coming into many homes in disguise. It all looks entirely innocent, and it all seems quite simple. It is a case of live and let live, but we as watchmen must warn them about truth and righteousness. We need to warn them that our God is a Holy God and love them by telling them the truth.

Today, blow the trumpet and tell the people to prepare themselves for the coming of the Lord.

Jesus blesses you, and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Tuesday morning, the 19th of December, 2023, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We go to Jeremiah 23:29:

"Is not My word like a fire?" says the Lord,
"And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?'

Then we go straight to the Mark 13:31, Jesus said:

"Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away."

Who is The Word? Jesus is The Word. John 1:14 says:

"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."

Jesus Christ is The Word. We really need to understand that. He is the hammer that breaks the hard rock into pieces. He is the One who, if we use His word:

"Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know."

Jesus' telephone number, that's right, Jeremiah 33:3, "Call unto Me." If we speak the word of God in faith, it will have an incredible impact on our lives. We need to spend time with the Lord. We need to hear His heart in the situation, whether praying for a sick person or seeking the Lord for a good venture in your life. Involve Him in everything you are doing in your day-to-day life.

Gideon went to the Lord and sought a sign. He cast a fleece before the Lord. You will see that in Judges 6:37-40, and the Lord honoured him. Go to the Lord and ask the Lord to give you confirmation, then pray the Word of God, and that hammer will break the rock into pieces. We have done it so many times, haven't we? We went to the Eastern Cape; there was no rain, and we prayed for that empty dam. It is over-flowing as I speak to you now. We forget about these things so quickly, don't we? We have been through drought. We prayed to the Lord, and He sent the rain.

Today, use that hammer. It's the word of God.

Jesus bless you, and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Monday morning, the 18th of December, 2023, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start with Job, some say the oldest book in the Bible, Job 22:29:

"... He will save the humble person."

Then we go to the New Testament to 1 Peter 5:5:

"God resists the proud,
But gives grace to the humble."

Just say sorry. It's not always easy, is it? Especially when it's not your fault. You say sorry because you've offended somebody. Be humble, always say sorry. It diffuses a potential explosion. Now, to be does not mean that you have to be weak, not at all. Humility is actually controlled strength - That's what it is! 

I think one of the most powerful men in the Old Testament was Moses. What kind of a man was Moses? Can you imagine meeting him in heaven?

I'm looking forward to meeting him in heaven. You talk about a 'man's man', a courageous man! Some say he was the greatest leader that ever lived, next to Jesus. He led over a million people through a desert for forty years and took all kinds of abuse from them, yet he never buckled once. If we look at Numbers 12:3, the Bible says:

"Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth."

Now, I want to tell you there was nothing soft about Moses. The softest part of Moses was his teeth, as they say. Can you imagine the fire in those eyes? That of his must have looked like the mane of a lion when he stood on top of Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments, and yet he was a humble man. This Christmas time, let us be humble. You know the family are going to be getting together, it's a very emotional time. It's a time when we remember our loved ones; some of them have already gone ahead of us, and some can't be with us. It's a potential opportunity to display Christ's love through humility.

You know, Jesus is an example, isn't he? If we look at John 8:7 when they were going to stone that woman caught in adultery. What did Jesus do? Remember, he was writing in the sand - I'd love to know what he was writing. He looked up and said:

"He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first."

They all left. Every one of them dropped his stone and walked because, of course, we are all Sinners. Today, let's be humble in the sight of God. 

Jesus bless you, and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Sunday morning, it's the 17th of December, 2023, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. Luke 1:37:

"For with God nothing will be impossible."

What a beautiful promise from the Lord. We must not 'tie' God's hands through unbelief. You see, if we look at Hebrews 11:6, the Word of God says:

"But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him."

My dear friends, God does not tell lies. He can't tell lies because it's not in His nature, Numbers 23:19

"God is not a man, that He should lie,
Nor a son of man, that He should repent.
Has He said, and will He not do?
Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?"

We have got to believe if we want to receive a miracle. You see, Mary was a young girl; they say she was very young, in fact, maybe in her late teens. But when the Angel of the Lord came to her with a message from God, she chose to believe what God said. If Mary had not believed or rejected it, she would not have had the privilege of being the most blessed woman ever living on this earth. She had the privilege of holding God in her Womb for nine months and then raising Him up - Emmanuel, God with us. For 33 years, she was his mother on earth. It's an incredible miracle. We must not hold back the miracle God wants to perform in our lives through unbelief. 

I want to pray for you: 
Heavenly Father, I pray for my dear friend listening to this message.
Lord, they have been waiting for that miracle, some for many years.
It took Abraham and Sarah years to realise their miracle, but they did not stagger through unbelief. 
Lord, I pray for my dear friends today that they will start to thank You for the miracle which is coming, which they cannot even see yet but which they are trusting You for, in Jesus' Name, amen.

Have a wonderful day, God bless you, and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Saturday morning, it's the 16th of December, 2023, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

"And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell." 
James 3:6

The power of the spoken word, the power of the tongue! It has the capacity to make or to break a person. When I was fifteen and a half years old, my old schoolmaster told my mother, "It would be better to take him out of school because he won't do much more in school." Oh folks, just that word, you see, and then I thought, "Well then, I am just not going to make it." It was a lie, but it didn't matter. God redeemed me after that. 

I remember one of our early Mighty Men Conferences on the farm, Shalom, when the Holy Spirit was moving powerfully amongst the men. One of the men, a former policeman actually, a big strong man, got up on the platform, and he got very emotional. He said, "I have got my eighteen-year-old son here this weekend, and I have never told him that I believe him and I love him." I will never forget it. At that moment, a big strong eighteen-year-old came running down the aisle in front of all of us and his dad met him in the aisle. They embraced and hugged each other and that dad affirmed him. Do you know that that boy couldn't even make the second team in rugby at school? He went on to make the first team after that comment, not only that - when he left school, he became a semi-professional sportsman because his dad spoke life over him and not death. 

You and I must speak life today and not death. Remember that song, "A man saw a shepherd boy, but God saw a king?" God saw David as the greatest King of Israel, next to Jesus, but the rest of the people saw him as a shepherd boy looking after the sheep.  

Today, watch that tongue. If you haven't got anything good to say about anybody, rather don't say anything at all.

Jesus bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Friday morning, it's the 15th of December, 2023, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. 

We start in the First book of Timothy 6:12: 

"Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses."  

We have got to fight the good fight. We have got to put on that armour of God every single morning because we are in the fight of our lives. I can hear somebody saying, "Oh, but the battle has been fought and the victory is ours when Jesus died and rose from the dead." Quite correct, absolutely correct, but still there is a fight and the fight is within us. Remember what they say? It's not the dog in the fight that wins, but the fight in the dog. Robert Schuller said, "Tough times do not last but tough people do." 

Rocky Marciano was the only heavyweight boxing champion of the world to have never lost a title fight - 49 fights, 49 wins. He only stood 5 foot 10" tall and weighed about 85 kilos, but what was the secret with Rocky Marciano? The secret was - he never gave up. He could take incredible pain. He was hugely disciplined. You know, I have two little Jack Russells. They think that they are Great Danes! They don't know how to go backwards. There is only one gear they have and that is forward.  

You and I need to fight the good fight of faith. We need to run this race to the finish line. We need to take hold of that eternal life that we were promised and called to. We have got to flee from sin, we have to vigorously pursue this fight with virtue, strong, healthy, full of energy. Oh my dear friend, I am talking to somebody who is down and out. I am talking to somebody who is giving up the race. You have run such a great race. Why are you stopping now? Get up, dust yourself off and get back in the fight.  

Now, Paul spoke about a fight, it's in the Bible, folks and I don't think there was a greater fighter than the Apostle Paul, who refused to give up and gave the devil the biggest hiding that he had had for a long time since Jesus walked on this earth. Today, let us confess, "Lord, we need You. Lord, we acknowledge that you are in our corner and Lord, we know we cannot lose this fight if you are with us." He has promised us in Hebrews 13:5:

"I will never leave you and I will never forsake you."

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Thursday morning, the 14th of December, 2023, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. 

We start in the Book of James 2:23: 

“And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God.”  

Faith and obedience - that is what Jesus Christ requires of you and me today. You know, everyone wants to be known as the friend of God; even the devil himself will not take on God. Abraham was known by God as His friend. God looked down from Heaven and saw that farmer, Abraham, and because he obeyed the word of God and had faith to believe the Lord, He said “That man is My friend.” Faith is a doing word; it is a verb. It is not a noun. A noun is like this table that I am sitting next to. A verb that has feet is an active word. Don’t tell people you love them; show them you love them. 

Abraham gave God back the most precious possession that he had - his son, Isaac, that he had patiently waited for, for years, and the Lord tested Abraham and He said, “I want him back.” Abraham did not hesitate. He took Isaac up to Mount Moriah and was about to offer him back to God as a living sacrifice when the Angel of the Lord stopped him and said, “There is a ram stuck in the thicket. Take that lamb and use it as a sacrifice.” It touched the heart of God so much that He said, “That man, Abraham, is my friend. 

Many years ago, I came back home from overseas. I had been on a long tour. I was very, very tired. I had been invited to speak at some local churches in South Africa and I felt the Lord say, “You must please ask to be relieved from those appointments, and you must rest.” So I phoned them and said I couldn’t make it, but you won’t believe what happened. Just after that, the famous Irish gospel singer, Robin Mark, was coming to South Africa with his band and he was going to perform in one of the cities in South Africa and they phoned me up and said, “Would you do the preaching after he does the praise and worship?” Well, it was a dream come true; I had been waiting all my life to meet this man. Then I felt the Lord say, “But you have declined invitations from the other churches. You can’t do it.” And reluctantly, I said, “Unfortunately, I can’t make it.” But when God saw my heart, I believe He honoured me because we got a phone call a week later saying that Robin Mark is in Durban and has just had a cancellation. He wants to come to the farm, Shalom, and he wants to come and meet me. Well, I was blown away. He came to the farm, we had a beautiful church service. He did the praise and worship, came to my house, had lunch with me and we have become good friends since that day.

Just do what God tells you to do and He will reward you well above what you could ever imagine or think.

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 13th of December, 2023, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. 

We start in the Book of Leviticus 19:18 in the Old Testament: 

“…but you shall love your neighbour as yourself: I am the Lord.”  

It is not an option; it is a commandment. Then we go to Matthew 22:39: 

“And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.”  

I want to say to you from personal experience that good neighbours are more precious than gold. We only really appreciate them when we are absolutely desperate and we have nothing to repay them with when they do us a good turn. Never, ever take your neighbour for granted. When we arrived on this farm, Shalom, nearly 40 years ago, we bought a piece of overgrown bush and badly needed help. There was no water on the farm, no telephone, no lights. We didn’t even have a house, we hired a small caravan. A good neighbour, Brenda, came over and taught us how to build a mud house, which we then built in 3 weeks. Another neighbour saw that we didn’t have any water, and he brought over a water cart and parked it next to our caravan.

We were taught how to speak Zulu by the neighbours and how to understand the local culture of those men and women who were working for us. We experienced the love of Jesus before we ever went to church. We didn’t know the Lord when we arrived on this farm. It was through the loving neighbours that we saw Jesus Christ. You and I must be Jesus to our neighbours, especially the newcomers. I will never forget one Saturday afternoon. I was tired and working 16 hours a day because there was nothing else I could do. I was trying to make a life for my wife and my family and clear the bush to prepare our first crop of maize that we were going to plant.

Then, a pick-up arrived. Our neighbour, John, who was quite an imposing man, said, “You and your wife and your children are coming to my house, on my farm, and you are going to have a braai (a barbecue), a meal with us and your wife is going to have a nice long, hot shower and we are going to watch an international game of rugby together. I have never forgotten that gesture of love and goodwill. It kept me going. 

Today, let us love our neighbours, 
Jesus bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Tuesday morning, the 12th of December, 2023, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. 

We start in the Book of James 2:1-4: 

“My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality. For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, “You sit here in a good place,” and say to the poor man, “You stand there,” or, “Sit here at my footstool,” have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?”  

Then we go straight to the First Book of Corinthians 2:8: 

“…which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.”  

Partiality - I looked it up in the dictionary; it means being biased, influencing unfairly, prejudice, and basically having favourites. Jesus has no favourites. You see, in that reading in the First Book of Corinthians, what the writer is saying is that if the rulers of Israel knew who Jesus was, they would never have crucified the Son of God. 

We look at Jessie, the father of King David, in the Old Testament. He had eight sons but showed partiality first to the oldest, then the next, until the prophet Samuel said, “Don’t you have any other sons?” He said, “Yes, I have got one. He is a young boy, he is probably about 13. He is looking after the sheep.” Samuel said, “Call him here,” this very handsome young boy with a ruddied face, he must have been a redhead, walked in and there he was, anointed as the greatest king that Israel has ever had, next to our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Because your son or daughter is not a good sportsman or sportswoman and the others in the family are, be careful not to show partiality because your other son or daughter might be artistic and may be a great musician or an artist. We must be so careful about that. When I was a little boy, I think I was quite an awkward character because I went to my mom once when I was small and said, “Mom, who do you love the most? Dad or me?” But that old Scottish woman, she was so wise. She sat me down. “Angus, I love your dad, and I love you in two different ways but I love you both exactly the same.” I was quite happy and I ran outside to play. Today, do not show partiality. There are no favourites in the Kingdom of God.

Jesus bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus' precious Name. It is Monday morning, the 11th of December 2023, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in Matthew 20:22.

But Jesus answered and said, "You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, and be baptised with the baptism that I am baptised with?"

This is when the disciples wanted to sit with Jesus. Their mother was organising for them to sit on either side of the Master when He went to heaven. The cup that the Lord was offering was not a cup of prosperity but the cup of suffering. Sometimes we wonder why we are having such a rough time in life, don't we? Why is God punishing me like this? Everything in my life seems to be going wrong. We thought that when we come to Jesus all our problems will cease. But you see that's not the truth, the truth is when we come to Jesus, He will walk with us through our fiery trials. We can only really feel for and help folk when we have been there ourselves. Then, we have the love, the compassion and the understanding that people really need to help them, and to heal them when they are suffering.

I read a beautiful poem in Streams in the Desert, that lovely devotional. It goes like this:

Once I heard a song of sweetness, as it filled the morning air.

Sounding in its blessed completeness, like a tender pleading pray.

And I sought to find the singer, where the wonderous song was born

And I found a bird quite wounded, pinned down by a cruel thorn.

I have seen a soul in sadness, while its wings with pain were furled

giving hope and cheer and gladness, that should bless a weeping world.

And I knew that life of sweetness was of pain and sorrow born and a stricken soul was singing with its heart against a thorn.

You are told of one who loved you, of a Saviour crucified.

You are told of nails that held Him and a spear that pierced His side.

You are told of cruel scourging of a Saviour bearing scorn, and He died for your salvation with his brow against a thorn.

You are not above the Master. Will you breathe a sweet refrain? And His grace will be sufficient when your heart is pierced with pain.

Will you live to bless His loved ones, though your life be bruised and torn?
Like the bird that sang so sweetly with its heart against a thorn.

Jesus bless you and go bless somebody else.
Goodbye.