Thought For Today

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Friday morning, the 1st of September, 2023 and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. 

We start in the Book of Mark 8:34: 

“When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.”

Self-denial is the hardest thing to do, isn’t it? You know, our biggest enemy in this life, my dear friend, is not the devil, oh no! It’s ourselves. Now, even the great apostle, Paul, said, in the Book of Romans 7:19,

“For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.”  

Then we go down to verse 24 of the same chapter. 

“O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

Yes, He is the one who will deliver us from ourselves. Jesus said that if you want to be my disciple, you must take up your cross. What does a cross represent? It represents death. We have to die to self. You know, in my prayer room, I have a little brass cross. It’s called a hand cross. You put it in your hand when you are praying and squeeze it tight, and the corners cut into your fingers and you remember the pain that the Lord Jesus Christ suffered for your and my sins. I was given this cross many, many years ago in Australia by a pastor and I have held it for many a year, especially when I have done something wrong that I shouldn’t have done. So what should we do in a case like that? We simply say, “Lord, please forgive me.” That is where the power of confession comes into place. He will forgive you, and you will stop it, and you won’t do it again. We must continue to carry our cross every single day until we get home. Yes, He sets us free, but it is the flesh that you and I struggle with. We need to put it down daily and Jesus shall set us free. 

Have a wonderful day,
God bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Thursday morning, the 31st of August, 2023, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. 

If we go to the Book of Habakkuk 2:3:

 “For the vision is yet for an appointed time;
But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie.
Though it tarries, wait for it;
Because it will surely come,
It will not tarry.”

I believe the Lord wants us to be patient and wait for the vision He has given us to be fulfilled. Maybe you are in the waiting room, maybe through sickness or maybe through financial problems, maybe you just feel, “Lord, that vision is never going to come to pass.” But if you are anything like me (ask my wife, Jill), I am not very good at waiting. I am very impulsive by nature but there comes a time when we need to wait for the vision to come to pass. 

Sometimes others abandon you and leave you alone. They say, ‘No, we are walking away from this vision - it is not from God.” That is when you have to remain exceptionally patient. I just want to say to you today, do not lose that vision, that dream, that the Lord gave you. Remember, your vision must always be, first and foremost, the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember that scripture in Matthew 6:33: 

“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” 

You may think there is nothing happening but I want to tell you, if you love Jesus Christ and He has given you a vision, it will happen. I don’t know if you remember when Covid broke out, the horrible Coronavirus. Jill and I were locked in our garden for 67 days, that’s right! We kept going back for a test and it kept coming back positive. I won’t go into any details there. I want to tell you that it was very hard for me in that time - I am an active person, and I want to do things. But through that time, God gave me the vision to start doing the “Thought for Today,” which you are listening to now and which is running unbroken for 1,240 odd days. I have never missed one day. It is going right around the globe and all the glory goes to our Lord Jesus Christ. Don’t lose your vision.

Do you know that The Pilgrim’s Progress, the second most read book in the world, next to the Bible, was written by John Bunyan, in Bedford, England. While he was in jail for 12 years, he wrote that book. That book has touched more souls than any evangelist that has ever lived. In prison he probably thought, “Well, that is me, washed up”, and he wrote the most powerful book.

I thought, when I was in lockdown for 67 days with my wife, Jill, “Where is the vision, Lord?” That was the birth of the “Thought for Today.”

Have a wonderful day and keep the vision.
Jesus bless you and goodbye. 

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 30th of August, 2023, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. 

We start in the Book of Ecclesiastes 5:1-2: 

“Walk prudently when you go to the house of God; and draw near to hear rather than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they do evil.” 
“Do not be rash with your mouth,
And let not your heart utter anything hastily before God.
For God is in heaven, and you on earth; 
Therefore let your words be few.”

We really have got to watch what we say.  

“But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.” 
Matthew 6:6-7

We need to be very careful what we say. Do you remember the story of King Herod and John, the Baptist? You know, King Herod, the Bible tells us, respected John the Baptist greatly. He really looked up to him and he made a very bad mistake. When he was under the influence of alcohol, he opened his big mouth and said something that he never should have said. He said to the young girl, “If you dance for me, I will give you anything you want.” Her mother hated John the Baptist, so when she had danced before Herod, he said, “What do you want?” And she said, “I want John the Baptist’s head on a platter”, and he was very upset about that, but because he had made that outrageous statement in front of everybody, under the influence of alcohol, he had to follow through. So he had to kill the man that he admired greatly, and even looked up to.

I want to say to you today that we need to be very careful with our words. The Bible tells us our words need to be few. We need to sit and think carefully when we speak to Jesus because whatever promise we make to the Lord, He will hold us to it. We really need to be careful with that business deal. We have to follow through once we have said we will do it. That proposal, young lady - if that young man proposes to you, be sure when you accept that you follow through. And most of all, with our commitment to Christ, when you publicly confess your faith, you need to follow through. 

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Tuesday morning. Yes, it is the 29th of August, 2023, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for the day. 

We start in the Book of Psalms 37:16:

“A little that a righteous man has
Is better than the riches of many wicked.”

“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”
1 Timothy 6:10

I want to qualify something right at the beginning: To be rich and to have lots of money is not a sin. The Lord is saying to us here today that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. You know the old saying, “There is no honour among thieves”? Do you remember the great train robbery? It took place in 1963. The equivalent of 61 million pounds sterling was stolen off a train. To my knowledge, the gang of 17 members were all caught and ended up in jail. They had absolutely no benefit of the money they had stolen.  

Don’t be greedy. Please don’t sacrifice your family for the sake of making extra money, and only find out later in life that it was all worthless anyway. 

“What does it profit the man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul?” 
Mark 8:36  

Work hard, be generous, spend lots of time with Jesus and He will make you rich. He will give you riches that this world will never give you. He will give you peace of mind, He will give you relationships that will last all your life, and your family will love you, not for your money but for who you are. 

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Monday morning, the 28th of August, 2023, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. 

We start in the Book of Romans 10:14: 

“How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?” 

I want to tell you about a boy preacher, that’s right, that’s what they called him. His name was Harry Moorhouse. He was an English evangelist, a young boy who had no theological training. He was very quietly spoken and came from a very average family in Manchester, England, in the 1840s. He just loved Jesus and started to preach, and he did so well that they sent him to America and the great evangelist, D L Moody, who literally rocked the world, listened to this young man.  

They called him the boy preacher; he wasn’t even 20 years old, and he preached on one verse in the Bible, John 3:16, which says: 

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” 

That was the only scripture verse he used and he preached for seven nights in a row straight and the crowds could not even fit in the hall. Just a simple message, and after hearing this boy preacher, the great evangelist, D L Moody said, “I used to preach that God was behind the sinner with a double-edged sword, ready to cut him down. But now,” he said, “I am done with that. I preach now that God is behind him with love and he is running away from the God of love.” 

You and I need to do what Harry Moorhouse did - we need to tell people that Jesus Christ loves them unconditionally. I want to say to you, my dear friend, you might not have any Bible training, and you might have never been to a Bible college, but if you have met the Man from Galilee, like Harry Moorhouse did, just go out and tell people what Jesus means to you and you will be surprised at how they will respond to the love that you have for them.

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus' precious Name. It is Sunday morning, the 27th of August 2023, and this is your friend Angus Buchan with a thought for today. 

We start off in the book of Ecclesiastes 4:9-10, in the Old Testament:

Two are better than one,
Because they have a good reward for their labour.
For if they fall, one will lift up his companion.
But woe to him who is alone when he falls,
For he has no one to help him up

Two are better than one. My wife is my best friend. Do you know what I really love doing? Just sitting quietly with her and having a cup of tea. It is absolutely beautiful, just a nice quiet cup of tea. Next to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, Jill is my number one advisor. When I need godly counsel, she is the one who gives it to me. Do you know why? Because she's honest and sincere, she has no ulterior motives. I know that she has my best at heart and will tell me the truth even if I don't like it. But it always helps me in the end. We sharpen each other like the Bible says: iron sharpens iron.

When we go on holiday, she is meticulous when packing the motor car. Me, I just want to go: "Come on Jill let's go, come on please, please hurry up". And she says no, she wants to put everything exactly where it's meant to be. But you know the amazing thing is, when we're on our trip, and I can't find something, I say do you know where it is, and then she says: "Yes, I know exactly where it is". When I travel a lot preaching, she packs my suitcase for me. I take extra stuff out, she puts it back in, and I say I don't need all that. She says: "You do". When I get to that hotel overseas somewhere, and I'm looking for something, there it is, and I say: "Lord, thank you for that wife of mine".

In Ecclesiastes 4:12 it says:

...And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

Jill and I have each other, but ultimately, the Lord Jesus Christ makes us strong. You see, a three-fold cord is very hard to break. If we cannot agree on something, we have a disagreement, oh yes, we do, you might be surprised, we sit down and go to the Bible. We say, what does Jesus say about the situation and then whatever He says we make it good.

Today, spend time with each other, appreciate each other and make sure you pray together because the family that prays together stays together.

Jesus bless you, and have a lovely Sunday.
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Saturday morning, the 26th of August, 2023, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.  

We start in the First Book of John 2:16-17: 

“For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.”

Then we go to the Gospel of Matthew 6:24: “

No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”  

Just a little before that, in verse 21, the Lord says: 

”For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

I remember, many years ago listening to a sermon by a Scottish preacher. He told the story of a man who was not interested in God, only building his own kingdom. He was a miller by trade. He had a mill with a big grindstone, right next to the river, with that big paddlewheel and night and day this grindstone would grind out the corn and make flour. The man got very old and started getting very sick. His family was concerned about him, but he wasn’t interested in anything else but making money. Eventually, he got so sick, he asked them to take his bed and put it right next to the grinding stone, and he was actually dying. The man was dying and yet he was still completely concerned about his flour mill and making money.

A minister came to see him one day and was trying to speak to him, saying, “You are going to die, and you are going to a lost eternity. You need to give your life to the Lord.” And the old Scottish miller said, “I can’t hear you, laddie. The mill is making so much noise.” He could not hear the message from the man who was offering him eternal life because he was making too much money. Obviously, straight after that, he died.

Do not waste valuable time on things that are passing away, but concentrate on things with eternal value and eternal life.

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful Saturday,
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Friday morning, the 25th of August, 2023, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.  

We start in the Book of Ecclesiastes 4:6: 

“Better a handful with quietness
Than both hands full, together with toil and grasping for the wind.”

“And He said to them, “Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” For there were many coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.”
Mark 6:31

Then, the last scripture is one that we should all take notice of. It is found in the Book of Exodus 20:11, right at the beginning of the Bible:

“For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.”

Even God Himself rested. We really need to purposely take time to rest, my dear friend. This message probably applies more to me than to many others. 

You know, the swallow comes all the way from the Northern Hemisphere, right down to the Southern Hemisphere, as the seasons change, but he rests and feeds on the wing while he is flying. That is exactly right, and we need to do the same. 

William Carey took the Gospel of Jesus Christ all the way across to India. He was probably one of the most busy men. He translated the Bible into many different Eastern languages. He became the chief interpreter in Delhi for the British Government. He was a man who loved God but, he had a very special place where he rested. That’s right - he had a little rose garden. When he was completely worked out, he would go into his rose garden and work on his roses. 

Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the Baptists called him “the Prince of Preachers”, said in his senior years, “By doing less, I hope to achieve more.” Some of us, including me, are rushing around too much. We need to slow down and find a special place to rest, somewhere in your garden, in your closet, where you and Jesus can spend time together and rest, and we will find that we will be much more effective.

God bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Thursday morning, the 24th of August, 2023, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. 

We start in the Book of Ecclesiastes 4:1-2:

Then I returned and considered all the oppression that is done under the sun:

“And look! The tears of the oppressed,
But they have no comforter—
On the side of their oppressors there is power,
But they have no comforter. 
Therefore I praised the dead who were already dead,
More than the living who are still alive.”

Now these are tragic words, spoken by King Solomon himself, basically saying, “There is no hope”, and even as I am sharing this scripture with you today, my dear friend, I can sense in my spirit there are many who are listening to this message who have lost hope in the things of this world. Everything seems to be upside-down. Now, I want to say to you that Jesus Christ, in John 10:10, says, “I came to give you life abundantly.” 

The Lord has come to give you and me life, and life in abundance, and we really need to understand that. A beautiful example is, of course, the prophet, Elisha and his servant. The servant came out of the hut in the morning and saw enemy soldiers and chariots everywhere. He cried out to the prophet of God, “We are done. There is no hope for us.” But if you look at 2 Kings 6:17, the word of God says: 

“And Elisha prayed, and said, “Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.”

There are more who are for us than against us. Today, lift your eyes higher. Lift up your eyes because the Lord has promised you, my dear friend, and He has promised me, that He will never leave us, that He will never forsake us, (Hebrews 13:5) - and that is great news.

Go and tell somebody today, “Don’t worry, Jesus will not forsake us. He has promised to give us abundant life.” 

Go out today and enjoy your life.
God bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 23rd of August, 2023, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.  

We start in the Book of Jeremiah 20:9:

"Then I said, "I will not make mention of Him,
Nor speak anymore in His name."
But His word was in my heart like a burning fire
Shut up in my bones;
I was weary of holding it back,
And I could not."

Oh, when you have met Jesus, you can't keep quiet. Then we go straight to Romans 1:16, a verse we all know so well, don't we? 

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek."

Just the other night, I was watching the Cincinnati Open Tennis Championship Final. The Ladies' Title was won by a young Afro-American girl, not even 20 years old - It was so beautiful to see her first-ever major tournament, and when she won it, she was like a little girl, dancing around the court, full of joy and glee! Then came the speech, this young girl, in front of thousands of people, said, "First of all, I want to thank my Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, for making this possible." She said, "In my hotel room, for the last two weeks leading up to the final, I was crying, I was afraid, but He was with me." Then she went on to pay tribute to her mom, dad, brothers, sisters, her family and her team. It was so beautiful to see in a world where there is so much compromise and everybody is so afraid to speak up and tell people about their love for Jesus. 

You know, one of the hardest place to witness is in your own home, isn't it? But we need to stand for Jesus and He will give us the courage. Do you remember that old song?

I have decided to follow Jesus,
I have decided to follow Jesus,
I have decided to follow Jesus,
Oh, no turning back, praise the Lord, no turning back.

When none go with me, I still will follow,
Though none go with me, I still will follow
Though none go with me, I still will follow,
No turning back, praise the Lord, no turning back.

And then the last verse:

The world behind me and the cross before me,
The world behind me and the cross before me,
The world behind me and the cross before me,
Oh, no turning back, praise the Lord, no turning back!

Go and tell somebody today that you love Jesus,
God bless you and goodbye.