Thought For Today

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Tuesday morning, the 22nd of August, 2023, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the First Book of Timothy 4:12: 

“Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.”

I just love being around young people! “Why?” you might ask - aah, because their hearts are soft, because they have unrestricted dreams and expectations. They tend to see the very best in people. They are not cynical. What does the word, “cynical” mean? Well, according to the Oxford Dictionary, it means believing that people always act from selfish motives. Young people always believe that the glass is half-full and not half-empty.

Just yesterday, I went for a ride on my mountain bike with my grandsons. They range in age from 8 years old to 16 years old. Hearing them laugh, talk, joke, and just enjoy life was like a tonic for me. No ulterior motives, no selfishness, so refreshing - you know, it brings a tear to my eye, actually. My oldest grandson just came up alongside the youngest one when he was taking a bit of strain going up a hill, and he just gently put his hand on the little boy’s back and pushed him up the hill on his bike. Please folks, don’t ever write off young people. Please don’t be negative in their presence, don’t be bitter in front of them, don’t restrict them. You see, they will still be here when you and I are long gone. Help them to realise their God-given potential. 

When I started preaching, I had only known the Lord for three months, that’s all, and some beautiful older people gave me a kickstart in the little church in which I was saved. They allowed me to preach from the pulpit. When I started preaching, they just loved me through it all, and when I look back, I think I must have been preaching apostasy, heresy and all the other “..sy’s”, but they just loved me. What did I bring to the table? Definitely not theology, not anything academic. Maybe what I brought to the table was excitement, innocence, purity and most of all, love. Yes, youthfulness that’s what we need.  

Have a blessed day, love the young people!
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus' precious Name. It is Monday morning, the 21st of August 2023, and this is your friend Angus Buchan with a thought for today. We start in Ecclesiastes 3:11:

"He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end."

Then we go to Acts 17:23:

"...for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription:

TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.

Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you..."

Every human being knows that there is a God, a Creator, because you and I are made in His image and He has put eternity into our hearts. You see we are constructed - spirit, soul and body. The spirit never dies. The soul is your character, your personality. Then, you have a physical body. You see the cattle in the field, they have a soul and a body, but they do not have a spirit because God has put eternity in our hearts. People know there is a God. They've never met him personally and don't know his Name. There is no such thing, I believe, as an atheist - oh no, it can't be, because God has put eternity in our hearts.

They say Charles Darwin, the man who said that we are descendants of apes, his wife was a very strong follower of Jesus and on his deathbed he acknowledged that there was a Creator. Even the most primitive people living in the jungle believe in a Higher being, they know that there is a Creator. You can go right up to the Arctic Circle, the Inuit people will tell you that there is a Creator. You can go into the Amazon Jungle, and they will tell you that there is a higher being, they just haven't met Him by name. You know a beautiful scripture in 1 Timothy 3:16 says, and I'm reading out of The Message:

He appeared in a human body,
was proved right by the invisible Spirit,
was seen by angels.
He was proclaimed among all kinds of peoples,
believed in all over the world,
taken up into heavenly glory.

His Name is Jesus Christ. He's my best friend. I want to tell you, He saved me. Go out today and tell somebody that there is a God and His Name is Jesus.

Have a wonderful day. God bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name. It is Sunday morning, the 20th of August 2023, and this is your friend Angus Buchan with a thought for today. If we go to Matthew 7:13-14, Jesus says:

"Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it".

I've just been to the Lowveld Mighty Men Conference a couple of weeks ago, and a Gentleman by the name of Peter did of the most beautiful picture for me. It's done with charcoal, a picture of a rider and a horse standing together. But you must look at the picture carefully to see what's happening. You might think the rider is just gazing over a fence, and the horse is standing behind him. But it's not that at all. The rider is actually opening a gate, that's right, he's opening a wire gate, obviously to let his animals in or out. 

Now, Jesus Christ is 'the gate', 'the door'. He says that in John 10:11. He is the door for the sheep to go in and out. In the old days, they say that the Shepherd would sleep across the entrance of the sheep corral, where the sheep would sleep at night. He would sleep right across, so anything that went in and out had to cross over him. We're talking about wolves, jackals, and thieves, and they would have to cross over him to enter.

One of my spiritual sons sent me an article just last night. Archaeologists in Israel have discovered a gate in the Southern part of Israel that is 5500 years old. Can you believe it? But I want to tell you that Jesus, 'the gate', has always been there, and maybe today you are trying to find your way. He says in John 14:6,

"I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me".

Today, enter the gate that will lead you to eternal life, young man and lady. It is difficult, steep and hard going, but I want to tell you, it is worthwhile. 

Jesus bless you and have a lovely day.
Goodbye

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Saturday morning, the 19th of August, 2023, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We go to the Book of Ecclesiastes 3:1:

"To everything there is a season,
A time for every purpose under heaven:…"

What season are you in at the moment? Is it winter, is it summer, is it spring or maybe, is it autumn? We must learn to embrace whatever season we are in to appreciate it and live it to the full. We start with spring. Oh, spring is a lovely season to be in. It's the season for new beginnings, the time for learning. It is the time for developing your God-given skills and exploring new roads in life. I love to see young children, they are so excited for whatever they see. They are an inspiration to me.  

Then we come to summer. Now summer, that is when we are beginning to reap the harvest of all our hard work. It's the busiest time in our lives, working long hours - hard work but great satisfaction. It is a time when we have to build, develop, and step out onto the water. Summertime is a time of short sleeps and long hours of working. 

Then we come to autumn. Autumn is a golden time in our lives. We reap the labour of our hard work. The field is empty, but the storehouses are full of produce. Our children have grown up, and we no longer have to prove anything to anyone. We have got the T-shirt, quite a few of them actually! And we walk the talk, nothing to prove.  

Then comes winter. Winter time is a time when we are looking forward to going home to be with Jesus. It is a time when we sit quietly and reflect on the goodness of God towards us over many, many years. Its a time to chew the cud. Have you ever seen a cow? She goes out in the morning and eats the grass until her stomach is full, then she finds a restful place under a shady tree. She regurgitates all that grass and chews it, and enjoys it for a second time. It's a time to read lots of God's Holy Word. It's a time to speak for long hours with Jesus, uninterrupted. It's a time for looking forward to the most exciting time of our lives. It is a time to meet our beloved Jesus face to face. I want to tell you, I can't wait! But enjoy the season you are in at the moment. 

God bless you and have a lovely day
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Friday morning, the 18th of August, 2023, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. 

We start in the First Book of Timothy 3:5:

"for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?"

That's a serious verse. You see, charity begins at home, that's right. Another word for charity is to take care of your own family. It's to be loving, generous and kind. It's to have a godly lifestyle. If you and I want to be leaders in God's church, then we need to get it right at home first. It is no good wanting to go out to the mission field, young man, and preach to the heathen when back at the ranch, as the saying goes, the wheels are coming off. This kind of hypocrisy is what is keeping people from coming to Christ.

As a young married man, many years ago, trying to start farming on my own, with a young family, really struggling to feed my children, to dress them properly and to make ends meet, we would have a family turn up at meal times regularly, and of course, we would feed them - a young man and his wife and children. Jill would even give some of our children's clothes to the mother of this visiting family because we felt very sorry for them. But the problem was, the husband would not find a job. He was lazy, he would not work, and the worst thing of all was that he was always telling me that I needed to get my life right and follow Jesus as Lord and Saviour. He would always be saying, "Hallelujah, praise the Lord," but I did not see any fruit.

I would say to Jill often when that family left, "If that man is a Christian, then I will get to Heaven before he would!" But you see, that is what kept me from following the Lord. But who was to say that he was a Christian? He said he was. We shall know them by their fruits. We need to be very careful not to keep people from following the Lord by our sub-standard lifestyle. Let's get our home in order first. Let's make sure there is bread on the table for our families before we go out doing good works for others. Let's make sure that our children are disciplined correctly, and respect their elders, before we start preaching to others at Sunday school.  

Now, this is a hard word, I know, but it's a true word, folks, and we really need to lead from the front, so go out today and walk the talk so that people can come to us and say, "We want what you have got," and then you can introduce them to our beloved Saviour. 

Have a wonderful day and Jesus bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Thursday morning, the 17th of August, 2023, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start off in the Psalms, Psalm 37:5, the Lord says:

"Commit your way to the Lord,
Trust also in Him,
And He shall bring it to pass."

The Lord gives us enough strength for the day, strength for the strain. You have heard me say that before. I was looking through an old diary and came up with an entry I made in August, 2001 - 22 Years ago! My, where has the time gone? I really want to read this to you but before I do, I want to say that we need to sit down and count the cost. We need to stop rushing around. When we do that, we will accomplish what the Lord has done for us. Remember, He only gives us enough strength for each day, no more and no less, just like He did with the Israelites in the wilderness. He gave them fresh manna every single morning but that manna would not last for two days. They had to collect it every morning. You and I need to sit down and count the cost and realise God has given us enough strength for one purpose, for one day.  

This is how my entry goes. I am just going to read it straight off and you can work it out for yourself:

"The second expedition of the seed-sower, and I am sitting at a familiar place now on the banks of the mighty Zambezi River, looking over into Zambia. Contemplating last year's campaign, I realise just how fast time is moving on. It seems like just a couple of months ago that we were last here. Thinking about the hardships, the home-sickness, the fatigue that we went through preaching in 11 campaigns, and setting up the stage, the sound, the lights, etc. every time, and then the follow-up material, then praying for the sick, then having to pack up and move on to the next one. The continual unending streams of people with you all the time, almost day and night, eventually it can become quite overpowering."

Then Jesus clearly reminded me in my quiet time that He would give me enough strength for the strain, and that only as I need it, but also that through the strain, I would learn many new things, mainly about myself. Father has promised me that He will not allow me to be tempted above that which I am able to handle. My prayer at the Zambezi River is: Lord Jesus, please help me to keep the vision, to see the lost, the blind and the confused folk and help them. Yes, to bring in the great and mighty harvest. Amen.

Jesus bless you and have a lovely day,
Goodbye. 

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 16th of August, 2023, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. 

If you listen carefully, you can hear the raindrops falling on my tin roof. Oh, what a beautiful sound! In winter, where we live, we hardly get any rain, hardly ever. It gets very cold, it gets very dusty and dry, but as I am sharing this message with you I am rejoicing. The Faithful One has sent us some rain! I want to speak to you about a broken and contrite heart this morning.

“The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, And saves such as have a contrite spirit.”
Psalm 34:18

The Oxford Dictionary described the word “contrite” as someone who is sorry for what they have done. Have you messed up today? Have you made a mistake? Have you done something that you are not proud of? Well, just say sorry because the Lord is quick to save a crushed spirit. When we have been humbled and our pride has been crushed and our stubbornness has been broken, it is the broken heart which pleases the Lord. You know, it is only when you squeeze an orange that you can taste the sweet juice. It is only when a rose petal is crushed that we smell the sweet fragrance. 

“…God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” 
1 Peter 5:5

If we want to truly help other people and be honestly sympathetic towards them and to even feel their pain, then we must be prepared to be broken ourselves, otherwise, we don’t really understand, and we don’t feel what they are going through. You know, when I listen to a young up-and-coming preacher sharing his message with passion, and he gets deaf ears and no response from the congregation, it is extremely painful. One young man came and poured his heart out, weeping one day. He said, “I preached my heart out but I know I was too hard on the congregation, and I got no response,” but I think he saw in my eyes that I knew exactly what he was going through. Many years ago, I got up and I preached a message. Everything went wrong. It was in a hotel, and the food was very late in coming. The people had been drinking, and they were not interested in hearing about Jesus. I stood up on the floor, and I preached my heart out. I made an altar call and there was no response, just folded arms and people smiling at each other, not interested. 

I was broken, humiliated. I went to bed that night and said, “That is the last time, Lord.” I wrestled all night with the Holy Spirit, and the Lord said, “Are you going to do this for Me or for the people?” I said, “For You, Lord.” And the next day, I went out again, and I preached again and we had an absolutely wonderful response from the crowd.

If you want to be sympathetic, you have to be prepared to go through it yourself. Have a blessed day and go and comfort someone.

Goodbye.

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

We start in the Book of Ecclesiastes 1:16-17, the wisest man who ever lived, Solomon, said: 

"I communed with my heart (spoke with my heart), saying, "Look, I have attained greatness, and have gained more wisdom than all who were before me in Jerusalem. My heart has understood great wisdom and knowledge." And I set my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly (which is foolishness). I perceived that this also is grasping for the wind."

I want to ask you a question this morning, my dear friend, and I am asking myself the same question. Are we grasping for the wind this morning? Are we driving on a road that leads to nowhere? Well, we need to stop. We need to pull over, sit down, and count the cost because we are going nowhere very fast. If we look at Luke 14:28:

"For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost,…?"

As a young family, we left a beautiful farm in Central Africa and drove all the way down to South Africa in a truck, trailer, and motor car. We drove a very long journey and were determined to start again. You see, I thought if I could build another farm from square one, then I would find peace and happiness, but I was so disappointed. You see, my focus and my goal were all in the wrong place. Are you there this morning? I managed to obtain that farm, oh yes - it nearly killed me in the process, working myself to death - but no fulfilment. Then in desperation, I sought out the Lord Jesus Christ and my life changed, and I am now on the right road. Yes, I have got many challenges, probably more than before, but I know where I am going and Who I am going with.

"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you."
Matthew 6:33

Today, count the cost, get on the right road and keep going.

Jesus is coming back soon!
Have a wonderful day,
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name. It is Monday morning, the 14th of August 2023, and this is your friend Angus Buchan with a thought for today. We start in Ecclesiastes 1:9:

That which has been is what will be,
That which is done is what will be done,
And there is nothing new under the sun.

Spoken by the wisest man who has ever lived, King Solomon, the son of King David. You see, he was absolutely correct up to that time in the World, but we always say: "But God" right? But everything changed when God came down to Earth as a little defenceless baby - Emmanuel, 'God with us'. A member of the governing body of Israel, a highly educated and respected man by the name of Nicodemus, came to Jesus by night so that no man would see him asking for advice from Jesus, the Carpenter from Nazareth. He wanted to know how Jesus could perform the incredible miracles that no one had ever before seen on Earth. The answer was something that this old World had never heard before not even from the time of Solomon, who said there is nothing new under the sun. Jesus answered Nicodemus and said, in John 3:3:

"... I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

Then again, in John 3:7 he said you must be born again - Something very beautiful and something very new! I want to tell you today that you need to be born again. It is a biblical term spoken by God himself - I was born again on the 18th of February 1979, 44 years ago, and my life has never been the same again.

I would like to pray with you this morning. Maybe you have never heard of this before, or you have, and the cares of this World have blinded you. You have forgotten Jesus did something absolutely brand new. He said:

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

You'll find that in 2 Corinthians 5:17. Why not pray this prayer with me and go out today as a brand new person? 

Dear Lord Jesus, I believe that the Bible is the Word of God. Jesus said I must be born again. Today, Lord, I repent. I'm sorry for all the sins I have committed, for all the selfishness in my life. I ask you to be my Lord and Saviour, I will serve no other gods but You. In Jesus' Name, amen!

Go out today and tell three people what you have just done. God bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name. It is Sunday morning, the 13th of August 2023, and this is your friend Angus Buchan with a thought for today. We start with 1 Timothy 1:19:

"... having faith and a good conscience, which some having rejected, concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck..."

Do not allow yourself to become shipwrecked through a lack of faith and time spent with God that comes about by being complacent, slack, and not being alert and disciplined in your lifestyle. Proverbs 6:10-11:

“A little sleep, a little slumber,
A little folding of the hands to sleep
So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler”

You know, many years ago, I stood in the harbour of Belfast, Northern Ireland - a most beautiful place, and I saw the site where they built the most magnificent ship on earth, to that day - the mighty Titanic. The new steel structures on which the massive cranes were fitted to take the materials out to the building of the ship in the harbour are still standing to this day. They are huge; they look like skyscrapers. This gigantic ship, they said, was Indestructible - a very big mistake! On its Maiden voyage to America, the shipbuilders were overconfident; they said the ship could not sink, but they forgot about the power of God's creation. They hit a massive iceberg in the ocean; that ship was opened up like a tin can and sank to the bottom of the ice-cold Atlantic Ocean in a moment.

You and I must watch how we stand lest we become a shipwreck. In the Word of God, 1 Corinthians 10:12, the Lord says:

"Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall."

Spend lots of time with the Lord, have good quiet times, read your Bible, pray, share with fellow Christians and strengthen your inner man - this is a fight we are in, which we will win, but only by discipline and trust in God.

Have a wonderful Sunday; Jesus bless you, goodbye.