Thought For Today

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Monday morning, the 21st of July, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the Gospel of Luke 12:37. This is Jesus speaking:

“Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching.”  

I want to speak about appointments. You know what they say? You snooze, you lose! It’s funny but it’s actually not that funny, is it? There is no excuse for being late for an appointment. You see, it tells the person that they are not really that important to you. It can ruin a relationship forever. Young man, when you are dating a young girl and you are trying to make an impression, if you get there late, I am telling you now, you are in big trouble. If you are late for your wedding day, it’s not a joke. You can ruin the rest of your relationship.

What about if you are late for the birth of your baby? That’s almost unforgivable. “Yes, but I had something else on” - no, priorities! If you are late for your finals, you are writing your final exams and you are late, it can ruin your career. Now, you say, how can we alleviate this potential tragedy in our lives?  One word, discipline! Discipline! Get up in the morning. “Aah but, I work late.” It doesn’t matter. Get up in the morning, have a good quiet time with Jesus every single day, not now and again, every single day.

Priorities, very important! Who is first in your life? Jesus Christ, second - your family, third - your work or even your ministry, and then always be ready, be packed and be ready for the doorbell to ring. I can’t wait for that doorbell to ring, I am telling you now. Settle your accounts, owe nobody anything, and then when He calls, He will say, “I have arrived”, and you and I will say by the grace of God, “Here I am, Lord. I am packed, I am ready to go.” Jesus is not coming soon, He is on His way, I tell you! 

Have a wonderful day, but really sharpen up, get your act together, because He says He is coming like a thief in the night, and you won’t even hear about it.

God bless you and be ready for the great day,
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Sunday morning, the 20th of July, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We go straight to the Gospel of Luke 12:34. Jesus says:

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

Isn’t that so true?

You know, I remember a story about a Scottish miller. He was milling corn. He had his mill by a river with the old paddle wheel that did the grinding, turned the grindstone and that was his whole life. 

Now he got sick, very sick, and his family was worried about him, so they called for the minister to come and pray with him before he died because he wasn’t a Christian and what he had done was, he had his bed put next to the grindstone, the mill, so that he could hear the corn grinding out. The minister came up to him and he spoke to him and he said to him, ”Do you realise that you are dying? I want to speak to you about eternal life, about your soul.” And the old Scotsman said, ”I cannot hear you. I cannot hear what you’re saying,” because of the noise of the mill, that was grinding out the corn, and eventually he died. His heart and his treasure was with his mill. 

How many of us are in that situation today? We are so concerned about our vision, our personal ambition, that we are forgetting about eternal life. Jesus said that we must concentrate on the things of heaven. He said, ”because where your treasure is, that’s where your heart is also.” (Matthew 6:21). We must put our personal ambitions, things which are so close to us, we must put them in heaven where no thief or no moth will destroy. 

I heard a story, I don’t know how true it is, some years ago. They did an interview with some of the top athletes in the world. These were world record holders and they were asked, ”If you could be given a pill to take that would give you the strength to break the world record but would shorten your life to a mere four years, would you do it?” and most of them said they would. How tragic is that? That is because their treasure, their everything, was based on becoming the world champion. 

Let’s not do that today. Remember this life is but a vapour. Let us start investing our treasure where rust and moth and the thief cannot destroy. Let us start investing in heavenly things.

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day, 
Goodbye. 

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Saturday morning, the 19th of July, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the first book of the Bible, Genesis 26:27-28:

”And Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, since you hate me and have sent me away from you?” Then the reply from King Abimelech: ”But they said, “We have certainly seen that the Lord is with you.”

Then we go to the New Testament, to the Book of Romans 8:31:

“If God is for us, who can be against us?”

You see, what happened was, King Abimelech had chased Isaac, Abraham’s son, away, and he left, but where God sent him, he prospered. He prospered in everything he did and he succeeded and Abimelech saw that. So he came with the commander of his army and one of his friends and said, ”Listen, we want to make a truce with you. We want to make a covenant with you because we see that your God prospers you.” How many times have you seen that in life?

You know, I remember as a wild young man, we would go out to a party, group of us young guys in a motorcar and there would be one of the chaps in the car that was not a drinker. He was a Christian. When we’d go to the party and all get a little bit under the weather, what did we do? We gave the keys of the motorcar to that one chap because we knew that he would take us home safely because he was a follower of Christ.

I want to say to the young man listening to this program today. Do not compromise your stand for anybody. You say, ”But it’s making me very unpopular.” Yes, it actually made Isaac very unpopular as well. That’s why he was chased away, but later Abimelech, who chased him away, saw how God was prospering him and came to Isaac to make peace.

A young shepherd boy, maybe 13 years old, took on a mighty giant, a seasoned warrior of the Philistines, and actually took him apart, piece by piece. “Do you think I’m a dog?” Goliath said, ”that you come against me with stones and sticks?” And what was the reply? David said, ”I come against you in the name of the God of the people of Israel. The God of all gods.” He used his slingshot with one stone and killed that giant. 

I want to say to you today, do not compromise your stand for anyone. Stand tall for the Lord because the Lord will defend you, not only defend you, but He will prosper you in everything you do, and I want to tell you, it’s a great honour when people say, ”Are you one of those?” You can say, ”Yes I am. I’m a follower of Jesus Christ.”

God bless you and have a wonderful day, 
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Friday morning, the 18th of July, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the book of Genesis 25:31:

“But Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright as of this day.” 

Then we go to the New Testament, Mark 8:36:

“For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” 

Today we really need to take an account of our lifestyle. Esau had been out hunting and had obviously caught nothing the whole day. So he came in and was extremely hungry. He said to his brother Jacob, “Give me something to eat...”, a plate of lentil soup, that’s all it was, “and I will give you my birthright. Don’t ever do that. 

Today, maybe I am speaking to a young girl and she has fallen pregnant and she is not married and she thinks that she will get an abortion. Please do not do that. That is murder. Don’t do it! We are talking today about the “spur of the moment”. I have been to maximum security prisons and I have stood next to men who are weeping, dignified men who have made a decision to steal money from their company. It is called fraud. They have been caught and they really intended to pay it back and they are now serving a stiff sentence. Don’t do it!

There is a man maybe listening to this programme who is having an affair. That woman is not your wife. She belongs to somebody else. Don’t do it - you will regret it! I want to say to you today that once he had eaten the plate of lentil soup and his stomach was full, then Esau realised what he had done. Yes, we are not going to talk about Jacob, we are talking about Esau today. It is so easy to fall into that trap of the devil because, yes, God can forgive you and He will if you truly repent, but remember, the consequences last forever.

Today, we need to be determined and intentional that we are not going to allow the flesh to overtake the spirit. Most of these decisions that are made, are made in the flesh. It’s a “spur of the moment” thing. Oh no, we’ll get over it. No, she won’t get over it and he won’t get over it because it is wrong. We need to start asking ourselves a question today as we close - what would Jesus do? And then do exactly that, nothing more, nothing less. Then you will keep your inheritance and you will not lose your promise of eternal life. 

So today, say sorry to the Lord, put it right and move on with godly principles in mind.
Jesus bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Thursday morning, the 17th of July, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the Gospel of John 18:36. Jesus answering Pontius Pilate said:

“…My kingdom is not from here.”

Then we go to the Gospel of Luke 12:15:

“Take heed”, Jesus says, ”and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.”

To covet something is to want something that is not yours, and something that you probably don’t need but you just want it. My dear friends, I have seen it so many times. We don’t need half of the stuff that we have in our homes, do we? I am talking to myself as well. You know, there are things that we love, there are things that we really want but we don’t need them, and that is a big danger.

Do you remember the story of the man that worked so hard all his life. He scraped, he scrimped, he lived “on the smell of an oil rag” as they say. He worked so hard but it came at the expense of his family, it came at the expense of relationships, he became unpopular. He wasn’t very well loved. He saved it up and bought gold, and he bought lots of gold. In fact, he had a suitcase full of gold bars. And then he died and he went to Heaven, and he took that suitcase with him and when he got to Heaven, the Lord asked Him, “What have you got in that suitcase?” He said, “I have got my possessions, the things that I have coveted all my life and I have brought them with me.” The Lord took him outside. He said, “Do you see the streets here in Heaven are paved with gold? It is worthless.”

Oh my friend today, please start to focus on eternal things. I am talking about relationships with your loved ones. Work on those things. Don’t work on things that rust and moth will destroy, things which have no eternal benefit. That’s what Jesus said to Pilate. He said, “This is not My kingdom. My kingdom is in Heaven.”

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 16th of July, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the Gospel of Luke 12:8-9:

“Also I say to you, whoever confesses Me before men, him the Son of Man also will confess before the angels of God.”  Verse 9, now this is a very serious one: “But he who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God.”

Then Romans 1:16 says, Paul says: “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.” 

There is no room in the Kingdom of God for secret agent Christians! You either have to put your hand up and stand up for the Lord or you must deny Him because you will not speak up for Him, and I think that is one of the most important things for us to do in these last days. People are desperate to hear the truth. And you say, “If I am vocal in the workplace about Jesus, I might get fired.” Yes, you might but you might not. You might win others to Christ. 

It takes courage to stand up in public for the Lord. I am always so deeply touched when I see international sport, like football or rugby, and I see some of the players, not all of them, they run onto the field and they kneel, in the presence of crowds of fifty thousand people, and they are praying, and they are making a statement that they are not ashamed of the Gospel.

I can hear somebody saying, “Ja, but you don’t have to go and blurt it out.” Folks, let's get real. Let's get back to the scripture verse where the Lord says, “If you are ashamed of me before men, I will be ashamed of you before my Heavenly Father.” As a Christian, we have got to be prepared to stand up in all situations. I am thinking of young people particularly today. You know, when you get older, it’s easier to be outspoken for Christ because people know who you are and what you stand for, but when you are a young girl or a young man at university and people are having a big party and you say, “Sorry I don’t do that.”  
“Are you one of those Christians?”  
And you say, “Yes, actually, I am, and that is why I don’t do it”.  

That takes a lot of courage. But the good news is that God honours that statement that you make. God will bless you because you stand up for His Son, and that is exactly what He is expecting from both of us, so today, I don’t know who I am speaking to, but there is an opportunity today to make a difference and tell people that you are a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ because He is your Lord and Saviour.

Today, stand up for the Lord because He also will stand up for you!
Jesus bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Tuesday morning, the 15th of July, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We go to the first book of the Bible, Genesis 22:14:

“And Abraham called the name of the place, The-Lord-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”

In my footnotes I have got the definition of “the Lord will provide” in Hebrew. It is “Yahweh”. Yahweh - another name for the Lord. The Lord will provide!

I want to tell you a little story. I was up in Central Africa some time ago. I was in a very isolated area and we had two blow-outs over a period of about a week. We didn’t have any spare wheels in the vehicle, and the Lord provided. You see, I want to say to you that when Abraham was going to offer up Isaac as a living sacrifice, he was about to cut his son’s throat with a knife, when the Angel of the Lord said, ”No, don’t do that. Have a look in the thicket, there is a ram caught by it’s horns”. The Lord provided a way out. The Lord provided a ram to compensate for the death of Isaac, his son, and the Lord was so overwhelmed by the faith and the obedience of Abraham that He said to him more than twice that He will make a covenant with him, and He will be his God and they will be His people, which stands to this very day.

Getting back to my story - they contacted the head quarters in the capital city, and they said, “There are no tyres of that size anywhere in the country”, but the Lord provided. A man in South Africa sourced those tyres. He put them on a truck and sent them to Central Africa. They were put on a bus and brought right into the interior of Central Africa and dropped off in a small little village. Then we met up with those two brand spanking new tyres and men that work on the side of the road repairing tyres, took the two punctured tyres off and put on two brand-new tyres. The Lord provides, and by the way, we got home safely, in Jesus’ name.

I want to say to you today, how many times is the Lord providing for you and you do not even acknowledge it or realise it? Open your spiritual eyes and remember the Lord always provides for His children. 

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Monday morning, the 14th of July, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the 1 Thessalonians 5:17. The Lord says to you and I,

“pray without ceasing.”

In other words, pray in every situation you find yourself in, and the confirmation of that one is found in the Book of James 5:16:

”The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” 

Effective, fervent - that’s praying with sincerity, urgency, commitment and faith, avails much. Oswald Chambers was a Scottish preacher who wrote a book, (well his wife actually did it after he died. He died at 43 years old and his wife, Biddy Chambers took down all the messages that he ever preached and then she made books out of them). This particular book must be one of the most famous devotionals of all time, and in that book, he says, “Prayer is not a preparation for work, it is work.” Isn’t that profound? So we don’t pray as a preparation. No, we pray because it’s part of what Christians do. He says prayer is not a preparation for the battle, it is the battle! He says prayer is two-fold - definite asking and definite waiting to receive.

I want to say to you today, we need to pray continually and we need to believe in what we are praying. It does take some work. It takes time everyday for you to sit aside. Get on your knees, whatever position you find comfortable, and talk to God. “Oh but I can’t.” You can! Some of us are just too lazy to do it.

I want to tell you something. When I listen to a preacher, I can hear what his prayer life is like. I can pick it up in two minutes, and then I can hear others, like James Hudson Taylor. They said when he prayed, everybody came to a standstill because he was talking directly to his God who he knew so very well. Today, start praying effectively. Start praying without ceasing and remember, it’s work and there is a reward for that work, which comes directly from the throne of Heaven.

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful prayer day, 
Goodbye

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Sunday morning, the 13th of July, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

If we go to the Gospel of John 14:5-6:

“Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?” Jesus said to him (to Thomas), “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

I’m talking to somebody today who is lost. It is a terrible feeling, is it not, when you are lost? I remember driving up to Johannesburg, just as the sun was setting, and seeing all the motorcars, tens of thousands of them, trying to get home from work. There were lights flashing on both sides of the road and I was trying to find my way, and I just could not get the right address. One feels totally helpless. That’s how Thomas felt. He said, ”Lord,…” After the Lord said He’s going ahead to prepare a home for him in heaven and then He’s coming back to fetch him, ”…but Lord, we don’t know the way.” And then Jesus said, ”I am the way.”

I want to say to you today that you need to sit down, you need to call upon the name of the Lord, you need to relax, and He will show you the way. Some of us, and I was one of them, were trying everything we could, and it’s chaos. Just pull over to the side of the road, sit quietly, pray, ask the Lord to show you the way and He will show you the way. He’s done it for me, many, many times - not only you, but your loved ones, your family, your workmates. Jesus Christ is the truth and the way and the life, and in this hectic life that you and I are living in at the moment, the only way that we are going to reach our destination is by listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit, and He will say, ”This is the way. Walk ye in it.”

Have a wonderful day, 
Jesus bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Saturday morning, the 12th of July, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the Book of Ecclesiastes 3:11:

”He has made everything beautiful in its time.”

Then we go straight to Romans 8:28:

”And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.“ 

The Lord makes all things new.

A while ago, I was in Central Africa, in that magnificent, beautiful, tropical rain forest, and I was going for a ride down a path on my mountain bike, and I looked at the trees and I noticed something very strange. Just about all of these trees had a little bend in them at about waist height - big trees, small trees, just a little kink in them and I was wondering what it was. Then I realised what had happened was that many years ago, the local people, in order to make money, cut these magnificent trees down and made them into charcoal. Then they sell the charcoal and plant their maize and their ground nuts and their cassava in beds where the trees were, but because Jesus makes all things new, those trees sprouted and started growing again, and this particular area that I was cycling through was completely recovered. I was just thinking, “Lord, You are so special! You make all things new.”

Now, I don’t know where you are at the moment, in your life. Maybe you’ve done something that you really regret. Maybe you feel that there’s no hope for you. Maybe you’ve also been put on the ash heap as it were, but I want to tell you that Jesus Christ can restore and make new, whatever has been damaged in your life. All you have to do is to call out to Him and say, ”Lord, please help me. I’ve made some terrible mistakes. I’ve destroyed a lot of things, maybe my family, maybe my business, my reputation, and I feel that I am worthless.” The Lord says repent. Say sorry and start again, but this time do it God's way and He will make you into a brand new person.

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day, 
Goodbye.