Thought For Today

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

We go to the Gospel of John 1:32:

”And John bore witness, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him.” 

The Holy Spirit coming down from heaven in the form of a dove and settling upon Jesus Christ. Oh, what a beautiful picture!

Early this morning, it was still very dark and misty, we’re having beautiful rain on the farm at the moment. I walked out of my house and into the prayer room, and in the shadow I saw a beautiful pair of turtle doves. There was such a peace about that picture, and you know they say that a turtle dove only mates once in his life. So if you kill his partner, he remains alone for the rest of his life.

I looked up the meaning of the word turtle dove and its characteristics, and it says he is a harmless bird. He represents innocence, powerlessness, meekness and humility. Don’t we need that in the world today, my dear friend? The sign of peace is the turtle dove.

I remember like yesterday, as a very young man when we had just arrived on the farm, Shalom, I was just about to have my breakfast in the morning, in those days we had the old phone that you had to crank the handle and there were two signs, two shorts, one long, that was your call sign. The phone rang and I picked it up and it was the Deeds Office in Pretoria saying, “You have to give us the name of your new farm that you have just bought”, and I had no idea what we were going to call this farm. So I shouted through to the bedroom, Jill was doing something in the bedroom. I said, ”Jill, we need a name. We need a name for the farm.” And she shouted back, ”Shalom.” Well that’s the name of this farm. Now Shalom means peace in Hebrew and of course the Prince of Peace is often represented by the Holy Spirit. 

I want to say to you today, let us go out and when people are aggressive and when people are fearful and when people are ugly, let us represent the Holy Spirit. Let there be peace in our hearts. Oft times people come to Shalom to visit us and as we greet them, sometimes they burst into tears and we say, ”Why are you crying?” They say, ”We don’t know why we are crying,” and I’m hoping that they also can feel the peace of Jesus Christ in this place.

Today, let’s go out and represent the Prince of Peace, the soon coming King, Jesus Christ. 

God bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Friday morning, the 11th of April, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We go to the Gospel of Luke 1:80:

“The child continued to grow and to become strong in spirit, and he lived in the deserts until the day of his public appearance to Israel [as John the Baptist, the forerunner of the Messiah]. (AMP version)

I want to speak to you about that desert time. Are you in a desert time at the moment? Does it seem like nothing is happening young lady? Do you think you will never get married, yes? Young man, do you feel there’s never going to be a lady for you to marry? Do you feel that you are studying all the time - when is this going to end? When am I going to realise my potential and my dream?

Well, there is a preparation time. John the Baptist spent time in the desert until God called him to proclaim the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. It took Jesus thirty years of preparation before His ministry started. It took Moses forty years in the desert before the Lord saw he was ready to take the Israelites out of Egypt. Don’t rush.

Now, as a farmer, I can tell you it takes nine months before a cow will produce a baby calf. It takes the calf six months before it is weaned from it’s mother. It takes a young heifer eighteen months before she is ready to go to the bull and to produce a calf herself. A crop of maize takes one year, approximately one year to produce from the time you start preparing the soil. A good artisan, a tradesman - takes five years of apprenticeship before he is qualified as a tradesman, and it takes a lifetime for us to be prepared for entry into Heaven. Don’t rush, there is plenty of time.

Jesus bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Thursday morning, the 10th of April, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the Book of Genesis 18:14:

”Is anything too hard for the Lord?” 

Wow, that’s a good question. I hope you can answer that one, and then we go straight to the Gospel of John 14:14:

”If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.”

That is a promise from God, folks, not to be argued. I want to ask you a question this morning. How big is God? Well, the answer is simple. He is as big as you allow Him to be. Some people keep Him in a matchbox. That’s true. I preached in Scandinavia many, many years ago. What a beautiful part of the world. Everything works there. They build the biggest trucks in the world. Their water is so clean and clear you can almost drink it out of the lakes. As I was preaching, a lady came up and she was weeping. I said, ”What is the problem?” She said, ”Please pray for us. You see, we keep Jesus in a matchbox and every now and again we just let Him out just a little bit.”

Folks, we must depend on God, not on the works of our hands. You see, some people think they don’t need God but I want to tell you, He is a miracle-working God and He’s asking you today, what is it that you need? Remember the story of Sarah? Sarah was in her nineties, and God said He would give her a baby boy, but she laughed. She didn’t believe it because she was in her nineties. How can a ninety-year-old woman conceive and bear a child? How can a man of a hundred years old be the father of many nations? I’m talking about Abraham and yet that’s exactly what happened. 

You and I today need to think outside of the box. We hired the biggest tent in the whole world in 2008. We had five hundred rand which is about thirty US dollars in our pocket, and we booked it. A thirty thousand-seater tent, and we were expecting about twenty thousand men. Sixty thousand men arrived on this farm - many are listening to this message this morning! We fed them. Do you know we had to kill forty oxen to feed these men for one meal? We fed them for a whole weekend. How big is God? He’s as big as you allow Him to be in your life.

William Carey, the man that took the Gospel to India said, ”We must attempt great things for God and we must expect great things from God.” 

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day, 
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 9th of April, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the Book of Luke 1:76:

”And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest; For you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways,…”

Zacharias was talking about his son, John the Baptist. Jesus said there has never been a man born from the womb of a woman, greater than John the Baptist. (Matthew 11:11)

John the Baptist was a scout. Yes, a forerunner. I looked up the meaning of the word, “scout” in the Oxford Dictionary. It says “a person who is sent ahead to gather information about the enemy. Now when you are going into a new country, you always send your best man ahead. He prepares the way. That is what John the Baptist did for Jesus. He finds out the best route. He also finds out about the danger in that area and comes back and reports it. The Lord Jesus Christ has called you today, my dear friend, to be a scout, to be a forerunner, to be one who prepares the way for the people. We have an obligation. Our obligation is to lead the way. How do we do it? By our conduct, by our lifestyle, by our love and by warning people of the dangers ahead.

Do you remember that old song? I think we have sung it before:

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

The cross before me and the world behind me,
The cross before me and the world behind me, 
The cross before me and the world behind me, 
No turning back, praise the Lord, no turning back.

You and I are not turning back. Where are we going to go to? Back to Egypt? No, we are going forward. Where are we going? Our destination is Heaven. You and I are just travellers in this world, sojourners. Pick up your head and remember people are following you. Do not lead them down a dead-end alley, a cul-de-sac. Do not lead them into the enemy camp, but lead them in a place which is safe, a place where Jesus inhabits and they will thank you for that, and most of all Our Heavenly Father will be most proud of you.

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye. 

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Tuesday morning, the 8th of April, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We go to the Book of Isaiah 6:8:

“Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying:
“Whom shall I send,
And who will go for Us?”
Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”

Then we go straight to the Book of Zechariah 4:10:

“For who has despised the day of small things?”

Are you feeling this morning that you are not good enough, that you will never make it? Are you feeling that you are not equipped? Well, you are in good company! That’s exactly how I feel so many times - never despise small beginnings. Remember, God chose King David, the smallest and youngest of all of Jesse’s sons. There were eight of them all together, but God chose the youngest. It’s never too late to put your hand up. Remember Gideon’s army? He had 32,000 fighting men. The Lord said, “Send them all back”, and he ended up with 300 fighting men, and defeated the enemy. You will find that in Judges 7:7.

We ask ourselves a question. Why? Why does God choose the youngest, the most ill-equipped, the most uneducated? Why? Because He will not share His glory with any man. You see, when God does a miracle through an ordinary person’s life, God gets all the glory because people say there is no way that that man could have done that. God doesn’t need our expertise, He doesn’t need our intellect. He doesn’t even need our effort. All He wants is one thing, He wants our obedience. Yes, He wants us to love and to dedicate ourselves to Him alone. 

Jesus told the fisherman right down at the Sea of Galilee, to leave their nets and follow after Him and He would make them fishers of men and look what happened with those twelve men. They changed the world. I want to tell you very quickly about a dairy farmer who lived in America. His name was Demos Shakarian. He came from an Armenian background. That man was saved, he thought he was going to be an evangelist. He bought a big tent and held a few meetings and he was fairly successful, but that wasn’t what God wanted him to do. Then God showed him to start the Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship International. Do you know that that movement touched tens of thousands of key businessmen around the whole world? A book was written called, “The Happiest People on Earth.”

I want to say to you today, put your hand up and say, “Lord, I don’t have much but I am going to give You what I have got,” and you will be surprised how He will use you. 

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Monday morning, the 7th of April, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the Book of Zachariah 3:4:

“Take away the filthy garments from him.” And to him He said, “See, I have removed your iniquity from you, and I will clothe you with rich robes.”

A beautiful promise from the Lord, to take away all of our sin. Then we go to the Book of Revelation 19:8:

“And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.” 

Yes, we are talking about the marriage day, that wonderful, wonderful occasion when you and I will meet our beloved Jesus Christ, our Bridegroom. The Lord is preparing a great marriage feast for you and me when we meet Him in Heaven. You and I are the church and the bride, and Jesus is the Bridegroom. I want to ask you a question. Are you ready? Am I ready? 

You know, I love weddings. I have had the privilege of marrying off my children and my grandchildren. What an occasion it is! The excitement when the mothers are getting the food ready, the bride and the bridesmaids are getting their dresses ready, the bridegrooms are cleaned up. These boys have had a nice shave. They are ready with their beautiful suits on. It is an incredible occasion, the flowers in the church are magnificent. It is a joyous occasion and lots of fun.

I remember, my very dear brother in Christ - his son was getting married to my youngest daughter, and he offered his vintage tractor. Yes, it was an inheritance he got from his grandfather and I want to say to you, this tractor was imported from England and was working up in Central Africa. He brought it to the farm and said he would drive my daughter and me to the chapel in this tractor. What a wonderful machine. Pop, pop, pop as it went up the hill, but it did have a little bit of a problem with the exhaust. There was a lot of black smoke and maybe even the occasional drop of oil. Now, my daughter had a beautiful white dress on! Aah, but we sorted that out because we gave her a lovely umbrella, but I want to say to you today there must be no oil, there must be nothing in our garments that will tarnish the wedding day. The Lord said He has given us new garments and we need to go to church, we need to go to the wedding day, clean. Are we ready for that great and wonderful day when we meet our beloved Jesus face to face?

Prepare yourself because that day is coming very soon. 
Jesus bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Sunday morning, the 6th of April, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We go straight to the Book of Romans 10:17 (the Amplified)

”So faith comes from hearing [what is told], and what is heard comes by the [preaching of the] message concerning Christ.” 

I got a most beautiful encouraging message just yesterday and I want to read it to you. This is what it says: 

Hi all, 

Ralph here. I would like to share my affirmation and scientifically proven miracle that the Lord healed me at the pools of Bethesda. That was where the swirling pool was with the man who couldn’t get into the pool. Jesus healed him and told him to take up his bed and walk. That’s where we were. This is where Uncle Angus prayed over me for healing for brain damage which was a result of the carbon monoxide poisoning incident that Kath (his wife) and I had a year before our Israel trip. The MRI scan I had in the hospital showed clearly that I had brain damage. Theo may remember that I thought Angus was ill after he had prayed for me. I said to Kath, Theo, Sandra and Gary that Uncle Angus’ hand was burning hot and something must be wrong with Uncle Angus. It was the Holy Spirit touching my head and tangibly healing my brain from the brain damage. After this I was able to stop taking my tray of pills and believed I was totally healed. I didn’t feel I needed any proof or to go for another MRI scan. I knew I was healed.

Recently, I was booked for an MRI body scan as a precautionary check-up. The radiologist is a good friend of ours who knew our story and was one of the multitude of people praying for our recovery and asked if I would mind if he could scan my head. He explained later that most people do not allow this to be done as a result of the MRI showing the brain damage clearly. It can be very upsetting for most patients to see. I said he can do the scan feeling confident of my healing and miracle in Israel. 

The scan results scientifically proved the miracle is real and showed all signs of the brain damage previously seen had miraculously disappeared. “This is scientifically impossible,” said our radiologist friend. He was so emotional and in awe when he could see that my brain was perfectly healthy and normal after 22 hours of carbon monoxide exposure and being in a coma for five days. This is a pure miracle. But God. Amen and Amen.”

God bless you.
Jesus is the healer!

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Saturday morning, the 5th of April, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the Book of Luke 1:46-55, but before I read it, I just want to say something to you. This is a beautiful, beautiful scripture spoken by Mary the mother of Jesus. 

I want to tell you the thing that I love about Mary more than anything else is her faith in God, truly, a giant in the faith. You see, Mary was not divine, no, no, no. She didn’t come down from heaven like an angel. She was born of an ordinary mother, an ordinary father, just like you and me, but God looked right through the world to find one maiden, a virgin, who He could trust with His only beloved son, Jesus Christ, and He found Mary from Nazareth. He saw this young virgin and He said, ”She will look after My Son while He lives on earth.” What an honour, what a privilege! But what I want to stress is the faith that Mary had, to believe the message that the archangel Gabriel brought from our Heavenly Father down to her, and when he told her that she was going to bear the Son of God in her womb - a Baby, nine months in your womb, and then you are going to bring Him up to age. What a responsibility, what an honour! This is her response, verse 46:

And Mary said: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour. 

For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; (You see, she didn’t think of herself as anything special at all) for behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed. 

For He who is mighty (our Heavenly Father) has done great things for me, and holy is His name. 

And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation. 

He has shown strength with His arm;

He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.

He has put down the mighty from their thrones, And exalted the lowly. 

He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty.

He has helped His servant Israel, In remembrance of His mercy,

As He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever.” 

You see, no doubt at all. Accepted the call. Said, “Yes Lord, I’ll do it.” And by faith she did it. Today, start to trust God by faith with the things that He has promised you that maybe haven’t come to pass just yet. I can tell you, they will come to pass if you continue by faith. Remember faith can’t see. Faith is to believe what you cannot see. God will bring it to pass.

Jesus bless you richly today and goodbye!

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Friday morning, the 4th of April, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We go straight to the Gospel of John 14:9: Jesus said to him, 

“Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?” 

Oh, I just love that scripture. You see, Jesus is God made flesh. Jesus has a distinct personality. He has a beautiful heart. He has an incredible character and His viewpoint is “yea and amen”. That is exactly what God is like. We do not have to ask ourselves the question, ”I wonder what God is going to be like.” All we have to do is study the life of Jesus and then we know exactly what God is like. 

I have 8 grandsons. They know me and they know me very well. I’ve heard them sometimes when they were younger, they bring their little friends to the farm to play and I’ve heard them talking outside and their little friends are a bit nervous to meet me and they say, ”He’s a bit gruff isn’t he? He’s a bit loud with his voice? I see he takes no nonsense. I also notice, he doesn’t talk twice, he only asks you to do something once.“ Then the little grandsons who know me, who have heard me, speak up and they say, ”No, Khulu (that’s the Zulu word for grandfather), no, he’s kind, he’s very kind to us. He’s gentle with us. He says we must be kind to the girls we must be gentle with the animals and just one important thing, when you go into the house, whatever food gets dished up for you on the plate, make sure you eat all of it, because you see Khulu’s father, my great grandfather, was in the war and he told Khulu how the people used to starve because there was no food. Don’t waste food.” So my grandsons know my character because they spend time with me. 

Today, if you spend time praying, meditating, and reading your Bible, Jesus will become such a reality to you that on the great day when you meet our Heavenly Father face to face, it will not come as a surprise to you. Jesus bless you richly as you get to know Him better. 

God bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Thursday morning, the 3rd of April, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We go to the Book of Zechariah 1:10 in the Old Testament,

“These are the ones whom the Lord has sent to walk to and fro throughout the earth.”

Then we go straight to Hebrews 1:14:

“Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation?”

What are we talking here about this morning? We are talking about angels. Do you believe in angels? Well, you better otherwise you can’t believe the Bible. It was the angel Gabriel that came and spoke to Mary and said she was going to be the mother of Jesus. There are angels written all over the Bible, ministering spirits. You see, this life that you and I have been called to walk through is tough enough as it is. This is not a one-man show, oh no, not at all! The Lord has sent angels to minister to you and me. 

I want to tell you a little story. My wife and I went to Ethiopia a few years ago. We went to see something that is absolutely miraculous. There are eleven churches built out of solid rock. Now this is the interesting fact - They are not built from the bottom upwards. No, they were built from the top, downwards, a solid rock, with a hammer and chisel, and those eleven churches were created, most beautiful churches. I have walked in them, out of solid rock, no tin, no supports, standing on their own and they were built by a king by the name of King Lalibela. He had a dream because the Ethiopians couldn’t go to Jerusalem in Israel because the muslims were stopping them. So he said, he was going to build a new Jerusalem right there in Ethiopia. This was in the 12th century, which was 800 years ago. He had a dream. He started building it with his people from the top down in solid rock. Folks, it is an amazing thing to see but the point I want to make, it’s very important. They say that every night, ministering angels came and took all the rubble away so when they started carving out of the rock the next morning, it was clean and tidy. No people did that, the angels. 

I want to tell you today, don’t pray to the angels, no, no. We pray to our Heavenly Father, through the Lord Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, and we ask the Lord to send His ministering angels to help us.

Father, 

I pray for my friends that are listening to this message, that even today they will know that they are never, ever alone. You have sent angels to be with them wherever they go, and we thank You for that beautiful angelic company that surrounds us today.

In Jesus name, 
Amen.

God bless you and have a wonderful day.
Goodbye.