Thought For Today

I greet you in Jesus’ precious Name! It is Wednesday morning, the 4th of December, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. 

We start in the Book of Daniel 1:7:

”…he gave Daniel the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abed-Nego.”

Then we go to John 1:42:

“Now when Jesus looked at him, He said, “You are Simon the son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas” (which is translated, A Stone).”

Lastly we go to the Book of Acts 13:9:

”Then Saul, who also is called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit…”  -  the power in a name. 

Now when the Name of Jesus is spoken there is either a riot or a revival. You know people have died for that Name, they have been burnt alive; they have been fed to the lions; they have been disowned by their families. Yes, it’s the Name above every other name on earth or in heaven. At the very mention of that Name blind eyes are opened, deaf ears unstopped, the dead have been raised, sins have been forgiven and brand new life is born.

2 Corinthians 5:17 says:

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

We need to be very careful when we choose a name for our newborn baby because that name has tremendous significance. Today folks, when you go out, mention the Name of Jesus. When people ask you: ”Who do you believe in?” Don’t say, ”I believe in God.” Because that is generic, God is whoever you presume him to be, he might be the trees that you are worshipping. When you say the Name Jesus, that’s when there is power in the Name. Oh, I love that Name so much. Treat that Name with the utmost care.

God bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Tuesday morning, the 3rd of December, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.  

We start in the Gospel of Luke 1:46:

“And Mary said “My soul magnifies the Lord...”

We want to really pay tribute and give honour to our women folk today. Mothers, grannies, aunties, sisters, great-grandmothers - we want to say we love you and we appreciate you. Early this morning, I was in a prayer meeting with a group of men and the leader said, ”Today, we need to remember the women because they are so vital to us, all of them.” I really want to speak today about the greatest woman that has ever lived on the face of the earth. Yes, I’m talking about Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ.

Think about this, that God our Heavenly Father, must have looked all over the Earth to find a young maiden, a virgin, a young girl who had never, ever known a man, and to allow her to give birth to His beloved Son, Jesus Christ. What an incredible lady! He didn’t choose the Queen of Sheba, He didn’t choose the Empress of Rome, He didn’t choose any royalty. He chose a humble handmaiden, a young virgin from Nazareth by the name of Mary. No, she was not divine, she was an ordinary person, but God chose her to look after His son until He came of age. 

If we look at verse 35 of that same chapter in Luke, we see that the Holy Spirit came upon her and the seed was planted in her. Yes, and His name was Emmanuel, which means, “God with us”. What a miracle! That is why you cannot believe in this book, the Bible, if you do not believe in miracles. 

Now I just want to read what Mary said, this wonderful woman chosen by God.

“My soul magnifies the Lord, 
And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour. 
For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; 
For behold, henceforth (from now on) all generations will call me blessed. 
For He who is mighty has done great things for me, And holy is His name.” 
Luke 1:46-49

Today, let us remember our mothers, our wives, our daughters. Let us remember women and treat them with great love and great respect and protect them.

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day. Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Monday morning, the 2nd of December, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. 

We go to the Gospel of Mark 1:15:

“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” 

Wow, what a beautiful, clean, crisp statement made by the greatest preacher who has ever walked on the face of the Earth. This is what He says, I’m talking about he Master Himself, Jesus Christ. He says the time is fulfilled. There’s no time to waste, my dear friend, we are coming to the end of another year. Don’t say next year, there might be no next year. The time is fulfilled. Number two: Jesus says He’s coming back soon. You better be ready for that. Aah, but He’s been saying that for 2000 years. My dear friend, maybe tonight your soul will be required of you by the Lord.

Jesus is coming back very soon. Therefore we need to repent. What does repent mean, young man, young lady? It means to say sorry and to stop doing it and start living a Godly life. Then the Lord says finally, “Believe in the gospel”. Stop arguing about it, stop trying to disprove it - just believe it. Believe it! Believe that it is the truth and that it is God’s Holy Word. That is what that scripture verse means.

Now I’m a preacher and I want to tell you something now, if you don’t strike oil within five minutes, stop boring! That great evangelist, George Whitfield said, ”If you don’t finish your message within 30 minutes, even the angels will start getting bored.” We need to get to the point. We need to tell people about the coming of the Lord.

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye. 

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Sunday morning, the 1st of December, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the Book of Ezekiel 48:35, yes, I’m reading the last verse and this is what it says:

”…and the name of the city from that day shall be: THE  LORD IS THERE.” 

We’re talking about Jerusalem, but I want to ask a personal question today, my dear friend. Can people say that of our homes? When they come to our house, do they find love, do they find peace, do they find joy or are our homes places of argument, shouting, sarcasm? By the way, for the younger people, sarcasm means hurting or mocking someone. You see, it’s not the building, it’s the people who live there, that make the presence of God possible.

I can only use a very intimate example. The Mighty Men Conferences, where we meet, there is no building. They are wide open spaces where tens of thousands of men come to seek the Lord. I remember a story that makes me cry even now as I tell it to you. Many years ago, there were a group of men, three or four men that decided to come to Mighty Men and they asked their friend, ‘What are you doing this weekend?” And he said, ”Oh, I’ve got nothing to do. I’ll probably go to the pub and get drunk or something like that.” They said, ”Come with us.” He thought they were going on a fishing trip, but the Holy Spirit had other plans. They never told him where he was going they said, ”Just bring a rucksack and a sleeping bag.” Typical men, on the spur of the moment. They all got into this big vehicle and off they drove and when they drove into the gate of the farm, this man started to weep and they said, ”What’s wrong? Are you ok?” He said, ”Ja, I don’t know. I just feel the presence of God in this place,” never knowing where he was coming.

You see, it’s people that can make a place where the Lord can dwell. 1 Corinthians 6:19 says your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. As we are approaching Christmas time, let us start to clean up our homes. No, I’m not talking about Mom or Dad or brother or sister, I’m talking about us individuals. Let it start in our own home. Our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and if we get our act together, our homes will be places where people will come because they will sense the love and the peace and the joy of Jesus.

Have a wonderful day, 
God bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Saturday morning, the 30th of November, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We go straight to the Book of Luke 15:13:

“And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living.”

I want to say to you today, we must not keep the eagle in a cage. You say, “What has that got to do with the Prodigal Son?” I will tell you in a minute. You know, in South Africa, we have a mighty, mighty eagle. He is called the Lammergeier. He lives on his own up in the far reaches, in those craggy mountain tops in the mighty Drakensberg Range of South Africa. He is called the bearded vulture. He is a solitary bird. He must have a wingspan of, I don’t know, maybe 2 metres. You can’t put him in a cage. If you put him in a cage he will die. He was never designed by God to be sitting in a cage and fed everyday. He needs to be released, he needs to catch the wind thermal to fly up into the high reaches of the mountain. He is a creation of God. We need to let him go, if we don’t he will die. 

Now, I have just read the scripture of the Prodigal Son who came to his father. He said, “I want my portion of my inheritance.” His father didn’t say, “No, you can’t”. He let him go. He knew what was going to happen. I have a picture of that father sitting on the verandah, on the porch of his farmhouse with a long straight road going straight down to the gate, maybe half a kilometre, and every night that father sits there as the sun goes down and waits for his son to come back home, and his son just does not come home, but he doesn’t run after his son, he doesn’t try and put him in a cage. What does he do? He prays, and I am not just talking about men, I am talking about women too. We pray for them. We pray, night and day, and they will come back.

So what do we have to do? Pray and keep the door open, obviously on our conditions, and one day you will see somebody staggering through the gate, right as the sun goes down. The father stands up, he throws his hat off, he starts running down the road and he meets his son on the road, he meets his daughter and they start to weep, and from that day onwards, there is freedom. John 8:36:

“Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”

The eagle will come back if you let it go. He will come back home. Folks, today continue to pray for that prodigal, and they will return. 

Jesus bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Friday morning, the 29th of November, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the Book of Genesis 32:25:

”…,He touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob’s hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him., ”

Then we go down to verse 31

”…,the sun rose on him, (he had been wrestling with God all night) and he limped on his hip. Therefore to this day the children of Israel do not eat the muscle that shrank, which is on the hip socket, because He touched the socket of Jacob’s hip in the muscle that shrank.”

A touch from God, a touch from The Angel. Then we go to the 2 Corinthians 12:9. Jesus says:

“My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”

Maybe today as I am talking to you, you are saying, “Lord, where are You? Lord, You promised to heal me and I have not yet been healed.” Folks, I want to say to you that I have prayed for many people, I have seen many signs, wonders and miracles - many, but there are some people who God touches and He leaves them in that situation for a reason. I want to tell you that Jacob was a changed man from the day he started to walk with a limp. Always follow a man who walks with a limp. “Why?” you ask. Because that man understands the principles of life, that man has been through many trials. He is slow to speak, he is quick to listen, he is a man full of counsel, experience and wisdom. Remember Saul of Tarsus was very arrogant. He was on his way to kill the Christians in Damascus and the Lord knocked him off his horse and when he recovered he was stone blind. He never, I don’t believe, I might be wrong, he never fully regained his sight. You will see in many of the letters, he said, “Look, you see, I sign this letter with my own hand, in big hand writing.” He talks about eyes but I want to tell you that spiritually, Paul became a giant in the faith. 

Do not be afraid when you get a touch from God because sometimes it is there to strengthen us spiritually. Trust the Lord for total healing, of course, but what is total healing? For me, total healing is to know Him more. The same Paul said, “Oh that I might know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.”

Today, let us not be afraid of the angel that will touch us because it will only bring us closer to God. 

Jesus bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Thursday morning, the 28th of November, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start off in the Book of Psalms 1:3:

“He shall be like a tree
Planted by the rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper.”

What a beautiful promise for the children of God from our Heavenly Father! Then just to confirm that we go to the Book of Ezekiel 47:12:

“They will bear fruit every month, because their water flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for medicine.”

What a beautiful promise from Jesus Christ for you, my dear friend and for me, today. When I think of rivers of living water, I think of the mighty Victoria Falls, one of the wonders of the world. Maybe you have never had the privilege of being there. I want to describe something to you. I want you to think of Dr David Livingstone, the missionary, who was walking through the bush for days if not weeks - flat, dry land, no mountains, no valleys, just flat, with a lot of thorn bush. He must have woken up one day and as he was walking he saw a column of smoke going right out of the ground and into the sky. He must have seen it many, many miles away. As he got closer, he realised it wasn’t smoke, it was mist. It was coming from a river, the mighty Zambezi River, and then he saw the wonder of God, the Victoria Falls. 

There is a depression in the ground. There is no mountain, there are no waterfalls, the river is running and it disappears into a crevice. The Africans call it Most-Oa-Tunya, The Smoke That Thunders. The ground literally trembles under your feet in the rainy season. You can hardly see anything with this beautiful water. There is a forest there, a green lush forest that looks like a tropical jungle, walking out of those dry wastelands. Now I want to say to you today, that is what Jesus is to you and I, but you need to be thirsty. He was very thirsty, I am thirsty and I am sure you are. That water brings healing to your body. It is a soothing feeling in your very innermost being. It is food, it is life, it’s cleansing, it’s restoring and it is for every season of life. 

Today, put your feet in the beautiful, cool water and call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and He will soothe you, refresh you and take away all your fears and all your doubts. 

In Jesus’ name, amen. 

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 27th of November, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the Book of Joshua 24:15:

“…choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve,…”

Then we go straight to the New Testament, to the Gospel of Matthew 12:30. Jesus says:

“He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.” 

I read a beautiful comment made by Mark Hopkins, he said: “Choice and service, these were demanded of the Israelites, these are demanded of you and I. These only, choice and service. In these, are the whole of life.” There is something very powerful about a public declaration, isn’t there, a public declaration of your faith and service towards God?

I remember my oldest son standing up the day he got married at the reception, and telling all the guests that, “Today, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” I have never forgotten that. It was many, many years ago. It cements things, doesn’t it? You know the Fiji Rugby Sevens Team, a beautiful sport to watch, these huge men from Fiji are so often the world champions but I know why, I really do! It’s because they are not ashamed to thank the Lord Jesus for their victory. Often I sit and I chuckle when I see the interviewer stretching out his arm with the mic to give it to the Fijian players, these huge men with the sweat pouring down their faces, some of them bleeding, cut by the match, they take hold of the mic - big mistake for the interviewer! And then they say, “We want to give God the glory! We want to thank Jesus for giving us the strength to be able to play rugby for Him.” And the interviewer is trying to rescue the mic back but he can’t get it back. And then they greet all their families back in Fiji and then they start to sing hymns, that’s right, they are not ashamed of the Gospel.  And I believe that is where the power is. 

Why don’t you and I do it today? Why don’t we tell the first person we meet today what Jesus Christ means to us.

God bless you and have a lovely day,
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Tuesday morning, the 26th of November, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start off in 1 Kings 19:5:

“Then as he lay and slept under a broom tree, suddenly an angel touched him, and said to him, “Arise and eat.” 

That was Elijah in the desert and the Lord fed him through the angel. Then we go straight to the Book of Mark 1:13:

“And He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan, and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to Him.”  

Oh my dear friend, nothing has changed, Jesus still wants to do it for you today! I don’t know what situation you are in. Still, He is telling you loudly and clearly, “If I can do it for my prophet, Elijah, feed him in the desert by using an angel, and if I can look after My Son, My beloved Son, for forty days and nights in the most extreme and hostile environment”. He can do it for you and for me!

I really do believe in angels. I want to tell you that Jesus is God made flesh, but He was very much man, and the experts will tell you, after three days the human body closes down if it doesn’t get water, and then forty days without food, any sort of food, is basically physically impossible. So how did it happen? Yes, our beloved Father sent His angels to minister to His Son in the desert to keep His Son from being attacked by wild beasts and by the lies of the devil. He never abandons His children, no matter how desperate the situation might be. I want to say to you today, I don’t know where you are at, but I want to tell you if you allow the angels to minister to you, they will take you on their wings through your situation and bring you out the other side. 

George Müller is one of my heroes. Now, George Müller started the children’s homes in Bristol, England a couple of hundred years ago and what a man of faith! He had taken in a whole lot of street urchins, they were in this big boarding house and they had had their last meal that night. The next morning there was nothing to eat and yet when George Müller got up, he said to the children, “Lay the table...” They thought the old man had lost his marbles! “…and let us say our grace, “For what we are about to receive,…” There was a knock at the door. He said to one of the children, “Go and see who is at the door.” There was a dairyman who had been passing by with his wagon, to take his milk, cheese, butter, cream to town to sell and the trailer had broken down. He said, “Can you use this food?” They said, “Thank you”, closed the door and when they had sat down, there was another knock on the door. He opened the door and there was a baker with a red face, very embarrassed and he said, ”The Lord woke me up in the middle of the night and asked me to bake bread for you.”

Folks, I want to tell you, those were angels! Today, trust God for your angel.

Jesus bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Monday morning, the 25th of November, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in Job 38:1-4:

"Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:

"Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me.

"Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?"

We are not to question God, folks. We must remember who we are and we must remember who He is! I listened to the most beautiful song last night, sung by a young lady named Phillipa Hanna. It's called: 'You're still God', the words go something like this:

"When all foundations have been shaken
When I'm left standing in the dark
And all I feel is my heart breaking
You still reign, and You're still God

And when it feels all hope has faded
The heavy questions hit so hard
And though my soul may feel forsaken
You still reign and You're still God

Though I can't see what's before me
I know that I can trust Your heart
And this one truth will be my story
You still reign, and You're still God."

You know folks, I remember, like yesterday, my old dad came to stay with us for the last few years of his life because my mother passed away before him. He lived in the little cottage behind us, and then he took sick, and eventually, we had to put him in a home for the frail because my wife couldn't take care of him. He's just such a big man that she couldn't turn him over and handle him. I used to visit him every single day, sometimes twice a day. I'd go to town to get spares for fixing my tractors, and I'd pop in and see Dad. I was so close to him.

He became more than a father to me; in those senior years, he became my friend. One day, I came in, and he didn't look so good, and I said: "Dad, I'll see you this afternoon." I came back to the farm; in those days, we had the old party line - two shorts, one long, that was your call sign or one long and two shorts. Now, the young people with cell phones won't understand that. You had to pick that receiver up and crank that thing to get the operator to answer. We were all connected together.

When I returned to the farm, I walked up to my farm office. I had a telephone there and one down at our little house. As I walked in the door, I heard the phone ringing. I picked it up and didn't say anything; my wife Jill picked up the phone at the house. It was the old age home saying: "We just wanted to tell you, please give a message to Angus; his old dad has passed away and gone home to be with Jesus."

When all your foundations have been shaken, remember He is still God. You know, Job could say, right at the end in Job 13:15:

"Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him."

Maybe you are there today. Lean hard on the Lord and He will take care of you because He knows all things and He has a plan for your life.

Jesus bless you and goodbye.