Thought For Today

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Saturday morning, the 18th of May, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We go straight to the Gospel of Matthew 5:16: 

“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”

It is not so much what we say but rather who we are that makes an impact on the world. Isn’t that true? It is like that beautiful lighthouse standing on top of that cliff, with all the dangerous rocks behind it. Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the great preacher, said, “The lighthouse makes no noise, it makes no song and it is silent, but on a stormy night it shines through the noise of the waves that are crashing on the seashore, it helps that desperate sea captain, when he is trying to navigate his ship, with waves that are 3 metres high and he can’t see where he is going, and then all of a sudden he sees a little light in the distance, just a spark, that’s all he sees, and it speaks louder than a thousand choirs singing because now he knows where the danger is.”

Many, many years ago, I had the privilege of going to speak at a men’s conference in the northern part of our beloved South Africa. I got letter in the post before I left, to say that “There is an old gentleman who would like to meet with you.” Well, I want to be honest with you, at the time I felt I didn’t have time to go and see him, but I felt the Holy Spirit say, “You must go and visit this old man on the way up to the conference”, which I duly did. As I walked into his house, I sensed the presence of God there. I saw a huge photograph on the wall of an old lady and an old man. I looked at that old man and I couldn’t believe it. It was a photo of the Yorkshire Plumber, Smith Wigglesworth, a man who had been used by God, mightily. In fact, something like 13 people had been raised from the dead through his ministry. 

I said to the old gentleman, Mr Harold Berry, “Sir, is this a friend of yours?” He said, ‘It is one of my relatives. It is my wife's grandfather.” I was amazed. I got on my knees, on the carpet, and I asked him to please anoint me. I said, “I want your mantle, Sir.” This old gentleman had started many churches up in the Congo. He was ninety years old. He walked into his room, got a bottle of healing oil and anointed my head with oil. Then he started praying undiluted scripture over me. It was impressive, very impressive, but the part that I remember, only one part, he said, “It won’t be so much what he says but who he is, that will make the impact,”  And I have never forgotten that. It is not what you say, it is not how loud you can sing, it is how well you can shine for the Lord.

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Friday morning, the 17th of May, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the Book of Jeremiah 2:13:

“For My people have committed two evils:
They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters,
And hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water.”

“Understanding is a wellspring of life to him who has it.” 
Proverbs 16:22

Exchanging a fountain of water for a broken cistern is short-sighted and short-lived. But why do we do that? We disregard the blessings of the Lord so often. A spring is a fountain that comes out of the ground. The Lord says we must guard our hearts because it is the wellspring of life. We must be careful that we don’t pollute and muddy the living water that comes from the Lord Jesus Christ, in our hearts.

We tend to build massive dams for holding huge volumes of water, and that is fine as long as it rains and the rain fills the dam, but when there is a dry cycle and a drought, the water in the dam dries up, it evaporates, but that little spring which draws it’s water from deep down in the ground, just keeps coming up. The springs from deep down in the earth never dry up. We need to guard our hearts, my dear friend, with everything we have. Do not allow the pollution of this world to muddy the waters of our hearts. 

In the Jordan River in Israel, if that river dried up, there would be no Israel. It is one river that runs from the top to the bottom of Israel. It starts in a spring, right up in the mountains in the northern part of Israel. Yes, we do have Mount Herman and it is covered with snow, and the snow melts and also fills the river, but it is the spring that comes out of the ground which is the life of Israel. No Jordan River, no Israel! The same thing in South Africa - we have a spring in a place called Kuruman, on the west side of our nation. I have been there; it is something to behold. Everything around is dry and desert-like but this spring just bubbles up out of the ground with beautiful crystal clear water.

Today, the Lord is saying, “Do not fill your life and your purpose with broken cisterns, but rather draw on the fountain, the spring, the wellspring of life, which is Jesus Christ.”

The Lord bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye. 

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Thursday morning, the 16th of May, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in 1 Samuel 1:27-28: 

"For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition which I asked of Him. Therefore I also have lent him to the Lord; as long as he lives he shall be lent to the Lord."

This is Hannah, the woman who could not have a child and who wept in the temple, so much so that the High Priest, Eli, thought she was drunk. God heard her prayers and gave her the most beautiful little baby, Samuel, who some say was the greatest of all the prophets in the Bible, but she had to give him back, and she asked her husband, "Let me just nurse him until he is weaned." In those days, they would suckle a baby, probably until it was three years old. And then that little baby, that little boy, was given back to the temple, to the Lord, and he served the Lord all his life. 

Now, she used to go up every year, it brings a tear to my eye, I tell you what, and make a robe for the little boy and give it to him every year. Maybe you are struggling with something in your life today. The Lord gave you something and now the Lord wants it back. It might be your career, it might be a member of your family, it might be some vision, some expectation that you had, something that you were looking forward to, and the Lord says, "I want it back now." It's a very, very hard thing to do, but do you know something? Samuel's mommy, that's right, I am talking about Hannah, she gave her little boy, her only child, that she had waited for so long, back to the Lord. She said, "I lent him back to the Lord."

But my dear friend, that is not the end of the story. If you go on a little bit further in the Bible to 1 Samuel 2:21, you will see that after she had done that, the Lord blessed her with three more sons and two more daughters! What a lovely awesome story - so she gave what she had back to the Lord and He blessed her with 5 more children.

Do not be despondent today. Do not feel that the Lord has been unfair. Do not feel that you have been let down - not at all, my dear friend! Rather rejoice. You cannot out-give Jesus. Jesus is a giver by nature. He loves to give, so today, give freely and He will freely give back to you.

Have a wonderful day,
Jesus bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 15th of May, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. 

We start in the Book of Revelation 14:13: 

“‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ ”  “Yes,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labours, and their works follow them.”

We need to run our race, and once we get close to the end, there is sheer joy in knowing that we have completed our task here on earth. Paul, the great Apostle, in 2 Timothy 4:7 said: 

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”

You see, it is not about all the trophies, it's not about all the goals that we achieve, no - its about finishing strong. Just recently, I have met a number of people who are dying, who are coming to the end of their race. They know it, they have told me, and the amazing thing is that they are looking forward to home time. I haven’t met one yet, I am talking about strong Christian men and women, who are fearful of dying. Some of them have accomplished great awards, great trophies. They have achieved the goals that they set before them, but you know, the funny thing is, not one of them speaks to me about their achievements here on earth. No, they speak about home time, they speak about having finished their race, completed their task, and now they are looking forward to going home.

I want to say to you today, yes - we need to live the life that God has called us to, we need to be an example to others, especially unbelievers, but we must focus on the finish line.  

“No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” Luke 9:62

We need to plough the field, we need to complete the task, and then we need to look forward to home time. The older I am getting, the more I am looking forward to meeting the Lord one day, face to face, and the more I am walking on this road, the things of this world are becoming less interesting to me and less desirable. I am looking forward to eternity, to spending the time with my beloved Jesus. You should be the same. We are not here forever; we are simply passing through, but we need to live the day that God has given us; we need to live it to the full, but our eyes must always be on the finish line.

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day, Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Tuesday morning, the 14th of May, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. 

We start in the Book of Isaiah 66:4:

“when I called, no one answered,…”

And then we go straight to the Matthew 26:40: 

“Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour?”

Without a doubt, one of the hardest things to deal with in life is loneliness, don’t you agree? You know, our Heavenly Father desires fellowship with you and me. That is the main reason why He created us. He created us for His own good pleasure. He loves us so much and He desires to spend time with us. He didn’t create us because we had to do something for Him. There is nothing we can do for God, He did it all. He created the whole universe with one word. In the beginning was the Word, but loneliness,…I really believe our Heavenly Father gets lonely and desires fellowship with His people, but so often you and I are so busy doing other things that we don’t get a chance to speak with Him. 

Remember, in the Garden of Gethsemane, when Jesus really needed His disciples, more than ever before - they were fast asleep. Don’t you and I do the same thing? We really need to understand that we have to spend time with the Lord, not just for our sake but also for His sake.

I have learnt what loneliness is. Over the years I have travelled all over the world, preaching the Gospel, and it sounds very glamorous and it sounds very exciting, but I can tell you something now, after the evening is finished and we have preached to multitudes of people, and we have seen the power of God moving, and people are so excited, they are born again, Spirit-filled, they are healed physically and mentally, then I get ushered back to my hotel, and I walk up those stairs or catch that elevator, I go to my room and I sit there all by myself. Oh yes, and that is the time when I think of Jill and the children back home, and my grandchildren, and I might be on the other side of the world, and I wonder, are they safe? Are things good there? It is the middle of the night there because we have big time changes as well. That is the time that I have to lock in with God, and He becomes a friend to me, that sticks closer than any brother.

You need to do the same. We really need to spend time with Him and then we won’t be lonely like that again. After I have had a good chat with Him, I turn over on my side, and I go sound asleep.

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day, and remember, you don’t have to be lonely!

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Monday morning, the 13th of May, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the Book of Isaiah 66:8:

“Who has heard such a thing?
Who has seen such things?
Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day?
Or shall a nation be born at once?”

Can a woman give birth to a child without going through pain? You know folks, I want to tell you with our Jesus, all things are possible. He is the miracle-working God. Do you remember the prayer meeting that we had in Bloemfontein, in the centre of our beloved nation, South Africa? We called the nation together to pray. We called it, “It’s Time”. If you remember, no less than over 1 million people came together in less than 6 weeks. We prayed, we praised God, we worshipped, we wept, and we asked the Lord to please undertake.

2 Chronicles 7:14 - you know it so well, it says: 

“If My people who are called by My name” (which people is that? Those are the people of God, those are the believers, the Christians) “will humble themselves, and pray…” 

And that is exactly what we did, and what happened afterwards? Folks, there was a change in the government, yes, a national maize crop that was doomed to be a failure, turned around to be a bumper crop. There was singing of hymns and Bible readings in Parliament! Do you remember that? The government were about to build a nuclear power station which would have bankrupted the nation. It was deemed unconstitutional and was put aside. So many miracles took place. Yes, we are coming to the elections yet once again. People are very anxious. I want to tell you, we need to pray because when we pray, God moves. Even as I am recording this programme, people are praying all over the nation of South Africa and indeed the whole world because nations are going to the polls, in the USA and all over the world, but we need to pray the prayer of faith, not just pray. You see, a lot of people pray but they don’t believe what they are praying. We need to pray, we need to be intentional, we need to be determined, and then we leave it in God’s hands.

I am very optimistic for the future, not by what I see with my eyes but by what my spirit tells me when I spend time with God every day, in the closet, and I read my Bible and I pray. If Christ is for us, my dear friend, there is no man that can stand against us. Romans 8:31.

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Sunday morning, the 12th of May, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in Luke 1:46-48: 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;
For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed."

That was spoken by the mother of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour. I want to say right at the beginning, a very, very special and precious Mother's Day to every mother and to every prospective mother listening to this message. At the end of this message I want to pray for young ladies who are unable to fall pregnant. I really feel the Lord wants me to pray for you, that you too will become a mother.

When we look back at the history of the Bible, starting right at the back of the Old Testament, with Abraham. Remember, Sarah was unable to fall pregnant, and then the Lord blessed her with a son and his name was Isaac. And it goes right through the Bible. Hannah couldn't have a baby and then God gave her Samuel, which some regard as the greatest of all the prophets.

We go right on to Elizabeth. Elizabeth couldn't have a baby. She fell pregnant very late in life, and John the Baptist was born through Elizabeth. Jesus Himself said, "There has never been a man born from the womb of a woman who is greater than John the Baptist."  And we can go on and on - Samson's mother couldn't fall pregnant.

I want to say to you today, mothers, we love you, we cherish you and we appreciate you, and I want to say particularly to fathers, husbands, I want to say to young men, appreciate your mother while you still have her. I remember my own mother very, very specially. She was a wonderful woman and I look forward to seeing her in Heaven. I had the privilege of praying the Sinner's Prayer with my mom. I led her to Christ. It was one of the highlights of my entire life. 

Now, I am going to pray for those young women who are unable to fall pregnant:

Father, 

Your word says, "Ask and you will receive, seek and you shall find, knock and the door shall be answered unto you." I pray for these women right now in Jesus' name, that You will give them the desire of their heart. They want to have a baby. I ask you to honour this prayer in Jesus' mighty name, Amen. 

God bless you mom. Get up in the morning, look into that mirror and start speaking. Dad, start calling her "mother" because she is going to have a baby. And when that mother becomes pregnant, please contact us. I want to rejoice with you. 

Jesus bless you, and Happy Mother's Day!
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Saturday morning, the 11th of May, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We go to 1 Corinthians 15:58

“…be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord’ 

The Amplified Bible says: ”Always doing your best and doing more than is needed.”

I read a beautiful reading by Bishop Ryle who lived many, many years ago. He said: Activity in doing good is one recipe for being cheerful Christians. It is like exercise to the body and it keeps the soul in health.” Doing good makes cheerful Christians. It keeps us spiritually fit. Just like exercise, going to the gym, keeps us physically fit, when we do Christian deeds for others, it makes us spiritually strong.

Remember, no man is an island. We were never created to be on our own. We were created by the Lord to help one another. There are no lone rangers in the Kingdom of God. We really need to help each other. Now, I have told you this story before, but it is worth hearing a second time, and this is a true story about a young man, many years ago, in this district where we live. He was looking for a job.  

He was riding on his horse and in those days the district roads all had gates which led from one farm to the other, and he heard this old motorcar coming from behind, probably a Model-T Ford, and an old couple were driving this motorcar and he jumped from his horse and opened the gate to let them go through. They tipped their hats and said, “Thank you,” and he closed the gate behind, got on his horse and the motorcar stopped just ahead, and as he rode up, the old gentleman said, “Where are you going, son?” He said, “I am looking for a job, sir.” So he said, “Well come along, come along to my farm and I will give you a job, it’s right down the road”, and that is exactly what he did. That young man eventually inherited that farm because the old farmer and his wife never had any children. So, by opening that gate and doing something good as a Christian, he inherited a farm.

Today, we don’t do it for any return or reward, we do it because it is what God wants us to do, to help one another and to be cheerful about it. Go out today, make that phone call, take that bunch of flowers to your teacher at school, send a text message and tell people you are praying for them. It will do you the world of good.

Jesus bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Friday morning, the 10th of May, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the Book of Genesis 46:34 - This is Joseph speaking to his brothers:  

“…that you shall say, ‘Your servants’ occupation has been with livestock from our youth even till now, both we and also our fathers,’ that you may dwell in the land of Goshen; (Now, listen to this) for every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians.” 

“Every shepherd is repulsive to the Egyptians.” The Amplified Version says. 

Then we go to Matthew 7:6, this is Jesus speaking:

“Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces.”  

Very, very strong words. They are spoken by the Lord, Himself, and the Old Testament reading spoken by Joseph to his brothers, when they came to Egypt. This really shocked me when I read this scripture initially from Genesis. You and I need to be very careful. Joseph was a very wise man and he told his brothers, “Don’t say you are shepherds”, because actually that is what they were. In fact, God said to Peter, on the shores of Lake Galilee, “Do you love Me?” He said, “I love You, Lord.” He said, ”Feed My sheep.” So Peter was a shepherd, a shepherd of the flock. We need to be very sensitive when we share our faith with people in the world. Some don’t understand, some don’t want to understand and some will actually get quite aggressive towards you.  

We need to pick the time. Often I say, “Tell the first three people you meet, after you give your life to Christ, what you have done, and I still maintain that, but we need to be clever. The Bible says we must be as wise as serpents and as gentle as doves. So when we share our testimony with somebody, we must pick the right time and the right place, otherwise we will be rejected severely. That’s why it wasn’t a lie that Joseph was telling his brothers not to tell the Egyptians. He said, “Tell them that we are keepers of livestock and not shepherds.”

I want to say to you today, we never apologise for our faith, we are never ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, but we need to be very, very wise if we want to lead people to Christ. So today, when you go out, just be very careful who you share with and when you share it, but never hold back on the truth.

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye.  

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Thursday morning, the 9th of May, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.  

We go to the Book of Isaiah 66:2. The Lord says: 

“For all those things My hand has made,
And all those things exist,”
Says the Lord.
“But on this one will I look:
On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit,
And who trembles at My word.”

There is absolutely nothing that you and I can do for God. Earlier on, He says, “Heaven is my throne”. He says, “The earth is my footstool. Where is the house that you can build for Me?” We can do nothing for Him, He has done everything for us. What He requires of you and me is a contrite (which is a repentant), a broken spirit that trembles at His word. The Lord wants us to be simple, plain and reverently responsive to what He says. You will find that out of the Message in Isaiah 66:2.

We need to be so careful, and maybe I am speaking more to myself today, my dear friend, than I am to you. We need to be so careful that the work of the Lord does not become more important to us than the Lord of the work, if you know what that means. You see, Jesus actually doesn’t need anything from you and I. He has made it all, He has done it all, there is nothing that we can do for Him.

Now, there was another farmer and he was having a conversation with the Lord. He was quite upset with the Lord, and maybe you are today, but if you look at Job 38 - yes, I am talking about the farmer Job, and you can read that whole chapter from verse 1, the Lord takes him and brings him to attention and says, “Listen, sit down a minute. I want to ask you a few questions. Where were you when I made the earth? Where were you when I did this? Where were you when I did that?” How dare we question our creator!

He says in Job 40:2:

“Shall the one who contends with the Almighty correct Him?”

I mean, it’s ridiculous isn’t it? It’s absolutely ridiculous. What we have got to start doing now is to be plain and simple in front of God and go to the Lord like a little boy goes to his dad and sits on his lap and asks him, “Please help me, dad, to fix my bicycle, please help me dad, to do this.” And dad loves doing it!  Don’t argue with God, love God and appreciate what He has done for you and me. 

Have a wonderful day.
Jesus bless you and goodbye.