Thought For Today

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Saturday morning, the 25th of July, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We go straight to the Book of Deuteronomy 25:4:

“You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain.”

Very, very important, especially for men and women in business, and those who are overseeing people who are working for them. Do not be short-sighted! 

As a farmer, we will select our best animals and we won’t give them a minimal amount of food, we will give them more food because we want them to be productive. In the old days, the way they used to thrash the corn was to have a stake in the middle of a circle of hardened surface, and they would pour out the wheat and the stalks onto a hard surface, and then an ox would walk around and around and around, and by his feet he would shell the grain. Now he was allowed to eat as much food as he wanted while he was doing the job.

I want to say to you that principle must be implemented in whatever you are doing. Remember what Jesus said, He told the parable about the talents. He gave the one man so many talents, the other one so many, and the one man he gave one talent, and what did the man with one talent do? He hid it. He didn’t use it, he didn’t work hard, and when the owner came back and found out that the man with the one talent had done nothing with it, he took that talent and he gave it to the man who had the most talents.

When I was reading that parable, it’s just a story, I said, “But Lord but that seems unfair because the man who’s got the most is getting even more”, and the Lord spoke to me in my heart, very clearly, about the fact that if you work hard and are diligent with what God has given you, He will give you more, but if you are lazy and you mismanage what He has given you, even that which you have, He’ll take away, and He’ll give to another.

So let us not hold back. If you’ve got somebody that’s working for you that’s showing promise, give him more. You can never pay too much for a good employee, but you can definitely pay too little. Any young man, any young woman showing promise, don’t hold them back. They are working hard and are diligent and honest and God-fearing. Invest in them. Not in the product but in the person who’s making the product.

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day. 
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Friday morning, the 24th of July, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We go straight to the Book of Genesis 28:15:

”Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.”

I just feel that there’s somebody this morning that’s listening to this little message, who is really, really in a bad place. 

We speak about three things here, and I got this from an anonymous writer, all he said was, ”With you - companionship, keep you - guardianship, bring you - guidance.” We need to understand that the Lord will never, ever leave us. Now you are maybe very lonely today. You’re saying, “I don’t have a friend in the world, my family is overseas, I’m by myself.” No, you’re not. If you look at Proverbs 18:24, the Lord says:

” …there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”

That’s companionship.

Guardianship - Who is looking after you? You say, “There’s no one to look after me. I’m stuck alone in this old age home, there’s no one that can help me.” Yes, there is. Jesus says in Hebrews 13:5:

“I will never leave you nor forsake you.” 

Isn’t that good news? Then there’s another person listening at the moment who’s saying, ”I need guidance. I need to know what to do next. I don’t know where to go, and I don’t know who to turn to.” Well, guidance, Psalm 119:105:

”Your word is a lamp to my feet, And a light to my path.”

In my prayer room, I’ve got a beautiful painting that a lady sent me many years ago, it’s of a man walking through a dark place holding an old-fashioned lantern. He’s carrying it in his one hand, and he’s walking down this little path that is dark. He doesn’t know where he’s going, but that light is giving him direction. You and I need the very same light and we’ve got it. His name is Jesus Christ and He is the same yesterday, today and forevermore!

I want to say to you today, keep your eyes on the Lord, and He will make sure that you reach your destination, which is heaven, by the way.

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day. 
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Thursday morning, the 23rd of July, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the Book of Psalms 62:5:

“My soul, wait silently for God alone, For my expectation is from Him.”

Then we go to the New Testament to the Book of Philippians 4:19:

“And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus (our Lord).” 

Amen!

I want to tell you a little story. My faith was surely tested. How? Well, faith is my subject, it is what I always preach, it is what I do, it is what God has given to me from the time that I first met Him. I have been travelling in Central Africa in my camper with my dear wife, Jill, and we had a breakdown. I arrived at a city in a country just north of ours, desperate to know what to do because the camper would stop and it wouldn’t start again, and I couldn’t get it going. Eventually, I got it going and managed to limp into a town. I got to this town, and there was a man there, his name was Rocky. Then the Workshop Foreman was a man by the name of Master - a nice name - and then another man, Sepeng, was one of the mechanics. I had them all working on this vehicle of ours and in vain. 

They took a couple of hours trying to repair the vehicle. Eventually they said, “We can’t fix this. The problem is the ignition switch and we don’t have one in stock, and we only order them when needed because it hardly is a problem with this vehicle. If we have to order it from South Africa, it will take about 5 weeks to get here and then we will have to fit it.” 

I couldn't wait that long and was struggling with that issue. These men knew who I was and I had been speaking to them about Jesus, and they knew that Thought For Today was going out all over the world. They were receiving it themselves, which is a great encouragement for me, and I was at my wits' end. Do I go back home to South Africa, all the way back, or do I carry on? The Workshop Manager said to me, “We can do nothing for you now. We have tried everything we can apart from getting the spare part. So what you need to do” (Listen to this, he said to me, who is supposed to be the man of faith), he said, “is to just move on with your journey and trust in God.” Trust in God! And that is exactly what I did. God has been so gracious and kind to us thus far. 

Jesus bless you and trust in God for everything.
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 22nd of July, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We go to 2 Timothy 1:12:

”… I know whom I have believed…”

We are talking this morning about personal friendship with Jesus Christ. It is a very real thing.

I read a beautiful reading by an anonymous writer who said, ”Personal experience and friendship with Jesus is a very real thing. It’s like a tree. A tree uses up every hour of sunshine for it’s growth, it thrives in the sunshine and then it is refreshed by the rain. Then storms come, and the storms make it fasten on its grip firmly to the earth for its support, pushing the roots right down deep. So if we are troubled in heart today in all our experiences we are going through, these things happen so that you and I might grow closer in intensity with Jesus Christ as our Lord and saviour.” I really want to encourage you in that area.

If you look at those thorn trees in the dry, arid areas, you’ll see those trees are very, very slow in growing, but the wood is very dense and very heavy because it goes through much tribulation, drought, fire, floods, and yet it grows from strength to strength. The other tree however, the poplar tree, is more like Balsa wood, it’s light, it’s soft, it’s very easy to cut down, it burns very easily but there is no depth in it.

We as believers need to understand that our personal relationship with Jesus Christ needs all the things the tree needs. We’re talking about the sunshine for growth. We’re talking about the rain for refreshing. We’re talking about the storms of life which put our roots right down deep, so that we can take it when it comes. Today, let you and I not be afraid to trust in the Lord because He will never leave us nor forsake us. He says that clearly in Hebrews 13:5. 

May the Lord bless you as you have a fair day today, knowing that the King of Glory is right next to you. 

Jesus bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Tuesday morning, the 21st of July, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the Book of Genesis 4:9:

”Then the Lord said to Cain,” Where is your brother, Abel?” And he said, ”I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”

Oh yes folks, indeed we are! We are responsible for each other. Let’s look at Deuteronomy 22:1. The Lord says:

“You shall not see your brother’s ox or his sheep going astray, and hide yourself from them; you shall certainly bring them back to your brother.” 

You and I have a responsibility, first of all to God and then to our fellow man. If we see something is not right, we have an obligation to help him. If somebody has lost something precious and you find it, it is not a case of finders keepers, losers weepers. Remember, we used to say that when we were young? No, go and find out who it belongs to and return it because this is what God requires of us.

I remember many years ago, we had a wonderful meeting on the farm. We had many, many men coming to Shalom. I had a beautiful maize crop standing, and the maize was just about ready for reaping. It was nice and golden in colour, and one of the men who came to the meeting decided he was going to take home a souvenir, so he took one of my maize cobs, a full maize cob, and he put it in his vehicle, and when it was over, it was a wonderful meeting we had, he went home with that cob.

Do you know, many years later, I am talking maybe 20 years later, I got this phone call, and he is probably listening to this message - and bless you, my dear friend - he said “I took it and it wasn’t mine and it has been bugging me ever since”. And he sent back that maize cob in a package to me on the farm. Obviously, I would have said to him, “Keep it, man. What is one mealie cob?” But there is a principle. It was not his, and he knew it, and so he returned it, and that brings peace to you.

Sometimes you might be a Comrades runner and a stone gets into your shoe. The best thing is to stop immediately. Take the stone out and then you will be able to finish that race properly. If you don't, eventually that stone will eat away and you will have a massive blister and probably won’t even be able to finish the race. Sort things out. If there is something that belongs to your brother, take it back to him so that you can have peace and joy in your heart.

Until next time, Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day.
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Monday morning, the 20th of July, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We go to 2 Timothy 2:15:

“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

A man by the name of Charles Kinsley said, ”Have your tools ready. God will find you work.” I like that! We are in such a rush to do things, but we don’t take time to prepare them. I remember my late father-in-law, who was a perfectionist when it came to his equipment and his tools. He was a steam engineer by profession, in those days before diesel came into the fore, everything was run by steam. I used to admire his workshop. When you went into his workshop, it was spick and span, it was clean, and all the tools were in the right place. He knew where everything was, right down to the last bolt or nut. As a farmer, I would go in often and say, “Dad, I need help here. Can you help me with a certain spanner?” He would walk straight to his tool-kit and bring it out and by the way, it was shining and sparkling clean, and I had to return it the same way! 

It is such a pleasure to see an artisan working with his tools, whether he is a carpenter, whether he is a boiler-maker, whether he is a mechanic, especially when he arrives on the farm with his pick-up, and he opens up the side, and he has all his tools in front of him. There’s nothing that he needs to look for. You take him the problem with the tractor or whatever it might be, and he gets to work, and in no time at all, he has fixed it. Why? Because his tools are ready. 

As a preacher, I can tell you, when I started off, I used to spend hours, if not days, preparing a sermon. Now I don’t do that anymore. I spend hours and days in prayer and waiting on the Lord and speaking to Jesus, and then, when my tools are ready, I can deliver the message with simplicity and clarity so that people can understand it. 

Today, we need to understand that people need us desperately, but they want the truth, they want it in love, and they want to know that what you are telling them can be backed up every single time with the word of God. So today, as you go into the field, make sure that you have approved yourself to God as a good workman.

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day.
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Sunday morning, the 19th of July, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the Book of Zechariah 4:10:

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

I read a beautiful reading by an anonymous writer that goes like this: “It is the little words you speak, the little thoughts you think, the little things you do or leave undone, the little moments you waste or use wisely, the little temptations which you yield to or overcome, the little things of everyday that are making or messing up your future life.”

Don’t forget the little things. They mean so much, don’t they? When somebody brings you a nice little bunch of flowers, especially if it is a little child, I tell you that it touches my wife’s heart and my heart as well, or something small.

I had an old gentleman who used to live on the farm with us with his dear wife. His name was Jimmy. We called him Uncle Jimmy. Uncle Jimmy had a very bad chest, he didn’t sleep a lot at night. He contracted some sickness when he was in the Royal Navy in the Second World War, and he came and retired on our farm and stayed in a little cottage, and do you know something? Every single day, Uncle Jimmy would come down to see me and he would bring me a little scripture verse, carefully written out on a piece of paper, and everyday that scripture would mean something so special to me, more than if I had got a letter from an international speaker or some well-known person - but Jimmy, every single day, that impacted my life, especially as a young preacher. 

We need to be careful not to overlook the small things in life because they are the things that will determine our future. So maybe today God is impressing upon your heart to phone somebody or write a little letter. Do you know how nice it is to get a handwritten note? It means that somebody took time out to get a piece of paper and a pen and write it out and then send it to you. It means the world to me, I can tell you right now because it took effort. 

Today, let us take time out to concentrate not just on the big things in life but the small things too. 

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day, goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Saturday morning, the 18th of July, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We go to the Book of Acts 28:30-31:

“Then Paul dwelt two whole years in his own rented house, and received all who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no one forbidding him.

I want to talk to you about commitment. In the Kingdom of God, there is no such word as “retirement.” I can’t find it. I have looked from Genesis to Revelation. Promotion - yes, retirement - nothing. God needs you and me to preach the Gospel until the very end. That is what Paul did to the end. He had to rent his own house. The people just came to him and he taught them about salvation and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I remember a story told about the great evangelist, Billy Sunday. Billy Sunday was a professional baseball player. He would slide in to the platform like a baseball player slides into base, and he would sometimes preach even on top of his pulpit. He had a passion for Christ. He met the Lord in a very special way. He spoke against alcoholism, drug addiction and all these evils. He was very, very controversial but very popular and used greatly by God. He would build a trapdoor on the edge of the platform where he was preaching, and when he would make the altar call and ask the people to come forward and give their lives to Christ, he would lift the trapdoor and go into the trapdoor and that would bring him level with the people in the crowd. Then he would shake hands with each one of them as they prayed the sinner’s prayer. 

The one day, he had a heart attack on the platform, he never died but he was in a serious state. One of the helpers, one of his assistants, came up and took him by the hand and said, “Are you ok, Billy?” And Billy said, “Listen, just pray this prayer after me.” He thought it was one of the people coming forward to give their lives to Christ and he was totally oblivious to the fact that he was actually dying and he would lead him in the sinner’s prayer. Totally committed to the very, very end.

I want to say to you today, I don’t care how old you are, how young you are, preach the Gospel at all costs.

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day. 
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Friday morning, the 17th of July, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. 

We go to that very well-known scripture, Philippians 3:12. Paul says:

“Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.”

My dear wife saw a little writing on a wall in a restroom which said, “Happiness is not the destination. It is part of the journey.” So true! We are so concerned about getting to our destination that we don’t enjoy the trip, and that is actually quite sad, isn’t it? My late mom always used to say to me, the best part of any holiday for her was the trip, not the destination.

How is it with you today? How is it with me today? We need to pace ourselves, enjoy every single moment God has given us, and stop always wishing for something we don’t have while forgetting the time we have. I am thinking about with your family. Your children, spend time with them. I know what I am talking about. My family are all grown up, in fact my grandchildren are grown up, I’m a great-grand father and it’s happened in the spur of a moment. Do not waste time because you keep on looking at the end of the race and not enjoying the journey. I think of the tortoise and the hare. I know it’s laughable but that tortoise just keeps going. He’s carrying his house on his back. The hare goes flat out and then stops. The tortoise keeps on going. You and I need to do that. It’s like a little Noddy car, it just keeps going down the road and the sports cars cars scream past but they normally stop just up the road and then they go on again and that little Noddy car gets to its destination, sometimes quicker than the sports car.

Let us really start to appreciate the time God has given us, and let us make a point of finishing the race. The Comrades Marathon for me, the heroes of the Comrades Marathon, are those guys right at the end just before the gun goes off and the time is up, and the race is over, and they’re pulling each across over the finish line. Yes, we appreciate the gold medalists and the silver medalists but the boys and girls, that are really pushing hard, really touched me.

So today, remember, it’s not the destination, it’s the journey with Jesus Christ that you and I have got to spend time on. 

Have a wonderful day, Jesus bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Thursday morning, the 16th of July, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We go to the Book of Deuteronomy 20:4:

“…for the Lord your God is He who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.” 

We then go to Psalm 20:7:

“Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; But we will remember the name of the Lord our God.”

Oh, I want to encourage you this morning. Maybe you are facing a giant in your life. It might be your health. Maybe you have just been told by the doctor, “There is nothing more we can do for you. Just go home and make yourself comfortable because you are not going to live.” We don’t receive that because we trust in the Lord, not in our own abilities! Maybe it is a crop you planted and you are expecting a good yield, but your neighbours are telling you you are in big trouble because nothing is going to happen. El Niño, the drought is on its way. Don’t accept it! Remember, the Lord says He will fight for you and He will see it come to pass. I cannot encourage you enough to trust in the Lord.

We have got a saying at Shalom that goes like this: “You must attempt something that is so big that if it is not from God it is doomed to fail.” Now, you might say, “Why do that?” Because when it works, people will say, “There is no ways that that man could have achieved that. That was a miracle from God.” And if you look at the word of God, and that is why I love the Bible so much, it is one miracle after another. When people say, “It can’t be done”, you say, “But God!” God can do all things. So if Christ is for you, then no man can stand against you. 

So I want to encourage you to keep on by faith. What is faith? Oh, faith is the substance of things hoped for. It is the evidence of things not yet seen. And that is why I love Jesus so much. When we trusted the Lord for a million people to come to the centre of our nation, South Africa, and to pray, and we gave ourselves 6 weeks, people said to me, “Angus, it is impossible.” (It took Billy Graham 2 or 3 years to organise a campaign, even when he came to South Africa), but it did happen and we had over a million people all seated in an open field to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ, to repent of their sins and to pray for the nation. 

Remember what happened after that? Change in politics, a different president came in, the drought that was predicted became a bumper crop, the many, many miracles, many miracles that we will only hear about in Heaven - people healed, marriages restored, new businesses opening, men going into full-time ministry because our trust was in the Lord.

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day, goodbye.