Thought For Today

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

We start in the Book of Isaiah 50:4:

 "The Lord God has given Me
The tongue of the learned,
That I should know how to speak…"

Then we go to the Gospel of Matthew 10:19, Jesus says: 

"But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you
in that hour what you should speak; …" 

Maybe this morning you are facing a week where you have to give a report to the management in your company, maybe you have to give a speech at school or at university and you are very nervous about it. That is quite understandable. I know exactly how you feel, but the Lord says in Psalm 81:10: 

"Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it." 

Many times when I have to stand on a platform in front of thousands of people, I can be quite honest with you, I hit a blank, I get nervous, and I am not sure what to say. I look out and I see desperate souls looking for answers. I don't have them, but Jesus does. It is at that time that I normally get on my knees. If you know me well, you have seen it, and then I pray the prayer that I am encouraging you to pray before you have to speak to that management meeting or that school assembly. This is what you will say - it is found in Psalm 19:14:

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable in Your sight,
O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer."

You see, as soon as you pray that prayer, the emphasis is now on the Lord and not the crowds that are standing before you. Often I have felt that I am standing next to myself and I am hearing the words of the Lord speaking and it is not me. It's a weird feeling and I am not into positive thinking or anything like that. I really believe it is the Holy Spirit. Robert Murray M'Cheyne, a young Scotsman, who died at the age of 29 years old, was responsible for starting a massive revival in Dundee, Scotland, and he said, "Rather than being an instrument of the Lord, all I was, was an adoring spectator."

Jesus bless you and goodbye.

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

We start with Psalm 127:3:  

“Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,…”

An absolute blessing from the Lord. Then to Proverbs 17:6 - this is the one specially for grandads: 

“Children’s children are the crown of old men,…” 

Then the last scripture, these are the words of Jesus, Matthew 19:14: 

“But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” 

Jesus was talking about the humility of little children. He said, “People like this will enter the kingdom of Heaven.” Little children can teach us so much, can’t they? Especially when we get older, we have more time. Mom and Dad are so busy, working, trying to put food on the table, trying to educate their children, pay for mortgages for houses etc., but Grandad and Granny have got time. They have got time to sit and listen to the stories of their grandchildren. 

I remember like yesterday, I was preaching in Israel, in Jerusalem, in fact, I was preaching at the Southern Steps of the old Temple, the steps that Jesus used to walk up everyday when he went to the Temple to pray. When the meeting had finished, it was evening, and the crowds started to go back to their buses and hotels. Two little grandsons of mine had come with my daughter and her husband. The youngest one, Tyler, was only probably about three or four. All of a sudden, he burst out, and he was weeping his heart out, and my daughter got hold of him and thought maybe something had happened. What was wrong? “What is wrong, son?” “You didn’t give me a chance to say goodbye to Khulu.” Now, Khulu is the Zulu word for grandad, and that was me!

You know, those things mean more to me than if the president of the United States of America wanted to say goodbye to me. I love children and as I am getting older, and I can hear all the grandparents saying, “Absolutely right.” I love children so much. I love it when a little child runs over in a meeting and just grabs me by the leg and gives me a big hug and then runs off again. We must make time for little children. They are a blessing from God. I can hear maybe a couple of old folks say, “But we don’t have any grandchildren, Angus.” Well, I want to tell you, there are lots of children who would love to adopt you as their grandad and granny - go and find them.

Jesus bless you and goodbye.

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

“Do not quench the Spirit.” 
1 Thessalonians 5:19

In other words, do not put the fire out. We are talking this morning about the Holy Spirit. He is a gentleman, He does not force Himself upon us, He waits for us. It is like starting a campfire on a cold, wet night when you are in the bush alone. When you strike that match, you have got to be very gentle with that kindling to get it to ignite. You have to be patient with it, and you have to coax it. You have to blow very softly on it, you have to protect it, you have to fan it, encourage it. Don’t rush it! What happens? It will go out. Don’t put too much wood on the fire before it gets started, otherwise you will starve it. Give it time to ignite. 

In Central Africa, where I grew up, I used to be fascinated by the rural people, the way they could start a fire in no time at all. Even though the wood was wet, they would carry a few glowing embers, wrapped up in a piece of bark, from one campsite to another, with no matches or lighter or any firelighters. They would put those embers down, put some grass around it and slowly start to blow it, and then all of a sudden, it would ignite. They were masters at making fire. 

So it is with our beloved Holy Spirit. We need to spend time with Him. We need to be quiet. We need to listen to His still small voice speaking to us in our heart. We mustn’t speak too much, and then all of a sudden, we will start to warm our souls. I want to really encourage you today, my dear friend, to take time out to hear the voice of God speaking to you, your soul through His Holy Spirit, the Fire that will warm you, encourage you, and ignite you. 

Jesus bless you and have a lovely warm day!
Goodbye.

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

We go straight to the back of the Bible, 1 John 4:20: 

“If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?” 

Very, very powerful and challenging words. 

“A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another as I have loved you.” 
John 13:34

Jesus said that. It is not optional. If we do not love our brother, the Bible says we are liars, and the truth is not in us. And by the way, we are talking about home base here. We are not talking about governments or different policies, no—we are talking about the family. The hardest place to be a Christian sometimes is at home base, isn’t it? We have got to learn to be more patient with one another, more understanding, and the best way is to try and see the situation through the other person’s eyes. Let me give you an example - I grew up in a home where I was not allowed to waste any food. My dad would allow us to eat whatever we wanted, as much as we wanted but nothing was to be left uneaten on that plate. He said, “You can take it but you must finish it.” And sometimes we used to get very impatient. “Why is dad so hard on us all the time? Why can’t I leave something I don’t like?” I tell you why, because my father was in the Second World War, and he was captured in North Africa and was sent to a prisoner of war camp in Europe. For three years and six months, he was half-starved. Food was very precious to him. Now, when you look at it through his eyes, you can understand why he would say that. 

We need to give young people more grace. You say, “But Angus, I cannot afford to buy him another rugby jersey, or buy her another gym for netball.” They are not really concerned about having another garment. What they are concerned about is avoiding peer pressure at school. They just want to be like everybody else. It sounds as though they are demanding, its not that. Its just that they want to be out of the focus of the crowd, and just be one of the people. 

I know an older woman who comes to work, she gets up at 02h30 in the morning. She has to walk about a kilometre to catch a taxi, then she has to sit in the taxi for one hour till she gets to town. Then she has to wait for her lift to come out to the farm. Sometimes it might look like she is a bit slow with her work, but you know, that woman is tired, she is sometimes exhausted. Give her some grace. That is how we love one another. Put yourself in the other person’s shoes. 

Today, let’s love one another unconditionally. Why? Because Jesus said so.

God bless you and goodbye.

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

We start in 1 John 4:19:

”We love Him because He first loved us.” 

Jesus loved us when we were still sinners. When we were dirty and ugly. He loved us because He made us and wants to be with us. God doesn’t need us folks, He wants us because He loves to have fellowship with you and I. You know, Peter, the big fisherman, when the miracle took place at the sea of Galilee and Jesus told them to throw the net onto the other side and he caught a full net of fish. He was so overwhelmed by the presence of God, he said in Luke 5:8: 

“Depart from me for I am a sinful man.” 

He realised his sin when he stood in the Presence of God and that’s exactly how it is with you and me. When we mess up and some of us have still messed up, I know I have, Jesus loves us unconditionally. He doesn’t say, ”I’ll love you if you love me.” No. He just loves us.

The other night, I was coming home from Cape Town in an aeroplane and when the plane landed, it was quite late at night. The people were very tired and they were trying to get off the plane, getting their baggage off the overhead lockers and all shuffling along. This one beautiful little Indian child, she must have been probably maybe four or five years old, she’d obviously dropped her pen and her mother had her by the other hand and had a whole lot of baggage and she was pulling her along. ”Come on, come on, we need to get going,“ because she could see that she was holding up the queue. I was behind them, and she said,” But Mom, I’ve lost my pen.” I had a ball point pen in my top pocket. I took the pen out and I said to her, ”Come on, you can have my pen.” And her face lit up and she took it with both hands. 

What am I saying? I’m saying she didn’t question it. I was telling this story on a radio program just the other day, and the announcer, Wynand, a very good friend of mine, said to me, “But tell me, did she maybe not want to take the pen?” I said, ”No, she took the pen with both hands.” He said, “And how often do we get offered the Gospel of Jesus Christ freely and we reject it.” We say we have to pay for it or we have to earn it.

Today, do not harden your heart. Jesus loves you just as you are, and He has always loved you and always will love you, and nothing you can do will make Him love you more, and nothing you can do that will make Him love you any less. He loves you because He created you.

Have a wonderful day,
Jesus bless you and goodbye. 

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

We go to the Book of Proverbs 18:24: 

“A man who has friends must himself be friendly,
But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”

Yes, His name is Jesus Christ, our best Friend! I want to speak to you about friends. If you want to have friends, you must be friendly. You must help one another, you must be kind. I want to read a little story sent to me by a precious sister in the Lord the other day. You might have heard it before but it is worth listening to again. It is a true story. 

His name was Fleming, a poor Scottish farmer. One day, while trying to make a living for his family, he heard a cry for help coming from a nearby swamp. He dropped his tools and ran to the swamp, and there, mired up to his waist in black mud, was a terrified little boy, screaming and struggling to free himself. Farmer Fleming saved the lad from what could have been a slow and terrifying death. The next day, a fancy carriage pulled up at the Scotsman’s sparse surroundings. An elegantly dressed nobleman stepped out and introduced himself as the father of the boy he had saved. “I want to repay you,” said the nobleman. “You saved my son’s life.”

“No, I can’t accept payment for what I did”, the Scottish farmer replied, waving off the offer. 

At that moment, the farmer’s son came to the door of the family hovel. “Is that your son?” the nobleman asked. “Yes," the farmer replied proudly. I will make you a deal. Let me provide him with a level of education my own son will enjoy. If the lad is anything like his father, he will no doubt grow to be a man we will both be proud of.”

And that he did. Farmer Fleming’s son attended the very best schools, and in time graduated from St Mary’s Hospital Medical School in London, and went on to become known throughout the whole world as the noted Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of Penicillin - Antibiotics. Years afterwards, the same nobleman’s son who was saved from the swamp was stricken with pneumonia. What saved his life this time? Penicillin, antibiotics! The nobleman's name was Lord Randolph Churchill, and his son’s name was Sir Winston Churchill. Isn’t that amazing? Just the act of love, of kindness. That old farmer pulled that little boy out of the swamp, and look what happened from there. 

Today, remember, there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother! Introduce Him to somebody else.

Jesus bless you and goodbye.

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

We start in the Book of Deuteronomy 1:2-3, in the Old Testament: 

“It is eleven days’ journey from Horeb by way of Mount Seir to Kadesh Barnea. Now it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spoke to the children of Israel according to all that the Lord had given him as commandments to them,…” 

The Children of Israel took 40 years to complete an 11-day journey. We are slow learners. They had to go on that same trip time and time again until they learned the lessons that God was teaching them. Isn’t that the same with you and me today, my dear friend? We want to do everything quickly, and then we have to come back and do it again and again. 

My wife’s old dad was a steam engineer by profession. In those days, everything was driven by steam - steam railway engines, steamships on the sea, and steam engines. He told me that when he was a young student, the first thing he had to do was to make his own tools. He didn’t buy them, he had to make them. He was an incredible man to have on the farm in his old age. I would have an emergency, a breakdown when I was planting my crops, and I would go to the Spares Department in town at the garage and they would say, “It can only come in two weeks time.” I would go back desperately and see him at his house, and I would say, “Dad, this thing is broken. Can you help me?” He would remake it himself and I would be back in business within hours. 

I remember sometimes I was quite intimidated by him. He would come down to the workshop and I would be frantically trying to use a hacksaw and saw a piece of pipe and going flat out with it, just sawing in the middle of the saw-blade, and he would put his hand on my shoulder and say, “When you bought that hacksaw blade, you paid for the whole blade. Use the saw from end to end, not just back and forwards in the middle.” And he was quite right. We mustn’t be afraid to take time to learn.  

I love to go down to our neighbour’s farm. He has got an oak plantation. This oak plantation must be about 100 to 150 years old. I love to go into that oak plantation and am quiet in the presence of God, and I am surrounded by trees that have taken 150 years to grow. It makes me feel good and secure. We need to learn our lessons well. If we don’t, the Lord will take us back to that same thing that we are not achieving because He loves us and He wants us to succeed. 

God bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye.

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

“For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”  
Philippians 1:21

William Rutherford said, “Live in Christ, and you are already in the suburbs of Heaven.” Isn’t that beautiful? He says, “One hour’s sailing from the shore of Canaan Land.” Oh my dear friend, yes, we have a work to do, here on earth, there is no doubt about it. We have to tell people about Jesus. We not only have to tell them about Jesus, but we have to show them Jesus by our lifestyle, but when our work is finished, we are going home. I just want to really remind someone who is struggling. This is not our home, we are sojourners, we are travellers, we are simply passing through. Heaven is our home and we can’t wait to get there.

Every morning, I wake up and I walk outside and I smell the fresh new day, its a beautiful day. The birds are singing in the trees, we have got horses and cattle right next door to our little home, and it is just a pleasure to see them grazing and totally at peace, but I know that there is a war going on, and the war is not so much about flesh and blood but its in the heart, its in our mind, its in our very spirit, and we need to remember as Paul, the Apostle said: “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Don’t be afraid to die. Jesus gives you the strength to live and Jesus will give you the strength to die.  

What we need to do is to take one day at a time and to live it for the Lord so that when the home call sounds we will be ready, packed and ready to go, not leaving things undone. Oh folks, It is going to be amazing. It is going to be absolutely wonderful! We are going to see our loved ones who have gone ahead of us, we are going to spend time sitting and talking, and eating and spending wonderful time with the Master. I cannot wait to see Him face to face but until then we have work to do, so lets roll up our sleeves and keep on for Jesus Christ.

God bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye.

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

We start in 1 John 4:8: 

“He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” 

That is how the Christian is known by the world, by his love for one another.

“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” 
John 15:13

That is what Jesus Christ did for you and me. He is our absolute, ultimate example of Christian love. He is love, in fact, not good works but love. I have had the privilege of travelling all over the world. I have dined in castles, yes, manor houses. I have been fed beautiful, magnificent, really delicious meals, four course meals with all the finest crockery and cutlery you have ever seen in your life, where it is quite confusing, not knowing which knife and fork to pick up. At the start, to be waited upon by solemn waiters in black suits and ties, not smiling, just going through the paces, and I want to tell you, it is very formal and its quite nerve-racking not knowing what to do next. It doesn’t matter how beautiful that food is, you can’t even taste it. You are standing continually on duty and you have to watch and see what the head of the house is going to do next, not enjoyable at all, very cold and no love there. Just going through the process.

Then I had the privilege of having a meal in a simple road worker’s house in the middle of Australia somewhere, with his dear wife and large family, and the only reason I am there is because he needs the money and I am one of his lodgers. When we sit down at the supper table, we get one lonely lamb chop in the middle of a big plate with one spoonful of baked beans, and that is the meal. I am telling you the truth, and yet the love of Christ in that home was amazing, just the love of the children talking about what they did at school and passing this and passing that, and just loving each other. That lamb chop tasted so nice. You know, when you are a cowboy and working with cattle all day long, you are so hungry. I used to slip out after supper saying, “Just excuse me for a bit”, and I had to nip down to the local pub and get a pub dinner to try and fill my hungry stomach, but those people were so full of love, and I was so lonely, so far away from home, I felt the presence of the Lord in that place.

Today, remember, its not what you do, its who you are that people want to see. They want to see the love of Christ in your life.

Jesus bless you and go and be a blessing to others,
Goodbye.

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

We start in the Gospel of Matthew 5:23-24:

"Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift." 

This is a tough one, folks, it's a tough one. I can hear someone saying, "But it is not my fault. I have nothing against that person. Why must I go and reconcile with him or her when I have got nothing against them?" It's actually for your own sake that you have to do that because that situation is eating you up inside. Did Jesus do anything wrong for Him to be crucified? 

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." 
John 3:16

Jesus died for you and me while we were still sinners. Our Heavenly Father sent His Son down from Heaven to Earth and said to Him, "Go and sort it out." Now, in order to have peace in our own hearts, we have to deal with the situation, and I can hear somebody saying right now, "But what happens if that person will not forgive me?" There is nothing that you can do about it, but you can walk away knowing that you have been obedient to what God has told you to do. Even though you have got nothing against that person but you know that they have something against you, go and say, "Let's settle this thing. I am sorry for hurting you." You are not sorry for what you have done because you haven't done anything, but you are sorry for hurting them and trust and pray that they will accept your forgiveness and that they will walk with you again because that is where freedom comes, otherwise, the devil keeps on every time you want to do something, he says, "But that brother of yours has got something against you."

Folks, I have had to deal with this situation not once - many, many times in my life, especially with the work that I am doing. I can't please people all the time. I have got to please God and when God says I must do something I must do it, because if I am trying to please everybody, I can't speak. 

Now today, hear what the Lord is saying to you, leave your gift at the altar and go and reconcile, go and make up with your loved one, and often it is in the family, isn't it? No, it is not somebody way up there, because they can't affect you, it's somebody very close to home. It happened in the Bible, time and time again. We need to learn from our mistakes, then we will have peace in our hearts.

Jesus bless you and goodbye.