Thought For Today

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Thursday morning, the 12th of November, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We start in 1 Samuel 7:15:
”And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life.”
Then we go to the New Testament to the Book of Philippians 1:21. Paul says:
”For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”
This morning the Lord is talking to you and me about being faithful to Him to the very end. Samuel was one of the few prophets that went the full distance. He never once disappointed God. He was faithful in his calling to the very end and Paul could honestly say, and he did it, that ”For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” So if we live, we live for Christ and if we die we go home to heaven.
God is looking for faithful men and women today. There is no place for fair-weather Christians in the Kingdom of God. “What does that mean, Angus?” That means you cannot serve God today and, because things don’t go the way you want, you are not serving Him tomorrow, and then next week you decide you’ll serve Him again. It doesn’t work like that. God is looking for faithful men and women.
Remember, it’s not how you start the race that counts but rather how you finish. You can start as fast as you like and leave everybody else behind but halfway down the road you run out of steam and you pack up, that’s no good. No one is interested in that. As a sportsman, you will know you are only as good as your last game, and that is a fact. People don’t think about all the good things you did. They only remember you at the end, and that disappoints me so much in this day and age in which you and I are living. So many men and women are not finishing strong and we need to make a decision that we are not going to drop the ball just before the finish line.
I want to pray for you:
Father God,
I pray for my dear friend who’s running the race of their lives at the moment. Lord, they are tired, they are weary. Many are contemplating giving up, “It’s too tough, we can’t finish.” Lord, I pray that they will be like Paul who says, ”For me to live is Christ and to die is but gain.” I ask this in Jesus name.
Amen.
God bless you and have a wonderful day.
Goodbye

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 11th of November, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We start in 1 Samuel 17:45:
“Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.“
A young boy with a sling and a couple of stones defeated the mightiest warrior of the Philistines.
Then we go to 1 Peter 5:5 where the Lord says:
“God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.”
God uses ordinary people. We know that so well. A man by the name of Thomas Champness said: “Is it not one of the difficulties of church work that we have more officers than men? We need more of the rank and file who are willing to march anywhere and to do the lowliest tasks. We shall succeed in doing greater things when all are willing to be subjects.” Yes, we are talking about more foot soldiers and less officers needed. He goes on to say, “It is the bayonet rather than the golden braid that is needed when the enemy is to be subdued.” I want to say to you today, God is looking for foot soldiers. We are not going to win the war against the devil and his demons with only officers.
We need the foot soldiers, the privates, the ordinary men, men like William Carey, who was mocked once, “I believe you are just a shoemaker?” He said, “No, I am not a shoemaker, I cannot make shoes. I am a cobbler, I can only repair shoes.” Yet, he went on to do so many great things for God in India by translating the Bible from English into Sanskrit and many Indian languages - a foot soldier that God used to be a general. Today, we mustn’t be so concerned about becoming officers in God’s army, we must rather become a band of foot soldiers who are prepared to go wherever the Lord calls us.
So today, say, “Lord, whatever you tell me to do, I will do it with all of my heart”, and God will use you in the most surprising ways.
Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day.
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Tuesday morning, the 10th of November, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We start in 2 Corinthians 4:5:
”For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, …”
Then we go to the Gospel of John 12:32. This is Jesus speaking:
”And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.”
Oh, there is power in the name! Oh folks, I’ve got so many testimonies to share about that - when we pray in His wonderful name. Now some people say, ”Now how do you pray to God?” Well, the way I do it is, I pray to my Heavenly Father, through the name of His Son, Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. I have seen healings take place. I have seen blind eyes open, deaf ears unstopped. Yes, I’ve seen the lame walking. It’s the name which is above every other name. I’ve seen deliverance, people set free in an instant by that beautiful name of Jesus.
Forgiveness, wow, that’s a big one. In 1 John 1:9, The Bible says:
”If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. “
We’ve preached at some big open-air meetings. I remember one year, and maybe many men listening to this message will remember it, when the rain gathered right around this farm, but it was dry among those thousands of men until the meeting was over and the weekend was over, and then the rain came.
Jesus is the Rainmaker. Some people say to me, ”Are you the Rainmaker?” I say, ”No, I’m not the Rainmaker, I’m the Rainmaker’s son.” And I’ve seen it time and time again. It’s that wonderful name! If you’re lonely today, call on that name. He’ll be a friend to you that’ll stick closer than a brother.
If you are bereaved. If you are missing your wife, your husband, your little baby that has gone to be with the Lord, speak to Jesus, He will comfort you. It’s a beautiful name. We must use it more often!
God bless you and have a wonderful day.
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Monday morning, the 9th of November, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We start in 1 Samuel 7:12:
”Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen, and called its name Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.”
It literally means “stone of help”, and then we go to 1 Corinthians 11:25. Jesus says:
”This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”
When they won the battle, to remember how gracious the Lord had been to the children of Israel, Samuel set up a stone, a rock, as a reminder of God’s help and how He had delivered the enemy into Israel's hands. And the same way, Jesus Himself, on the night of His betrayal, when He had broken bread and given thanks, and He had drunk from the cup, He said, "Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of Me.” It’s so important to remember where the Lord has brought us from.
Just outside our little chapel on the farm, we have a big cairn of stones and we put them up there as a remembrance of how the Lord has helped us. I’m talking well over twenty years ago. The Lord has brought us through tremendous droughts. He has grown a crop of maize when there was no hope. He has raised up a crop of maize that has been pummelled to the ground by hail. It is a place also where we remember our loved ones, tragedies and also great successes, funerals and weddings. It is a special place, and even now, I often walk past there before church, and I remember how the Lord has delivered us in times of extreme pressure. Maybe today somewhere in your garden, maybe in your churchyard, maybe in a very special place, you can put up a big stone or a cairn of stones to remember that the Lord has been with us and delivered us.
Jesus died for you and me so that we can have eternal life. Break bread, have communion as often as you can, wherever it might be. God bless you as you remember how the Lord has delivered us.
Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day.
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Sunday morning, the 8th of November, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We start in the Book of Colossians 4:2:
”Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving;”
Then we go a little bit further on to 1 Thessalonians 5:17:
”…pray without ceasing,…”
It is a lifestyle. It is a habit, yes, and a very good one to develop. We need to pray more and speak less. Early this morning, I read something very special by a man of God, and this is what he wrote: “Our prayers often resemble the mischievous tricks of town children who knock at their neighbour's houses and then run away. We often knock at heaven’s door and then run off into the spirit of the world instead of waiting for entrance to be granted. We act as if we were afraid of having our prayers answered.”
Isn’t that so true? We pray but we don’t even believe that we’re going to get it, do we? Oh, my dear friend, I want to say to you today, we need to pray intentionally. We need to pray expecting an answer from God because the Lord is waiting for you and me so that He can answer our prayers.
We should pray when we go out. I was visiting a grandson of mine at university and we sat down in the restaurant, where we took him out for a meal, and as the waitress brought the food, we automatically held hands and prayed earnestly. We’d pray before we get in the motorcar to go on a trip. We pray all the time. It is a way of life. Jill and I will never go to sleep without praying. We pray in the morning. It’s the first thing we do when we open our eyes. We don’t run away like those naughty children knocking on the door. We wait at the entrance so that the Lord can answer our prayers.
Today, we need to start to pray, continually and earnestly. Not for other people to see us, but not afraid either. We pray in the marketplace; we pray in church; we pray at home; we pray when we are our own. I pray when I ride my horse, I pray when I ride my mountain bike, I pray for others.
Many a time, I’ve stopped at a garage to put in petrol and the Lord’s told me that lady sitting in that car is battling. I walk over and ask if I can have a word of prayer with her. Her eyes fill with tears and she says, ”Yes please.” Let us pray. God will answer every single one of our prayers.
Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day.
Goodbye.