Thought For Today

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Sunday morning, the 23rd of August, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for the day. We start in the Book of Exodus 20:3:
“You shall have no other gods before Me.”
Then we go to Matthew 19:22:
”But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.”
Nothing must come before the sovereignty of God, Jesus first all the time! A man by the name of Guthrie wrote something which I thought was quite challenging. He says, ”If you find yourself beginning to love any pleasure better than your prayers, any book better than your Bible, any house better than God’s house, any table better than the Lord’s table, any person better than your Saviour, anyone better than your soul, a present indulgence better than the hope of Heaven, take alarm.” Folks, that really, really rocked me.
Now you see the rich young ruler said to Jesus, "I obey all the commandments, right from when I was a young boy.” But Jesus said to him, "Give away all your riches and come and follow after Me.” The Bible says he couldn’t do it, he walked away because his riches, his possessions, were worth more to him than following Jesus.
I remember a minister telling me many years ago that he believed that Jesus was standing, looking at him, with tears running down His face because that young man was on his way to hell. I also believe, and so did that minister, that if he had said, ”Lord, I will follow You,” the Lord would have given him back all his riches. The Lord doesn’t need your riches, my friend. He doesn’t need my riches. He doesn’t need your reputation, He doesn’t need my reputation. He needs us, and today let us take note of anything in our lives. The Lord says in Matthew 6:33:
”But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”
He doesn’t want to spoil your life. No, He wants to give you life abundantly. That’s what He said in John 10:10. Today, let’s put Jesus first and then He will ensure that we get the rest.
God bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Saturday morning, the 22nd of August, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
Psalm 23:1: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.”
Then we go straight to Romans 12:12:
“…rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer…”
This morning we want to speak about memory verses. As a brand-new Christian, I started to memorise scriptures. The first one I memorised was, of course, John 3:16:
”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.”
The second one: 1 John 1:9:
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
These are scriptures that have kept me going for close on 50 years. I want to encourage that young child, driving to school with mom at the moment, listening to this, to start to memorise Scripture because when you get into a tough spot in life, and you don’t have access to your Bible, you can remember the word of God. It will keep you going.
Now, let’s look at Romans 12:12:
Number one: Rejoicing in hope - so we get excited. We hope that the Lord will bless us with a good crop of maize this coming season. We are hoping, by the grace of God, that we will pass our exam at school and that this business venture will not fail. We are hoping that we will meet the right man who will become our husband, rejoicing in hope!
Then the second one: Patient in tribulation - when the going gets tough, you have to hang in there and trust God and not panic. Whether it is a financial decision, or you have been to the doctor and he says you are very sick, there is not much hope for you. Patient in tribulation: “Lord, I am trusting You. You are my Healer.” Patient when things are going very tough, patient because they are going to come right!
And then, listen to this: Continuing steadfastly in prayer - You pray in the morning, you pray in the evening, you pray at lunchtime, you pray while you are walking, you pray while you are running, you pray while you are cycling, pray while you are riding your horse. Prayer must become a lifestyle. Then you will find things will change.
There is an older lady listening to this programme right now. She says, “My memory is very poor. I can’t remember things, Angus.” Well, I am going to give you one verse to start with. Mark 11:22:
“Have faith in God.”
That’s it. Let’s memorise that one first. Have a wonderful day!
Jesus bless you and goodbye!

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Friday morning, the 21st of August, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We start in the Book of Exodus 24:13:
”So Moses arose with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up to the mountain of God.”
Then we go straight to the Gospel of Matthew 4:19:
”Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
What are we talking about this morning? We’re talking about legacy. What are you going to leave behind when you go home to be with the Lord? What are you going to leave your family? What are you going to leave your relations and your workers, maybe? What are you going to leave behind? The Oxford dictionary defines the word, ”Legacy”, as something handed down by a predecessor. Moses left Joshua a powerful legacy of spiritual leadership, faithfulness, and authority, so that Joshua could lead the children of Israel into the promised land after Moses had done his work and gone home. Jesus did exactly the same thing. He taught His disciples lifestyle. He taught them how to live a life of faith. He taught them about humility and love. He taught them about the power of God through the laying on of hands of miracles.
What is so sad for me is when I see a man and wife work so hard to leave a legacy for their children, but they don’t teach them how to use it. It’s like giving your sixteen-year-old boy a Ferrari sports car and telling him to go and drive it. He will kill himself within the first couple of days because he was never taught how to manage the power of that motorcar. My friend, it is so sad for me when I see a family leave money behind, a farm, a business and they have never taught their children how to use it. It lands up in chaos every time because that power, that money, that legacy, will kill your children.
Today, let us be like Jesus. Jesus taught His disciples, and then He sent them out into the world, two by two, to preach the Gospel. Let us be like Moses who taught Joshua. Joshua walked with Moses for forty years before he was promoted to take the Children of Israel out.
Today, I believe the Lord is saying to us, ”Be very careful what you leave your family behind. Teach them the things of God, and then they will succeed, and the Holy Spirit will bless them.
Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day.
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Thursday morning, the 20th of August, 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 (that’s Goliath), “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.”
Then we go straight to the New Testament, 2 Corinthians 10:4-5:
“For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal (fleshly) but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, (verse 5) casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,…”
Our battle today is not a physical one. It is a spiritual battle. Maybe this morning you are in a state of fear. You are wondering, how am I going to pay these accounts at the end of the month? Maybe the doctor has told you that your child is sick, very sick, and you are in a panic situation. What must I do? Where must I go? Well, you must do exactly what the young boy, David did - he was only a teenager.
He was minding his father, Jesse’s sheep on the mountain. What was he doing? He was writing psalms, he was singing to God. He was having a quiet time. Oh, my friend, are you having a regular quiet time with Jesus in the morning? You say, “No”. There is your problem. The weapons of our warfare are not physical. They are spiritual. So when the boy brought food for his big brothers down to the valley, he saw a 9 foot giant by the name of Goliath, mocking the people of God. He did it for 40 days. And he said, “Who is this man?” And his brothers must have told him to leave the food and go back and look after the sheep.
“He said, “No ways! No one is going to get away with this, mocking my God!” He stood up. He said, “Let me sort him out.” Remember Goliath said, “Do you think I am a dog, that you come up against me with sticks and stones?” And listen to what he said. He said, “I come against you in the name of the Lord God, The Commander of the armies of Israel.” And with that he killed him and cut his head off.
Today, you need to do the same. You need to get into your closet, spend time with God. Ask God to show you what to do, and then go out and take it because God has already given you the victory. Jesus bless you and have a victorious day today.
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 19th of August, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
Today I am going to read a scripture out of the Amplified Version of the Bible - Hebrews 11:1:
“Now faith is the assurance (title deed, confirmation) of things hoped for (divinely guaranteed), and the evidence of things not seen [the conviction of their reality—faith comprehends as fact what cannot be experienced by the physical senses].”
That is very powerful. I want you to try and meditate on that fact. You see, faith is real, but you can’t see it, you can’t touch it, you have to believe it. Now, yesterday I shared with you how John Wesley, on his trip to America, got caught in a huge storm, was devastated, thought the ship was going to sink, the passengers were panicking, and there was a group of Moravian believers standing on board, singing calmly, singing hymns. They were not afraid at all, and it blew him away.
He realised he wasn’t even saved. Now I want to continue. Once Wesley came back to England, another Moravian, Peter Böhler, came along 3 years later, in 1738, and he told him he was at his lowest ebb spiritually. In fact, he wanted to give up preaching altogether. This is what Peter Böhler said to him and it has impacted my life as well. He said, “Preach faith till you have it, and then because you have it, you will preach faith.” I want you to think about that.
In 2008, the Lord laid upon me to book the biggest tent in the world at that time which could seat over 30,000 people. It took 17 40-ton trucks, with containers on board, to bring it to the farm, and took over 2 weeks to erect it by a man called Attie Van Staden, whose life was impacted by erecting it. It was the size of 4 rugby fields in the end. I had R500 in my pocket, that’s all I had but by faith I booked it but I didn’t ask for a penny, I never charged for a ticket, and we had it on this farm and we had an amazing encounter with God. Because of faith, God sent 60,000 men, 30,000 in the tent and 30,000 outside of the tent, and He paid for everything. I want to encourage you today to trust God. He will not fail you.
Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day.
Goodbye.