Thought For Today

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Monday morning, the 7th of September, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for the day.
We start in the Old Testament in the Book of Zechariah 4:6:
“The Lord says, Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the Lord of hosts.”
Then we go to the New Testament, to 1 Corinthians 2:1-2:
“And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.”
Folks, it is the anointing of the Holy Spirit that moves people to hear the Gospel. Now I want to tell you an embarrassing story. Many, many years ago, I had been preaching maybe for 5 or 10 years, and a very dear friend of mine - this man was a qualified theologian. He had been to university, studied for seven years, and was a great preacher as well. So one Sunday night, I was preaching in his church and he said, “Angus, I am going to do a “crit” on you tonight. I said, “What do you mean?” “No, I am going to sit at the back of the church and I am going to write up how you are preaching and then I will tell you afterwards.”
Well, I wasn’t so keen on that. Anyway, he said he would do it. At the end of the service, he came to me, and he said, “Okay, are you ready for the answers?” I said, “Well, I suppose so.” He said, “Well, your introduction was about 3/10” I said, “Okay”. “And your scripture reading about 2/10 and your theme was about 3/10 and your message was about 5/10.” By this time I was crestfallen. He said, “and of course, your conclusion and the end of the service was about 2/10.” He said, “But the presence of the Holy Spirit in your message was about 12/10!” I was so elated.
D L Moody, one of the greatest evangelist that has ever lived. He was in England one time, and he had a very broad accent. He was also a farm boy and a shoe salesman. When he had finished preaching, an English noblewoman came up to him and said, “Mr Moody, I want to tell you that that was the most atrocious English I have ever heard spoken. And him, not to be let down he said, “Well Ma’am, I am using what English I have for Jesus. Tell me, what are you doing with your English?”
Then the last little story: Gypsy Smith, that great English preacher who used to preach to up to 10,000 people in the open. A worn-out lay preacher came to see him and said, “I have preached everything from Genesis to Revelation. I am worn out. What can I tell them?” And Gypsy said, “Keep telling them what Jesus means to you.”
God bless you and have a wonderful day.
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Sunday morning, the 6th of September, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We go to the Book of Joshua 23:6. Joshua says:
“Therefore be very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, lest you turn aside from it to the right hand or to the left,…”
Keep the faith! Joshua was a very old man when he told the children of Israel that they must be very courageous and do everything that is written in the Book. We are talking about the Bible. The Lord will grip us tightly, He will hold us fast. Do you remember that hymn, a beautiful hymn? He will hold me fast.
We need to grip tightly onto Him. This life is very rough at the moment. He must be our Lifeline. We must cling to Jesus with unwavering loyalty. The best example I can give you is that old farmer, Job, in the Book of Job 13:15. He says:
“Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.”
I want to read a couple of verses from that wonderful hymn:
When I fear my faith will fail,
Christ will hold me fast;
I could never keep my hold,
Through life’s fearful path
For my love is often cold,
He must hold me fast.
He will hold me fast,
He will hold me fast;
For my Saviour loves me so,
He will hold me fast.
Just visualise somebody hanging over the edge of a cliff. They have slipped and they are falling. People call the Fire Brigade. They come rushing in with that big red truck. The fireman gets out. He leans over, he is very brave, he is very strong. He just manages to get hold of your hand. He says, “Hold me fast”, and then he starts to pull you up slowly but steadily. Eventually you say, “I can’t, I can’t anymore” and you let go. But he has still got you. He is still holding you fast and he pulls you up. Jesus is that fireman. He says, “Hold onto My arm, hold on tightly, and I will pull you through this problem you are struggling with.
Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day.
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Saturday morning, the 5th of September, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We start in the Book of Jeremiah 9:23-24:
”Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me…”
Then we go to 1 Corinthians 1:31:
“He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.”
We’ve got a little pet saying here at Shalom. It goes something like this,”You must attempt something that is so big, if it’s not of God, it is doomed to fail.” Why, you might ask? Because if it works, God gets all the glory. People say, ”He could never have done that in his own strength. It must be God.” We need to give all the glory to God for everything that we achieve, everything that we do. Whether we pass our exams, whether we don’t, whether the business works or it fails, give the glory to God.
I remember like it was yesterday, standing on the platform at King’s Park Rugby Stadium, when everybody said el Nino is coming, told the poor farmers, ”Don’t plant maize this year because it won’t grow.” I said, ”To hell with el Nino. I’m going home and I’m going to plant potatoes.” Now I’d never planted potatoes before on this farm and I had no irrigation. When my neighbours heard what I was going to do, they came over and said, ”Don’t do that Angus because If you do that, you are going to go bankrupt. You need water for potatoes.”
Well, I planted the potatoes and I sweated, let me tell you something right now because many a day, I said, ”Lord, what have I done, but whatever I’ve done, I’m doing it for You.” Well, needless to say, we reaped a crop of potatoes out of dry ground. Everybody knew that was nothing to do with me and everybody gave the glory to God. Today, whatever you do, make sure that the Lord Jesus Christ gets all the praise, honour and glory.
Goodbye and God bless you and keep on planting potatoes.
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Friday morning, the 4th of September, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We start in 1 Corinthians 1:17. Paul says:
“For Christ did not send me to baptise, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect.”
Then we go ahead to 1 Corinthians 3:6. Paul again:
“I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.”
It is so important to know what your role is in this life. Moses was chosen by God to take the Children of Israel out of slavery and out of Egypt. He did that for forty years, he completed his task, and then Joshua took the Children of Israel across the Jordan River into the Land of Milk and Honey. Each one of us has got a specific work to do. That is why Paul said, “I was not called to baptise but to preach the Gospel.”
It is so nice to see a man or a woman operating in the calling God has given them. Let me use an example. Bruce Fordyce, one of our champions in South Africa, has won the Comrades Marathon 9 times. He has won it 8 times consecutively. There is no-one else in the world who has done that folks. Then you get another man by the name of Usain Bolt. He is the fastest human being who has ever run the hundred metres. He ran it in 9.58 seconds. Now I want to tell you something. There is no way Usain Bolt could have run the Comrades. He is not built for that. And there is no way that Bruce Fordyce could run the hundred metres in under 10 seconds. Each one has a specific talent and gift, and I believe it has been given to them by God.
Now, an evangelist is called by God to open the eyes of the blind and to lead people to Jesus. A teacher is one who is called by God to expose the scriptures, open the Bible and explain the finer points of the Bible. A teacher is not an evangelist. Oh yes, he can lead someone to Christ, but he can’t run a campaign with thousands of people and call them to the front. And the same thing applies with an evangelist. He can’t teach. He is not gifted in that area to open the Bible of understanding for people.
Today, ask the Lord to show you what the gift and the calling in your life is, and then stick to it. God will use you powerfully.
Have a wonderful day, Jesus bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Thursday morning, the 3rd of September, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We go to the Book of Hebrews 12:1-2 and I’m reading two verses:
”Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Oh folks, we really need to run this race to the end. We need to finish strong! There’s nothing more sad for me to see than half-built building, where someone has obviously had a vision, put their money and their effort into building a house and halfway through, run out of money, run out of strength and left it derelict. It is an eyesore to the surrounding land. We need to finish the job.
As a farmer, when I look at crops, especially farmers who are so intense. They start so well, they do the land preparation, they put the seed in, the fertiliser, they spray the herbicide, weedicide and then they give up. The crop grows to a metre high and then the weeds take over and the crop is absolutely drowned in the weeds and eventually dies.
We need to finish the job. It doesn’t matter how old or how young you are. Finish the degree, finish your education, finish the job, and then, most importantly, work on that marriage. Do not throw the towel in. Don’t give up. Work on the marriage. Sit down, talk to each other, love each other. God will strengthen the marriage and your children will rejoice when they see mom and dad falling in love again. Yes, it is possible, but it requires commitment. It requires a definite decision to fulfil the commitment that we made on our wedding day.
Let us run that race for Jesus.
God bless you and have a wonderful day.
Goodbye.