Thought For Today

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.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 15th of July, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We go straight to the Gospel of Matthew 14:22:
”Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away.”
Are you on a journey today and are you feeling that something’s going wrong because you firmly believed that the Lord told you what to do, start that business, finish that degree, marry that man, have children? And it’s not working, and you are wondering whether, in fact, you have heard God correctly. Well, I’ve got a special message for you today.
I read this story by a man named George Matheson. You’ve heard me speak about him many times before, a blind Scottish preacher, and this is what he says: Jesus urged them to go. One would think that if ever there was a certain promise of success in a mission it was here, absolutely sure that it was a directive from God, so it must work.” This is what he says ”Surely here, if anywhere, a triumphant issue might have been confidently predicted; and yet here, more than anywhere, there was seeming failure. He sent them out on a voyage, and they met with such a storm as they had never yet experienced.” Remember, these were fishermen. ”Let me think about this, for it has been so with me as well. Many times, thinking I was doing the right thing, going ahead in faith and all of a sudden, everything changed. "I have sometimes felt,” he says, ”myself impelled to act by an influence which seemed above me - urged to put out to sea. Urged to step out in faith. “
I know this so well in my own life. “The belief was that I was constrained, urged, given the confidence, and I was sure of a calm voyage but the result was outward failure. The calm became a storm, the sea raged, the winds roared, the ship was tossed, and in the midst of the waves almost sank and my whole enterprise was wrecked before it could even reach the land. Was then my Divine command a delusion? Was it a dream, a pipe dream? No. Was my mission a failure? He did send me on that voyage but He did not send me for my purpose. He had one thing in His mind and I had another thing in my mind. My end was outward calm, His was my meeting with the storm. My end was to gain the harbour of material rest; but His aim was to teach me, there is a rest even on the open sea.”
Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day.
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Tuesday morning, the 14th of July, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We go straight to the Book of Deuteronomy 19:21. The Lord says to us:
“… life shall be for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.”
Then we go straight to the Book of Matthew 5:38-39:
“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.
Yoh! That is a challenge, is it not? Because we want justice, we want people to understand that they cannot mess with us. But then we go to Luke 23:34:
“Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”
We really need to exercise forgiveness, and I can imagine there are a lot of you who are saying, “No, Angus, we have got to pay back for what we get.” Well, Jesus disagrees. He says we have got to go the extra mile. He says we have got to forgive, but He says, “Forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.” Sometimes people are not aware of what they have done, and those same people whom you forgive will come back later and say, “Listen, I made a terrible mistake. Please forgive me.”
I am speaking particularly to husbands and wives today. There comes a time when you say, “I am not fighting anymore. I am going to turn the other cheek, you can say what you like but I am not going to retaliate. I am not going to pay back. I am going to leave it in the hands of the Lord. You know, it takes “two to tango”, as they say, and if you say, “I am not arguing, I am not fighting any more, I am making a choice, I am going to forgive you.” And that gives the person an opportunity to realise the mistake he has made.
One person said one day, if we had to pay back everybody for everything they have done to us, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, nobody in this world would have any teeth, and we would all be blind. Today, I really want to encourage you to pray over this scripture. It is a tough one. Today, let’s do what Jesus said and let Him undertake for the results.
Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day.
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Monday morning, the 13th of July, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We start in the Book of Proverbs 27:17:
”As iron sharpens iron, So a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.”
Then we go to 1 Thessalonians 5:6:
”Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober.”
We have a responsibility, don’t we? Now, how do we keep awake? I heard this from C H Spurgeon, the great Baptist preacher. He said one way we keep vigilant and on our toes, as it were, is through Christian fellowship. Do not isolate yourself, my dear friend, if it is possible at all, but have fellowship with one another, not just in church on a Sunday morning, or in a fellowship group on a Wednesday night, but all the time, wherever you meet someone.
I had the privilege of speaking to a young man not so long ago. I met up with him. I was on a campsite right up in the northern part of South Africa, and as we started talking, he said to me, ”You know, I remember like yesterday, the big tent on your farm. It was a turning point in my life, sitting in that tent with thirty thousand men inside and another thirty thousand men outside, and how we had fellowship together and how we spoke about the things of God.” As I spoke to him, I was encouraged myself, iron sharpening iron, sparks flying, having a laugh, and maybe even a tearful moment, thinking about how the Holy Spirit moved in our lives together!
That is what keeps you on your toes. That is what keeps you from becoming slothful, becoming sleepy, and not watching and praying. So when we had finished, we greeted each other, we prayed, and he went on his way rejoicing, and I was rejoicing. Why? Because we were having fellowship. We were not sleeping as others do but we were talking about our beloved Saviour and the miracle-working power that we find when we spend time talking about Him together.
Jesus bless you and remember, if Christ is for you, there is no man that will stand against you.
Jesus bless you and goodbye.