Thought For Today

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 28th of January, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We go to John 15:16. Jesus says:
”You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.”
Wow! What an incredible privilege to be chosen by God for a work to perform on this earth! It is a huge responsibility. With it goes the requirement of bearing good fruit. We have to make a difference in this world - people need to meet the Lord! Remember whatever we ask Father, in Jesus name by the power of His Holy Spirit, Father will give to you and to me.
I remember watching a clip, I can’t look it up but I remember it as clear as day. I think it was in the time of the Civil War in America, and there was a wounded soldier from the war. He was standing looking through the fence to the White House and he was trying to get in. He asked the sentry at the gate, ”I need to see President Abraham Lincoln.” And the soldier at the gate said, ”Sorry, you can’t go in unless you have an introduction, a letter of pass.” And he was standing there looking very forlorn. All of a sudden, a little boy walked up and asked the soldier what his name was and what had happened to him. He was wounded in the war and wanted to meet the President because he had something to ask him. So the little boy said, ”Follow me.” And the wounded soldier walked behind this little boy. He got to the sentry, he said. ”Please let me in.” And the sentry stood back.
This little boy, maybe eight, ten years old, carried on walking up the road. When they got to the front door of the White House there were soldiers there as well and he greeted them warmly. They all knew him. He said, ”This soldier needs to see the President of the United States of America.” They all stood back, and in this little boy walked. The wounded soldier was walking behind him. He climbed the steps and came to the door of the Oval Office. He knocked on the door and then walked in with the wounded soldier and there sitting behind this massive desk was the President of America and he said, ”Good morning Father. This soldier would like to meet you.” With that, he got the introduction. He knew his father.
Now Jesus knows His Father. Ask Him today!
Jesus bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Tuesday morning, the 27th of January, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We start in the Book of Zechariah 4:6:
"Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the Lord of hosts.”
Then we go to John 15:7. Jesus says:
“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.”
What a beautiful promise from the Lord! But it is very clear, if we stay in Him and He stays in us, then we can ask whatever we want and He will give it to us. Why? Because we will ask correctly, not in a selfish way but in a godly way.
Folks, I want to say to you today, we really need to start to live God’s way, for our sakes, and for the sakes of our family, our loved ones and the people we live and work with. Do you remember that very famous American actor and singer, Frank Sinatra? They called him, “Old Blue Eyes”, I am sure he was a very fine man. I know he did have a serious drinking problem but you know, one of the saddest songs, his words, “I did it my way”. Do you know, there is no other way but God’s way, and I know, I am speaking from experience myself. My way never, ever works. I looked up the lyrics of that song, and this is what they say. Listen to the words:
And now, the end is near
And so I face the final curtain
My friend, I'll say it clear
I'll state my case, of which I'm certain
I've lived a life that's full
I travelled each and every highway
And more, much more than this, I did it my way
It didn’t help him. You know the last words he said before he died were, “I am losing it, I am losing it.” What about you today? Are you losing it? I want to pray that will stop today, and that you will start doing it God’s way and doing what Jesus said. Let us pray:
Heavenly Father,
I want to thank You for my friend, listening to this early morning message, my friend, who has being trying to do it genuinely in their own way and it is failing badly. Today Lord, we want to ask You to please live in us, and we want to live in You so that You will take care of every one of our needs, and give us hope for the future, so that when we die we can say, “I am doing it Jesus’ way!” I ask this in Your precious name, amen.
God bless you and have a wonderful day.
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Monday morning, the 26th of January, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We start in 2 Corinthians 10:4-5:
”For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal (fleshly), but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 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,”
It’s a spiritual war that we’re in and we need to fight it with spiritual weapons. I’m talking about the sword of the Spirit.
We go to Ephesians 6:17:
”…the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;
You and I need to keep our swords sharpened. Abraham Lincoln, that great American president who basically abolished the slave trade in America. He was a country boy from Kentucky. He had very little education, I think less than three years. They asked him a question, ”If you had to cut down a large tree and they gave you six hours to drop that tree, how would you go about it?” That wise country boy said, ”I would take four hours to sharpen the axe.” You and I need to keep our swords sharpened. I’m talking about the Bible, the Word of God.
We need to memorise scripture. We need to apply the Word of God into everything we do, every plan we make, and every thought we think. The Word of God is final. When you truly believe what Jesus says and you take the Word of God literally, then you apply it. There’s no more discussing after that. What does the word say? Does the Word hate divorce? Yes, so work through your marriage. What does the Bible say about honesty? If you owe a man something, pay him. ”No, but we’ll wait until 120 days until they’re going to take us to court, and then we’ll pay, but we’ll use his money in the meantime.” No, No, No, No. You pay that money that you owe as soon as you get it. We’re talking here about a sharpened sword and that is what will give you the victory.
Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day.
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Sunday morning, the 25th of January, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
”Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.”
John 15:2
Pruning is a painful operation, but we need to get rid of the deadwood so that we can grow strong, straight and healthy. That deadwood must be disposed of.
We live in a most beautiful area here in KwaZulu-Natal. At Shalom, we are surrounded by beautiful forests of eucalyptus trees, of pine trees, and when the forester plants those seedlings, they are the size of my little finger, and they look so beautiful when they grow up to waist height, but as they grow older they start to crowd into each other. Then the forester comes and starts to take out the trees that are too cluttered so that the ones that remain can grow strong. If he leaves them, he will have a forest which will be entangled and starved of nutrients. It will be wasted. The same thing applies with a fruit tree. I remember I had a beautiful plum tree. It was the smallest tree in our orchard. It had been pruned naturally when it was small and yet eventually when it grew up, it produced the sweetest plums that I’ve ever eaten.
Now, we need to prune our children, and it’s called discipline. If you see a young man or a young woman who is disciplined, they are a pleasure to be around. They are very well-mannered, totally selfless, they care about other people, not themselves, and they are very popular because people want to be near them. But the person who has never been disciplined is self-centred, they are not interested in the things of God, only themselves, because they have never been pruned. Now the one who does the pruning is Jesus Christ, and it is very painful sometimes, but let it happen so that the end result will be profitable, and the produce will be acceptable to God.
Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day.
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Saturday morning, the 24th of January, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We start in the Book of Exodus 16:15:
”So when the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “This is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat.”
Then we go straight to John 6:35:
”And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life.”
Oh, folks, what a gracious God we serve! I mean those people were starving, over a million of them, and God fed them from heaven. Just enough, never too much and never too little. They got manna from heaven. This is very important, many of us are worrying about things that will never happen. Many of us are trying to make provision for things that we’ll never have to use. We need just enough. People are getting stomach ulcers, they are having nervous breakdowns because they are worrying about things that they will never have to account for. We really need to put our trust in the One who said, ”I am the bread.” I am the manna of your life. That’s what I’m delivering to you, hot out of the oven. The bread which will sustain you for today, not for yesterday, not for tomorrow, just for today.
You see, when they tried to gather more than they needed, what happened? It went rotten, it started to smell. The maggots started to eat it, just enough for today is all we need and then the Lord said, ”And then the day before the Sabbath, you are allowed to take up twice as much because you’ll need it because you are not going work on the Sabbath.” Jesus will take care of every one of your needs, not your wants, but your needs. Big difference! Do not work yourself to death to make money that you will never need to use, and by so doing, shorten your life and become a pain to everybody around you because you are constantly worried about things which will never take place.
Start to thank God for manna every morning and live your life for Him. Let Him be your sustenance, let Him be everything you need.
Jesus bless you and goodbye.