Thought For Today

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Monday morning, the 3rd of August, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We go to the Book of Romans 8:31:”What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” Oh folks, do you realise Who is on your side? I think some of us forget, and that's why we're taking so much strain. Then we go on to verse 37: ”Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” Beautiful - game, set and match! Isn't that wonderful? That's why you find men like Djokovic, Nadal and Federer, when they win a major tournament, they literally collapse onto the grass or onto the clay, and they start weeping. I used to play rugby many years ago, and I loved the game. Can you imagine running onto that rugby field with a huge stadium of people watching, and you look up at the scoreboard and already the score is 50 points to your team and no points to the opposition? It's a win-win situation. So before we even start today, I want to remind you that Jesus Christ has paid the full price for all of our sins. He has made a way for us where there seems to be no way, and most of all He's promised us He'll never leave us nor forsake us. (Hebrews 13:5)2 Corinthians 5:7: ”For we walk by faith, not by sight.” Oh my dear friend, today lift up your head, lift up your eyes, you are looking too low. Jesus is not coming soon, I'm telling you He's on His way and I cannot wait for that day. Have a blessed day as you realise what the Master has done for you and me. He has given us eternal life! Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day. Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Sunday morning, the 2nd of August, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start in the Book of Joshua 3:13:“And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall be cut off from the waters that come down from above; and they shall stand upon an heap.” Do you know, I have been to the Jordan River many, many times. I have had the privilege of baptising hundreds of people in that Jordan River. I want to assure you, the Jordan River is not a stream. It is the life spring of the country of Israel. Without the Jordan River there would be no Israel. Then we go to Luke 8:25: “But He said to them, “Where is your faith?” And they were afraid, and marveled, saying to one another, “Who can this be? For He commands even the winds and water, and they obey Him!”What we see here is that there are always signs and wonders. Every time the Lord performs a miracle, like stopping the Jordan River so that the people of Israel can cross over, just like calming the storm on the Sea of Galilee by speaking, the disciples were absolutely amazed. It reminds me of the story and I have told it to you a few times, I will probably tell you a few more times because it is a miracle that touched my life. We had a fire that was getting away from us on the farm. It was heading towards the forest on our neighbour's farm and there were no clouds in the sky, there was no rain predicted. I got on my knees in front of all my workers and some of my neighbours, and they were helping me to put the fire out, and I prayed, “Jesus, please help us!” And the wind turned around, and it came up from the south, and a most beautiful, gentle storm of rain fell over Shalom Farm and put the fire out - a sign, a miracle and a wonder when we trust the word of God.Today, Trust the Lord. He won't fail you. Jesus bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Saturday morning, the 1st of August, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start in that very well-known psalm, Psalm 23:1-2: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.”That is where our strength is. It is in the promise of God. Then we go straight to the Book of Hebrews 13:6:“So we may boldly say: “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?”The other night I was listening to a wonderful documentary about those famous singers, Bill and Gloria Gaither. He wrote the music, and she does the lyrics, and I want to say to you, they have touched the whole world and have been voted as the best gospel group of the century. But what really touched me is, they are just ordinary people. She says sometimes she will be cooking in the kitchen, and the Lord would give her a word, and she would sit down at the dining room table, and take a pencil and an A4 pad, and write out the words God has given. She said to us that they were about to have their little baby son and he was about to be born, and they were concerned about bringing him into a world that is so full of turmoil and so destructive, then she realised that God is in control, and she sat down and she wrote the words of one of the most beautiful well-known Gospel songs, “Because He Lives, I Can Face Tomorrow.” Isn't that good news? She went on to say that this world has never been a safe place unless you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour. Her little son grew up. He got married, and he had a little girl, and when she was about 13, he wrote to his mom, and he said, “Mom, what a world we are bringing these children into!” Then Gloria could remind him that she wrote that song with Bill when he was born. He must remember that God is completely in control. I want to leave this thought particularly for young mothers with little babies, some who are pregnant, some who have a little baby who has just been born and you fear for the future of this little one. Don't be afraid because the Lord is our helper. He will be with us to the end.Jesus bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Friday morning, the 31st of July, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start in the Book of Psalms 62:5: “My soul, wait silently for God alone, For my expectation is from Him.” Then we go to John 13:7:“What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.”I want to speak to you this morning about disappointment. Maybe your job has come to an end, maybe you are just not cutting it at university, maybe that proposal to that young girl has not worked out, maybe that business deal has fallen through and you are disappointed. The Lord will use that disappointment often to teach us lessons, and you say, “But it is too painful, I can't take it anymore.” You can and you must because that teacher called “disappointment” is going to do a mighty work in your life. Now I want to use an example. When I was a young man, I had just come back from Australia. I was a cowboy in Australia. I got a position in Zambia at a very big farm, but the two owners of the farm, were quite rough-handed guys, and they wanted their pound of flesh, probably like I was after that! I had to be standing on the parade ground - that's what it seemed like - every morning at quarter to six. I had 150 staff that had to be organised to the different parts of the farm. We were doing vegetables, we were doing beef cattle, we were doing seed maize, we were doing commercial maize, and this gentleman used to walk around in gumboots, and he was a very articulate man. He said to me, “Angus, at 6 o'clock, I don't want to see one person standing in the yard. Everybody must be at work.”We had 8 tractors in those days. Now that was a big outfit, and I want to tell you, he really tested me. I handed my resignation in no less than 3 times, and he just tore them up and carried on, but you know, when I look back, that gentleman and his partner, the two of them, taught me more valuable things about life than anybody else. A writer once said, “Dear old rough-handed teacher, we will build you a monument and crown it with flowers and inscribe on it, “Blessed be the memory of disappointment.”Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day. Don't be afraid of disappointment. It will bring lots of benefits afterwards.Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Thursday morning, the 30th of July, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We go to the Book of Deuteronomy 28:13: “And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail…” Isn't that a lovely blessing? The Lord will make you, Sir, the head and not the tail, young lady, the head and not the tail. Why? Because if you love Him with all your heart and you obey the statutes that He has put before you, these are the consequences.Many things you can read right from verse 1: He will give you the fruit of your body, He will bless you to have many children, He will make you a name in the marketplace, He will increase your livestock, He will increase your ability to bless others by your lifestyle. We need to understand that the Lord loves us unconditionally. However, there are consequences for those who refuse to obey His commandments and then expect Him to bless them. That will not happen and cannot happen. I have seen it happen too many times in my own life, especially as a farmer, sometimes catastrophically. We have almost been wiped out by hail and I have said, “Lord, where is the blessing in all this?” And yet He has turned it around for good.I remember one year, maybe I have told you this story before, where I got my planting machine all mixed up and the seed came out and the maize germinated. There were huge gaps in the crop and I thought, “Lord, I asked you please to help me.” The stand, the population of the maize crop was so poor, I thought that I had just about declared myself bankrupt and yet that particular year we had one of the worst droughts in our area that we have ever had, and what happened? The maize crop spread out and there was plenty of room for the plants to grow. Instead of having normal cobs, they were gigantic, and as the farmers know, you don't get paid on volume, you get paid on weight! When I took that crop to the silos and they put it on the weigh-bridge, they couldn't believe the weight of the maize. That year I made more money than in years when I had everything in order. Why? Because God takes the tail and He makes it into the head if you are doing things His way!Just remain faithful, just remain steadfast. I am saying to that young girl who is desperately trying to have a baby - her and her husband just cannot fall pregnant, continue to obey God, love Him, trust Him, and your baby will come. I have got testimonies from all over the world of women who just could not conceive and yet with perseverance, the love of God, and the desire to do things right, Jesus blessed them eventually. God bless you and have a wonderful day and remember, you are the head and not the tail!Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 29th of July, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. Isaiah 40:31: “Those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength,They shall mount up with wings like eagles,They shall run and not be weary,They shall walk and not faint.”I think, like never before, we need to start waiting more upon the Lord before we do anything. As an old farmer myself, I can tell you something right now. Sometimes a young farmer will become impatient. I was one of them. The cow is trying to deliver its baby, and instead of leaving her and waiting for her to do it on her own, we start to interfere, and eventually we mess it up completely. Let the Lord do the work. Even relationships, don't force them. If you have an altercation with somebody and you don't know what to do about it, wait first, pray, pray for them. Pick the correct time, don't run ahead of yourself. The Lord will give you the strength and the love and the ability to rectify the situation, but if you charge into it like a bull in a china shop, you will make it even worse. Those who wait upon the Lord...have you ever seen an eagle in full flight, to see him effortlessly catching the wind thermals, and moving gracefully, not flapping his wings? That lammergeier that we have in South Africa, those huge, bearded vultures with wingspans of over two metres- he doesn't flap around. He just glides, catches the wind thermals, and the wind does the work for him. He just waits upon the right time to do whatever he needs to do. You and I need to do that as well. It's so graceful to see someone who is patient and waiting, and when he makes his decision, it is definite. No “maybe”, or “hope so”, or “let's give it a go”. No, let's wait upon the Lord. If He tells you to buy that business, buy it. If He tells you to sell that business, sell it. If He tells you to propose to that girl, do it, and if He tells you to go and encourage someone, please do it, but wait first, make sure the timing is right, absolutely vital! Don't spoil it by running ahead of yourself.Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day.Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Tuesday morning, the 28th of July, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start in the Book of Deuteronomy 27:2-3: ”…that you shall set up for yourselves large stones, and whitewash them with lime. You shall write on them all the words of this law,…” Then we go to 1 Samuel 7:12: “Ebenezer” Ebenezer, what does that mean? “Thus far the Lord has helped us.” Remember, that is what Samuel did, and put those rocks there as a reminder. At Shalom Farm, after we had been here for 10 years (we have been here almost 50 years), we got together as a family and a community, and we got large rocks, and we placed them outside our little thatched chapel as a reminder that the Lord has been with us thus far.I want to encourage you to do that. You don't even have to do it physically. You can make a note in your diary, a reminder that the Lord has never forsaken us. My wife, Jill, has got green fingers. She can plant anything, and it seems to grow. When we arrived, she planted some beautiful plane trees and when I walk out the door of my little prayer chapel, at my house, I look up and I see a tree that has a circumference of about 3 metres and it stretches up to the heavens. She planted that tree as a little sapling which was smaller than my little finger, and often when I walk out I say, “Thank You, Lord, that You have been with us through thick and thin, through fire, through drought. You have been with us through economic disasters, You are still with us and we are still going strong.” Today, take time out to plant a tree, that you will remember how far the Lord has brought you, to maybe set up a little cairn of stones as a reminder that the Lord has been with us. I used to climb up the mighty Drakensberg Mountains as a younger man, and when you get right to the top, there are not many paths because not too many people walk there, but good faithful climbers have put up little cairns of stones to show you the way to your destination. Remember, if Jesus is for you, you have nothing to worry about. Have a wonderful day, till next time, God bless you, goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Monday morning, the 27th of July, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start in the second book in the Bible, Exodus 3:8: “…to a land flowing with milk and honey,…” Then we go to Deuteronomy 26:15, the very same one, “…a land flowing with milk and honey.” One more scripture, Matthew 6:33: “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”Where are you at this morning? Are you in the land of milk and honey? You are laughing, you are saying, “No, not like it at all! Things are coming to a head here. I can't go on much longer, my business is really stretched out. I am not making it with my degree, I don't even know if I will get that degree!” I want to tell you that the Lord's word is “Yea” and “amen”. If He has promised it, He will do it. I am talking to you about things that have happened in my own life. I remember a story I read a long time ago, I'll try and get it right. I think it was a gold prospector, and he was looking for gold in some valley. He was panning gold in this little river and everything was going wrong. He couldn't find any gold. His food was running out. He was all by himself, and he was totally desperate, crying out to the Lord to please help him. That night a terrible storm came down, and the river started roaring past his little campsite, washed away everything that he had, and he stood up, and he said, Lord, I asked You to please help me. Lord, I'm trying my best to follow You with everything I'm doing and nothing has happened.” And then as he stood out in his little shack, that was half pulled down, he looked and saw the sun shining on something down by the riverbed. When he walked down, what did he find? He found gold nuggets all over the side bank. Yes, that storm had brought the rain, and the rain had washed away everything, and he had found himself literally a gold mine! You don't know what God has in store for you. It might appear that it's a disaster. I want to pray for you and I want to pray a prayer of faith that the Lord will keep you and keep your eyes fixed on Him, the One who is going to take you right through to the land flowing with milk and honey!Father God, I pray for my dear friends today. Yes, indeed Lord, we acknowledge we are living in perilous times, but You said in Your word, ”Call unto me.” Lord, we are calling unto You this morning, and Lord, we are praying that You will hear our prayers and that You will answer them and that You will direct our paths. In Jesus name, Amen.God bless you and have a wonderful day.Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Sunday morning, the 26th of July, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We go to 1 John 4:16:”And we have known and believed the love that God has for us.” The love that God has for us. I read a most beautiful reading written by a wonderful man of God. His name is A B Simpson, and this is what it says. I want to read it to you, and I want to paraphrase it, but it is so encouraging. He says, ”The secret of walking closely with Christ and working successfully for Him is to fully realise that we are His beloved. Let us but feel that He has His heart upon us, that He is watching us from those heavens with tender interest, (He has got His eye on us) that He is working out the mystery of our lives with solitude and fondness, that He is following us day by day, (now listen to this:) as a mother follows her baby in his first attempt to walk alone. (Isn't that beautiful?) That He has set His love upon us (that's Jesus), and in spite of us (how many times have you seen a little baby push your hand away because he wants to walk on his own but you stay with him because you know he might fall? We do that as well, don't we?), and in spite of us, He is working out for us his highest will and blessing as far as we will allow Him. (Many of us are not allowing God to help us) Then when we do that, nothing can discourage us. Our hearts will glow with response of love, our faith will spring to meet His mighty promises and our sacrifices shall become the very luxuries of love for one who is so dear to us. This is the secret of John's spirit.” (He said:) “We have known and believed the love that God has for us (and then lastly) and the heart that has fully learned this has found the secret of unbounded faith and enthusiastic service.”Today, remember you are not alone. He is walking with you, He loves you, He wants to help you. Please allow Him to do it.Jesus bless you have a wonderful day. Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Saturday morning, the 25th of July, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We go straight to the Book of Deuteronomy 25:4:“You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain.” Very, very important, especially for men and women in business, and those who are overseeing people who are working for them. Do not be short-sighted! As a farmer, we will select our best animals and we won't give them a minimal amount of food, we will give them more food because we want them to be productive. In the old days, the way they used to thrash the corn was to have a stake in the middle of a circle of hardened surface, and they would pour out the wheat and the stalks onto a hard surface, and then an ox would walk around and around and around, and by his feet he would shell the grain. Now he was allowed to eat as much food as he wanted while he was doing the job.I want to say to you that principle must be implemented in whatever you are doing. Remember what Jesus said, He told the parable about the talents. He gave the one man so many talents, the other one so many, and the one man he gave one talent, and what did the man with one talent do? He hid it. He didn't use it, he didn't work hard, and when the owner came back and found out that the man with the one talent had done nothing with it, he took that talent and he gave it to the man who had the most talents.When I was reading that parable, it's just a story, I said, “But Lord but that seems unfair because the man who's got the most is getting even more”, and the Lord spoke to me in my heart, very clearly, about the fact that if you work hard and are diligent with what God has given you, He will give you more, but if you are lazy and you mismanage what He has given you, even that which you have, He'll take away, and He'll give to another.So let us not hold back. If you've got somebody that's working for you that's showing promise, give him more. You can never pay too much for a good employee, but you can definitely pay too little. Any young man, any young woman showing promise, don't hold them back. They are working hard and are diligent and honest and God-fearing. Invest in them. Not in the product but in the person who's making the product.Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day. Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Friday morning, the 24th of July, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We go straight to the Book of Genesis 28:15: ”Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.” I just feel that there's somebody this morning that's listening to this little message, who is really, really in a bad place. We speak about three things here, and I got this from an anonymous writer, all he said was, ”With you - companionship, keep you - guardianship, bring you - guidance.” We need to understand that the Lord will never, ever leave us. Now you are maybe very lonely today. You're saying, “I don't have a friend in the world, my family is overseas, I'm by myself.” No, you're not. If you look at Proverbs 18:24, the Lord says: ” …there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” That's companionship.Guardianship - Who is looking after you? You say, “There's no one to look after me. I'm stuck alone in this old age home, there's no one that can help me.” Yes, there is. Jesus says in Hebrews 13:5: “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Isn't that good news? Then there's another person listening at the moment who's saying, ”I need guidance. I need to know what to do next. I don't know where to go, and I don't know who to turn to.” Well, guidance, Psalm 119:105: ”Your word is a lamp to my feet, And a light to my path.”In my prayer room, I've got a beautiful painting that a lady sent me many years ago, it's of a man walking through a dark place holding an old-fashioned lantern. He's carrying it in his one hand, and he's walking down this little path that is dark. He doesn't know where he's going, but that light is giving him direction. You and I need the very same light and we've got it. His name is Jesus Christ and He is the same yesterday, today and forevermore!I want to say to you today, keep your eyes on the Lord, and He will make sure that you reach your destination, which is heaven, by the way.Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day. Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Thursday morning, the 23rd of July, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start in the Book of Psalms 62:5: “My soul, wait silently for God alone, For my expectation is from Him.” Then we go to the New Testament to the Book of Philippians 4:19: “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus (our Lord).” Amen!I want to tell you a little story. My faith was surely tested. How? Well, faith is my subject, it is what I always preach, it is what I do, it is what God has given to me from the time that I first met Him. I have been travelling in Central Africa in my camper with my dear wife, Jill, and we had a breakdown. I arrived at a city in a country just north of ours, desperate to know what to do because the camper would stop and it wouldn't start again, and I couldn't get it going. Eventually, I got it going and managed to limp into a town. I got to this town, and there was a man there, his name was Rocky. Then the Workshop Foreman was a man by the name of Master - a nice name - and then another man, Sepeng, was one of the mechanics. I had them all working on this vehicle of ours and in vain. They took a couple of hours trying to repair the vehicle. Eventually they said, “We can't fix this. The problem is the ignition switch and we don't have one in stock, and we only order them when needed because it hardly is a problem with this vehicle. If we have to order it from South Africa, it will take about 5 weeks to get here and then we will have to fit it.” I couldn't wait that long and was struggling with that issue. These men knew who I was and I had been speaking to them about Jesus, and they knew that Thought For Today was going out all over the world. They were receiving it themselves, which is a great encouragement for me, and I was at my wits' end. Do I go back home to South Africa, all the way back, or do I carry on? The Workshop Manager said to me, “We can do nothing for you now. We have tried everything we can apart from getting the spare part. So what you need to do” (Listen to this, he said to me, who is supposed to be the man of faith), he said, “is to just move on with your journey and trust in God.” Trust in God! And that is exactly what I did. God has been so gracious and kind to us thus far. Jesus bless you and trust in God for everything.Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 22nd of July, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We go to 2 Timothy 1:12:”… I know whom I have believed…” We are talking this morning about personal friendship with Jesus Christ. It is a very real thing.I read a beautiful reading by an anonymous writer who said, ”Personal experience and friendship with Jesus is a very real thing. It's like a tree. A tree uses up every hour of sunshine for it's growth, it thrives in the sunshine and then it is refreshed by the rain. Then storms come, and the storms make it fasten on its grip firmly to the earth for its support, pushing the roots right down deep. So if we are troubled in heart today in all our experiences we are going through, these things happen so that you and I might grow closer in intensity with Jesus Christ as our Lord and saviour.” I really want to encourage you in that area.If you look at those thorn trees in the dry, arid areas, you'll see those trees are very, very slow in growing, but the wood is very dense and very heavy because it goes through much tribulation, drought, fire, floods, and yet it grows from strength to strength. The other tree however, the poplar tree, is more like Balsa wood, it's light, it's soft, it's very easy to cut down, it burns very easily but there is no depth in it.We as believers need to understand that our personal relationship with Jesus Christ needs all the things the tree needs. We're talking about the sunshine for growth. We're talking about the rain for refreshing. We're talking about the storms of life which put our roots right down deep, so that we can take it when it comes. Today, let you and I not be afraid to trust in the Lord because He will never leave us nor forsake us. He says that clearly in Hebrews 13:5. May the Lord bless you as you have a fair day today, knowing that the King of Glory is right next to you. Jesus bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Tuesday morning, the 21st of July, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start in the Book of Genesis 4:9:”Then the Lord said to Cain,” Where is your brother, Abel?” And he said, ”I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper?” Oh yes folks, indeed we are! We are responsible for each other. Let's look at Deuteronomy 22:1. The Lord says: “You shall not see your brother's ox or his sheep going astray, and hide yourself from them; you shall certainly bring them back to your brother.” You and I have a responsibility, first of all to God and then to our fellow man. If we see something is not right, we have an obligation to help him. If somebody has lost something precious and you find it, it is not a case of finders keepers, losers weepers. Remember, we used to say that when we were young? No, go and find out who it belongs to and return it because this is what God requires of us.I remember many years ago, we had a wonderful meeting on the farm. We had many, many men coming to Shalom. I had a beautiful maize crop standing, and the maize was just about ready for reaping. It was nice and golden in colour, and one of the men who came to the meeting decided he was going to take home a souvenir, so he took one of my maize cobs, a full maize cob, and he put it in his vehicle, and when it was over, it was a wonderful meeting we had, he went home with that cob.Do you know, many years later, I am talking maybe 20 years later, I got this phone call, and he is probably listening to this message - and bless you, my dear friend - he said “I took it and it wasn't mine and it has been bugging me ever since”. And he sent back that maize cob in a package to me on the farm. Obviously, I would have said to him, “Keep it, man. What is one mealie cob?” But there is a principle. It was not his, and he knew it, and so he returned it, and that brings peace to you.Sometimes you might be a Comrades runner and a stone gets into your shoe. The best thing is to stop immediately. Take the stone out and then you will be able to finish that race properly. If you don't, eventually that stone will eat away and you will have a massive blister and probably won't even be able to finish the race. Sort things out. If there is something that belongs to your brother, take it back to him so that you can have peace and joy in your heart.Until next time, Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day. Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Monday morning, the 20th of July, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We go to 2 Timothy 2:15: “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” A man by the name of Charles Kinsley said, ”Have your tools ready. God will find you work.” I like that! We are in such a rush to do things, but we don't take time to prepare them. I remember my late father-in-law, who was a perfectionist when it came to his equipment and his tools. He was a steam engineer by profession, in those days before diesel came into the fore, everything was run by steam. I used to admire his workshop. When you went into his workshop, it was spick and span, it was clean, and all the tools were in the right place. He knew where everything was, right down to the last bolt or nut. As a farmer, I would go in often and say, “Dad, I need help here. Can you help me with a certain spanner?” He would walk straight to his tool-kit and bring it out and by the way, it was shining and sparkling clean, and I had to return it the same way! It is such a pleasure to see an artisan working with his tools, whether he is a carpenter, whether he is a boiler-maker, whether he is a mechanic, especially when he arrives on the farm with his pick-up, and he opens up the side, and he has all his tools in front of him. There's nothing that he needs to look for. You take him the problem with the tractor or whatever it might be, and he gets to work, and in no time at all, he has fixed it. Why? Because his tools are ready. As a preacher, I can tell you, when I started off, I used to spend hours, if not days, preparing a sermon. Now I don't do that anymore. I spend hours and days in prayer and waiting on the Lord and speaking to Jesus, and then, when my tools are ready, I can deliver the message with simplicity and clarity so that people can understand it. Today, we need to understand that people need us desperately, but they want the truth, they want it in love, and they want to know that what you are telling them can be backed up every single time with the word of God. So today, as you go into the field, make sure that you have approved yourself to God as a good workman.Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day.Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Sunday morning, the 19th of July, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start in the Book of Zechariah 4:10: “For who has despised the day of small things?” I read a beautiful reading by an anonymous writer that goes like this: “It is the little words you speak, the little thoughts you think, the little things you do or leave undone, the little moments you waste or use wisely, the little temptations which you yield to or overcome, the little things of everyday that are making or messing up your future life.”Don't forget the little things. They mean so much, don't they? When somebody brings you a nice little bunch of flowers, especially if it is a little child, I tell you that it touches my wife's heart and my heart as well, or something small.I had an old gentleman who used to live on the farm with us with his dear wife. His name was Jimmy. We called him Uncle Jimmy. Uncle Jimmy had a very bad chest, he didn't sleep a lot at night. He contracted some sickness when he was in the Royal Navy in the Second World War, and he came and retired on our farm and stayed in a little cottage, and do you know something? Every single day, Uncle Jimmy would come down to see me and he would bring me a little scripture verse, carefully written out on a piece of paper, and everyday that scripture would mean something so special to me, more than if I had got a letter from an international speaker or some well-known person - but Jimmy, every single day, that impacted my life, especially as a young preacher. We need to be careful not to overlook the small things in life because they are the things that will determine our future. So maybe today God is impressing upon your heart to phone somebody or write a little letter. Do you know how nice it is to get a handwritten note? It means that somebody took time out to get a piece of paper and a pen and write it out and then send it to you. It means the world to me, I can tell you right now because it took effort. Today, let us take time out to concentrate not just on the big things in life but the small things too. Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day, goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Saturday morning, the 18th of July, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We go to the Book of Acts 28:30-31: “Then Paul dwelt two whole years in his own rented house, and received all who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no one forbidding him.I want to talk to you about commitment. In the Kingdom of God, there is no such word as “retirement.” I can't find it. I have looked from Genesis to Revelation. Promotion - yes, retirement - nothing. God needs you and me to preach the Gospel until the very end. That is what Paul did to the end. He had to rent his own house. The people just came to him and he taught them about salvation and the Lord Jesus Christ.I remember a story told about the great evangelist, Billy Sunday. Billy Sunday was a professional baseball player. He would slide in to the platform like a baseball player slides into base, and he would sometimes preach even on top of his pulpit. He had a passion for Christ. He met the Lord in a very special way. He spoke against alcoholism, drug addiction and all these evils. He was very, very controversial but very popular and used greatly by God. He would build a trapdoor on the edge of the platform where he was preaching, and when he would make the altar call and ask the people to come forward and give their lives to Christ, he would lift the trapdoor and go into the trapdoor and that would bring him level with the people in the crowd. Then he would shake hands with each one of them as they prayed the sinner's prayer. The one day, he had a heart attack on the platform, he never died but he was in a serious state. One of the helpers, one of his assistants, came up and took him by the hand and said, “Are you ok, Billy?” And Billy said, “Listen, just pray this prayer after me.” He thought it was one of the people coming forward to give their lives to Christ and he was totally oblivious to the fact that he was actually dying and he would lead him in the sinner's prayer. Totally committed to the very, very end.I want to say to you today, I don't care how old you are, how young you are, preach the Gospel at all costs.Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day. Goodbye.

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.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Sunday morning, the 12th of July, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We go straight to the Book of Acts 28:1-6:”Now when they had escaped, they then found out that the island was called Malta. And the natives showed us unusual kindness; for they kindled a fire and made us all welcome, because of the rain that was falling and because of the cold. But when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat, and fastened on his hand.” A snake bit him.” So when the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he has escaped the sea, yet justice does not allow to live.” But he shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm. However, they were expecting that he would swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But after they had looked for a long time and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god.”Folks, we can see again, one minute a villain, the next minute a hero! The same people, within a few moments. He didn't die, so they started to worship him, but before that they wanted to kill him because they said that he was a murderer. What is the point of this story? The point of this story is, the only reward that you and I ever need is from God. I've had that experience myself many, many times. One moment, everybody thinks you're great. You make a mistake, whatever it might be, an honest mistake and everybody is down on top of you. Don't do that, you can't live like that.Let's today, start to trust the Lord like Paul did and He, Himself, will be our Redeemer and our Rewarder. Have a wonderful day. Jesus bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Saturday morning, the 11th of July, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start in the Book of Deuteronomy 19:7: ”Therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall separate three cities for yourself.” Now what happened here, the Lord in His mercy said, when the Israelites went into a new country, three cities were to be separated so that people who had made an honest mistake can go and hide from those who want to avenge the mistake that he has made.Then we go to the Book of Romans 6:23:”For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” You know folks, I want to say to you that our Lord is such a gracious God. If you read on in that scripture just before Deuteronomy 19:7, you will see that the Lord explains that if a man, for example, is cutting down a tree with his friend and the head of the axe comes off the shaft and hits his friend on the head and kills him, it's an accident. They make these three cities available for people to go and hide so that they are not avenged, and the Lord Himself has made a way through Jesus Christ for you and me to have our sins forgiven. That's why He says, ”The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.” Jesus died on the cross of Calvary so that you and I can live. Yes, the God of the second chance - we made a mistake, He has forgiven us and He's given us an opportunity to continue to live!You know I looked up that beautiful scripture, Luke 7:47: ”He who has been forgiven much, loves Me the most but to whom little is for forgiven, loves Me little.” And I want to tell you something now, we can make mistakes, I've made many myself, but if we come to the Lord with a repentant heart and ask forgiveness, He will make a way for us where there seems to be no way.I don't know how many testimonies I've heard from men who have been restored by the Lord Jesus Christ after making a mistake. What about Zacchaeus, the tax collector? He was an evil man, stealing money from his own people, but Jesus came to his house, had lunch with him and said, ”Your sins are forgiven.” Zacchaeus was so overwhelmed, and the Lord said, ”Salvation has come to this house today.” Not only for Zacchaeus but all his friends, the other tax collectors as well.Today, know one thing, that if you are genuinely repentant, God will give you another opportunity.Jesus bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Friday morning, the 10th of July, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We go to the Book of Galatians 3:27: “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” We must be seen by the world as being different, different people. They must see Jesus in us without us having to tell them. Do you remember that story? I think I told you years ago about a man who was sailing in the South Sea Islands, and he had a shipwreck. He was the only survivor, and the local inhabitants were going to kill him but they decided to leave him. They said, “We are going to see how you live, and we believe that you are one of those missionaries who are coming here. We don't want to hear anything.” So the man never said a word, he just lived the life. He lived with them for many, many years. Eventually, he died and they buried him. A few years later another sailing ship arrived at that island with missionaries, and when the missionaries came to the island they got the local people to sit and they were telling them about Jesus, but they noticed that these people weren't surprised, they weren't excited. They were nodding their heads in full agreement. When the missionaries had finished preaching they said, “Have you heard the Gospel before?” They said, “No”. “Well, we see that you are not surprised about the story of Jesus.” They said, “No, we are not surprised.” “Why?” And they said, “Come with us.” And they took these missionaries to a very special place, and there was a grave, and they said, “The man that you are speaking about used to live here with us, and he died and we buried him here.” That man was living the life of Jesus Christ, without saying one word. They saw Jesus in him, in the way in which he acted, in the way in which he loved them, in the way in which he denied himself for their sakes. They had met Jesus through a man who lived there for many years and was not allowed to speak about the Lord.Today, let you and I put on Jesus. Wherever we go, let people come to us and say to us, “We see there is something different about you. Can you please explain to us what it is?” Then we will be able to say to them with a nice smile, a gentle smile, humbly. “Maybe it is Jesus Christ. Would you like to meet Him as well?”Father God,I pray in Jesus' name, that my dear friend who is listening to this message, will also put on Jesus Christ every single day. I ask these things in Your precious name, amen.God bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Thursday morning, the 9th of July, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start in the Book of Deuteronomy 18:22: “when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.”Folks, I really want to say to you this morning, and I know men who have got a prophetic ministry, and they are very accurate, and they love the Lord, and you can see it in their conduct. They are men that you can trust, but we must be very careful. The Lord is warning us this morning, not to be misled by a presumptuous prophetic word. I have heard of people who have sold their homes and immigrated to another country because they felt that a prophetic word was spoken over them, only to find when they got to the other side that they had listened to a man who was speaking presumptuously. It was not the word. We really need to test the spirit. That is why it is so important to let the Holy Spirit give you His peace. Now, we go to the Gospel of John 1:44-45. Now this is a prophetic word: “Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”Now that is a prophetic word you can believe. “We have found Him…” We need to use the Bible to confirm a prophetic word that has been spoken. If it is not in the Bible, I don't care who it is, you cannot believe it. It must be confirmed through the word of God, and that gives you security, that gives you peace, and that shows you the difference between a prophetic word and a false prophecy. If that word cannot be confirmed with God's Holy Word, do not listen or believe him. So I want to say to you today, don't be afraid, no, not at all. I have had many prophetic words spoken over my life and they have come to pass, but I have also had other words spoken over my life which I have cast aside because they are untrue and my spirit, the Spirit of God in me, does not witness with it. It is very, very important, especially for young people today.If God has not told you what to do, then don't do it. If God gives you a word, and then it is confirmed through somebody, sometimes a stranger, then you know it is not a coincidence, it is God. Have a wonderful day, Jesus bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 8th of July, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We go to the Book of Acts 27:10: Paul speaking: “Men, I perceive that this voyage will end with disaster and much loss, not only of the cargo and ship, but also our lives.” Now Paul, the man of God, the apostle, gave them warning when they were at sea because the winds were getting very dangerous, and he suggested that they sit tight, but no, if you look at verse 11: “Nevertheless the centurion was more persuaded by the helmsman and the owner of the ship than by the things spoken by Paul.” So the so-called experts, the ship's captain, the owner of the ship - of course they had ulterior motives - they didn't listen to the man of God, and they carried on with their ways and we know what happened in the end. Everything that Paul said happened exactly like that. They lost everything, the cargo, the ship - they were totally lost. I want to tell you about something that happened to me, many years ago. The Lord led us to hire the biggest tent in the world at that time. It was built in the UK, it was enlarged in Europe, and it was shipped out to Johannesburg, South Africa, for the first Earth Summit meeting. We heard about it. We hired it - seventeen 40-ton rigs brought down to the farm, and it took three weeks to erect it. It was a magnificent tent, but we had 30,000 men inside, that was the capacity of the tent, and 30,000 men outside. It was an amazing event. Many of you listening to this message today were there. But the interesting thing that I want to share with you is that after the event was finished, and it was wonderful, God moved powerfully, a group of businessmen contacted our office and said, “We want to buy the tent and give it to you so that you can carry on preaching the Gospel”. Well, I mean that is amazing. This tent was worth millions and millions of dollars. So I went into my closet. We went into prayer and I sought the Lord, and I felt the Lord say, “Do not touch the tent.” I mean, I couldn't believe it. So I went back to the men and I said, “Thank you very much for your very kind offer but we feel the Lord does not want us to take the tent.” I only found out later that the tent, on average, cost a million rand to erect each time, then had to be taken down and shipped to the next place, and we would have to hire a whole fleet of trucks. Of course, needless to say, the very next year we had that next conference with 120,000 men and counting, who would never have fitted into the tent.Today, listen to the word of God and not to man's opinion, and things will go better for you.Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day.Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Tuesday morning, the 7th of July, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We go to the Gospel of John 11:21-25: ”Now Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.” You see what happened there? Martha was one of Jesus' best friends. Martha, Mary and Lazarus, he used to stay at their house many times. Now she asked, ”Lord, I'm praying for my brother.” He was dead. Jesus said to her, ”Your brother will not die, he will live.” Now she misunderstood him, she thought He was talking about the resurrection. No, He was talking about the fact that he was about be raised from the dead immediately. Do not limit God!So often, we ask the wrong things. See, after that, Jesus went to the tomb, called Lazarus out of the tomb, and he was raised from the dead. Martha thought that the Lord was speaking about the day of resurrection when we are all going to be raised up. No, we need to listen to God and we must not ever limit God. He can do anything. I know. I've experienced it in my own life. I had an experience on this very farm where a woman was struck by lightening and all her friends told me she was dead. I prayed for her and God raised her up. That is a fact. Do not limit God!That wonderful missionary, William Carey, who took the gospel to India said, ”Expect great things from God and attempt great things for God.” I heard one old faithful man of God say, ”He who aims for the stars, aims too low.” We must aim above the stars because God is not limited in anything. Do not limit God today. I don't know what it is that you are trusting Him for, but I'm going to pray for you that God will open your spiritual eyes just to get a glimpse of how big and how great your God is!Father, I pray for my friend listening to this message right now, who has been limiting You, Lord. Their expectation of You is so low and yet Lord You want to give them so much. Lord, give them spiritual eyes to see well above anything that they can even dream of, and we thank You Lord that You will answer that prayer of faith. In Jesus precious name. Amen.God bless you and remember, aim high and never limit God! Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Monday morning, the 6th of July 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We go straight to the Book of Acts 27:1 and I'm reading one verse: ”And when it was decided that we should sail to Italy, they delivered Paul and some other prisoners to one named Julius, a centurion of the Augustan Regiment.” Are you on a journey today? Of course you are. All of us are on a journey, and just like Paul, the Apostle, we are trusting the Lord Jesus Christ to get us to our destination safely, but if you read on from this from this story, you'll see that Paul went through a lot. Eventually, the ship he was sailing on actually sank, but no one drowned. Paul was trusting the Lord and encouraging the people.This journey that you and I are on is not a bed of roses, not at all. God never promised us a bed of roses, but He did promise us that He would never, leave us and that He would never forsake us. Hebrews 13:5. So where about are you on the journey at the moment? Are you starting your journey? Are you completing your journey? Well, only God knows, but what we do need to do is to take one day at a time, sometimes one hour at a time, it's all we can manage, but we must be sure of our destination.Remember, if you aim at nothing, you're going to hit it. If you've got no port of call to aim for, then you're going to be wandering in the sea. Paul knew he had to go to Rome. He knew that he was going to suffer and he knew that he was going to die for the Lord, but he could still be steadfast, encourage other people and run his race. What a man of God! The men here at Shalom, we have a prayer meeting on a Wednesday morning at five o'clock and one of our favourite songs is the following one:I have decided to follow JesusI have decided to follow JesusI have decided to follow JesusNo turning back. Praise the Lord, no turning back.The cross before me and the world behind meThe cross before me and the world behind meThe cross before me and the world behind meNo turning back. Praise the Lord, no turning back.Amen. Let's set our sights, like Paul, on the destination which is ultimately heaven itself.Have a wonderful day, Jesus bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Sunday morning, the 5th of July, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start in the Book of Deuteronomy 17:19: ”And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes,…“ Then we go straight to Psalm 119:105: ”Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” We have it all there, the Lord has put it before us. The Israelites wanted a king like all the other nations, and so reluctantly God gave them a king, but the statute was that the king must obey the law of the Lord. The fear of the Lord - that's not to be afraid of God, but it is to respect God, to treat the Lord with reverence, to obey His laws, and then things will go well for him, and you'll see that right through history. When a leader uses God's Holy Word, the Bible, as his compass and direction finder, that man, that woman, will be used mightily of God to lead their people.I think of a school today. The school that opens every morning with prayer and scripture reading, that school is going to go well. I'm telling you folks, I know it. The same thing happens in the business. I've seen it, men are doing it all over the place and woman, they start their day, whether it be a garage where they are fixing motor vehicles, whether it be in a mine, where they are going down underground, before they go down they pray and they read the word of God. On the farm, all my farm workers coming together and hearing the word of God for that day. It brings unity, it brings peace, and it brings joy. What about the home? That's the real place. You see, when we use the word of God at home, it settles all arguments and disputes. In the morning, moms and dads, pray for your children before they go to school, before they go to university, every day.We think of a court of law. When that person is called up in a court of law, he has to put his hand on the Bible, and he's got to say, ”I promise to tell the truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God.” These are statutes that have been put in place so that we might live lives of peace, of prosperity, and of hope, giving Jesus Christ first place every single morning in your life, and you will be amazed at how well things will go!Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day. Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Saturday morning, the 4th of July, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.We go to 1 Samuel 15:22: “Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.”Now, every single time the Israelites disobeyed God, they had to bring a sacrifice, an offering to ask God to forgive them, but now the man of God, Samuel, a wonderful prophet of God, said it is better to obey rather than keep on saying sorry, to keep on making a sacrifice, taking the fat of rams, which was very choice, and using it as an offering. I want to say to you three things: True faith in God (number 1) brings obedience, (number 2) and the obedience eventually brings blessing. What do I mean by that? Well, many, many years ago we had a big campaign in King's Park Rugby Stadium in Durban, South Africa. When I was preaching my heart out in my Scottish kilt, they had said on the radio that El Niño, that horrible, horrific drought, was coming to South Africa. The rural small-time farmers must not plant any crops because it will be a failure. I said clearly, “To hell with El Niño, I am going home. I am going to plant a crop of potatoes. Now, I had never grown potatoes in my life, and I had no form of watering them, no irrigation. I was going to do it on dry land. Even my neighbour came over and said, “Angus, are you committing suicide? You can never reap anything out of that, and El Niño is coming. I said, “I am going to do it by faith.” So, by faith, I went home and planted my first crop of potatoes, and, of course, the rest is history. What a blessing! Oh yes, they did grow in spite of what all the naysayers said, and I reaped a crop of potatoes, and that was the beginning of an abundant blessing that God has given to me, because I wrote a book called “Faith like Potatoes.” Do you know, that book is in 17 different languages? Do you know there is a movie? And it is still available to this day. Sony, the big picture movie giants have signed us up for another 15 years. Why is that? It is because obedience brings blessing. Today, I don't know what it is that you are struggling with. Hear clearly from God, then by faith, do it. Sometimes it won't even make sense. By faith do it, so that God will receive all the glory. May the Lord bless you as you step out into the unknown by faith, with your hand in the hand of the man who stilled the waters, Jesus Christ.God bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Friday morning, the 3rd of July, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We go to the Book of Acts 26:28: ”Then Agrippa said to Paul, “You almost persuade me to become a Christian.” We want to talk today about the power of personal testimony.The Lord saved my wife, Gill and me through a lay witness mission. What does that mean? A group of ordinary people, like you and me, coming into a church and just getting up one after another and giving testimony of the change in their lives through what Jesus Christ had done for them. Simple, yet absolutely profound, honest stories from the lives of just the man in the street, that is what changed my life. It was no fancy preaching. It wasn't a fancy sermon. It wasn't an intellectual lecture. No, it was a simple story told by a simple housewife, a simple farmer, a simple student - just real stories. Now, Paul, the apostle, did exactly that. He just told Agrippa how Jesus Christ had met him on the road to Damascus and his life was instantly changed.Well, these people came up, I'll never forget it as long as I live, one by one, and they gave short stories. These stories lasted maybe two minutes, three minutes at most. They were saying,” I was caught up in alcoholism. I could not stop drinking. I hated myself for it, then I came before the Lord and I asked Him to help me, and supernaturally He delivered me from the curse of alcoholism.” Then the next person would come up and say, ”My marriage was in a total mess.” He would come up with his wife. The two of them would stand there. ”We couldn't get on. We decided we were going to get divorced, then we thought about the children and we thought we'd give it another go and then we met Jesus Christ. Now we are more in love with each other than we were when we first met each other.” Powerful stories! Successful businessmen who were really in a bad way, their businesses all of a sudden took a downward turn and everything that they had been working for was lost. Then they turned to Christ and He restored them a hundred-fold.I want to say to you today, do not be scared to tell people how the Lord has impacted your life and you might say, ”Well I don't have much of a story.” You will be surprised, my dear friend, the simpler the story, the more profound. Just keep telling people what Jesus Christ has done in your life. That is the most powerful story you will ever tell.Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day. Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Thursday morning, the 2nd of July, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start in the Old Testament in the Book of Deuteronomy 16:1. The Lord says: “Observe the month of Abib, and keep the Passover to the Lord your God, for in the month of Abib the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night.” Then we go to John 3:3: “Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Then we go down a little bit further to verse 7, Jesus says again: “Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.” A conscious decision to make the greatest decision of your entire life, and we cannot afford to forget that time. I know some of you listening to this message can honestly say, “I don't remember the exact day. I don't remember the exact month, but I know that God has changed my life. That is wonderful and I rejoice with you but there must be a time in your life where you have drawn a line in the sand and said, “Devil, this far and no further.” I did it on the 18th of February, 1979, in the little Methodist Church in the Main Street of our town, Greytown, and I will never ever forget it. No, I didn't see any bolts of lightning, I didn't hear any thunder - no, I made a conscious decision that I was going to follow Jesus Christ and Him, alone. That is why the Jewish people are so strong in their roots, because they do not forget the time that the Lord took them out of Egypt, 400 years of slavery, took them out by night - miraculous - and they will not forget that. I have been to Israel many, many times. I have had the privilege of speaking at the Feast of Tabernacles, where they rejoice in the Lord and tell their children about what happened and how they came out of slavery in Egypt. I want to tell you now, even today, I want to pray with you if you have never, ever made a conscious decision to follow Jesus Christ with all of your heart. Please pray this prayer after me, and I am going to pray it slowly:Dear Lord Jesus,I repent of my sin, and I ask you to be the Saviour of my life today, on the 2nd of July, Thursday morning, 2026. I will serve no other gods but You. Thank You for dying for me, a sinner, on the Cross at Calvary, but Lord, through Your death I have been set free from the slavery of the system in this world.In Jesus' name, amen.Wonderful! Congratulations! Go and tell 3 people what you have just done. Until next time, Jesus bless you! Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 1st of July, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start in the Book of Matthew 25:21: “His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.” I want to ask you a question today. Are you being obedient to what the Lord called you to? Whenever I think of an obedient servant, I think of Job, the farmer. Job didn't always have it going well for him. We know that. If you look at Job 13:15, he said “Though He slay me, yet will I (still) trust Him.” That is unconditional surrender, that is being a faithful servant whether the going is good or whether the going is not so good. Where do you stand today? I want to pray for you in a moment because I read something this morning that really stirred me up. A famous man of God said, “God holds us responsible, not for what we have but for what we might have had, not for what we are but for what we might have been.” I want to say to you today, there is no future in the past but this is a directive that I believe we need to look at. The Lord is saying, “But I told you to do that and you didn't do it, now you haven't got anything. I gave you an opportunity to go through that door, but you were scared. I gave you an opportunity but now you have lost it.” But we thank God that He is a merciful God and if we cry out to Him, He will give us another opportunity to put things right. So I want to pray for you:Heavenly Father,I pray for my dear friend listening to this message today, that he will repent, say sorry, for things in his life he knows he should have done and yet he didn't do them. Give him an opportunity, Lord, to rectify that situation by opening another door for him, that he might go through in faith, and then Lord, he will become the man, the woman, that you meant them to be. I pray this prayer over myself as well, Lord. Please forgive me for pushing aside so many opportunities because of fear, because of unsureness, because of a lack of faith and maybe because of sin in my life. Today, I say sorry, I repent, I dust myself off and I am going to go ahead and take that new opportunity that, by faith, You are going to give me. I pray this in Jesus' name, amen.God bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Tuesday morning, the 30th of June, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start in the Book of Luke 12:12: “For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.” Now that is a beautiful scripture. I am thinking particularly this morning of young students at university or at school; I am thinking of CEO's of large companies who have to deliver a critical speech. I am thinking of employers who have to come up with the right answer for their employees today.From that Scripture, we go straight to the Book of Acts 24:1: “Now after five days Ananias the high priest came down with the elders and a certain orator (that is a specialised speaker) named Tertullus. These gave evidence to the governor against Paul.” So they brought in the professionals to accuse Paul of something, of course, which he did not do. Then the last Scripture, I want to share with you today, found in the Book of Psalms 81:10:“Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.”It doesn't matter who is standing against you. Paul defended himself. He never got a defence counsel. He spoke up himself. When you speak the truth, when you speak the word of God, no one can stand against it because the Holy Spirit is speaking through you, the truth. When you speak the truth, no one will contest the truth. Lies never hold any water. When you make your defence, keep it simple and let the Holy Spirit speak through you. Many a time, when I am about to get on the platform to speak to a large crowd, I will be walking up the steps, it's quite a frightening thing, by the way, and as I am walking up, the Lord will say to me, in my heart, “I do not want you to speak about this subject. I want you to speak about marriages.” Now, I haven't prepared a thing, but God gives me a Scripture, and when I am obedient, and by the grace of God, I do exactly what He said, because I am too afraid to do anything else, we hit the bullseye.Today, it doesn't matter what you are doing, what court you are going into, remember, if Christ is for you, there is no man that will stand against you.Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day.Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Monday morning, the 29th of June, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start in the Book of Deuteronomy 24:15: “Each day you shall give him his wages, and not let the sun go down on it, for he is poor and has set his heart on it; lest he cry out against you to the Lord, and it be sin to you.” Then we go to the Gospel of Matthew 20:2: “Now when he had agreed with the labourers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard.” Now, it is not in the Bible, but you know the old saying, “a fair day's work for a fair day's pay”? But that is so true. We really need to be careful. If you are an employer and you are listening to this message, a word from the Lord for you: if you try to underpay your staff and steal their wages, the Lord will not be pleased with you, and things will not go well in your business. I also want to say to the employees, if you are abusing your boss, your employer, by stealing his time, using his equipment for personal gain or profit, the Lord will not be pleased with you. I can tell you right now, the work will not go well, and you will probably eventually be caught and fired. We really need to honour what the Lord has put in place. We need to work hard, we need to work diligently, then our employer will treat us, hopefully, in a godly manner. You know, when I started farming, I was in a new area. I didn't know many people here. In fact, I hardly knew anyone, and the only people I would speak to were the people who would come to the farm and ask for work, and I built up some wonderful relationships with my staff. My one foreman, you might have heard of him - Simeon Bhengu, he became, not only my employee but a very good personal friend to me. Many a time we would sit together and talk about the day's work. Should I plant this crop or shouldn't I? Should I buy those animals or shouldn't I? And he would give me godly wisdom. Now, he is not a very well-educated man but of course, neither am I, but together, we would sit and make a plan and it would work, and he would be happy and I would be happy. If a man comes to work for you and he is stealing from you, you need to dismiss him because he does not honour you, especially if you give him a warning and he still carries on with his abuse of the responsibility that you have given him. Today, pay well, work hard and God will do the rest. Jesus bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Sunday morning, the 28th of June, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start in the Book of Zachariah 13:1:“In that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness.” Then we go to 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.” Isn't that beautiful? We don't have to carry that weight around with us, just breaking us. Just go to the Lord and ask Him to forgive you, and He will cleanse you with that blood that comes from Jesus Christ, the blood which covers a multitude of sin. There is no sin that is too great for the Lord not to forgive, and there is no sin which is too small for the Lord not to forgive. I really want to encourage you to address those small sins because I know people say, “We don't want to bother the Lord. We know how busy He is.” No, deal with it while it is still in the bud. If you leave it, what happens? It grows and grows, and eventually becomes a huge problem in your life that you cannot handle. I am talking particularly in the area of your life, things like immorality, I am talking about things like pornography. I am talking about things like getting involved in immoral relationships. It starts very innocently and eventually it can ruin your marriage, it can ruin your career, it can ruin your life. Don't let it happen! And that great sin that you think God cannot forgive - there is no sin that Jesus Christ cannot forgive. When He said to His Father, when He was dying on the cross, just before He died, He said, “It is finished!” - which means He had completed the work that Father had called Him to do. Now, do not disregard that beautiful promise from God and start to live free like an eagle that has got nothing to hold it back, and catch those thermals and fly up into the high places, and talk with the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. May Jesus bless you as you walk in truth and righteousness.Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Saturday morning, the 27th of June, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start in Proverbs 14:23:“In all labour there is profit,…” Then we go to Mark 6:3: “Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary,...?” Yes, Jesus was a carpenter. He was a blue-collar worker. By the way, my late dad was a blacksmith, and my grandfather was a master blacksmith - working men, hard-working men as Jesus was. They say maybe He was more of a stone mason than a carpenter, because in those days there were not a lot of trees around the area of Nazareth, and they used a lot of stone to build their houses.I want to talk to you about Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. He wrote a poem in 1842 called “The Village Blacksmith”, and this poem is all about honesty, satisfaction, and hard work. If ever we needed to work hard, it is now. It is a beautiful poem, and for the young people listening to this, please listen carefully. This is how it goes:Under a spreading chestnut-treeThe village smithy stands;The smith, a mighty man is he,With large and sinewy hands;And the muscles of his brawny armsAre strong as iron bands.His hair is crisp, and black, and long,His face is like the tan;His brow is wet with honest sweat,He earns whate'er he can,And looks the whole world in the faceFor he owes not any man.Week in, week out, from morn to night,You can hear his bellows blow;You can hear him swing his heavy sledge,With measured beat and slow,Like a sextonringing the village bell,When the evening sun is low.And children coming home from school Look in at the open door;They love to see the flaming forgeAnd hear the bellows roar,And catch the burning sparks that flyLike chaff from a threshing floor.He goes on Sunday to the church,And sits among his boys;He hears the parson pray and preach,He hears his daughter's voice,Singing in the village choir,And it makes his heart rejoice.It sounds to him like her mother's voice,Singing in paradise!He needs must think of her once more,How in the grave she liesAnd with his hard, rough hand he wipesA tear out of his eyes.Toiling,-rejoicing,-sorrowing,Onward through life he goes;Each morning sees some task begin,Each evening sees it close;Something attempted, something done,Has earned a night's repose.Thanks, thanks to thee my worthy friend,For the lesson thou hast taught!Thus at the flaming forge of lifeOur fortunes must be wrought;Thus on its sounding anvil shapedEach burning deed and thought.Jesus bless you and have a wonderful dayGoodbye.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Friday morning, the 26th of June, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We go to the Book of Acts 23:26-30: ”To the most excellent governor Felix: Greetings. This man was seized by the Jews and was about to be killed by them. Coming with the troops I rescued him, having learned that he was a Roman. And when I wanted to know the reason they accused him, I brought him before their council. I found out that he was accused concerning questions of their law, but had nothing charged against him deserving of death or chains. And when it was told me that the Jews lay in wait for the man, I sent him immediately to you, and also commanded his accusers to state before you the charges against him. Farewell.” This is a letter written by an unbeliever, we're assuming, a Roman commander to his Governor, Felix. This man actually saved one of Christianity's greatest ambassadors, the Apostle Paul. You know what the Lord laid on my heart this morning? I really want to share it with you. As Christians, we must learn to speak up, and we must learn to get involved with the things of this world. Now you've heard me say many times before, we are sojourners, we are travellers through a foreign land. This is not our home, our home is in Heaven, but this man is an example to us. He got involved and as a result saved the life of Paul, the Apostle. If he hadn't got involved and sent this letter with his soldiers to Caesarea, to the Governor Felix, Paul would have been killed. I don't know how many times unbelievers have put us to shame when it comes to doing the right thing. We walk past, we look the other way. We must not do that. We are not of this world, but we are representatives of Jesus Christ in the world. He could have just turned the other way and said, ”Look, it's got nothing to do with me. Do what you like with him.” They would have killed him. Today, you and I, as ambassadors of Christ have a responsibility in society to speak up and say, “Hey, that's not right” or to defend an innocent man. Jesus bless you and let's stand up for the king. Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Thursday morning, the 25th of June, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start in the Book of Deuteronomy 15:11: ‘You shall open your hand wide to your brother, to your poor and your needy, in your land.' Then we go to Matthew 25:40: ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.' That's Jesus speaking. I want to say to you today, we cannot out-give the Lord. The Lord is a giver by nature. Remember, He has actually given His very life so that you and I can live! When we start to give, we must give to someone who can't repay us. There must be no conditions, no ulterior motives. It is not like an insurance company, you put more money in and you get more out. No, not at all. You give unconditionally, not expecting anything back from that person. Why? Because we are actually giving to the Lord, and I want to tell you from personal experience, you can never out-give God. God is a giver by nature, unlike the devil, who is a thief. The devil comes to steal, kill and to destroy but Jesus said, “I came to give you life abundantly.” (John 10:10) And that is exactly what you and I have to do. We have to give unconditionally to those who can't give back to us and that is a proof that we are not giving for any personal gain.I remember as a new Christian, I asked my minister once, “How much must I give?” He said, “Give till it hurts.” But it must hurt a little bit, otherwise it is not worth anything. And you know it is amazing, it's happened to me. I'm sure it's happened to you as well. When you give to someone who is really struggling, and you are too, but you just give him something, it makes you feel so much better because God has given us a heart, and our heart is to give to others and to bless others and to see them prosper.I went to the hairdresser the other day to get my hair done. I haven't got much hair left but I went to smarten myself up to look smart for my wife. After this gentleman had finished cutting my hair, I stood up and I said, ”How much do I owe you?” He said, ”No, you don't owe me anything. The man who has just left paid for you.” You know I was deeply touched. I couldn't find him to say thank you even but I know that God will bless him.Today, do something for people who cannot repay you.Jesus bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 24th of June, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start in 2 Samuel 5:19: “…so David enquired of the Lord, ‘Shall I go and attack the Philistines? Will you deliver them into my hands?' Then we go to Matthew 7:7: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” Do not leave your quiet time room until you have enquired of the Lord. We need to ask the Lord, my dear friend. So often, we are impulsive. I am a bad one for that, ask my wife! I am changing feet sometimes, but we can't afford to do that anymore. We don't have the time, we don't have the resources, and life is too hectic. We need to seek the Lord first. He is our compass. He is our direction-finder. We need to say, “Lord, do we buy that farm?” Or “Do we sell this farm?” That is a huge decision to make and it affects everybody on the farm, not just you, sir. All the people that you employ, your children having to change schools, your wife, having to change everything. We can't “wing it”, as they say. We need to seek God's direction.“Oh yes, but Angus, I have been doing that, and I haven't heard anything.” Well then, don't do anything until you hear from God. When you are going to buy that new pick-up, that new motorcar, first wait on the Lord. Ask Him to give you direction. Do I trade in my old one and buy the new one? The Lord might say, “Is your old one causing you any problems?” No. “Why do you want to outlay that excess money to get yourself into debt so that you can drive a vehicle like your next-door neighbour. Don't do that.” What about your crops? “Well, I am going to grow the same crops that everybody else grows.” Why? Seek the Lord first. He might tell you, “No. I don't want you to plant any maize next year. I want you to plant wheat.” We need to seek from the Lord, and don't leave your quiet time room until you get an answer from the Lord. And that will make you a wise man or woman. Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day, goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Tuesday morning, the 23rd of June, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start in that well-known scripture found in Psalm 20:7: ”Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; But we will remember the name of the Lord our God.” Then we go to Acts 23:14: “They came to the chief priests and elders, and said, “We have bound ourselves under a great oath that we will eat nothing until we have killed Paul.” Forty men pledge that they will eat nothing, they will drink nothing, until they kill the apostle, Paul. But of course, Jesus is Paul's protector. He is also your protector and my protector.What happened was that a young boy, the son of Paul's sister, overheard the ambush that was going to take place and went to the Roman Commander and told them what was going to happen, and they took Paul out of the city. They protected him. Isn't that beautiful? The Lord protects you and me often, and we do not even know that He is doing it. We will know when we get to Heaven. We just thank Him every day for protecting our families, our children, our parents, the widows and the orphans. He is our protection.Remember that story of the preacher named William Duma who operated on the South Coast of KwaZulu-Natal? He was going on a bus to another preaching appointment. He was in the middle of the sugarcane fields, sitting in the front of the bus on the passenger side, when all of a sudden, the Holy Spirit impressed upon him to get off the bus immediately. So he pulled the emergency wire. The bus driver came to an abrupt halt. There was dust flying all over the place. The bus driver was very angry. “Who pulled the emergency wire, right in the middle of the sugarcane fields?” There were no houses, no village anywhere near to be seen. This little preacher put up his hand. He said, “It was me. I have to get off the bus.” The driver said, “Are you mad? You are in the middle of nowhere.” "Well,” he said, “the Lord told me I have to get off.” Well, he opened the door and pushed William Duma out, threw his suitcase after him, slammed the door, put the bus into gear and roared off with a cloud of dust, and the little man of God stood there wondering, “Why have You done this, Lord?” But do you know that the bus went round the corner, and it wasn't a couple of kilometres away when it had a head-on collision with a truck coming from the opposite direction, and the worst damage was right in the passenger seat, in the front row, right next to where the bus driver was seated. William Duma would have died instantly. It was not his time. Don't be afraid today, call upon the name of the Lord. He will send His angels to protect you. Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day.Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Monday morning, the 22nd of June, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start in the Book of Deuteronomy 14:25: “…then you shall exchange it for money, take the money in your hand, and go to the place which the Lord your God chooses.” We are talking here about the tithe. That's ten per cent of our income, which belongs to the Lord. When the Israelites had reaped their crop, they would take ten per cent to the Temple and give it to the Lord. What the Lord is saying, “but if you are far off, if you are in a far off place and you can't get home, what you do is you sell ten per cent of your crop, take the money and with the money, you give it to the work of the Lord which the Lord will show you.” Then we go to Malachi 3:8:“Will a man rob God?Yet you have robbed Me!But you say,‘In what way have we robbed You?'In tithes and offerings.The Lord goes on in verse 10:“Bring all the tithes into the storehouse,That there may be food in My house,…”Where is the storehouse? The storehouse is the place where you receive your bread, your spiritual food. He says:“And try Me now in this,”Says the Lord of hosts,“If I will not open for you the windows of heavenAnd pour out for you such blessingThat there will not be room enough to receive it.”He goes on in verse 11, He says:“And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes,So that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground,Nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,”Says the Lord of hosts;…”Oh, my dear friend, it's very straightforward and it's something we don't like to talk about, isn't it? Some people are just continually losing out, but they will not give the Lord His tithe, which is ten per cent. You might say, ”But I work on a far-off oil rig in the middle of the sea. There's no church where I am.” But you can send your money home, to a place where you receive your daily nourishment, from wherever that might be. God will tell you where to send it, maybe to an orphanage, maybe to a missionary station. I don't know, but folks, I want to tell you, we must not rob God. I am talking to myself as well. We have to give Him 10% of the income from our hard-earned work. He says, if we do, then He will reward us and He will keep the devourer back from us and He will not allow the devourer to destroy the fruit of our labours.Let's just be obedient and let's give to the Lord Jesus Christ His due money. May the Lord bless you, have a wonderful day, and do not feel guilty about it at all. Start as soon as you can, and you will see the difference. Jesus bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Sunday morning, the 21st of June, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. It is Father's Day, I want to congratulate all fathers on this day, not an easy job!We go to the Gospel of John 20:21: ”So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” You and I have been sent by God. That wonderful man of God, F B Meyer, wrote, ”We should never leave our room until we have seen the face of our dear Master, Jesus Christ, and have realised that we are being sent forth by Him to do His will and to finish the work that He has given us to do.” That's quite an awesome thing, isn't it, to be sent by the Lord?Now, every single day, God has a plan for your lives and for my life, every single day. I can see some old lady there, in an old age home says, ”What have I got to do today? I can't even leave my room.” What you can do, you can pray, and please put me on that list. You can pray because God answers prayer. That's one thing I do know. You know, people ask me often, ”What can we do to help you or help the ministry?” And I just say one thing, ”Please pray.” You see when men work, they work, but when men pray, God works. So every single day, you and I have got something to do. He gives us the wherewithal to do the job.I can hear a young man say, ”I will never get that degree, I just cannot get there.” You can and you will, and every day, you do your part, God will do the rest, and then of course, He doesn't send us out like lambs amongst the wolves. No, He sends us out with the Holy Spirit, and if you listen to Him carefully, He will direct your paths. He will tell you, ”Don't go this way, go that way. Don't do this, do that. Phone that person, don't phone the other person.” Listen! Get into a habit of listening to everything He wants you to do. We need to do exactly as Jesus did because Jesus said, ”The Father has sent Me and even so I send you.” Each one of us. I am so excited about what God has got in store for you today. It might just be what you think is something very small but it might just change a person's life forever. So Father, I pray for my friends now, that they will never think that they are of no use, but You have called them, appointed them for a time such as this. Make them obedient to Your word which says, ”Lord, please send me.” I ask this in Jesus' precious name, amen.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Saturday morning, the 20th of June, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start in the Book of Hebrews 11:1“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Then we go down to verse 6: “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”Folks, I want to tell you, Abraham was a very wealthy man, he left everything, by faith, and went to an unknown destination. Now, that takes faith. But if we go to James 2:23, the scripture says that “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” If you want to please God, we need to walk by faith and not by sight. We need to believe in things that we cannot see but we need to trust the word of God and nothing else.A man phoned me the other day. He was so sad - his brother had just lost his whole crop for the whole year. A hailstorm came through and destroyed his avocado pears and his maize crop. The young man is devastated. I want to say to you, if you are listening to this message, young man, I do really understand. I have been there, not once but many times, but one thing that will come out of this, if you allow the Lord to take full control, your faith will grow. That's how faith grows. Faith grows when we walk the talk and we stand by faith. “Even though He slay me”, another farmer said, “yet will I still trust Him.” You will find that in Job 13:15.I have got something I put up on the wall in my prayer room. I have stuck it on the wall with Prestik because it is important to me. This is what I have written: “From start to finish by faith, not by effort, not by good works, but by faith.” "It is through faith that a righteous person has life.” Romans 1:17. Mark 11:22: “Have faith in God.” Aim higher, go further, trust more and the mountain must move, and let there be no doubt in what you are doing, and Jesus Christ will do the rest in your life.Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day.Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Friday morning, the 19th of June, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start in the Book of Acts 23:11. This is Jesus speaking to Paul: “Be of good cheer, Paul; for as you have testified for Me in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness at Rome.” Then we go straight to Philippians 1:21. Paul says: ”For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Are you afraid to die? Are you afraid of the future? Are you afraid that maybe something will happen to your family if you are not here? This is your time to put your trust in the Lord. We're living in perilous times. I'm sure many young mothers, when they look at their children and their babies, say, ”Lord, what kind of future does my child have?” I want to say something to you, if you are in Christ Jesus, you are immortal until your work here on earth has been completed. Now I've heard that said many times by many wonderful men and women of God. I am immortal until my work here on earth is completed. You see, Jesus said to Paul, ”You've got to go to Rome now. You've witnessed for me in Jerusalem and it caused a lot of trouble.” They were actually ganging up together to kill him. The Lord said, ”But Paul, you've still got to go to Rome. You've got a work to do there before I call you home.”Philippians 1:21: ”For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” When you have that attitude there's nothing to fear in this world because immortal means that no one or nothing can kill you until God says so. So you have a work to do, I have a work to do and until we are finished the work we are not going anywhere.“Once the work is done, you've completed your assignment on earth, whatever that might be, then I will call you home.” Now that is an assurance for me, I hope it is for you as well because that means that we press on irrespective. Obviously, we are wise but we are bold and courageous because our names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life and on the great day when He says, ”Right, it's time to come home, Jane. It's time to come home, Freddy.” You know, ”Lord I am ready.”So may God bless you as you step out today with boldness, courage, knowing that God is in full control of your life. No matter what people might think or say, if God is for you, who can stand against you? No one!Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day. Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Thursday morning, the 18th of June, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start with Psalm 34:19: ”Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the Lord delivers him out of them all.” Then we go to the Book of Romans 5:3-4: “And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope.”I have never met a man or woman yet, who is worth their salt, who has not been through some fiery trial. Why are we so afraid of pain? Pain can be a good friend, pain can warn you about what is coming. It works patience in us, it builds character in us, and it gives us perseverance. Oh, my dear friend, my father-in-law and mother-in-law spent a large portion of their lives working amongst lepers. They worked in leprosy colonies in Africa, and they would tell us that the problem is not even the disease, but what happens is, there is no pain and so the man is walking on a red-hot coal and he can't even feel it and it forms an ulcer in his foot and that is where the problem is. He bangs his nose on something but he does not feel it and eventually it gets infected and so the disease spreads. Pain gives you a warning. When you stand on something hot, you jump off quickly. Pain is warning you, be careful. Pain can be a friend indeed. Some of the closest friends I have, and dearest friends, are people who have suffered much pain - emotional pain, physical pain, spiritual pain. I am talking about things like blindness, deafness, lameness - and these people have got such gentle spirits. They are very slow to speak, they are good listeners, they give you godly advice if you will just listen to them. They are wonderful people to have around you but they have been through fiery trials. But the wonderful news is, the end of Psalm 34:19 says, “But the Lord will deliver them (you and me) ‘from them all.” Today, endure your pain, whatever it is, with patience, and Jesus Christ will work through it and make you a better person, and you will be healed, and you will be set free, and you will be a nicer person to be with. Jesus bless you richly. Go and find someone today who is suffering and love them and comfort them. You will be amazed how much better you will feel after that. Have a wonderful day,God bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 17th of June, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start in the Book of Deuteronomy 33:25:“…As your days, so shall your strength be.” The Lord gives us enough strength to do the job. Then we go to 1 Corinthians 10:13: ”No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” In other words, the Lord will not give you more than you can handle.You're probably sitting there today and saying, ”Angus, I can't take this anymore. I just can't take the load.” You can, and you must, but you must give it to God. Cast your cares upon Jesus because He cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7 and then you can handle the load, but He will not give you more than He knows you can handle, and I really want to encourage you there because many of us take on too much. I'm one of them. The Lord says, ”No, don't do that”. He will not impose upon us one needless burden. He will not exact more than He knows your strength can bear. He will not ask you to do anything that He knows you can't do. Trust in Him! I want to pray for you this morning because I'm feeling there's somebody out there who's at breaking point and you're saying, ”If this burden is not lifted, I won't be able to take it any longer.”Father, I want to pray for my dear friend who is really struggling at the moment. Maybe it's finance, maybe it's health, maybe it's a relationship. Lord, please give them the patience and the ability to see it through. Lord, Your word says that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. Let us believe it today. So we give You our burden, we leave it at the foot of the cross and then we carry on with our journey and it's going to be so much lighter and so much easier because we have given it to You and You have promised us that You will never leave us and You will never forsake us.Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day. Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Monday morning, the 15th of June, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.We start in the Book of Deuteronomy 13:1-3:“If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder,…” , ‘Let us go after other gods'—which you have not known—‘and let us serve them,' you shall not listen to the words of that prophet ...“Then we go straight to the Gospel of John 1:1: ”In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”So how do we identify a false prophet from a man who is a prophet of God? Well, according to the Word of God, very simply. We need to test the spirit and we need to have assurance that this man is talking about the things of the Lord. Remember in the Old Testament when Moses took his stick and it turned into a serpent? The magicians also had sticks and they threw them down and they also turned into serpents. The only difference was that the serpent that came out of the stick of Moses consumed all of the magicians' serpents. The Word of God is true.If we look at John 1:1,”In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”Then of course, we need peace. That's the most important thing. If you don't have peace in your heart when someone says to you, ”Let us go and follow something else.” Then you have to check your spirit, ”Holy Spirit, show me.”In John 14:27, Jesus says, ”Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” When in doubt, don't! How many times have we heard that before? The Word of God has never changed. It never will change because the Word of God is Jesus Christ in print. So, if that prophet comes with a word and it lines up with the Bible, that is fine, but if it doesn't line up with the Bible and he tells you it is a new revelation, please folks, do not listen to him and do not have anything to do with him. Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day.Goodbye

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Monday morning, the 15th of June, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start in the Book of Deuteronomy 13:1-3:“If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder,…” , ‘Let us go after other gods'—which you have not known—‘and let us serve them,' you shall not listen to the words of that prophet ...“ Then we go straight to the Gospel of John 1:1: ”In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” So how do we identify a false prophet from a man who is a prophet of God? Well, according to the Word of God, very simply. We need to test the spirit and we need to have assurance that this man is talking about the things of the Lord. Remember in the Old Testament when Moses took his stick and it turned into a serpent? The magicians also had sticks and they threw them down and they also turned into serpents. The only difference was that the serpent that came out of the stick of Moses consumed all of the magicians' serpents. The Word of God is true.If we look at John 1:1,”In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Then of course, we need peace. That's the most important thing. If you don't have peace in your heart when someone says to you, ”Let us go and follow something else.” Then you have to check your spirit, ”Holy Spirit, show me.”In John 14:27, Jesus says, ”Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” When in doubt, don't! How many times have we heard that before? The Word of God has never changed. It never will change because the Word of God is Jesus Christ in print. So, if that prophet comes with a word and it lines up with the Bible, that is fine, but if it doesn't line up with the Bible and he tells you it is a new revelation, please folks, do not listen to him and do not have anything to do with him. Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day.Goodbye

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Sunday morning, the 14th of June, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start in the Gospel of Matthew 10:42. Jesus says, ”And whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, assuredly, I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward.” Then we go to the Gospel of Luke 9:48,“Whoever receives this little child in My name receives Me…” I read a beautiful little article this morning by an anonymous writer and this is basically what it says: “Do not trample down the little daisies.” He says, ”We are in danger of looking too far for opportunities of doing good and communicating in reaching for the roses, we trample down the daisies.” So busy looking for the big things to do that the little things get stood upon!I remember like yesterday, we had one of the big tents here on the farm. It was Sunday morning. We'd had a wonderful weekend. All the ladies and children had come to join their dads and their husbands. There was an amazing atmosphere of expectancy. I was coming around the back of the tent with some of the men to get onto the platform and start to preach, and the people were waiting, and I was excited, and as I walked towards them at the back to the tent to enter in through one of the flaps, there was a little boy who ran up to me. He was only about five or six years old. He had a red face, he was very embarrassed, but he had a cell phone in his hand, and he asked if he could take my photo with him. I said, ”By all means, young boy.” And I got on my knees, and he stood next to me, and the guys that were looking after me, around about me, said, ”Angus, you need to get going, the people are waiting. The praise and worship is finished, it's your time to speak now. You need to move along.” And I said, ”Just hang on a second,” and we lined it all up, and the photograph was about to be taken, and the battery was flat on the cell phone. So he said he was going to get another one from his mom and off he ran. The men said to me, ”You can't wait any longer, the people are waiting, you need to get in there now.” I said, ”Hang on a minute.” Then his mother came running up with him and really apologised. I said, ”No problem at all.” We all got posed and ready. Me on my knees, him standing next to me and we got the photograph taken and off he went. He was so happy.Folks, do not trample on the daisies. Do not get so involved in the big things that you forget the most important things in life. You know, when I went in, I preached my heart out that morning, and I believe the Holy Spirit honoured the fact that I'd waited for one of the little daisies before I went into the tent!Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day. Goodbye.