Thought For Today

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Saturday morning, the 30th of November, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We go straight to the Book of Luke 15:13: “And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living.” I want to say to you today, we must not keep the eagle in a cage. You say, “What has that got to do with the Prodigal Son?” I will tell you in a minute. You know, in South Africa, we have a mighty, mighty eagle. He is called the Lammergeier. He lives on his own up in the far reaches, in those craggy mountain tops in the mighty Drakensberg Range of South Africa. He is called the bearded vulture. He is a solitary bird. He must have a wingspan of, I don’t know, maybe 2 metres. You can’t put him in a cage. If you put him in a cage he will die. He was never designed by God to be sitting in a cage and fed everyday. He needs to be released, he needs to catch the wind thermal to fly up into the high reaches of the mountain. He is a creation of God. We need to let him go, if we don’t he will die. Now, I have just read the scripture of the Prodigal Son who came to his father. He said, “I want my portion of my inheritance.” His father didn’t say, “No, you can’t”. He let him go. He knew what was going to happen. I have a picture of that father sitting on the verandah, on the porch of his farmhouse with a long straight road going straight down to the gate, maybe half a kilometre, and every night that father sits there as the sun goes down and waits for his son to come back home, and his son just does not come home, but he doesn’t run after his son, he doesn’t try and put him in a cage. What does he do? He prays, and I am not just talking about men, I am talking about women too. We pray for them. We pray, night and day, and they will come back.So what do we have to do? Pray and keep the door open, obviously on our conditions, and one day you will see somebody staggering through the gate, right as the sun goes down. The father stands up, he throws his hat off, he starts running down the road and he meets his son on the road, he meets his daughter and they start to weep, and from that day onwards, there is freedom. John 8:36: “Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”The eagle will come back if you let it go. He will come back home. Folks, today continue to pray for that prodigal, and they will return. Jesus bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Friday morning, the 29th of November, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start in the Book of Genesis 32:25:”…,He touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob’s hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him., ” Then we go down to verse 31”…,the sun rose on him, (he had been wrestling with God all night) and he limped on his hip. Therefore to this day the children of Israel do not eat the muscle that shrank, which is on the hip socket, because He touched the socket of Jacob’s hip in the muscle that shrank.”A touch from God, a touch from The Angel. Then we go to the 2 Corinthians 12:9. Jesus says:“My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Maybe today as I am talking to you, you are saying, “Lord, where are You? Lord, You promised to heal me and I have not yet been healed.” Folks, I want to say to you that I have prayed for many people, I have seen many signs, wonders and miracles - many, but there are some people who God touches and He leaves them in that situation for a reason. I want to tell you that Jacob was a changed man from the day he started to walk with a limp. Always follow a man who walks with a limp. “Why?” you ask. Because that man understands the principles of life, that man has been through many trials. He is slow to speak, he is quick to listen, he is a man full of counsel, experience and wisdom. Remember Saul of Tarsus was very arrogant. He was on his way to kill the Christians in Damascus and the Lord knocked him off his horse and when he recovered he was stone blind. He never, I don’t believe, I might be wrong, he never fully regained his sight. You will see in many of the letters, he said, “Look, you see, I sign this letter with my own hand, in big hand writing.” He talks about eyes but I want to tell you that spiritually, Paul became a giant in the faith. Do not be afraid when you get a touch from God because sometimes it is there to strengthen us spiritually. Trust the Lord for total healing, of course, but what is total healing? For me, total healing is to know Him more. The same Paul said, “Oh that I might know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.”Today, let us not be afraid of the angel that will touch us because it will only bring us closer to God. Jesus bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Thursday morning, the 28th of November, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start off in the Book of Psalms 1:3:“He shall be like a treePlanted by the rivers of water,That brings forth its fruit in its season,Whose leaf also shall not wither;And whatever he does shall prosper.” What a beautiful promise for the children of God from our Heavenly Father! Then just to confirm that we go to the Book of Ezekiel 47:12: “They will bear fruit every month, because their water flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for medicine.” What a beautiful promise from Jesus Christ for you, my dear friend and for me, today. When I think of rivers of living water, I think of the mighty Victoria Falls, one of the wonders of the world. Maybe you have never had the privilege of being there. I want to describe something to you. I want you to think of Dr David Livingstone, the missionary, who was walking through the bush for days if not weeks - flat, dry land, no mountains, no valleys, just flat, with a lot of thorn bush. He must have woken up one day and as he was walking he saw a column of smoke going right out of the ground and into the sky. He must have seen it many, many miles away. As he got closer, he realised it wasn’t smoke, it was mist. It was coming from a river, the mighty Zambezi River, and then he saw the wonder of God, the Victoria Falls. There is a depression in the ground. There is no mountain, there are no waterfalls, the river is running and it disappears into a crevice. The Africans call it Most-Oa-Tunya, The Smoke That Thunders. The ground literally trembles under your feet in the rainy season. You can hardly see anything with this beautiful water. There is a forest there, a green lush forest that looks like a tropical jungle, walking out of those dry wastelands. Now I want to say to you today, that is what Jesus is to you and I, but you need to be thirsty. He was very thirsty, I am thirsty and I am sure you are. That water brings healing to your body. It is a soothing feeling in your very innermost being. It is food, it is life, it’s cleansing, it’s restoring and it is for every season of life. Today, put your feet in the beautiful, cool water and call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and He will soothe you, refresh you and take away all your fears and all your doubts. In Jesus’ name, amen.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 27th of November, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start in the Book of Joshua 24:15: “…choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve,…” Then we go straight to the New Testament, to the Gospel of Matthew 12:30. Jesus says: “He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.” I read a beautiful comment made by Mark Hopkins, he said: “Choice and service, these were demanded of the Israelites, these are demanded of you and I. These only, choice and service. In these, are the whole of life.” There is something very powerful about a public declaration, isn’t there, a public declaration of your faith and service towards God?I remember my oldest son standing up the day he got married at the reception, and telling all the guests that, “Today, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” I have never forgotten that. It was many, many years ago. It cements things, doesn’t it? You know the Fiji Rugby Sevens Team, a beautiful sport to watch, these huge men from Fiji are so often the world champions but I know why, I really do! It’s because they are not ashamed to thank the Lord Jesus for their victory. Often I sit and I chuckle when I see the interviewer stretching out his arm with the mic to give it to the Fijian players, these huge men with the sweat pouring down their faces, some of them bleeding, cut by the match, they take hold of the mic - big mistake for the interviewer! And then they say, “We want to give God the glory! We want to thank Jesus for giving us the strength to be able to play rugby for Him.” And the interviewer is trying to rescue the mic back but he can’t get it back. And then they greet all their families back in Fiji and then they start to sing hymns, that’s right, they are not ashamed of the Gospel. And I believe that is where the power is. Why don’t you and I do it today? Why don’t we tell the first person we meet today what Jesus Christ means to us.God bless you and have a lovely day,Goodbye.