Thought For Today

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

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

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Friday morning, the 23rd of January, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
John 14:27 - this is Jesus speaking:
”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.”
Oh my dear friend, how this world of ours is desperate to find peace. All we hear about is peace, peace, everywhere but there’s no peace, is there? They have conferences on peace. Nations get together at the United Nations, but no one can find peace. There are some homes that you’ll go into, there’s anything there but peace. There are arguments, there’s jealousy, there’s even hatred but no peace. Why? Because peace cannot be found, peace cannot be bought, peace cannot be earned at university. You can’t get a degree in peace. If you could, the university would be full of students studying the subject of peace! So how do you get peace? Peace comes from a person whose name is the Prince of Peace. Oh yes, I’m talking about my beloved Jesus Christ. I hope He is yours too. That’s where you’ll find peace!
You know, I have shared with you previously about Brother Lawrence, the French monk who lived in a monastery 300 years ago. He had the lowliest job of all. He was the one who had to wash the pots and the pans and cook the food. He also sewed sandals for his brothers, although he himself walked barefoot, but continually there were monks around him when he was trying to cook and wash the dishes and the pots and pans, and mend their sandals. Why were they always around him? Because he pervaded, he gave off like a fragrance of peace because he had found the Prince of Peace!
You know, I want to tell you something very personal, there is somebody in my home, I’m not going to say anymore - and she always gives off that beautiful fragrance of peace. I can have a hard day, a tough day, as they say, at the office. When I come home to my little house, she is there waiting for me and she just gives the fragrance of peace. You know why? Because she spends lots of time with Him. You see, when you spend lots of time with a person, you become like that person.
Now today, ask Jesus to give you a revelation of Himself, that you too go around this troubled world, and people will be drawn to Jesus Christ.
God bless you and have a wonderful day.
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Thursday morning, the 22nd of January, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We start in Isaiah 42:3:
”A bruised reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not quench;…”
We’re talking about the gentleness of our beloved Lord Jesus. And that same scripture is confirmed in Matthew 12:20:
”A bruised reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not quench,…”
Just the other day, I heard a beautiful saying, ”We are strongest when we are tender.” You know, if you look at Proverbs 15:1, the Lord talks about a gentle answer turns away anger and wrath. Jesus is so gentle.
I want to tell you something now, He is the most tender person who has ever walked on the face of this earth. He will not hurt you. We need to be the same.
I love watching a bushman when he wants to start a fire. Unlike many of us, he doesn’t go with a fire-lighter, put half a ton of wood on the fire and cause an explosion to make the fire so that he can have his braai or his barbecue! No, he comes and he takes a little bit of grass and he takes that stick and he spins that stick on a log and he blows gently on it and what happens? It just bursts into flame. So beautiful to watch.
On our farm here, you know by now, we love horses. Snowy is my horse, he’s twenty years old now. I want to tell you something now, there’s a man by the name of Monty Roberts, he’s in his late eighties, and he is the one they call ”The Horse Whisperer.” He started off getting a horse under saddle by being gentle with it. You see, in the old days, his father was one of them, actually; they would tie that poor horse up so that he couldn’t walk, he had to hobble. They would beat him till they broke his spirit. That’s where the saying goes, ”I’m going to break in a horse.” No, we don’t do that on this farm. We gentle a horse, tenderly, and that horse will take the bridle, take the saddle. He’ll be spirited, he’ll have lots of personality. He won’t be broken and crushed. We must do the same with each other.
Mom, don’t break your daughter down, be tender with her and she will make you so proud. Dad, don’t be hard on your son, be gentle with him. This is a tough world that we live in. Be tender with him and he’ll be tender with others.
Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day.
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 21st of January, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We start in Leviticus 25:23:
”The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine, you are strangers and sojourners with Me…”
Wow, there’s a statement! You say, ”But I’ve got the title deeds.” Well, let’s wait and see what Jesus says. If we look at Mark 8:36, the Lord says very clearly:
”For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? “
Now, I have been a landowner. The first farm I owned was in Zambia. I sold it for a mere pittance, packed up everything I had, came down to South Africa with a truck and trailer. I then started from square one. The only thing I wanted was to own my own piece of land. Well, in the process it nearly killed me, but I got it, and I got the title deeds, and then I bought the farm across the road, the same thing again, then the farm on the other side of the road, but I want to tell you, it didn’t bring me any peace, any joy. Yes, I had the title deeds, but oh, my dear friend, the land does not belong to us. The land belongs to God! He has given you and I the privilege to enjoy it, the privilege of working it, developing it, making a place for others to live as well, but the land does not belong to us.
You see when we die, this land will remain right here. The land was here before we were born, the land will be here after we die. The land belongs to the Lord and the Lord reminded us today that we are sojourners passing by. We are travellers, our home is in heaven. That is our permanent abode. That’s why the Lord says, ”What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul?”
Let us put our priorities in order. Let us seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and then all these things shall be added to us. When you are stressing about that piece of land and the piece of paper you’ve got to prove that it’s yours, in the process, you can end up with stomach ulcers, nervous breakdowns, divorce in your family because you are busy working yourself to death. For what? At the end of the day, it’s His anyway.
Let’s enjoy it, and let us focus on heavenly things. Let us focus on spending time with our loved ones, telling others about Jesus Christ, and enjoying the privilege He has given us.
God bless you and have a wonderful day.
Goodbye.