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Thought For Today
Hosted by Angus Buchan · EN
A short, inspirational thought for today, from Angus Buchan.
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Don't Limit God
Jul 700:03:09Tap to summarizeI 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.
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The Journey
Jul 600:03:13Tap to summarizeI 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.
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God's Word
Jul 500:03:18Tap to summarizeI 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.
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Obedience Brings Blessing
Jul 400:03:14Tap to summarizeI 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.
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Personal Testimony
Jul 300:03:18Tap to summarizeI 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.
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Speak the Truth
Jun 3000:03:01Tap to summarizeI 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.
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A Fair Day's Pay
Jun 2900:03:13Tap to summarizeI 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.
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Walk in Righteousness
Jun 2800:02:45Tap to summarizeI 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.
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Hard Work
Jun 2700:03:56Tap to summarizeI 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.
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Speak Up
Jun 2600:02:52Tap to summarizeI 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.
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