19/04/2024

Angus Buchan

19/04/2024

Fasting

April 19, 2024 • Angus Buchan • Isaiah 58:6–7

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Friday morning, the 19th of April, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the Book of Isaiah 58:6-7:

“Is this not the fast that I have chosen:

To loose the bonds of wickedness,

To undo the heavy burdens,

To let the oppressed go free,

And that you break every yoke?

Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,

And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out;

When you see the naked, that you cover him,

And not hide yourself from your own flesh?” (your own family)

This is the chapter on fasting, going without food. Now, to fast is very important. Jesus did it for 40 days and 40 nights in the desert. It is a very good practice. It brings the body into subjection with the spirit. It is necessary for each believer to do. However, the Lord says, ”but this is the kind of fasting that I have chosen.” We have got to be doers of God’s Holy Word. We have got to lift the burdens of the oppressed, we have got to share our food with the hungry, we have got to give a bed to those who have no roof over their heads, and we must not hide ourselves from our own families. Jesus says, if we do this, then the light will break forth like the morning, and healing will spring up speedily and then the glory of the Lord will be our portion, and then when we call on the Lord, He will answer us and He will say, “Here I am.” Today, we need to be doers of God’s word.

I remember my dear old dad just after I had led him to the Lord. I said to him, “Dad, we have got to fast as well now that we are Christians, and that old Scotsman looked at me with those blue eyes of his, and he said, “Laddie, fast?” He said, “I fasted for three and a half years.” You see, he was a prisoner of war in the Second World War. He was imprisoned in Germany and Italy. That didn’t impress him so much as when he saw us taking care of the poor and the needy. That impacted my dad’s life more than anything else.

Today, yes, we must fast but let us fast as the Lord says - by taking care of those who are hurting, those who are lonely and those who are fearful.

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,

Goodbye.

18/05/2024

Angus Buchan • Matthew 5:16

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Saturday morning, the 18th of May, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We go straight to the Gospel of Matthew 5:16: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” It is not so much what we say but rather who we are that makes an impact on the world. Isn’t that true? It is like that beautiful lighthouse standing on top of that cliff, with all the dangerous rocks behind it. Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the great preacher, said, “The lighthouse makes no noise, it makes no song and it is silent, but on a stormy night it shines through the noise of the waves that are crashing on the seashore, it helps that desperate sea captain, when he is trying to navigate his ship, with waves that are 3 metres high and he can’t see where he is going, and then all of a sudden he sees a little light in the distance, just a spark, that’s all he sees, and it speaks louder than a thousand choirs singing because now he knows where the danger is.” Many, many years ago, I had the privilege of going to speak at a men’s conference in the northern part of our beloved South Africa. I got letter in the post before I left, to say that “There is an old gentleman who would like to meet with you.” Well, I want to be honest with you, at the time I felt I didn’t have time to go and see him, but I felt the Holy Spirit say, “You must go and visit this old man on the way up to the conference”, which I duly did. As I walked into his house, I sensed the presence of God there. I saw a huge photograph on the wall of an old lady and an old man. I looked at that old man and I couldn’t believe it. It was a photo of the Yorkshire Plumber, Smith Wigglesworth, a man who had been used by God, mightily. In fact, something like 13 people had been raised from the dead through his ministry. I said to the old gentleman, Mr Harold Berry, “Sir, is this a friend of yours?” He said, ‘It is one of my relatives. It is my wife's grandfather.” I was amazed. I got on my knees, on the carpet, and I asked him to please anoint me. I said, “I want your mantle, Sir.” This old gentleman had started many churches up in the Congo. He was ninety years old. He walked into his room, got a bottle of healing oil and anointed my head with oil. Then he started praying undiluted scripture over me. It was impressive, very impressive, but the part that I remember, only one part, he said, “It won’t be so much what he says but who he is, that will make the impact,” And I have never forgotten that. It is not what you say, it is not how loud you can sing, it is how well you can shine for the Lord. Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day, Goodbye.

17/05/2024

May 17, 2024 • Angus Buchan • Jeremiah 2:13, Proverbs 16:22

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Friday morning, the 17th of May, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start in the Book of Jeremiah 2:13: “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, And hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water.” “Understanding is a wellspring of life to him who has it.” Proverbs 16:22 Exchanging a fountain of water for a broken cistern is short-sighted and short-lived. But why do we do that? We disregard the blessings of the Lord so often. A spring is a fountain that comes out of the ground. The Lord says we must guard our hearts because it is the wellspring of life. We must be careful that we don’t pollute and muddy the living water that comes from the Lord Jesus Christ, in our hearts. We tend to build massive dams for holding huge volumes of water, and that is fine as long as it rains and the rain fills the dam, but when there is a dry cycle and a drought, the water in the dam dries up, it evaporates, but that little spring which draws it’s water from deep down in the ground, just keeps coming up. The springs from deep down in the earth never dry up. We need to guard our hearts, my dear friend, with everything we have. Do not allow the pollution of this world to muddy the waters of our hearts. In the Jordan River in Israel, if that river dried up, there would be no Israel. It is one river that runs from the top to the bottom of Israel. It starts in a spring, right up in the mountains in the northern part of Israel. Yes, we do have Mount Herman and it is covered with snow, and the snow melts and also fills the river, but it is the spring that comes out of the ground which is the life of Israel. No Jordan River, no Israel! The same thing in South Africa - we have a spring in a place called Kuruman, on the west side of our nation. I have been there; it is something to behold. Everything around is dry and desert-like but this spring just bubbles up out of the ground with beautiful crystal clear water. Today, the Lord is saying, “Do not fill your life and your purpose with broken cisterns, but rather draw on the fountain, the spring, the wellspring of life, which is Jesus Christ.” The Lord bless you and have a wonderful day, Goodbye.

16/05/2024

May 16, 2024 • Angus Buchan • 1 Samuel 1:27–28, 1 Samuel 2:21

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Thursday morning, the 16th of May, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start in 1 Samuel 1:27-28: "For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition which I asked of Him. Therefore I also have lent him to the Lord; as long as he lives he shall be lent to the Lord." This is Hannah, the woman who could not have a child and who wept in the temple, so much so that the High Priest, Eli, thought she was drunk. God heard her prayers and gave her the most beautiful little baby, Samuel, who some say was the greatest of all the prophets in the Bible, but she had to give him back, and she asked her husband, "Let me just nurse him until he is weaned." In those days, they would suckle a baby, probably until it was three years old. And then that little baby, that little boy, was given back to the temple, to the Lord, and he served the Lord all his life. Now, she used to go up every year, it brings a tear to my eye, I tell you what, and make a robe for the little boy and give it to him every year. Maybe you are struggling with something in your life today. The Lord gave you something and now the Lord wants it back. It might be your career, it might be a member of your family, it might be some vision, some expectation that you had, something that you were looking forward to, and the Lord says, "I want it back now." It's a very, very hard thing to do, but do you know something? Samuel's mommy, that's right, I am talking about Hannah, she gave her little boy, her only child, that she had waited for so long, back to the Lord. She said, "I lent him back to the Lord." But my dear friend, that is not the end of the story. If you go on a little bit further in the Bible to 1 Samuel 2:21, you will see that after she had done that, the Lord blessed her with three more sons and two more daughters! What a lovely awesome story - so she gave what she had back to the Lord and He blessed her with 5 more children. Do not be despondent today. Do not feel that the Lord has been unfair. Do not feel that you have been let down - not at all, my dear friend! Rather rejoice. You cannot out-give Jesus. Jesus is a giver by nature. He loves to give, so today, give freely and He will freely give back to you. Have a wonderful day, Jesus bless you and goodbye.