“So she went away and did according to the word of Elijah, and she and he and her household ate for many days. The bin of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke by Elijah” 1 Kings 17:15-16
God is looking for obedient and faithful children in these turbulent times that we are living in.
"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these other things will be added unto you." Mathew 6:33
You see the widow only had enough food for one more meal, then she and her little son would die of starvation. She had a choice to make - Was she going to obey the word of the Lord or was she going to make a plan. She decided to obey the word of the Lord. And what happened, she and Elijah had enough food for many, many days.
Today, you and I have to make that same decision. Are we going to obey the word of the Lord in our lives or are we going to try and do it in our own strength? We need to be obedient, but you say: "But I don’t have enough." No, you don’t but He does - He has more than enough and we need to obey Him.
You know I remember so clearly like it was yesterday, in 2008 when we had the Mighty Men Conference here on the Shalom farm. We hired the biggest tent in the world, we had hardly any money. I remember we had R500 in our savings account and it cost millions to hire that tent. Well, we stretched our faith and eventually, the mighty tent arrived. I think seventeen pantechnicons (30-ton rigs) brought it onto the farm.
When they erected it and we put the chairs inside we had 30 000 chairs inside, I know because my son-in-law cable-tied each chair. Then my son came to me, another son, and said: "Dad, we need more money." I said we don’t have any more budget. He said: "Dad, we need more speakers." I said: "But you’ve got hundreds of speakers."
He said, "The sound team engineers have said there’s only enough sound to go to a certain row of chairs, after that there is no more sound."
I said we can’t.
He said, "Dad if you don’t those men will hear nothing."
I had a choice to make, just like you have a choice to make today and like the widow had to make.
I said,” Ok, let’s continue to trust God - Go for it.”
He ordered more banks of speakers, right to the end of the tent on both sides. But you know what was happening at the very same moment, a farmer was woken up by the Lord, a sheep farmer, and God told him to sell a flock of his sheep and to put the money in the campaign account. Which he duly did. You know something, it was the exact amount that we needed to cover the cost of the speakers!
I want to say to you today, just do what the Lord tells you to do, He will undertake for you as He did for that widow and her little boy.
God bless you and have a wonderful week.
14/06/2021
Faith-filled Obedience
June 14, 2021 • Angus Buchan
25/04/2024
April 25, 2024 • Angus Buchan • Isaiah 60:1, Ephesians 5:14
I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Thursday morning, the 25th of April, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start in the Book of Isaiah 60:1: “Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.” Then we go straight to the Book of Ephesians 5:14: “Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, And Christ will give you light.” Oh, like never ever before in this world of ours, it is time to shine for Jesus, so that the people will be taken out of their darkness. This world, my friend, is in an absolute state of desperation. It is lost, aimless, it is seeking for direction, for purpose for living. This is our greatest opportunity to show the sad world the way home, the way to the Lord Jesus Christ. What is man’s purpose for being here on earth? Maybe you are asking yourself that question this morning. “What am I supposed to be doing on this earth? Why am I here?” Well, two reasons: Number one is to glorify God, number two is to enjoy Him forever. I can hear somebody saying, “But I am not a preacher, how can I tell the people? We need to let Jesus shine through us today wherever we have been put. I love horses - I think you know that by now. Monty Roberts, the horse-trainer, the horse whisperer, was taken over to England to show the Queen Mother (she loved horses), how he could gentle a wild horse that has never been ridden before, a racehorse, a hot blood, in one hour, and he did it! A jockey got onto that big horse within one hour, having never been ridden before. You know, that it overwhelmed the old lady so much, she started to weep and Monty Roberts comforted her. Use what God has given you, the gift that God has given you. I remember an old man who came from Mozambique. He used to walk with a limp, I even remember his name, Napila. He was on our farm when we were in Zambia. That old man was a blacksmith and he had no equipment to work with. He had a home-made set of bellows. He made a hot fire, he used car springs. Now, any mechanic will tell you how hard a car spring is. He made the most beautiful axe-heads, out of those car springs which he put into indigenous wood. Have you ever seen a potter, working with clay that comes out of the earth and making a beautiful creation? Some of our African women are incredibly talented at creating the most beautiful vases and pots. So, I am going to encourage you today to use whatever gift God has given you. You might be a homemaker, a school teacher, a policeman, or a doorkeeper. It’s time to shine for Jesus! God bless you and have a wonderful day, Goodbye.
24/04/2024
April 24, 2024 • Angus Buchan • Psalm 62:5
I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 24th of April, 2024, 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.” Not hearing from God? Why? Well, I want to tell you something now. Maybe, it’s not God’s fault, maybe it is our fault, and I really want to stress the fact that this message that I am giving to you today, is probably more for me than any of you. If you speak to my wife, she will tell you that Angus never stops speaking, and sometimes I have got to do a little more listening. Now, I am going to read something for you that I got from an unknown author, and it goes like this: “Did it ever occur to you that if you do not hear God’s answer to prayer, It may be, not that He is dumb but because you are deaf? Not because He has no answer to give but because you have not been listening for it. We are so busy with our service, so busy with our work, and sometimes so busy with our praying (now that is an interesting point, isn’t it?), that it does not occur to us to stop our own talking, and listen if God has some answer to give us, with that small still voice, to be passive, to be quiet, to do nothing, say nothing and in some true sense, think nothing, simply to be receptive and waiting for the voice of God.” I want to say to you today, we need to slow down. This world of ours is going at such a speed, we don’t even know how to be quiet, do we? And I want to say to you that that is an active word, “to be quiet”. It means you are doing something, you are being quiet. Today, be quiet and listen and God will speak to you. Jesus bless you and have a lovely day, Goodbye.
23/04/2024
April 23, 2024 • Angus Buchan • Revelation 3:16, Matthew 26:75, Mark 16:7
I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Tuesday morning, the 23rd of April, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start in the Book of Revelation 3:16: “So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.” Wow! Very strong words from the Lord Jesus Christ. It is better to have tried and failed than to have never tried at all. We need to call sin by it’s name. We need to stand up and be counted. In order for sin to triumph, all that good people need to do, is nothing. To turn your back on the enemy is the most dangerous thing to ever do. Ask any boxer and he will tell you. When he turns away from his opponent, he is as good as dead. We have got to face our enemies and face them head on. A very famous statesman once said, “A man is not defeated by his opponents, but by himself.” Peter, the big fisherman, would have understood exactly what that saying meant, when he denied the Lord Jesus Christ three times, after having told Him that he would die for Him. We can find that in Matthew 26:75. He went out and he wept bitterly. But praise God that our Lord Jesus is the God of the second chance. Yes, Peter got a second chance. You will find that in Mark 16:7. The angel told them: “But go, tell His disciples—and Peter (isn’t that beautiful?)— that He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him, as He said to you.” And Peter - thats why I love the Lord so much. He knew that Peter would never go because he had denied his Master, so the angel said, “Tell the disciples—and Peter.” That is so precious. If we look at the word of God, all the patriarchs, the men that God chose, men like Moses who was a murderer, remember he killed the slave-driver, but he got a second chance at the burning bush; King David, he did a terrible thing. Nathan, the prophet came and told him, but he got a second chance; Saul of Tarsus was persecuting Christians but he got a second chance, and became Paul the Apostle. Today, ask Him and He will give you a second chance. Jesus bless you and goodbye.