07/05/2024

Angus Buchan

07/05/2024

Obedience

May 7, 2024 • Angus Buchan • Jeremiah 7:13, Matthew 6:33

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Tuesday morning, the 7th of May, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the Book of Jeremiah 7:13:

“and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you did not hear, and I called you, but you did not answer,…”

Jesus is calling us. Matthew 6:33:

“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”

We cannot live a life of disobedience, doing our own thing, and then expect God to bless us. It doesn’t work that way. It is no use getting up early in the morning, having a good quiet time, listening to the voice of the Lord, and then going out and doing our own thing. Delayed obedience is actually disobedience. As followers of Christ, we need to start hearing the word of the Lord and obey it immediately. For example, pay your accounts on time, when they are due, otherwise if you don’t, your motorcar will be repossessed, and then we cry out and say, “Lord, why have you done this to us?” No, you didn’t pay your account on time.”

I am a farmer and we are facing winter now in South Africa. This is the time when farmers’ firebreaks should be in place. The farmers should have made their firebreaks by now. It should be in position. Now, if you don’t make the firebreak in time, and the fire season is upon us, after the first frost things turn over night. The grass is dry, it’s vulnerable, the wind gets up and a fire breaks out in the middle of the night and burns right through your farm, and now your cattle have got nothing to eat. Then you cry out, “Lord, why have You allowed this to happen to me?” No, not at all. What’s happened is, you have delayed doing what you know is right.

We really need to start hearing from God now, not only hear from God but also apply His principles, and we will succeed like never before.

Have a good day, Jesus bless you, and start listening and obeying the word of God.

Goodbye.

19/05/2024

May 19, 2024 • Angus Buchan • Proverbs 30:8–9

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Sunday morning, the 19th of May, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We go to the Book of Proverbs 30:8-9: “Give me neither poverty nor riches— Feed me with the food allotted to me; Lest I be full and deny You, And say, “Who is the Lord?” Or lest I be poor and steal, And profane the name of my God.” To be full and to be hungry, to be successful and sometimes to fail. I think it is harder to deal with success than it is to deal with failure. When you are successful, you can start to think that you don’t need God, and that is a terrible place to be in, and when you are on your knees, you can’t fall any further, can you? When you are on that pedestal you can get knocked off so easily. We need to pray for those who succeed, whether it be in sport, whether it be in business, whether it be at university, we need to understand one thing, when we are conscious of our Lord Jesus Christ then things go well, but when we get so busy because we become so successful, the tendency is to say, “No, I can handle this myself.” How the mighty fall! Remember The Titanic ship? They said it was unsinkable and yet on it’s maiden voyage, because people didn’t take note of God, it hit an iceberg and went down to the bottom of the sea within a few minutes, with thousands of people dying in the process. We need to keep humble, we need to thank God for everything that we have and we need to walk very carefully before God and before our fellowman, especially when the Lord is blessing us. Today, remember, if you are going through a hard time, stick close to the Lord. He will teach you lessons in those hard times that you will never learn in times of prosperity and success. If I look back on my life, the highlights of my life have been when I have said, “Lord, I just can’t do it anymore, You have to do it for me”, and He has brought me through. Do not be afraid of success, do not be afraid of failure, just walk humbly before your God. Jesus bless you and 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.