02/05/2024

Angus Buchan

02/05/2024

Sons and Daughters

May 2, 2024 • Angus Buchan • Isaiah 62:2, Hosea 1:10, Luke 15:31

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Thursday morning, the 2nd of May, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the Book of Isaiah 62:2:

“You shall be called by a new name,…”

Then we go forward to the Book of Hosea 1:10:

‘You are sons of the living God.’

Sons of the living God, wow! Very personal and so intimate. A son has access to anything a father has. A son can go into the Holy of Holies. Oh yes, visitors have to wait outside until they are invited in. You and I need to understand something today - we are not hirelings. We are sons and daughters of the living God. We are not working for wages, a hireling works for his wages. He carries a watch on his wrist and whether it is 5 o’clock or whatever the time might be, he knocks off. It doesn’t matter what is happening on the farm or in the business. He is only working for a wage. He is not working for his inheritance. That’s the difference, but a son is working for his inheritance. He doesn’t wear a watch, he doesn’t watch the time, he does his job.

You know the story of the Prodigal Son? We are always pretty hard on the older brother. Remember he said to his dad, “So this prodigal son has come home, he has wasted all his money, and you have killed the fatted calf for him and you wouldn’t even give me a lamb, to have a party with my friends.” And his father said to him, listen carefully, Luke 15:31:

“Son”, I get tears in my eyes: “Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours.”

Maybe today you are going through a hard time and you say, “Where are You, Lord? I am Your son”, or “Your daughter”, but you are going through a time of learning, a time of testing. When I was on the farm with my two boys, they would work harder than anybody else. Don’t ask them about that, they always exaggerate of course, it wasn’t really that bad! But you know, when the cattle broke out in the middle of the night and went into the maize crop, who had to get up out of their beds? Yes, the boys and me, and we had to put the cattle back. You can’t expect the staff to get up in the middle of the night because they are not paid for that. We have to go the extra mile.

Now, when you are a son of God and the Lord has promised you that He has given you everything you need and more - when we go home, we are not going home to Heaven as strangers, we are going home to Heaven as sons and daughters of the living God. He is waiting for us. He wants to spoil us.

Now, today, we need to man up as they say; we need to understand that the going is tough for the sons because He is preparing us for eternity because He loves us so much.

So, son, daughter, go out today and take your inheritance.

Jesus bless you and 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.

15/05/2024

May 15, 2024 • Angus Buchan • Luke 9:62, Revelation 14:13, 2 Timothy 4:7

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 15th of May, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start in the Book of Revelation 14:13: “‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ ” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labours, and their works follow them.” We need to run our race, and once we get close to the end, there is sheer joy in knowing that we have completed our task here on earth. Paul, the great Apostle, in 2 Timothy 4:7 said: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” You see, it is not about all the trophies, it's not about all the goals that we achieve, no - its about finishing strong. Just recently, I have met a number of people who are dying, who are coming to the end of their race. They know it, they have told me, and the amazing thing is that they are looking forward to home time. I haven’t met one yet, I am talking about strong Christian men and women, who are fearful of dying. Some of them have accomplished great awards, great trophies. They have achieved the goals that they set before them, but you know, the funny thing is, not one of them speaks to me about their achievements here on earth. No, they speak about home time, they speak about having finished their race, completed their task, and now they are looking forward to going home. I want to say to you today, yes - we need to live the life that God has called us to, we need to be an example to others, especially unbelievers, but we must focus on the finish line. “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” Luke 9:62 We need to plough the field, we need to complete the task, and then we need to look forward to home time. The older I am getting, the more I am looking forward to meeting the Lord one day, face to face, and the more I am walking on this road, the things of this world are becoming less interesting to me and less desirable. I am looking forward to eternity, to spending the time with my beloved Jesus. You should be the same. We are not here forever; we are simply passing through, but we need to live the day that God has given us; we need to live it to the full, but our eyes must always be on the finish line. Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day, Goodbye.