Successful

It is Friday morning, 7th January 2022, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

Job 8:7, sent to me by a very dear friend from Canada, goes like this:

“Though your beginning was small,
Yet your latter end would increase abundantly.”

Job was successful, why? Because he never wavered. If we look at Job 42:10 right at the end of the book, Job lived to 140 years old. The Lord gave Job twice as much as he had at the beginning - You will find that in verse 10. And then verse 16:

“After this Job lived one hundred and forty years, and saw his children and grandchildren for four generations. So Job died, old and full of days.”

Successful people are not superstars. No, they are not... Not 'here today, gone tomorrow', those are not the people who make the difference. The people that make the difference are those who carry on through thick and thin. Matthew 7:21, Jesus said:

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.”

We really need to believe the vision God has given to us. Don’t listen to 'Job’s comforters' - the ones who say: “Well, maybe there is sin in your life and that is why you are not succeeding. Maybe you haven’t heard correctly from God.” Don’t listen to them.

I remember going to Ladysmith, the first campaign I ever organized. I said goodbye to Jill and the kids in the morning got in my pick-up with my flask of coffee and in my farm clothes, off I went to that town. I went to the first church and knocked on the door. The man said, “You can come here if you want but this place is as hard as the rocks and the thorn trees that surround it.” I went to the second guy and he said, “This place has been over-evangelized.” He was so hefty, he could hardly get out of his chair, smoking his pipe. I went to the third guy, I thought, “I will get a bit of support here.” He said: “Maybe God sent you here to bend you a little bit."

I went and parked underneath a thorn tree, just like Elijah, and I said, “Lord, what am I doing here? I am a successful farmer, I don’t have to do this.” And I felt the Lord saying, “Are you going to go through with it or not?” And like Job, I persevered. But you know, I went to one minister’s house, he wasn’t there, can you believe it? I left my card underneath his door... The next morning he phoned me and he said, “Angus, we are waiting for you. We have been praying for revival in this town for six months.” And that was the first campaign we ever had and probably the one I will never forget. Probably the smallest one but it was incredibly successful. Obedience is better than sacrifice.

Get out there today, like Job, and keep on keeping on for Him!

Have a wonderful day.
God bless you and goodbye.