Author: Billy Conrad

January 2

Seek out from among you seven men of good reputation,full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. — Acts 6:3

Scripture reading: Acts 6:1–10

During the time of the inauguration of the church, the disciples were pressured by many responsibilities. The practical things of life could not be attended to, and many were complaining concerning the neglect of their widows. Therefore, the disciples decided to choose seven men to do the work of caring for the needs of these widows—men who were “full of the Holy Spirit.” What a divine thought. No matter what kind of work was to be done, however menial it may have been, the person chosen had to be “full of the Holy Spirit.” The plan of the church was that everything, even everyday routines, must be sanctified to God, for the church had to be a Holy Spirit church. Beloved, God has never ordained anything less.

The heritage of the church is to be so equipped with power that God can lay His hand upon any member at any time to do His perfect will. There is no stopping point in the Spirit-filled life. We begin at the Cross, the place of disgrace, shame, and death, and that very death brings the power of resurrection life. Then, being filled with the Holy Spirit, we go on “from glory to glory” (2 Corinthians 3:18). Let us not forget that possessing the baptism in the Holy Spirit means that there must be an ever increasing holiness. People know when the tide is flowing; they also know when it is ebbing. How the church needs divine anointing. It needs to see God‘s presence and power so evidenced that the world will recognize it.

Thought for today: When we please God in our daily service, we will always find that everyone who is faithful in the little things, God will make ruler over much (Matthew 25:21).

January 1

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts. — Isaiah 55:9

Scripture reading: Genesis 28:10–22

Looking back on our spiritual journeys, we will see that we have held on to our own way too much of the time. When we come to the end of ourselves, God can begin to take control. The Scripture asks, “Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?” (Amos 3:3). We cannot enter into the profound truths of God until we relinquish control, for “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption” (1 Corinthians 15:50).

Jacob‘s name means “supplanter.” When Jacob came to the end of his plans, God had a better plan. How slow we are to see that there is a better way.

The glory is never so wonderful as when we realize our helplessness, throw down our sword, and surrender our authority to God. Jacob was a diligent worker, and he would go through any hardship if he could have his own way. In numerous situations, he had his way; all the while, he was ignorant of how gloriously God had preserved him from calamity.

God has a plan beyond anything that we have ever known. He has a plan for every individual life, and if we have any other plan in view, we miss the grandest plan of all. Nothing in the past is equal to the present, and nothing in the present can equal the things of tomorrow. Tomorrow should be so filled with holy expectations that we will be living flames for Him. God never intended His people to be ordinary or commonplace. His intentions were that they should be on fire for Him, conscious of His divine power, realizing the glory of the Cross that foreshadows the crown.

Jacob and his mother had a plan to secure the birthright and the blessing, but God planned the ladder and the angels. Isaac, Jacob‘s father, agreed that Jacob should go “to Padan Aram, to the house of Bethuel [his] mother‟s father” (Genesis 28:2). On his way there, Jacob rested his head on a stone. In his dream, he saw a “ladder…and its top reached to heaven” (v. 12). Above the ladder, Jacob saw God and heard Him say, “The land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants” (v. 13). He also heard God tell him, “I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you” (v. 15). What a good thing for Jacob that in the middle of carrying out his own plan, God found him at the right place. The trickery to obtain the birthright had not been the honorable thing to do, but here at Bethel, he found that God was with him.

Many things may happen in our lives, but when the veil is lifted and we see the glory of God, His tender compassion covers us all the time. How wonderful to be where God is. Jacob experienced twenty-one years of wandering, fighting, and struggling. Listen to his conversation with his wives: “Your father has deceived me and changed my wages ten times, but God did not allow him to hurt me” (Genesis 31:7). To his father-in-law, Jacob said,

Unless the God of my father…had been with me, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. God has seen my affliction and the labor of my hands. (Genesis 31:42)

There is a way that God establishes. In our human planning, we may experience blessings of a kind, but we also undergo trials, hardships, and barrenness that God would have kept from us if we had followed His way. I realize through the anointing of the Holy Spirit that there is a freshness, a glow, a security in God where you can know that God is with you all the time. There is a place to reach where all that God has for us can flow through us to a needy world all the time.

Thought for today: There is a good; there is a better; but God has a best, a higher standard for us than we have yet attained. It is a better thing if it is God‘s plan and not ours.

December 31

Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. — Matthew 6:33

Scripture reading: 2 Peter 1

One thing that can hinder our faith is a seared conscience. There is a conscience that is spiritless, and one that is so opened to the presence of God that the smallest thing in the world will drive it to God. What we need is a conscience that is so in tune with God that not one thing can come into and stay in our lives to hinder our fellowship with God and shatter our faith in Him. And when we can come into the presence of God with clear consciences and genuine faith, our hearts not condemning us, then we have confidence toward God (1 John 3:21), “and whatever we ask we receive from Him” (v. 22).

In Mark 11:24 we read, “Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.” Verse twenty-three speaks of mountains removed and difficulties cleared away. Sugarcoating won‘t do. We must have reality, the real working of our God. We must know God. We must be able to go in and converse with God. We must also know the mind of God toward us, so that all our petitions are always in line with His will.

As this “like precious faith” (2 Peter 1:1) becomes a part of you, it will make you so that you will dare to do anything. And remember, God wants daring followers who will be strong in Him and dare to do exploits. How will we reach this place of faith? Let go of your own thoughts, and take the thoughts of God, the Word of God. If you build yourself on imaginations, you will go wrong. You have the Word of God, and it is enough.

A man gave this remarkable testimony concerning the Word of God: “Never compare this Book with other books. Never think or say that this Book contains the Word of God. It is the Word of God. It is supernatural in origin, eternal in duration, inexpressible in value, infinite in scope, regenerative in power, infallible in authority, universal in interest, personal in application, inspired in totality. Read it through. Write it down. Pray it in. Work it out. And then pass it on.”

Truly the Word of God changes a person until he becomes “an epistle of Christ” (2 Corinthians 3:3). It transforms his mind, changes his character, moves him on from grace to grace, makes him an inheritor of the very nature of God. God comes in, dwells in, walks in, talks through, and dines with him who opens his being to the Word of God and receives the Spirit who inspired it.

If you have lost your hunger for God, if you do not have a cry for more of God, you are missing the plan. A cry must come up from us that cannot be satisfied with anything but God. He wants to give us the vision of the prize ahead that is something higher than we have ever attained. If you ever stop at any point, pick up at the place where you have left off, and begin again under the refining light and power of heaven. God will meet you. And while He will bring you to a consciousness of your own frailty and to a brokenness of spirit, your faith will lay hold of Him and all the divine resources. His light and compassion will be manifested through you, and He will send the rain.

Should we not dedicate ourselves afresh to God? Some say, “I dedicated myself last night to God.” Every new revelation brings a new decision. Let us seek Him.

Thought for today: Do not let one thought, one action, one thing in any way interfere with the Rapture. Ask God that every moment will be a moment of purifying.

December 30

By grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God. — Ephesians 2:8

Scripture reading: Hebrews 11

By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain” (Hebrews 11:4); “by faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death” (v. 5); “by faith Noah…prepared an ark for the saving of his household” (v. 7); “by faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance” (v. 8).

There is only one way to all the treasures of God, and that is the way of faith. All things are possible, even the fulfilling of all promises is possible, to him who believes (Mark 9:23).

There will be failure in our lives if we do not build on the base, the Rock Christ Jesus. He is the only way; He is the truth; He is the life (John 14:6). And the Word He gives us is life-giving. As we receive the Word of Life, it quickens, it opens, it fills us, it moves us, it changes us, and it brings us into a place where we dare to say amen to all that God has said. Beloved, there is a lot in an amen. You never get any place until you have the amen inside of you. That was the difference between Zacharias and Mary. When the Word came to Zacharias, he was filled with unbelief until the angel said, “You will be mute…because you did not believe my words” (Luke 1:20). Mary said, “Let it be to me according to your word” (v. 38). The Lord was pleased that she believed what He had spoken. When we believe what God has said, there will be results.

We may do much praying and groaning, but we do not receive from God because of that; we receive because we believe. Yet sometimes it takes God a long time to bring us through the groaning and the crying before we can believe.

I know that no man by his praying can change God, for you cannot change Him. Charles Finney said, “Can a man who is full of sin and all kinds of ruin in his life change God when he starts to pray?” No, it is impossible. But when a man labors in prayer, he groans and travails because his tremendous sin is weighing him down, and he becomes broken in the presence of God. When properly melted, he comes into perfect harmony with the divine plan of God, and then God can work in that clay. He could not before. Prayer changes hearts, but it never changes God. He is the same yesterday, and today, and forever: full of love, full of compassion, full of mercy, full of grace, and ready to bestow this and communicate that to us as we come to Him in faith.

Believe that when you come into the presence of God you can have all you came for. You can take it away, and you can use it, for all the power of God is at your disposal in response to your faith. The price for all was paid by the blood of Jesus Christ at Calvary. Oh, He is the living God, the One who has power to change us! “It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves” (Psalm 100:3). And it is He who purposes to transform us so that the greatness of His power may work through us. Oh, beloved, God delights in us, and when a man‘s ways please the Lord, then He makes all things move according to His own blessed purpose.

Thought for today: All people are born with a natural faith, but God calls us to a supernatural faith that is a gift from Himself.