Author: Billy Conrad

August 15

The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. — 2 Corinthians 3:6

Scripture reading: John 6:53–71

As I go on with God, He wants me to understand all His deep things. We cannot define, separate, or deeply investigate and unfold this holy plan of God unless we have the life of God, the thought of God, the Spirit of God, and the revelation of God. The Word of Truth is pure, spiritual, and divine. If you try to discern it without the help of the Spirit, you will end up with a limited, human understanding.

People who are spiritual can only be fed with spiritual food. We must see that we not only need the baptism of the Spirit, but we also need to come to a place where there is only the baptism of the Spirit left. In John‘s gospel, Jesus says He does not speak or act of Himself: “The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works” (John 14:10).

We must know that the baptism of the Spirit immerses us into an intensity of zeal, into a likeness to Jesus; it makes us into pure, liquid metal so hot for God that it travels like oil from vessel to vessel. This divine life of the Spirit will let us see that we have ceased, yet we have begun. We are at the end for a beginning.

God, help us to see that we may be filled with the letter without being filled with the Spirit. We may be filled with knowledge without having divine knowledge. And we may be filled with wonderful natural things and still remain natural men. But we cannot remain natural men in this truth that I am dealing with here. No one is able to walk this way unless he is in the Spirit. He must live in the Spirit, and he must realize all the time that he is growing in that same ideal of his Master, “in season and out of season” (2 Timothy 4:2), always beholding the face of the Master, Jesus (Matthew 18:10).

Thought for today: We can understand the Word of God only by the Spirit of God.

August 14

We have such trust through Christ toward God. — 2 Corinthians 3:4

Scripture reading: Psalm 37

We need to get to a place where we are beyond trusting in ourselves. It is not bad to have self-confidence, but we must never rest upon anything in the human. The only sure place to rest is where you are trusting fully in God.

In His name we go. In Him we trust. And God brings us the victory. When we do not trust in ourselves, but when our whole trust rests upon the authority of the mighty God, He has promised to be with us at all times, to make the path straight, and to make a way through all the mountains. Then we understand how it was that David could say, “Your gentleness has made me great” (2 Samuel 22:36).

Ah, God is the lover of souls! We have no confidence in the flesh. Our confidence can only be placed in and rest upon the One who never fails, the One who knows the end from the beginning, the One who is able to come in at the midnight hour as easily as at midday. In fact, God makes the night and the day alike to the person who rests completely in His will with the knowledge that “all things work together for good to those who love God” (Romans 8:28) and trust in Him. And we have such trust in Him.

This is the worthy position; this is where God wants all souls to be. We would find that we would not run His errands and make mistakes; we would not be settling down in the wrong place. We would know that our lives were as surely in agreement with the thoughts of God as the leading of the children of Israel through the wilderness. And we would be able to say, “Not one good thing has the Lord withheld from me” (Psalm 84:11), and “All the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us” (2 Corinthians 1:20).

May the Lord help you to have less confidence in yourself, and to trust wholly in Him. Bless His name!

Thought for today: There is so much failure in self-assurance.

August 13

Clearly you are an epistle of Christ. — 2 Corinthians 3:3

Scripture reading: Colossians 3:12–25

Think about these words: “Clearly you are an epistle of Christ.” What an ideal position that now the sons of God are being manifested; now the glory is being seen; now the Word of God is becoming an expressed purpose in life until the Word has begun to live in God‘s children.

This position was truly evident in the life of Paul when he came to a climax and said, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God” (Galatians 2:20).

How can Christ live in you? There is no way for Christ to live in you except by the manifested Word in you, declaring every day that you are a living epistle of the Word of God.

It is the living Christ; it is the divine likeness to God; it is the express image of Him. The Word is the only factor that works out and brings forth in you these glories of identification between you and Christ. It is the Word richly dwelling in your hearts by faith (Colossians 3:16).

We may begin at Genesis and go right through the Scriptures and be able to recite them, but unless they are a living power within us, they will be a dead letter. Everything that comes to us must be quickened by the Spirit. “The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” (2 Corinthians 3:6).

We must have life in everything. Who knows how to pray except as the Spirit prays (Romans 8:26)? What kind of prayer does the Spirit pray? The Spirit always brings to your remembrance the Scriptures, and He brings forth all your cries and your needs better than your words. The Spirit always takes the Word of God and brings your heart, mind, soul, cry, and need into the presence of God.

So we are not able to pray except as the Spirit prays, and the Spirit only prays according to the will of God (v. 27), and the will of God is all in the Word of God. No man is able to speak according to the mind of God and bring forth the deep things of God by his own mind.

God, help us to understand this, for it is out of the heart that all things proceed (Matthew 12:34). When we have entered in with God into the mind of the Spirit, we will find that God enraptures our hearts.

“Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, ‘The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously?’” (James 4:5). I have been pondering over that verse for years, but now I can see that the Holy Spirit very graciously, very extravagantly, puts everything to one side so that He may enrapture our hearts with a great inward cry for Jesus. The Holy Spirit “yearns jealously” for us to have all the divine will of God in Christ Jesus right in our hearts.

When I speak about the “tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart” (2 Corinthians 3:3), I mean the inward love. Nothing is as sweet to me as to know that the heart yearns with compassion. Eyes may see, ears may hear, but you may be immovable on those two lines unless you have an inward cry where “deep calls unto deep” (Psalm 42:7).

When God gets into the depths of our hearts, He purifies every intention of the thoughts and the joys. We are told in the Word that it is “joy inexpressible and full of glory” (1 Peter 1:8).

Beloved, it is true that the commandments were written on tablets of stone. Moses, like a great big loving father over Israel, had a heart full of joy because God had shown him a plan by which Israel could partake of great things through these commandments. But God says that now the epistle of Christ is “not on tablets of stone” (2 Corinthians 3:3), which made the face of Moses shine with great joy. It is deeper than that, more wonderful than that: the commandments are in our hearts; the deep love of God is in our hearts; the deep movings of eternity are rolling in and bringing God in. Hallelujah!

Oh, beloved, let God the Holy Spirit have His way today in unfolding to us all the grandeur of His glory. Yes, He is mine! Beloved, He is mine!

Thought for today: No one is perfected or equipped in any area except as the living Word abides in him.

August 12

When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men. — Ephesians 4:8

Scripture reading: 1 Thessalonians 4:1–12

God has gifts for men. You ask, “What kind of men?” Even for rebels. Did they desire to be rebels? No. Sometimes there are transgressions that break our hearts and make us groan and travail. Was it our desire to sin? No. God looks right at the very canvas of our whole life histories, and He has set His mind upon us.

Your weakness has to be sifted like the chaff before the wind, and every seed will bring forth pure grain after God‘s mind. The fire will burn like an oven to burn up the stubble (Malachi 4:1), but the wheat will be gathered into the granary, the treasury of the Most High God, and He Himself will lay hold of us.

What is this process for? The perfecting of the saints. (See Ephesians 4:11–12.) Oh, just think—that brokenness of yours is to be made whole like Him; that weakness of yours is to be made strong like Him! You have to bear the image of the Lord in every detail. You have to have the mind of Christ (Philippians 2:5) in perfection, in beauty.

Beloved, don‘t fail and shrivel up because of the hand of God upon you, but realize that God must purify you for the perfecting of the saints. Oh, Jesus will help you. Friend, what are you going to do with this golden opportunity, with this inward pressure of a cry of God in your soul? Are you going to let others be crowned while you lose the crown? Are you willing to be brought into captivity today for God?

You must decide some things. If you are not baptized, you must seek the baptism of the Spirit of God. And if there is anything that has marred the fruit or interfered with all of His plan, I implore you to let the blood so cover, let the anointing of Christ so come, let the vision of Christ be so seen, that you will have a measure that will take all that God has for you.

Thought for today: There are no buts in the sanctification of the Spirit. But and if are gone, replaced with shall and will.

August 11

To each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ‟s gift. — Ephesians 4:7

Scripture reading: Romans 12

Grace and gifts are equally abounding in Jesus. As you place your strength on Jesus, as you allow the Holy Spirit to penetrate every thought, always bringing on the canvas of the mind a perfect picture of holiness, purity, and righteousness, you enter into Him and become entitled to all the riches of God.

How do you measure up today? God gives a measure. “To each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ‟s gift.”

I know that salvation, while it is a perfect work, is an insulation that may have any number of volts behind it. In the days when bare wires were laid, when electric power was obtained from Niagara, I am told that there was a city whose lights suddenly went out. Following the wires, the repairmen came to a place where a cat had gotten on the wires, and the lights had been stopped.

I find that the dynamo of heaven can be stopped with a smaller thing than a cat. An impure thought stops the circulation. An act can stop the growth of the believer.

So I find that if I am going to have all the revelations of Jesus brought to me, I must strive for all that God has for me through a pure and clean heart, right thoughts, and an inward affection toward Him. Then heaven bursts through my human frame, and all the rays of heaven flow through my body. Hallelujah! It is lovely!

The measure of the gift of Christ remains with you. I cannot go on with inspiration unless I am going on with God in perfection. I cannot know the mind of the natural and the mysteries of the hidden things with God unless I have power to penetrate everything between me and heaven. And there is nothing that goes through but a pure heart, for the pure in heart will see God (Matthew
5:8).

Thought for today: We must let Him be enthroned, and then He will lift us to the throne.

August 10

You were called in one hope of your calling. — Ephesians 4:4

Scripture reading: John 3:1–21

Many people who are called miss the call because they are dull of hearing. There is something in the call, beloved. “Many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14). And how will the choice be made? The choice is always your choice first. You will find that gifts are your choice first. You will find that salvation is your choice. God has made it all, but you have to choose. God wants you to make an inward call, to be in a great intercessory condition of imploring the Holy One to prepare you for that wonderful spiritual body.

Called! Beloved, I know that some people have the idea (and it is a great mistake) that because they are not successful in everything they touch, because they have failed in so many things that they desire to go forward in, because they don‘t seem to aspire in prayer as some do and perhaps don‘t enter into the fullness of tongues, there is no hope for them in this calling. Satan comes and
says, “Look at that black list of your weaknesses and infirmities! You can never expect to be in that calling!”

Yes, you can, beloved! God says it in the Scriptures. Oh, beloved, it is weakness that is made strong (2 Corinthians 12:9). It is the last who can be made first (Matthew 19:30). What will make the whole situation different? Confessing our helplessness. God says that He feeds the hungry with good things, but the satisfied He sends away empty (Luke 1:53). If you want to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the grace of God, get hungry enough to be fed; get thirsty enough to cry out; be broken enough that you do not want anything in the world unless He comes Himself.

Let God comfort your heart. Let Him strengthen your weakness. Let Him cause you to come into the place of profit. Let Him help you into the place He has chosen for you, for “many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14). But God has a big choice.

Thought for today: I am glad I cannot measure Jesus, but I am glad I can touch Him all the same.

August 9

There is one body and one Spirit. — Ephesians 4:4

Scripture reading: James 4:17; 5:1–12

We must recognize that there is only one body. The longsuffering of God reaches out to believers who have the idea that only those in their church are right. That way of thinking is foolishness. It is foolishness for people to come to their Communion table and think that their table is the only table. What about the hundreds of people who are sitting around their tables partaking of the bread and the wine? Friend, the body of Christ consists of all who are in Christ.

The Scriptures definitely say that all who are Christ‘s at His coming will be changed. It seems that we cannot be all Christ‘s unless something is done, and God will sweep away so many attitudes that are spoiling our unity. We must reach the place of perfect love.

Oh, the body appearing as one body! Oh, the entire body possessing the same joy, the same peace, the same hope! No division, all one in Christ! Who can make a body like that? This body is made deep in the Cross. The blood takes away all impurities and everything that will mar the vessel. God is making a vessel for honor, fit for the Master‘s use (2 Timothy 2:21), joined with that body— one body.

Let us be careful that we do not in any way defile the body, because God is chastening the body and fitting it together. There is something deeper down in the spirit of the regenerated person when the impurities of life and of the flesh fall off. Oh, there is a resemblance, a likeness, a perfection of holiness, of love! O God, take away the weaknesses and all the depravities.

“Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually [“in particular,” KJV]” (1 Corinthians 12:27). I like the word “particular”; it tells us that there is just the right place for us. God is making us fit in that place so that for all time we will have a wonderful place in that body.

Thought for today: You will never advance in the kingdom unless you see that in every church there is a nucleus that has as real a God as you have.

August 8

Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. — Ephesians 4:3

Scripture reading: Matthew 5:9, 17–24

Of all the things God intends for us to be, He intends for us to be peacemakers. I won‘t find a Scripture to help me make this point any better than Matthew 5:23–24:

“Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.”

Most Christians are satisfied with the first meaning of this passage, but the second meaning is deeper. Most people believe it is perfectly right, if you have offended another, to go to that person and say, “Please forgive me,” and you win your brother when you take that part. But this is the deeper sense: “If you…remember that your brother has something against you,” go and forgive him his transgressions. It is so much deeper than getting your own side right to go and get his side right by forgiving him of all that he has done.

That will be a stepping-stone to very rich grace in the area of keeping “the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” Someone may say, “I cannot forgive them because she did that and he said that. You know, he didn‘t recognize me at all. And he hasn‘t smiled at me for at least six months.” Poor thing! May God help you through evil report and good report (2 Corinthians 6:4, 8). God can take us right through if we get to the right side of grace.

Friends, when you get to the place of forgiving your brother who has something against you, you will find that that is the greatest ideal of going on to perfection, and the Lord will help us “to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” The “bond of peace” is an inward bond between you and another child of God. Oh, glory to God!

Thought for today: God wants us to have a pure love, a love that always helps someone else at its own expense.

August 7

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. — Matthew 28:19

Scripture reading: Acts 22:1–16

As it was only out of the brokenness of Paul‘s life that blessing came forth, so it is out of the emptiness, brokenness, and yieldedness of our lives that God can bring forth all His glories through us to others. As someone once said, “Unless we pass on what we receive, we will lose it.” If we didn‘t lose it, it would become stagnant.

Virtue is always manifested through blessings that you have passed on. Nothing will be of any importance to you except what you pass on to others. God wants us to be so in the order of the Spirit that when He breaks upon us the alabaster box of ointments, which represents the precious anointing that He has for every child of His, we will be filled with perfumes of holy incense for the sake of others. Then we may be poured out for others, others may receive the graces of the Spirit, and the entire church may be edified. The church will never know one dry day, but there will always be freshness and life that make all of our hearts burn together as we know that the Lord has talked with us once more.

We must have this inward burning desire for more of God. We must not be at any stationary point. We must always have the most powerful telescopes, looking at and hurrying toward what God has called us to, so that He may perfect that forever.

In these days, God has for us a blessed inheritance, so that we should no longer be barren or unfruitful, but rather be filled with all fullness, increasing with all increasings, having a measureless measure of the might of the Spirit in the inner man, so that we are always like a great river that presses on and heals everything that it touches. Oh, let it be so today!

Thought for today: We must be hungry, always ready for every touch of God.

August 6

Bearing with one another in love. — Ephesians 4:2

Scripture reading: Galatians 6:1–10

We need to bear “with one another in love.” How contrary this is to the hardness of men‘s hearts, contrary to the evil powers, contrary to the natural mind. It is God‘s love toward you that gives you tender, compassionate love toward one another.

Only the broken, contrite heart has received the mark of God. It is in that secluded place where He speaks to you alone and encourages you when you are down and out. When no hand is stretched out to you, He stretches out His hand with mercy and brings you into a place of compassion. Then you cannot think evil; then you cannot in any way act harshly. God has brought you into
longsuffering, with tenderness and with love.

In the church of God, where a soul is on fire, kindled with the love of God, there is a deeper love between me and that brother than there is between me and my earthly brother. Oh, this love that I am speaking about is divine love; it is not human love. It is higher than human love; it is more devoted to God. It will not betray. It is true in everything. You can depend on it. It won‘t change its character. In divine love, you will act exactly as Jesus would act, for you will act with the same spirit. “As He is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17).

As your intimacy with Christ in the Spirit deepens, as you walk with Him “in the light as He is in the light” (1 John 1:7), then the fellowship becomes unique in all its plan. I pray that God will help us to understand it so that we will be able to be clothed upon (2 Corinthians 5:2) as we have never been, with another majestic touch, with another ideal of heaven.

No one can love like God. And when He takes us into this divine love, we will precisely understand this word, this verse, for it is full of entreaty; it is full of passion and compassion; it has every touch of Jesus right in it. It is so lovely: “With all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love” (Ephesians 4:2).

Isn‘t it glorious? You cannot find it anywhere else. You cannot get these pictures in any place you go. I challenge you to go into any library in the world and find words coined or brought forth like these words, unless they are copied from this Word. They aren‘t in nature‘s garden; they are in God‘s. It is the Spirit explaining, for He alone can explain this ideal of beatitudes. These words are marvelous; they are beautiful; they are full of grandeur; they are God‘s. Hallelujah!

Thought for today: You cannot bear with others until you know how God has borne with you.