Author: Billy Conrad

August 5

Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity. — 1 Timothy 4:12

Scripture reading: Psalm 148

The Holy Spirit fell upon a young man outside a church. He went into the church, where they were all very sedate. If anything were to move in that church out of the ordinary, it would have been extraordinary! This young man, with his fullness of life and zeal for the Master, started shouting and praising the Lord, manifesting the joy of the Lord; he disturbed the old saints.

In this church, an old man was reading the Psalms quietly one day. It touched the young Spirit-filled man who was sitting behind him. And the young man shouted, “Glory!” Said the old man, “Do you call that religion?”

The father of the young man was one of the deacons of the church. The other deacons gathered around him and said, “You must talk to your boy and make him understand that he has to wait until he is established before he manifests those things.” So the father had a long talk with the boy and told him what the deacons had said. “You know,” he said, “I must respect the deacons, and they have told me they won‘t put up with your enthusiasm. You have to wait until you are established.”

As they neared their home, their horse made a sudden and complete stop. The father tried to make it go forward or backward, but the horse would not move for anything. “What is up with the horse?” asked the father of the boy. “Father,” replied the boy, “this horse has gotten established.”

I pray that we will not get established in that way. God, loose us from these critical, long-faced, poisoned countenances, which haven‘t seen daylight for many days. Deliver us from acting in such a terrible way. We must have the reality of supernatural quickening until we are sane and active and not in any way dormant, but filled with life, God working in us mightily by His Spirit.

Thought for today: May the Lord save Pentecost from going to dry rot.

August 4

I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men. — Acts 24:16

Scripture reading: Matthew 18:3–18

If ten people could have saved Sodom and Gomorrah, ten holy people in a church can hold the power of the Spirit until light reigns. We do not want to seek to save ourselves; on the contrary, we want to lose ourselves so that we may save the church (Matthew 16:25). You cannot stop distresses from coming; they will come, and offenses will come. But woe to those who cause offenses (Matthew 18:7). See that you do not cause offense. Live on a higher plane. See that your tongue does not speak evil of others.

Have you ever fully seen the picture presented in the twenty-sixth chapter of Matthew? Jesus said, “One of you will betray Me” (v. 21). The disciples asked, “Lord, is it I?” (v. 22). Every one of them was so conscious of his human weaknesses that not a single one of them could say that it would not be he.

How long do you think Jesus had known who would betray Him? Jesus had been with them, feeding them, walking up and down with them, and He had never told any of them that Judas would be His betrayer. Those who follow Jesus should be so sober and sensitive that they would not speak against someone else, whether the words are true or not.

If Jesus had told the disciples that Judas would one day betray Him, what would have been the result? Everyone would have been bitter against Judas. So He saved all His disciples from being bitter against Judas for three years.

What love! Can‘t you see that holy, divine Savior? If we saw Him clearly, every one of us would throw ourselves at His feet. If we had a crown worth millions of dollars, we would cast it at His feet and say, “You alone are worthy.” O God, give us such a holy, intense, divine acquaintance with You that we would rather die than grieve You! O Jesus, we worship You! You are worthy!

Thought for today: Oh, for inward character that will make us say, “A thousand deaths rather than sinning once.”

August 3

May the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ. — 2 Thessalonians 3:5

Scripture reading: 2 Thessalonians 1:3–12

I know I am writing to people who have many responsibilities in their churches. If the people see that you have lost your groundwork of peace, they know that you have gotten outside of the position of victory. You have to possess your soul in peace.

Strange things will happen in the church. All circumstances will appear to be against the church, and you will feel that the Enemy is busy. At that time, possess your soul in peace. Let the people know that you are acquainted with One “who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return” (1 Peter 2:23).

Possess patience to such an extent that you can suffer anything for the church, for your friends, for your neighbors, or for anyone. Remember this: we build character in others as our character is built. As we are pure in our thoughts, are tender and gracious to other people, and possess our souls in patience (Luke
21:19), then people have a great desire for our fellowship in the Holy Spirit.

Now, Jesus is an example to us along these lines. The people saw Him undisturbed. I love to think about Him. He helps me so much because He is the very essence of help. I pray to God that we may learn the lesson of how to keep ourselves so that the Spirit will blend us, making the harmony beautiful.

Get ready for that. Claim your rights to God‘s promises. Believe the Scriptures are for you. Believe that love covers you, that His life flows through you, that His life-giving Spirit lifts you. Let the peace that passes understanding (Philippians 4:7) be yours today.

Thought for today: Remember this: you never lose as much as when you lose your peace.

August 2

In all things we commend ourselves as ministers of God: in much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in distresses. — 2 Corinthians 6:4

Scripture reading: 2 Corinthians 6:3–7:1

The tribulations of which Paul spoke are not the tribulations of various diseases. Paul was very definite about this fact. He suffered tribulations with the people as Jesus did. There can be many tribulations within our human frame as we feel that our spiritual influence is not bearing fruit in the lives of others. You are very sorry and deeply distressed because the church is not capturing the vision, and there is tribulation in your sorrow.

God wants us to be so spiritual that we have perfect discernment of the spirit of the people. However, if I can in a moment discern the spirit in a meeting, whether it is life-giving, whether the whole church is receiving it, whether my heart is moved by this power, then I can also see faith waning, and that will bring tribulation and trouble to my life.

May God give us the realization that we are so joined to the church that we may labor to bring the church up. Paul said that he labored in birth in order that Christ might be formed in the people again (Galatians 4:19). He was not laboring so that they could be saved again. No, but they had lacked perception; they had missed divine fellowship; so he labored again so that they might be brought into this deep fellowship in the Spirit.

May God help us to see that we can labor for the church. Blessed is the person who can weep between the church door and the altar. Blessed are the people of God who can take someone else‘s church on their hearts and weep and cry through until the church is formed again, until she rises in glory, until the power of heaven is over her, until the spiritual acquaintance rises higher and higher, until a song lifts her to the heights.

Thought for today: You have to so live in the Spirit that when you see the church not rising into its glory, you suffer tribulation for the church.

August 1

Do not let your good be spoken of as evil. — Romans 14:16

Scripture reading: Romans 14

We recognize the Holy Spirit, but we recognize first the Spirit giving us life, saving us from every form of evil power, transforming our human nature until it is in divine order. Then, in that divine order, we see that the Lord of Hosts can very beautifully arrange the life until we live in the Spirit and are not fulfilling the lusts of the flesh (Galatians 5:16). When the Holy Spirit is perfectly in charge, He lifts and lightens and unveils the truth in a new way until we grasp it.

Oh, how wonderful it would be if every one of us would possess this word in our hearts: “Do not let your good be spoken of as evil.” I know we all want to be good. It is not a wrong thing to desire that our goodness be appreciated. But we must watch ourselves because it is an evil day (although it is the day of salvation), and we must understand these days that the Lord wants to chasten and bring a people right into a full-tide position.

I believe that it is just as possible for God to sweep a group of believers right into glory before the Rapture as during the Rapture. It is possible for you to be taken even if others are left. May God give us a very keen inward discerning of our hearts‘ purity. We want to go to heaven—it is far better for us to go—but it is far better for the church that we stay (Philippians 1:23–24).

Paul realized the following truth: “To depart [to] be with Christ…is far better” (v. 23). Then there is another side to it. Believing that God made us for the proclamation of the Gospel, for the building of the church, we would say, “Lord, for the purpose of being a further blessing for Your sake and for the sake of the church, just keep us full of life to stay.” We do not want to be full of disease, but
we want to be full of life.

May the Lord grant to us right now a living faith to believe.

Thought for today: We will have to be utterly slain if we want to know the resurrection power of Jesus.

July 31

Give no offense in anything, that our ministry may not be blamed. — 2 Corinthians 6:3

Scripture reading: 2 Corinthians 13:4–12

If you, being a member of a certain church, are in a place where you would rather see one person saved at your church than two people saved at another church, then you are altogether wrong, and you need to be saved. You are still out of the order of the Spirit of God, and you are a stranger to true, holy life with God.

God wants to show us that we must so live in the Spirit that the ministry is not blamed. If your ministry is not to be blamed, how can you help to prevent it from being blamed? You have to live in love. See to it that you never say or do anything that would interfere with the work of the Lord; rather, live in the place where you are helping everybody, lifting everybody, and causing everybody to come into perfect harmony. Remember, there is always a blessing where there is harmony. “One accord” is the keynote of the victory that is going to come to us all the time.

There are thousands and thousands of different churches, but they are all one in the Spirit to the extent that they receive the life of Christ. If there is any division, it is always outside of the Spirit. The spiritual life in the believer never has known dissension, because where the Spirit has perfect liberty, there is total agreement, and there is no schism in the body.

“The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” (2 Corinthians 3:6). When there is division, it is only because people choose the letter instead of the Spirit. If we are in the Spirit, we will have life. If we are in the Spirit, we will love everybody. If we are in the Spirit, there will be no division; there will be perfect harmony.

Thought for today: More grace means more death to self; more life means more submission; more revelation means more humility.

July 30

Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation. — 2 Corinthians 6:2

Scripture reading: 1 John 1

There are two processes of salvation. First, God helped you when the Spirit was moving you and when the Adversary was against you, when your neighbors and friends did not want you to be saved, and when everybody rose up in accusation against you. When you knew there was fighting on the outside and fighting within, He helped you; He covered you until you came into salvation. Second, He keeps you in the plan of His salvation.

This is the day of salvation. The fact that you are being saved does not mean that you were not saved, but it means that you are being continually changed. In the process of regeneration, you are being made like God; you are being brought into the operation of the Spirit‘s power; you are being made like Him.

This is the day of salvation. God has helped you in a time when Satan would destroy you, and He is with you now. If we remain stationary, God has nothing for us. We must see that we must progress. Yesterday will not do for today. I must thank God for yesterday; however, tomorrow is affected by what I am today.

Today is a day of inspiration and divine intuition, a day in which God is enrapturing the heart, breaking all shorelines, getting my heart to the place where it is responsive only to His cry, where I live and move honoring and glorifying God in the Spirit. This is the day of the visitation of the Lord. This is the great day of salvation, a day of moving on for God.

We will praise and magnify the Lord, for He is worthy to be praised! He has helped us, and now He is building us; now He is changing us; now we are in the operation of the Holy Spirit. Every day you must climb to higher ground. You must refuse everything that is not pure and holy and separate. God wants you to be pure in heart. He wants your intense desire after holiness.

Thought for today: You must deny yourself in order to go forward with God.

July 29

We then, as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain. — 2 Corinthians 6:1

Scripture reading: Psalm 51

People are getting blessed all the time and are receiving revelation. They go from one point to another, but they do not establish themselves in the thing that God has brought to them. If you do not let your heart be examined when the Lord comes with blessing or with correction, if you do not make the blessing or the correction a stepping-stone, or if you do not make it a rising place, then you are receiving the grace of God in vain.

People could be built up much more in the Lord and be more wonderfully established if they would step out sometimes and think over the graces of the Lord. Grace will be multiplied on certain conditions. How? In the first chapter of 2 Timothy, we have these words: “The genuine faith that is in you” (v. 5). Everyone in the entire church of God has the same precious faith within him. If you allow this same precious faith to be foremost, utmost in everything, you will find that grace and peace are multiplied. The Lord comes to us with His mercy, and if we do not see that the God of grace and mercy is opening to us the door of mercy and utterances, we are receiving His grace in vain.

When you are in prayer, remember how near you are to the Lord. Prayer is a time during which God wants you to be strengthened, and He wants you to remember that He is with you.

When you open the sacred pages of Scripture and the light comes right through and you say, “Oh, isn‘t that wonderful!” thank God, for it is the grace of God that has opened your understanding. When you go to a church meeting and the revelation comes forth and you feel that it is what you needed, receive it as the grace of the Lord. God has brought you to a place where He might make you a greater blessing.

Thought for today: If we want strength in building our spiritual character, we should never forget our blessings.

July 28

How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word. — Psalm 119:9

Scripture reading: Psalm 119:17–40

God can so change us by His Word day by day that we are altogether different. David knew this. He said, “Your word has given me life” (Psalm 119:50). “He sent His word and healed them” (Psalm 107:20). How beautiful that God can make His Word abound! “Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You!” (Psalm 119:11).

It is absolute disloyalty and unbelief to pray about anything in the Word of God. Believe and receive the Word of God, and you will always be on sure ground. If you pray about the Word of God, the Devil will be behind the whole thing. Never pray about anything concerning which it can be said, “Thus says the Lord.” You need to receive God‘s words so that they will build you on a new foundation of truth.

In Romans 12:1, we see that Paul had been operated on:
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.”

He had undergone a mighty operation on more than just a surgical table. He had been cut to the very depths of his being, until he had absolutely reached a place on the altar of full surrender. When he came to this place, out of the depths of this experience, he gave his whole life, as it were, in a nutshell.

Thought for today: The Word of God does not need to be prayed about: the Word of God needs to be received.

July 27

Believe in the LORD your God, and you shall be established. — 2 Chronicles 20:20

Scripture reading: Mark 9:19–29

Are you ready? “Why?” you ask. Because God wants to give us higher ground, holier thoughts, and a more concentrated, clearer ministry. God wants us to be in a rising tide every day. This rising tide is a changing of faith; it is an attitude of the spirit where God rises higher and higher. He wants us to come to the place where we will never look back. God has no room for the person who looks back. (See Genesis 19:15–26.)

The Holy Spirit wants to get you ready to stretch yourself out to God and to believe that “He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6). You do not need to use vain repetitions when you pray (Matthew 6:7). Simply ask and believe.

People come with their needs, they ask, and then they leave with their needs because they do not faithfully wait to receive what God has promised them. If they ask for it, they will get it.

Many people are missing the highest order. I went to a person who was full of the Spirit but was constantly saying, “Glory! Glory! Glory!” I said, “You are full of the Holy Spirit, but the Spirit cannot speak because you continually speak.” He kept still then, and the Spirit began to speak through him. This story illustrates the fact that often we are altogether in God‘s way.

I want to so change your operation in God that you will know that God is operating through you for this time and forevermore. May the Spirit awaken us to deep things today.

Are you ready to move and be moved by the mighty power of God that cannot be moved, and to be so chastened and built up that you are in the place where it doesn‘t matter where the wind blows or what difficulty comes because you are fixed in God?

Are you ready to come into the plan of the Most High God, believing what the Scriptures say and holding fast to what is good, believing so that no one will take your crown (Revelation 3:11)?

Thought for today: Do more believing and less begging.