Author: Billy Conrad

December 20

There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. — 1 Corinthians 12:4

Scripture reading: Romans 12:3–13

The variation among humanity is tremendous. Faces are different, so are physiques. Your whole body may be put together in such a way that one particular gift would not suit you at all, while it would suit another person.

So the Word of God deals here with varieties of gifts, meaning that these gifts perfectly meet the condition of each believer. That is God‘s plan. It may be that not one person would be led to claim all the gifts. Nevertheless, do not be afraid; the Scriptures are definite. Paul said that you do not need to come short in any gift (1 Corinthians 1:7). God has wonderful things for you beyond what you have ever known. The Holy Spirit is so full of prophetic operations of divine power that it is marvelous what may happen after the Holy Spirit comes.

How He loosed me! I am no good without the Holy Spirit. The power of the Holy Spirit loosed my language. I was like my mother. She had no ability to speak. If she began to tell a story, she couldn‘t finish it. My father would say, “Mother, you will have to begin again.” I was like that. I couldn‘t tell a story. I was bound. I had plenty of thoughts, but no language. But oh, after the Holy Spirit came!

When He came, I had a great desire for gifts. So the Lord caused me to see that it is possible for every believer to live in such holy anointing, such divine communion, such pressed-down measure (Luke 6:38) by the power of the Spirit, that every gift can be his.

But is there not a vast and appalling unconcern about possessing the gifts? You may ask a score of believers, chosen at random from almost any church, “Do you have any of the gifts of the Spirit?” The answer from all will be, “No,” and it will be given in a tone and with a manner that conveys the thought that the believer is not surprised that he does not have the gifts, that he doesn‘t expect to have any of them, and that he does not expect to seek them. Isn‘t this terrible, when the living Word specifically exhorts us to “earnestly desire the best gifts” (1 Corinthians 12:31)?

So in order that the gifts might be everything and in evidence, we have to see that we cease to live without His glory. He works with us, and we work with Him—cooperating, working together. This is divine. Surely this is God‘s plan.

God has brought you to the banquet, and He wants to send you away full. We are in a place where God wants to give us visions. We are in a place where, in His great love, He is bending over us with kisses. Oh, how lovely is the kiss of Jesus, the expression of His love!

Oh, come, let us seek Him for the best gifts, and let us strive to be wise and to rightly divide the Word of Truth (2 Timothy 2:15), giving it forth in power so that the church may be edified and sinners may be saved.

Thought for today: Look to the Holy Spirit to show you how to use the gifts so that you never use them without the power of the Spirit.

December 19

Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. — Philippians 1:6

Scripture reading: Philippians 1

I have great love for my sons and my daughter, but it is nothing in comparison to God‘s love toward us. God‘s love wants us to walk up and down the earth as His Son did: clothed, filled, radiant, with fire beaming forth from our countenances, setting forth the power of the Spirit so that the people jump into liberty.

But there is deplorable ignorance among those who have gifts. It is not right for you to think that because you have a gift, you are to wave it before the people and try to get their minds upon that, because, if you do, you will be out of the will of God. Gifts and callings in the body of Christ may be irrevocable (Romans 11:29), but remember that God calls you to account for properly administering the gift in a spiritual way after you have received it. It is not given to adorn you, but to sustain, build, edify, and bless the church. When God ministers through a member of the body of Christ and the church receives this edification, then all the members will rejoice together. God moves upon us as His offspring, as His choice, and as the fruit of the earth. He wants us to be elegantly clothed in wonderful raiment, even as our Master is.

His workings upon us may be painful, but the wise saint will remember that among those whom God chastens, it is the one who is trained by that chastening to whom “it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness” (Hebrews 12:11). Therefore, let Him do with you what seems good to Him, for He has His hand upon you; He will not willingly take it off until He has performed the thing He knows you need. So if He comes to sift you, be ready for the sifting. If He comes with chastisement, be ready for chastisement. If He comes with correction, be ready for correction. Whatever He wills, let Him do it, and He will bring you to the land of plenty. Oh, it is worth the world to be under the power of the Holy Spirit!

If He does not chasten you, if you sail placidly along without incident, without crosses, without persecutions, without trials, remember that “if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons” (Hebrews 12:8). Therefore, “examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith” (2 Corinthians 13:5). Never forget that Jesus said this word: “They who hear My voice follow Me.” (See John 10:27.)

Thought for today: Jesus wants you to have a clear ring to your testimony.

December 18

Even so you, since you are zealous for spiritual gifts, let it be for the edification of the church that you seek to excel. — 1 Corinthians 14:12

Scripture reading: Luke 8:4–18

This Scripture is the Word of God, and it is most important that when we read the Word, we do so with hearts that have purposed to obey its every precept. We have no right to open the Word of God carelessly or indifferently. I have no right to come to you with any message unless it is absolutely in the perfect order of God. I believe we are in order to consider further a subject that we greatly need to be informed about in these days. So many people are receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit, but then they do not know which way to go.

We have a great need today. It is that we may be supplied with revelation according to the mind of the Lord, that we may be instructed by the mind of the Spirit, that we may be able to rightly divide the Word of Truth (2 Timothy 2:15), and that we may not be novices, considering the fact that the Spirit of the Lord has come to us in revelation. We ought to be alert to every touch of divine, spiritual illumination.

We should carefully consider what the apostle Paul said to us: “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption” (Ephesians 4:30). The sealing of the Spirit is very remarkable, and I pray to God that not one of you may lose the divine inheritance that God has chosen for you, which is greater than you could choose if your mind had ten times its normal faculties. God‘s mind is greater than yours. His thoughts are higher than the heavens over you (Isaiah 55:9), so that you do not need to be afraid.

Thought for today: When the Word is in your heart, it will preserve you from desiring sin.

December 17

I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. — John 15:5

Scripture reading: John 15:1–17

Beloved, it is lovely to be in the will of God. Now then, how may we be something? By just being nothing, by receiving the Holy Spirit, by being in the place where we can be directed by God and filled with His power.

What it must be to have speaking ability, to have a beautiful language, as so many men have! It is wonderful to have the tongue of an angel so that all the people who hear you are moved by your use of language. Yet how I would weep, how my heart would be broken, if I came to speak before you in beautiful language without the power.

If I had an angel‘s language and the people were all taken with what I said, but Jesus was not glorified at all, it would all be hopeless, barren, and unfruitful. I myself should be nothing. But if I speak and say, “Lord, let them hear Your voice. Lord, let them be compelled to hear Your truth. Lord, anyhow, any way, hide me today,” then He becomes glorious, and all the people say, “We have seen Jesus!”

When I was in California, I spent many days with our dear Brother Montgomery when I had a chance. During this time, a man wrote to Brother Montgomery. This man had been saved but had lost his joy; he had lost all he had. He wrote, “I am through with everything. I am not going to touch this thing again; I am through.” Brother Montgomery wrote back to him and said, “I will never try to persuade you again if you will hear once. There is a man from England, and if you will only hear him once, I will pay all your expenses.” So he came. He listened, and at the end of the time he said to me, “This is the truth I am telling you. I have seen the Lord standing beside you, and I heard His voice. I never even saw you.

“I have a lot of money,” he continued, “and I have a valley five hundred miles long. If you speak the word to me, I will go on your word, and I will open that valley for the Lord.”

I have preached in several of his places, and God has used him wonderfully to speak throughout that valley. What I would have missed when he came the first day, if I had been trying to say something of my own instead of the Lord being there and speaking His words through me! Never let us do anything to lose this divine love, this close affection in our hearts that says, “Not I, but Christ; not I, but Christ!”

Lose all your identity in the Son of God. Let Him become all in all. Seek only the Lord, and let Him be glorified. You will have gifts; you will have grace and wisdom. God is waiting for the person who will lay all on the altar, fifty-two weeks in the year, three hundred and sixty-five days in the year, and then continue perpetually in the Holy Spirit.

Thought for today: Forget yourself and get lost in Him.

December 16

Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. — Jude 24–25

Scripture reading: Jude

It is very necessary that we receive the Holy Spirit in the first place; after receiving the Holy Spirit, we must earnestly desire the gifts. Then, after receiving the gifts, we must never forget that the gift is entrusted to us for bringing the blessings of God to the people.

For instance, divine healing is a gift for ministering to the needs of the people. The gift of wisdom is a word in season at the moment of need, to show you just what to do. The gift of knowledge, or the word of knowledge, is to inspire you and to bring you life and joy. This is what God intends.

Then there is the gift of discernment. We are not to discern one another, but to discern evil powers and deal with them and command them back to the pit from which they came. Regarding the gift of miracles, God intends for us to come to the place where we will see miracles worked. God also wants us to understand that tongues are profitable only when they exalt and glorify the Lord. And oh, that we might really know what it means when interpretation is given! It is not merely to have beautiful sensations and think that is interpretation, but it is such that the man who has it does not know what is coming, for if he did, it would not be interpretation. Interpretation is not knowing what you are going to say, but it is being in the place where you say exactly what God says. So when I have to interpret a message, I purposely keep my mind from anything that would hinder, and I sometimes say “Praise the Lord” and “Hallelujah” so that everything will be a word through the Spirit, and not my word, but the word of the Lord!

We can have these divine gifts so perfectly balanced by divine love that they will be a blessing all the time. However, there is sometimes such a desire in the flesh to do something attention getting. How the people listen and long for divine prophecy, just as interpretation comes forth! How it thrills! There is nothing wrong with it; it is beautiful. We thank God for the office and the purpose that has caused it to come, but let us be careful to finish when we are through and not continue on our own. That is how prophecy is spoiled. Don‘t fail, beloved, because the people know the difference. They know what is full of life, what is the real thing.

Then again, it is the same with a person praying. We love people to pray in the Holy Spirit; we love to hear them pray even the first sentences because the fire is there. However, what spoils the holiest person in prayer is when, after the spirit of prayer has gone forth, he continues on and people say, “I wish he would stop,”and the church becomes silent. They say, “I wish that brother would stop. How beautifully he began; now he is dry!” But he doesn‘t stop.

A preacher was once having a wonderful time, and the people enjoyed it, but when he was through, he continued. A man came and said to someone at the door, “Has he finished?” “Yes,” said the man, “long since, but he won‘t stop!” May God save us from that. People know when you are praying in the Spirit. Why should you take time and spoil everything because the natural side has come into it? God never intended that. God has a supernatural side; that is the true side, and how beautiful it is! People sometimes know better than we do, and we would also know if we were more careful.

May the Lord grant us revelation; we need discernment; we need intuition. It is the life inside. It is salvation inside, cleansing, filling; it is all inside. Revelation is inside. It is for exhibition outside, but always remember that it is inside. God‘s Son said as much when He said, “The pure in heart will see God.” (See Matthew 5:8.) There is an inward sight of God, and it is the pure in heart who see God. Lord, keep us pure so that we will never block the way.

Thought for today: If you continue to prophesy on your own, at the end of the anointing, you are using false fire.

December 15

And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. — 1 Corinthians 13:3

Scripture reading: Mark 6:30–56

Though I can lay my hands on millions of dollars, though I can do all kinds of things with the money, and though, after I have given it all, I show the people more by giving my body to be burned, saying, “I will show what I am made of!” this is nothing, nothing! Five dollars given in the name of the Lord is of more value than thousands without acknowledging Him.

A man came to me, and we had long talks about the Lord. He told me, “I was in a very difficult place. I had been working very hard in the church and had given all my strength….”

Oh, I see such godly, holy people doing more than they ought to, thereby giving themselves away. Don‘t you know that your body belongs to God (1 Corinthians 6:19–20), and that, if you overtax your body, God says He will judge you for it? We have to be careful because the body that is given to us is to exhibit His power and His glory, and we cannot do this if we give ourselves all the time to work, work, work and think that that is the only way. It is not the way.

The Scriptures teach us that Jesus had to go and renew His spiritual vision and power in solitude with His Father (Mark 1:35), and it was also necessary for the disciples to draw aside and rest awhile (Mark 6:30–31). Couldn‘t Jesus give them all they needed? My dear brother, whatever God gives you, He will never take away your common sense.

Suppose I unwisely overextended my body and knew that I had done so? How could I ask anyone to pray for me unless I repented? We must be careful. Our bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit, and He has to dwell in them, and they have to be for His purpose in the world. We are not working for ourselves; God is to be glorified in our bodies. Many today are absolutely withered up, years before their time, because they went beyond their knowledge.

Thought for today: Your gifts will perish unless the gifts are used for the glory of Jesus.

December 14

And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. — 1 Corinthians 13:2

Scripture reading: Psalm 31

Lots of people desire to have faith; many desire to have prophecy; some long to know mysteries. Who knows mysteries? “The secret of the LORD is with those who fear Him” (Psalm 25:14). Don‘t change the Scriptures. “The just shall live by faith” (Romans 1:17). Do not alter the Scriptures.

Do not forget that prophecy is beautiful when you understand the principle of it. Prophecy is the sixth gift mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12. What fruit or grace do you think would coincide with prophecy? Why, goodness, of course.

Why goodness? Because if you are living in holiness, entire sanctification, perfection, you would never take advantage of the Holy Spirit and would speak only as the Spirit gave prophecy. You would never say human things just because you had the gift of prophecy. You would speak according to the Spirit, giving prophecy because you had been holy.

When you speak in the natural after you have received the gift of prophecy, it is because you have come to be nothing; you are nothing; you are not counted in the great plan of the great purpose of God. But if you are hidden in Christ and your whole heart is perfected in God, and you will prophesy only when the Spirit of the Lord is upon you, then it will be something that lasts forever. People will be blessed forever and God will be glorified forever.

Suppose that I have all faith so that I could move mountains. Now, suppose that I also have a big farm, but that some of my farmland is not very profitable. It is stony; it has many rocks on it as well as some little mountains that are absolutely untillable and do no good. But because I have faith without love, I say, “I will use my faith and I will move this land. I do not care where it goes as long as my land is clean.”

So I use my faith to clear my land. The next day, my poor next door neighbor comes and says, “I am in great trouble. All your wasteland and stony, rocky land has been tipped onto mine, and my good land is ruined.”

And I, who have faith without love, say to him, “You get faith and move it back!”

That profits nothing. If God brings you into a place of faith, let it be for the glory of God. Then, when you pray, God will wonderfully answer you; nothing will hinder your being used for God, for God delights to use us.

Gifts are not only given; they are also increased to those who can be used, who can keep in a place of usefulness. God keeps these yielded ones in a place of being continually supplanted—a new place that is deeper, higher, holier, richer, more heavenly.

In addition, gifts are not only usable, but God is also glorified in Jesus when you pray the prayer of faith. Jesus Himself said, “When you pray and believe, the Father will be glorified in the Son.” (See John 14:12–13.)

Thought for today: It takes a just man to live by faith.

December 13

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. — 1 Corinthians 13:1

Scripture reading: 1 Corinthians 13

Did you ever read a verse like this? It is the state of being brought into a treasury. Do you know what a treasury is? A treasury holds or handles priceless things.

God puts you into the treasury to hold or handle the precious gifts of the Spirit. Therefore, so that you may not fail to handle them correctly, He gives you a picture of how you may handle them.

What a high position of authority, of grace, the Lord speaks about in this verse! “Speak with the tongues of men and of angels.” Oh, isn‘t that wonderful!

There are men who have such wonderful qualifications for speaking. Their knowledge in the natural realm is so outstanding that many people go to hear their eloquent addresses because the language in them is so beautiful. Yet, through the baptism in the Holy Spirit, God puts you right in the midst of them and says that He has given you the capability to speak like men, with power of thought and language at your disposal, so that you can say anything.

People are failing God all the time all over the world because they are taken up with their own eloquence, and God is not in it. They are lost with the pretentiousness of their great authority over language, and they use it on purpose to tickle the ears and the sensations of the people, and it profits nothing. It is nothing. It will wither up, and the people who use it will wither up.

Yet God has said there is a way. Now, how would language “of men and of angels” come to prosper?

When you wept through to victory before, you were able to do anything. You were so undone that unless God helped you to do it, you couldn‘t do it. You were so broken in spirit that your whole body seemed to be at an end unless God reinstated you. Then the unction came, and every word was glorifying Jesus. Every sentence lifted the people, and they felt as they listened, “Surely God is in this place! He has sent His Word and healed us.” (See Psalm 107:20.) They saw no man there except Jesus. Jesus was so manifested that they all said, “Oh, wasn‘t Jesus speaking to our hearts this morning!”

If you minister in this way, you will never become nothing. Tongues of men and angels alone will come to nothing. Yet if you speak with tongues of men and angels that are bathed in the love of God until it is to Him alone that you speak, then it will be written down forever in the history of the glory. So let the Lord help us to know how to act in the Holy Spirit.

Thought for today: When you are used only for and desire only the glory of God, your acts and life, ministry, and power will be recorded endlessly in the glory of heaven—for the Acts of the Apostles are being recorded in the glory.