Author: Billy Conrad

December 12

Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. — Philippians 2:8

Scripture reading: Philippians 2:1–18

It is very important to minister in the gifts of the Spirit in the proper way. There is no anointing like the unction that comes out of death, when we are dead with Christ. It is this position that makes us live with Him. If we have been conformed to His death, then, in that same death, like Paul, we will be made like Him in His resurrection power (Philippians 3:10–11).

But do not forget that Jesus was coequal with the Father and that He made Himself of no reputation when he became man and came to earth (Philippians 2:6–7). He did not come out and say that He was this, that, or the other. No, that was not His position. Jesus had all the gifts. He could have stood up and said to Peter and John and James and the rest of them, when the dead son was being carried through the gate of the city of Nain (see Luke 7:11–15), “Stand to one side, Peter. Clear out of the way, John. Make room for Me, Thomas. Don‘t you know who I am? I am coequal with the Father. I have all power, I have all gifts, I have all graces. Stand to one side; I will show you how to raise the dead!”

Is that how He did it? No! Never. Then what made it come to pass? He was observant. The disciples were there, but they did not have the same observance. What did He see? He saw the widow and knew that she was carrying to burial that day all her help, all her life. Her love was bound up in that son. There she was, broken and bent over with sorrow, all her hopes blighted.

Jesus had compassion upon her, and the compassion of Jesus was greater than death. His compassion was so marvelous that it went beyond the powers of death and all the powers of demons. Isn‘t He a lovely Jesus? Isn‘t He a precious Savior?

Thought for today: Observance comes from an inward holy flame kindled by God.

December 11

Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD! — Psalm 150:6

Scripture reading: Psalm 150

If you ever get to the place where you cannot praise the Lord, it is a calamity in your life and it is a calamity to the people who are around you. If you want to take blessing into homes and make all the people around you know that you have something more than an ordinary life, you must know that God has come to supplant you and put within you a perfect praise.

God has a great place for us, so that His will may be done and we may be subject to His perfect will. When that comes to pass, no one can tell what may happen, for Jesus reached the highest place when He said, “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me” (John 6:38). So there is something in a place of yielding where God can have us for His own.

God desires that we would lose ourselves in Him in a way we have never done before. I want to provoke you to love so that you will come into this place of blessing.

Beloved, believe today that God has a way for you. Perhaps you have never come that way before. God has a way beyond all your ways of thought. He has a plan for you.

There is a great need today. People are hungry for truth. People are thirsting, wanting to know God better. There are thousands “in the valley of decision” (Joel 3:14), wanting someone to take them right into the depths of God.

Are you ready to pray? You say, “What should I ask for?”

You may not know what to ask for, but if you begin, the Spirit knows the desire of your heart, and He will pray according to the mind of God. You do not know, but God knows everything, and He is acquainted with you altogether and desires to promote you.

So I say, “Are you ready?” You say, “What for?” Are you ready to come promptly into the presence of God so that you may ask this day as you have never asked before? Ask in faith, doubting nothing, but believing that God is on the throne waiting to anoint you afresh today.

Are you ready? What for? Are you ready to be brought into the banquet house of God, even as Esther came in before King Ahasuerus? God will put out the scepter, and all that your heart desires He will give to you. (See Esther 5–7.)

Father, in Jesus‘ name we come before You believing in Your almightiness, that the power of Your hand does move us, chasten us. Build us. Let the Word of God sink into our hearts this day. Make us, O God, worthy of the name we bear, that we may go about as real, holy saints of God. Just as if You were on the earth, fill us with Your anointing, Your power, and Your grace. Amen.

Thought for today: God wants you to be blessed so that you will be a blessing.

December 10

Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. — 1 Corinthians 10:12

Scripture reading: Philippians 3:3–21

There are people today who have lived holy lives, preached sanctification, and their language of tongues has been helpful, but something has come in the way. They have lost their zeal and fire, but they still hold onto the language. This can take place in anyone‘s life.

I would like you to know that the speaker is no good unless he judges himself every day. If I do not judge myself, I will be judged (1 Corinthians 11:31). It is no good to me if I look good to you. If there were one thing between me and God, I would not dare to speak to others unless I knew that God had made me holy, for they who bear the vessels of the Lord must be holy unto the Lord (Isaiah 52:11). And I praise God because I know:

His blood can make the vilest clean,
His blood can make the vilest clean,
His blood avails for me,
His blood avails for me.

You cannot assume that someone is still living in the center of God‘s holy will. Because I am only a man, it is possible that I may have grieved the Spirit. If I were to speak in a formal language without unction, that would not move the people. In this type of situation, someone in the place—and this is what tongues are for—someone in the place who is hungry for God and cannot rest because he is not getting the cream of the truth would begin travailing and groaning in the Spirit and speaking in tongues. Another person would travail in the same way, receiving the interpretation of these tongues, and would arise and give that interpretation, thus lifting the people where the prophet could not because he was out of the will of God.

Thought for today: It is not sufficient for me to have your good word; I must have the Master‘s good word.

December 9

Desire earnestly to prophesy, and do not forbid to speak with tongues. Let all things be done decently and in order. — 1 Corinthians 14:39–40

Scripture reading: I Thessalonians 5:11–24

In 1 Corinthians 14:30 we read, “If anything is revealed to another who sits by, let the first keep silent.” I hope that someday the church will so completely come into its beauty that if I am preaching and you have a revelation on that very thing, a deep revelation from God, and if you stand, I will stop preaching at that moment. Why? Because the Scripture says that if, when a prophet is speaking, anything is revealed to someone in the audience, let the first hold his peace and then let that other one speak.

Then the Scripture says, “For you can all prophesy one by one, that all may learn and all may be encouraged” (v. 31). This refers to the one who is preaching. He may be led to hold his peace while one in the midst of the congregation speaks his line of thought that is divinely appointed; then, after he finishes, another may have a prophecy, and he may get up, and so on, until you may have several who have prophesied and you have such revelations in this manner that the whole church is ablaze. I believe that God is going to help us so that we might be sound in mind, right in thought, holy in judgment, separated unto God, and one in the Spirit.

Allow me to say this, and then you judge it afterward. You are not in the right place if you do not judge what I say. You are not to swallow everything I say; you are to judge everything I say by the Scriptures. But you must always use righteous judgment. Righteous judgment is not judging through condemnation, but it is judging something according to the Word of God. In this way, the church may receive edification so that all the people may be built up according to the Word of God.

Perhaps not everyone will affirm what I have to say about this. However, I truly believe, because God has revealed it to me, that the words “Let there be two or at the most three, each in turn” (v. 27) mean that often the speaker will not have finished his message after giving the first insight. So often I have seen in an assembly of believers that the first person has spoken and the Spirit of the Lord has been mightily upon him, but the anointing is such that he did not finish his message with his first insight of truth, and he realizes that he is not through with that message. He speaks in the Spirit again, and we feel that the tide is higher. Then he speaks a third time, and the tide is higher still, and then he stops.

This has led me to believe that “each in turn” (1 Corinthians 14:27) means that one person may be permitted to speak in tongues three times in one meeting. In our conferences in England, we very often have nine utterances in tongues, but there will only be three people speaking. You can have nine, but it is not necessary unless the Lord is prompting it. Sometimes I find that the Spirit will take us through in prophecy in such a way that there will not be more than one, sometimes two people speaking. If I am correct, and I believe I am correct when I say this, when we are full of prophecy, the Spirit has taken our hearts and has moved them by His power. When this happens to me, I speak as fast as I can, but I am not expressing my own thoughts. The Holy Spirit is the thought, the language, and everything; the power of the Spirit is speaking. And when the power of the Holy Spirit is speaking like this, there is no need for tongues or interpretation because you are getting right from the throne the very language of the heart and the man. Then when the person‘s language gives out, the Spirit will speak and the Lord will give tongues and interpretation, and that will lift the whole place.

“At the most three.” Don‘t say four or five, but three at the most. The Holy Spirit says it.

Thought for today: Righteous judgment is not focused on criticism, but righteous judgment judges the truth of something.

December 8

Desire earnestly to prophesy, and do not forbid to speak with tongues. Let all things be done decently and in order. — 1 Corinthians 14:39–40

Scripture reading: 1 Corinthians 14:1–25

You are not to consider, under any circumstances, that, because you have a spiritual gift, it is right for you to use that gift, unless the unction of the Spirit is upon you. Unless you adhere to this word, every assembly where you are will be broken up, and you will cause trouble. Until you come to a right understanding of the Scriptures, you will never be pleasing to God.

You have to be very careful that you never use tongues and interpretation in confusion with prophecy. When prophecy is going forth and the truth is being heard and all the people are receiving it with joy and are being built up, then there is no room for tongues or interpretation. But just at the time when the language in my heart seems too big to express, then tongues come forth and God looses the whole thing, and we get a new purpose in that.

So you who have this wonderful gift of tongues must see to it that you never break in where the Spirit is having perfect right-of-way. But when the Spirit is working with you and you know there is a line of truth that the Lord desires to express, then let the name of God be glorified.

You see, God wants everything to be in perfect order by the Spirit. That is why Paul said, “If anyone speaks in a tongue, let there be two or at the most three” (1 Corinthians 14:27). You will never find me speaking if three have spoken before me. And you will never find me interpreting any word in tongues if three have spoken already. This is in order to keep the bonds of peace in the body so
that the people will not be weary, because there are some people who have known nothing about what is right.

Unless you come to the Word of God, you will be in confusion and you will be in judgment. God does not want you to be in confusion or in judgment, but He wants you to be built up by the Scriptures, for the Scriptures are clear.

If the Lord reveals truth to me, and if I have said anything previously in relation to this that has not been absolutely scriptural, I will no longer say it. I allow God‘s Word to be my judge. If I find that anything I have said is not scriptural, I repent before God. As God is my Judge, I never say anything unless I believe it is the sincere truth. But if I find out later that it is not exactly in the most perfect keeping with the Word of God, I never say it again.

Thought for today: May the Lord help us to be true to God first; then, if we are true to God, we will be true to ourselves.