Author: Billy Conrad

December 7

Therefore tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers. — 1 Corinthians 14:22

Scripture reading: 1 Corinthians 14:26–40

Why has God brought this gift of tongues into operation? There is a reason. If there were not a reason, it would not be there. Why did God design it? You must see with me that the gift of tongues was never in evidence before the Holy Spirit came. The old dispensation was very wonderful in prophetic utterances. Every person, whoever he is, who receives the Holy Spirit will have prophetic utterances in the Spirit unto God or in a human language supernaturally coming forth, so that all the people will know that it is the Spirit.

This is the reason we want all the people filled with the Holy Spirit: they are to be prophetic. When a prophecy is given, it means that God has a thought, a word in season, that has never been in season before—things both new and old. The Holy Spirit brings things to pass!

So when God fulfilled the promise, when the time was appointed, the Holy Spirit came and filled the apostles. The gift that had never been in operation before came into operation that wonderful day in the Upper Room, and for the first time in all of history, men were speaking in a new order; it was not an old language, but language that was to be interpreted.

This is profound because we recognize that God is speaking. No man understands it. The Spirit is speaking, and the Spirit opens the revelation that they will have, without adulteration.

Tongues are a wonderful display of this; they are to revive the people; they are to give new depths of thought.

If you ever want to know why the Holy Spirit was greatly needed, you will find it in the third chapter of Ephesians. You will be amazed. The language is wonderful. Paul said that he was “the least of all the saints” (Ephesians 3:8), yet God had called him to be a “minister” (v. 7). His language is wonderful, yet he felt in his heart and life that there was something greater, that the Spirit had him, and he bowed his knees unto the Father (v. 14).

You cannot find in all the Scriptures words with such profound fruit as those that ring through the verses of Paul‘s remarkable prayer in the Holy Spirit. He prayed “that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:19), and “that you…may be able to comprehend with all the saints” (vv. 17–18). He prayed that you may be able to ask and think, and think and ask, and that it will not only be abundantly but that it will also be “exceeding abundantly above all that” you can “ask or think” (v. 20). There is a man closing down and the Holy Spirit praying.

Thought for today: The Holy Spirit did not come to exalt you; He came so that you could exalt the Lord.

December 6

For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. — Romans 12:3

Scripture reading: Mark 13:21–37

As soon as I got to York, people came around me and said, “Oh, we‘ve got him! We‘ve got him! The only thing that is needed now is that we want him to receive the Holy Spirit, and as soon as he receives, we will know we have got him.” They were talking about a certain young man in whom they saw unusual potential to be a great spiritual leader. When that young man spoke in tongues, they almost went wild. They shouted, they wept, they prayed. Oh, they were so excited!

The leaders said they were overjoyed at the fact of this man‘s baptism. I said, “Be still; the Lord will do His own work.”

In a short time, he was through in the Spirit, and everybody was rejoicing and applauding. They fell into great error there. God has never yet allowed any human being to be applauded for doing the Lord‘s work.

This young man was in the power of the Holy Spirit, and it was lovely. But they came around him, shaking his hand and saying, “Now we have the greatest teacher there is.”

Was this wrong? It was perfectly right, yet it was the worst thing they could have done; they should have been thankful in their hearts. I want to tell you that the Devil never knows your thoughts, and if you won‘t let your thoughts out in public, you will be safe. He can suggest a thought; he can suggest thoughts of evil. But that is not sin; all these things are from outside of you. The Devil can suggest evil things for you to receive, but if you are pure, it is like water off a duck‘s back.

One woman came up and said, “I wouldn‘t be surprised if you were another John the Baptist.”

Again, before we left, this woman came up and said, “Will you believe? It is a prophecy I have received that you have to be John the Baptist.”

Thank God, he put it off. But how satanic, how devilish, how unrighteous, and how untrue her words were!

That night, as he was walking home along a country road, another voice came, louder than the woman‘s, right in the open air: “You are John the Baptist!”

Again the young man was able to guard it off. In the middle of the night, he was awakened out of his sleep, and this voice came again: “Rise, get up. You are John the Baptist. Declare it!”

And the poor man this time was not able to deal with it. He did not know what I am now telling you. I tell you with a sorrowful heart that for hours that morning he was walking around York, shouting, “I am John the Baptist!” Nothing could be done. He had to be detained.

Who did it? Why, the people, of course. You have no right to come around me or anybody else and say, “You are wonderful!” That is satanic. I tell you, we have plenty of the Devil to deal with without your causing a thousand demons to come and help. We need common sense.

How could that young man have been delivered? He could have said, “Did Jesus come in the flesh?” The demon power would have said no, and then the Comforter would have come.

Lord, bring us to a place of humility and brokenheartedness where we will see the danger of satanic powers.

Don‘t think that the Devil is a big ugly monster; he comes as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14). He comes at a time when you have done well, and he tells you about it. He comes to make you feel you are somebody. The Devil is an exalted demon. Oh, look at the Master.

Thought for today: May God give us the mindset of the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3–12) where we will be broken and humble and in the dust; then God will raise us and place us in a high place.

December 5

For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. — Romans 12:3

Scripture reading: Mark 13:5–20

Lots of people are brought down by the same thing that ruined the life of a young Christian I want to tell you about. For many years after I was baptized, the Lord graciously helped me. I laid hands upon people, and they received the Holy Spirit. I thank God that that power has not stopped. I believe in asking God, in lifting up holy hands and saying, “Father, grant that whoever I place my hands upon will receive the Holy Spirit.”

People have called me from various places to come and help them when they have had people they wanted to receive the Holy Spirit. Once a group from York, England, sent word saying that they had fourteen people whom they wanted to have baptized in the Holy Spirit, and would I come? They had all been saved since the last time I was there.

So I went. I have never in all my life met a group of people who were so intoxicated with the Spirit. The power of God was upon them. Right in the midst of them was a young man who had developed such a gift of teaching and leading the people forward with God through the power of the Spirit that they said they did not believe there was another man like him in all of England.

I rejoiced with them over this young man. When Jesus began His ministry, He laid hands upon eleven who turned out to be the most marvelous men, yet they were all younger then He. When Paul was brought into the knowledge of the truth, he was a young man. Jesus began the great ministry of worldwide revival with young life. World War I showed us that no man over forty years of age was good enough for that war. They had to have young blood that could stand the stress of frost, heat, and all kinds of things.

Thought for today: God wants young people filled with the power of God to go into the harvest field, because they can stand the stress.

December 4

You are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the wicked one. — 1 John 2:14

Scripture reading: 1 John 2:14–29

There are evil thoughts, and there are thoughts of evil. Evil thoughts are suggestive of the Evil One. We must be able to understand what evil is and how to deal with it. The Word of God makes us strong. All evil powers are weak. “Young men, you are strong because you know the Word.” (See 1 John 2:14.)

Where do thoughts of evil come from? They come from the unclean believer, the man who is not entirely sanctified. Remember that the Devil does not know your thoughts; that is where the Devil is held. But God knows your thoughts; God knows all things. Satan can only suggest evil thoughts to try to arouse your carnal nature.

Yet if you are disturbed by evil thoughts, if you are troubled or depressed, then you are in a wonderful place. If you never tell anybody about your evil thoughts, and you are not disturbed about them, the carnal powers have never been destroyed in you. But if you tell anybody, then it is proof that you are clean; it is because you are clean that you weep. If you are not disturbed, if you have no conviction, it is because of your uncleansed heart; you have let sin come in.

How can the believer believe so that he will not be tormented? How can we be master of the situation? We must know this Scripture: “Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God” (1 John 4:2). Did Jesus come in the flesh? Mary produced a Son in the likeness of God. In a similar way, the eternal seed that came into us when we believed produces a life, a person, which is “Christ in [us]” (Col. 1:27) and which rises up in us until the reflection of the Son of God is in everything we do. Mary produced a Son for redemption. God‘s seed in us produces a son of perfect redemption, until we live in Him and move by Him, and our whole nature becomes a perfect Son of God in us (Acts 17:28). In the name of Jesus, cast self out, and you will be instantly free.

Thought for today: There is nothing strong in the Devil; the weakest believer dethrones the Enemy when he mentions Jesus.

December 3

The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? — Psalm 27:1

Scripture reading: Psalm 27

Be ready to challenge the Devil. Don‘t be afraid. You will be delivered from fear if you believe. You can have “ears to hear” (Matthew 11:15) or ears that do not hear. Ears that hear are the ears of faith, and your ears will be so open to what is spiritual that they will lay hold of it.

When the Word of God becomes the life and nature of you, you will find that the minute you open it, it becomes life to you; you will find that you have to be joined up with the Word. You are to be the epistles of Christ (2 Corinthians 3:3). This means that Christ is the Word, and He will be known in us by our fruits. (See Matthew 7:16–20.) He is the life and the nature of you. It is a new nature: a new life, a new breath, a new spiritual atmosphere. There is no limitation in this standard, but in everything else you are limited. “He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4). When the Word of Life is lived out in you because it is your life, then it is enacted, and it brings forth what God has desired. When we quote something from the Scriptures, we must be careful that we are living according to it. The Word of God has to abide in you, for the Word is life and it brings forth life, and this is the life that makes you “free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:2).

Thought for today: The Word not only gives you a foundation but also puts you in a place where you can stand and after the battle keep on standing.

December 2

He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. — 1 John 4:4

Scripture reading: John 6:47–58

One day I met a friend of mine in the street, and I said, “Fred, where are you going?” “I am going -. Oh, I don‘t feel I ought to tell you,” he said. “It is a secret between me and the Lord.”

“Now, we have prayed together, we have had nights of communication, we have been living together in the Spirit,” I said. “Surely there is no secret that could be hidden between you and me.”

“I will tell you,” he said. “I am going to a spiritualism meeting.”

“Don‘t you think it is dangerous? I don‘t think it is wise for believers to go to these places,” I said.

“I am led to go to test it according to Scripture,” he replied. “They are having some special mediums from London.”

He meant that they were having some people from London who were more filled with the Devil than the Spiritualists we had in our city of Bradford. They were special devils.

“I am going,” he continued, “and I am going with the clear knowledge that I am under the blood of Jesus.”

“Tell me the results, will you?”

“Yes, I will.”

Now, beloved, I advise none of you to go to these places.

My friend went and sat down in the midst of the séance meeting, and the medium began to take control. The lights went low; everything was in a dismal state. My friend did not speak, but just kept himself under the blood, whispering the preciousness of the blood of Jesus. These more possessed devils were on the platform. They tried every possible thing they could to get under control for more than an hour, and then the lights went up. The leader said, “We can do nothing tonight; there is somebody here who believes in the blood of Christ.”

Hallelujah! Do you all believe in the blood, beloved?

Thought for today: Have biblical proof for everything you have, and then you will be in a place where no one can move you.