Author: Billy Conrad

November 18

To another discerning of spirits. — 1 Corinthians 12:10

Scripture reading: Romans 2:1–13

Discernment is a very necessary gift to understand. Most people seem to think it is a discerning of human persons. It is amazing to find that many people I come across seem to have a tremendous bent toward “discerning” others. If you carefully put this discerning of one another into real practice upon yourself for twelve months, you will never presume to try it upon another. You will see so many faults about yourself, that you will say, “O God, make me right!”

There is a vast difference between natural discernment and spiritual discernment. This statement of Jesus is remarkable:

How can you say to your brother, “Let me remove the speck from your eye”; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother‟s eye. (Matthew 7:4–5)

Remember that if you begin judging, it will lead you to judgment (vv. 1–2). If you begin using your discernment to weigh people by your standards, it will lead you to judgment. Ever since God showed me Romans 2:1–3, I have been very careful to examine myself before I begin judging. Balance that in your heart. It will save you from judging.

Many notable people in the world have gotten to running another person down and finding fault. They are always faultfinding and judging people outright. I find that those people always fall in the mire. If I were to mention these people by name, you would know that what I am saying is true.

God save us from criticism! When we are pure in heart, we only think about pure things. When we are impure in heart, we speak and act and think as we are in our hearts. The pure in heart see purity.

Thought for today: May God give us that inward desire for purity so that He can take away judging.

November 17

And I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “See that you do not do that! I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” — Revelation 19:10

Scripture reading: Revelation 19

There is the prophecy that is the testimony of the saved person regarding what Jesus has done for him. Everyone, every newborn soul, has this kind of prophecy. Through the new birth that results in righteousness, God has given an anointing of the Spirit, a real unction of the Spirit of Christ. We felt when we were saved that we wanted everybody to be saved. That mindset has to be continuous; the whole world can be regenerated by the spirit of prophecy as we testify of our salvation in Christ.

This is the same prophecy that Paul spoke about in 1 Corinthians 14:1: “Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.” This verse identifies prophecy as being more important than other gifts. Think about that: prophecy is to be chosen and desired above all the other gifts; the greatest among all the gifts is prophecy.

Why prophecy? Because prophecy by the power of the Spirit is the only power that saves humanity. We are told in the Word of God that the Gospel that is presented through prophecy has power to bring immortality and light. (See 2 Timothy 1:10.) Immortality is what abides forever. Light is what opens the understanding of your heart. Light and immortality come by the Gospel.

Prophecy is to be desired above all things, and every Christian has to have it. Every believer may have gifts, though there are very few who do; however, every believer has testimonial prophecy.

Looking at Revelation 19:10, let us see what testimonial prophecy is and how it comes forth. “I fell at his feet.” Who is this inhabitant of heaven? The one speaking to John is a man who has been on the earth. Lots of people are foolishly led by the Devil to believe that after they die, their spirits will be asleep in the grave; this is absolutely contrary to the Word of God. Don‘t you know that even if you live until the Lord comes, the body that you have must be put off and another must be put on, because you cannot go into heaven with your present body?

This man has been in the earth in the body and is now in heaven in the spirit, and he wants you to hear what he has to say: “I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus….For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” What is the testimony of Jesus? The testimony is: “Jesus has saved me.” What the world wants to know today is how they can be saved.

Testify that you are saved. Your knees may knock together, you may be trembling as you do it, but when you get it out, you enter into the spirit of prophecy. Before you know where you are, you are saying things that the Spirit is saying.

There are thousands of Christians who have never received the baptism of the Holy Spirit but who have this wonderful spirit of prophecy. People are being saved everywhere by the testimony of such believers. If you cease from testifying, you will be sorry when you give an account of your life before God (Romans 14:12). As you testify, you will be a vessel through which the power of God can bring salvation to people (Romans 1:16). Testify wherever you are.

Live in the place where the Lord your God moves you, not to go from house to house nor speak from person to person, but where the Lord directs you, for He has the person who is in need of truth waiting for watering with your watering can. Do not forget that you are “ambassadors for Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:20).

Thought for today: The spirit of prophecy is the testimony that you are saved by the blood of the Lamb.

November 16

You, O Lord, are a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering and abundant in mercy and truth. — Psalm 86:15

Scripture reading: Galatians 5:19–6:3

A fruit of the Spirit that must accompany the gifts of healing is longsuffering. The person who is persevering with God must always be ready with a word of comfort. If the sick one is in distress and helpless and does not see everything eye to eye with you, you must bear with him. Our Lord Jesus Christ was filled with compassion and lived and moved in a place of longsuffering, and we will have to get into this place if we are to help needy ones.

There are some times when you pray for the sick, and you seem to be rough with them. But you are not dealing with a person; you are dealing with satanic forces that are binding the person. Your heart is full of love and compassion toward all; however, you are moved to a holy anger as you see the place the Devil has taken in the body of the sick one, and you deal with his position with a real forcefulness.

One day a pet dog followed a lady out of her house and ran all around her feet. She said to the dog, “My dear, I cannot have you with me today.” The dog wagged its tail and made a big fuss. She said, “Go home, my dear.” But the dog did not go. At last she shouted roughly, “Go home,” and off it went. Some people deal with the Devil like that. The Devil can stand all the comfort you like to give him. Cast him out! You are not dealing with the person; you are dealing with the Devil. Demon power must be dislodged in the name of the Lord.

You are always right when you dare to deal with sickness as with the Devil. Much sickness is caused by some misconduct; there is something wrong, there is some neglect somewhere, and Satan has had a chance to get in. It is necessary to repent and confess where you have given place to the Devil (Ephesians 4:27), and then he can be dealt with. It is our privilege in the power of the Holy Spirit to loose the prisoners of Satan and to let the oppressed go free.

Take your position from the first epistle of John and declare, “He who is in [me] is greater than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4). Then recognize that it is not you who has to deal with the power of the Devil, but the Greater One who is in you. Oh, what it means to be filled with Him! You can do nothing in yourself, but He who is in you will win the victory. Your being has become the temple of the Spirit. Your mouth, your mind, your whole being may be used and worked upon by the Spirit of God.

We need to wake up and strive to believe God. Before God could bring me to this place, He broke me a thousand times. I have wept; I have groaned. I have travailed many a night until God broke me. We will never have the gifts of healing and the working of miracles in operation unless we stand in the divine power that God gives us, unless we stand believing God and “having done all” (Ephesians 6:13), we still stand believing.

We have been seeing wonderful miracles, and they are only a little of what we are going to see. I believe that we are right on the threshold of wonderful things, but I want to emphasize that all these things will be only through the power of the Holy Spirit. You must not think that these gifts will fall upon you like ripe cherries. There is a sense in which you have to pay the price for everything you get. We must earnestly desire God‘s best gifts and say “Amen” to any preparation the Lord takes us through. In this way, we will be humble, usable vessels through whom He Himself can operate by means of the Spirit‘s power.

Thought for today: It seems to me that until God has mowed you down, you can never have this longsuffering for others.

November 15

To another gifts of healings by the same Spirit. — 1 Corinthians 12:9

Scripture reading: Psalm 32

The gifts of healing are so varied. You may go to see ten people, and every case will be different. I am never happier in the Lord than when I am in a bedroom with a sick person. I have had more revelations of the Lord‘s presence when I have ministered to the sick at their bedsides than at any other time. It is as your heart goes out to the needy ones in deep compassion that the Lord manifests His presence. You are able to discern their conditions. It is then that you know you must be filled with the Spirit to deal with the conditions before you.

When people are sick, you frequently find that they are ignorant about Scripture. They usually know three Scriptures, though. They know about Paul‘s “thorn in the flesh” (2 Corinthians 12:7); they know that Paul told Timothy to take “a little wine” for his “stomach’s” sake” (1 Timothy 5:23); and they know that Paul left someone sick somewhere, but they don‘t remember his name or the place, and they don‘t know in what chapter of the Bible it is found. (See 2 Timothy 4:20.) Most people think they have a thorn in the flesh. The chief thing in dealing with a person who is sick is to discern his exact condition. As you are ministering under the Spirit‘s power, the Lord will let you see just what will be the most helpful and the most faith-inspiring to him.

When I was in the plumbing business, I enjoyed praying for the sick. Urgent calls would come, and I would have no time to wash. With my hands all black, I would preach to these sick ones, my heart all aglow with love. Ah, your heart must be in it when you pray for the sick. You have to get right to the bottom of the cancer with a divine compassion, and then you will see the gifts of the Spirit in operation.

I was called at ten o‘clock one night to pray for a young person who was dying of tuberculosis and whom the doctor had given up on. As I looked, I saw that unless God intervened, it would be impossible for her to live. I turned to the mother and said, “Well, Mother, you will have to go to bed.” She said, “Oh, I have not had my clothes off for three weeks.” I said to the daughters, “You will have to go to bed,” but they did not want to go. It was the same with the son. I put on my overcoat and said, “Goodbye, I‘m leaving.” They said, “Oh, don‘t leave us.” I said, “I can do nothing here.” They said, “Oh, if you will stay, we will all go to bed.”

I knew that God would not move in an atmosphere of mere natural sympathy and unbelief. They all went to bed, and I stayed, and that was surely a time as I knelt by that bed face-to-face with death and the Devil. But God can change the hardest situation and make you know that He is almighty.

Then the fight came. It seemed as though the heavens were brass. I prayed from 11:00 P.M. to 3:30 A.M. I saw the glimmering light on the face of the sufferer and saw her pass away. The Devil said, “Now you are done for. You have come from Bradford, and the girl has died on your hands.” I said, “It can‘t be. God did not send me here for nothing. This is a time to change strength.” I remembered the passage that said, “Men always ought to pray and not lose heart” (Luke 18:1). Death had taken place, but I knew that my God was all-powerful and that He who had split the Red Sea is just the same today. It was a time when I would not accept “No” and God said “Yes.”

I looked at the window, and at that moment, the face of Jesus appeared. It seemed as though a million rays of light were coming from His face. As He looked at the one who had just passed away, the color came back to her face. She rolled over and fell asleep. Then I had a glorious time. In the morning she woke early, put on a dressing gown, and walked to the piano. She started to play and to sing a wonderful song. The mother and the sister and the brother all came down to listen. The Lord had intervened. A miracle had been worked.

The Lord is calling us along this way. I thank God for difficult cases. The Lord has called us into heart union with Himself; He wants His bride to have one heart and one Spirit with Him and to do what He Himself loved to do. That case had to be a miracle. The lungs were gone; they were just in shreds. Yet the Lord restored her lungs, making them perfectly sound.

Thought for today: After the Holy Spirit comes, you are in the place of command.

November 14

To another gifts of healings by the same Spirit. — 1 Corinthians 12:9

Scripture reading: Psalm 65

Now I will deal with the gift itself. It is actually “gifts” of healing, not the “gift” of healing. Gifts of healing can deal with every case of sickness, every disease that there is. These gifts are so full that they are beyond human expression, but you come into the fullness of them as the light brings revelation to you.

I have people continually coming to me and saying, “When you are preaching, I see a halo around you,” or “When you are preaching, I have seen angels standing around you.”

I hear these things from time to time, and I am thankful that people have such spiritual vision. I do not have that kind of vision; however, I have the express glory, the glory of the Lord, covering me, the intense inner working of His power, until every time I have stood before you, I have known that I have not had to choose the words I have spoken. The language has been chosen, the thoughts have been chosen, and I have been speaking in prophecy more than in any other way. So I know we have been in the school of the Holy Spirit in a great way.

The only vision I have had in a divine healing meeting is this: so often, when I have laid hands upon the people, I have seen two hands go before my hands. This has happened many, many times.

The person who has the gifts of healing does not look to see what is happening. You will notice that after I have finished ministering, many things are manifested, but they don‘t move me. I am not moved by anything I see.

The divine gifts of healing are so profound in the person who has them that there is no such thing as doubt, and there could not be; whatever happens could not change the person‘s opinion or thought or act. He expects the very thing that God intends him to have as he lays hands upon the seeker.

Wherever I go, the manifestation of divine healing is considerably greater after I leave than when I am there. Why? It is God‘s plan for me. God has great grace over me. Wonderful things have been accomplished, and people have told me what happened when I was there, but these things were hidden from me. God has a reason why He hides things from me.

When I lay hands upon people for a specific thing, I tell you, that thing will take place. I believe it will be so, and I never turn my ears or my eyes from the fact. It has to be so.

The gifts of divine healing are more than audacity; they are more than an unction. Those are two big things; however, the gifts of healing are the solid fact of a divine nature within the person pressing forward the very nature and activity of the Lord, as if He were there. We are in this place to glorify the Father, and the Father will be glorified in the Son since we are not afraid of taking action in this day.

The gifts of healing are a fact. They are a production; they are a faith; they are an unwavering trust; they are a confidence; they are a reliability.

People sometimes come to me very troubled. They say, “I had the gifts of healing once, but something has happened and I do not have them now.’

They never had them. “The gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable” (Romans 11:29), and they remain under every circumstance except this: if you fall from grace and use a gift, it will work against you. If you use tongues out of the will of God, interpretation will condemn you. If you have been used and the gift has been exercised and then you have fallen from your high place, it will work against you.

Thought for today: If you are without condemnation, you are in a place where you can pray through.

November 13

On this one will I look: on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit. — Isaiah 66:2

Scripture reading: Romans 2:1–16

One day I was in a meeting where there were a lot of doctors and eminent men and many ministers. The power of God fell on this meeting. A humble little girl who served as a waitress opened her heart to the Lord and was immediately filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in tongues. All these big men stretched their necks and looked up to see what was happening. They were saying, “Who is it?” Then they learned it was “the servant.” Nobody received except the servant! These things are hidden and kept back from the “wise and prudent” (Matthew 11:25), but the little children, the humble ones, are the ones who receive. We cannot have faith if we show undue deference to one another. A man who is going on with God won‘t accept honor from his fellow beings. God honors the person who has a broken, contrite spirit. How can I get to that place?

So many people want to do great things and to be seen doing them, but the one whom God will use is the one who is willing to be told what to do. And you and I will never do anything without compassion. We will never be able to remove the cancer until we are immersed so deeply in the power of the Holy Spirit that the compassion of Christ is moving through us.

I find that in everything my Lord did, He said that He did not do it but that Another who was in Him did the work (John 14:10). What a holy submission! He was just an instrument for the glory of God. Have we reached a place where we dare to be trusted with a gift from God? I see in 1 Corinthians 13 that if I have faith to move mountains and do not have love, all is a failure. When my love is so deepened in God that I only move for the glory of God, then the gifts can be made manifest. God wants to be manifested and to manifest His glory to those who are humble.

Thought for today: Let us move into the realm of faith and live in the realm of faith and let God have His way.