Author: Billy Conrad

October 18

His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue. — 2 Peter 1:3

Scripture reading: 2 Peter 1:2–17

On the Day of Pentecost, it was necessary that the disciples received not only the fire but also the rushing wind, the personality of the Spirit in the wind. (See Acts 2:1–4.) The manifestation of the glory is in the wind, or breath, of God.

The inward man receives the Holy Spirit instantly with great joy and blessedness. He cannot express it. Then the power of the Spirit, this breath of God, takes of the things of Jesus (see John 16:14–15) and sends forth as a river the utterances of the Spirit. Again, when the body is filled with joy, sometimes so inexpressible, the canvas of the mind has great power to move the operation of the tongue to bring out the very depths of the inward heart‘s power, love, and joy to us. By the same process, the Spirit, which is the breath of God, brings forth the manifestation of the glory.

Let us look at a few passages in the Bible that pertain to the glory. The first is Psalm 16:9: “Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices.” Something has made the rejoicing bring forth the glory. It was because the psalmist‘s heart was glad.

The second one is Psalm 108:1: “O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and give praise, even with my glory.” You see, when the body is filled with the power of God, then the only thing that can express the glory is the tongue. Glory is presence, and the presence always comes by the tongue, which brings forth the revelations of God. God first brings His power into us. Then He gives us verbal expressions by the same Spirit, the outward manifestation of what is within us. “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:34).

Virtue has to be transmitted, and glory has to be expressed. Therefore, The Holy Spirit understands everything Christ has in the glory and brings through the heart of man God‘s latest thought. The world‘s needs, our manifestations, revivals, and all conditions are first settled in heaven, then worked out on the
earth. We must be in touch with God Almighty in order to bring out on the face of the earth all the things that God has in the heavens. This is an ideal for us, and may God help us not to forsake the reality of holy communion with Him, of entering into private prayer so that publicly He may manifest His glory.

Thought for today: By filling us with the Holy Spirit, God has brought into us this glory so that out of us may come forth the glory.

October 17

His lord said to him, “Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.” — Matthew 25:21

Scripture reading: Matthew 25:14–30

Christ, who is the express image of God (Hebrews 1:3), has come to our human weaknesses in order to change them and us into a divine likeness so that, by the power of His might, we may not only overcome but also rejoice in the fact that we are more than overcomers. God wants you to be “more than conquerors” (Romans 8:37). The baptism of the Spirit has come for nothing less than to possess the whole of our lives. It sets up Jesus as King, and nothing can stand in His holy presence when He is made King. Everything will wither before Him. The inheritance of the Spirit is given to every man “for the profit of all” (1 Corinthians 12:7). Praise the Lord! In the order of the Holy Spirit, we have to “come short in no gift” (1 Corinthians 1:7).

This same Jesus has come for one purpose: that He might be made so manifest in us that the world will see Him. We must be burning and shining lights to reflect such a holy Jesus. We cannot do it with cold, indifferent experiences, and we never will. My dear wife used to say to our daughter, “Alice, what kind of a meeting have you had?” Alice would say, “Ask Father. He always has a good time!” His servants are to be flames. Jesus is life, and the Holy Spirit is the breath. He breathes through us the life of the Son of God, and we give it to others, and it gives life everywhere.

You should have been with me in Ceylon! I was having meetings in a Wesleyan chapel. The people there said, “You know, four days are not much to give us.” “No,” I said, “but it is a good share.” They said, “What are we going to do? We are not touching the people here at all.” I said, “Can you have a meeting early in the morning, at eight o‘clock?” They said they would, so I said, “We will tell all the mothers who want their babies to be healed and all the old people over seventy to come. Then after that, I will hope to give an address to the people to make them ready for the Holy Spirit.”

Oh, it would have done you all good to see four hundred mothers there with their babies! It was fine! And then to see one hundred and fifty old black people, with their white hair, coming to be healed. I believe that you need to have something more than smoke to touch people; you need to be a burning light for that. His ministers must be flames of fire. There were thousands gathered outside the chapel to hear the Word of God. There were about three thousand people crying for mercy at the same time. I tell you, it was a sight.

After that, attendance at the meetings rose to such an extent that every night, five to six thousand people gathered there after I had preached in a temperature of 110 degrees. Then I had to minister to these people. But I tell you, a flame of fire can do anything. Things change in the fire. This is Pentecost. But what moved me more than anything else was this (and I say this carefully and with a broken spirit because I would not like to mislead anybody): there were hundreds who tried to touch me because they were so impressed with the power of God that was present. And they testified everywhere that with a touch, they were healed. It was not the power of Wigglesworth. It was because they had the same faith that was with those at Jerusalem who believed that Peter‘s shadow would heal them. (See Acts 5:14–15.)

What do you want? Is anything too hard for God? God can meet you now. God sees inwardly. He knows all about you. Nothing is hidden from Him, and He can satisfy the soul and give you a spring of eternal blessing that will carry you right through.

Thought for today: You can receive something in three minutes that you can carry with you into glory.

October 16

[He] makes His angels spirits and His ministers a flame of fire. — Hebrews 1:7

Scripture reading: Hebrews 1

God‘s ministers are to be flames of fire! It seems to me that no man with a vision, especially a vision by the Spirit‘s power, can read that wonderful verse without being kindled to such a flame of fire for his Lord that it seems as if it would burn up everything that would interfere with his progress.

A flame of fire! It is a perpetual fire; a constant fire; a continual burning; a holy, inward flame; which is exactly what God‘s Son was in the world. God has nothing less for us than to be flames! It seems to me that if Pentecost is to rise and be effective, we must have a living faith so that Christ‘s great might and power can flow through us until our lives become energized, moved, and aflame for God.

The important point here is that the Holy Spirit has come to make Jesus King. It seems to me that the seed, the life that was given to us when we believed—which is an eternal seed—has such resurrection power that I see a new creation rising from it with kingly qualities. Not only is the King to be within us, but also all the glories of His kingly manifestations are to be brought forth in us. Oh, for Him to work in us in this way, melting us, until a new order rises within us so that we are moved with His compassion! I see that we can come into the order of God where the vision becomes so much brighter and where the Lord is manifesting His glory with all His virtues and gifts; all His glory seems to fill the soul who is absolutely dead to himself and alive to God. There is much talk about death, but there is a death that is so deep in God that, out of that death, God brings the splendor of His life and all His glory.

An opportunity to be a flame of fire for God came when I was traveling from Egypt to Italy. What I now tell you truly happened. On the ship and everywhere, God had been with me. A man on the ship suddenly collapsed; his wife was in a terrible state, and everybody else seemed to be, too. Some said that he would die, but oh, to be a flame, to have the living Christ dwelling within you!

We are backslidden if we have to pray for power, if we have to wait until we feel a sense of His presence. The baptism of the Holy Spirit has come upon you: “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you” (Acts 1:8). Within you is a greater power than there is in the world (1 John 4:4). Oh, to be awakened out of our unbelief into a place of daring for God on the authority of the blessed Book!

So in the name of Jesus, I rebuked the devil, and to the astonishment of the man‘s wife and the man himself, he was able to stand. He said, “What is this? It is going all over me. I have never felt anything like this before.” From the top of his head to the soles of his feet, the power of God shook him. God has given us authority over the power of the Devil. Oh, that we may live in the place where the glory excels! It would make anyone a flame of fire.

Thought for today: When we are baptized in the Holy Spirit, it is to crown Jesus King in our lives.

October 15

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds. — 2 Corinthians 10:4

Scripture reading: 2 Corinthians 10

People ask, “Do all speak with tongues?” Certainly not. But all people may speak as the Spirit gives utterance—as in the Upper Room and at the house of Cornelius and at Ephesus when Jesus‘ followers were filled with the Holy Spirit.

There is quite a difference between having a gift and speaking as the Spirit gives utterance. If I had been given the gift of tongues when I was filled with the Holy Spirit, then I could have spoken in tongues at any time, because gifts and calling remain (Romana 11:29). But I couldn‘t speak in tongues after I was baptized. Why? It was because I had received the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues, but I hadn‘t received the gift of tongues.

However, I received the Holy Spirit, who is the Giver of all gifts. And nine months afterward, God gave me the gift of tongues so that I could speak in tongues at any time. But do I? God forbid! Why? Because no man ought to use a gift; the Holy Spirit uses the gift.

I have a reason for talking like this. People come up to me all the time and say, “I have been prayed for, and I am just the same.” It is enough to make you kick them. I don‘t mean that literally. I would be the last man to kick anybody in this place. God forbid. But if I can get you enraged against the powers of darkness and the powers of disease, if I can wake you up, you won‘t go to bed unless you prove that there is a Master in you who is greater than the power that is hanging around you.

Many times I have gone to a house in which an insane person lived and have been shut in with him in order to deliver him. I have gone in determined that he would be delivered. In the middle of the night chiefly, sometimes in the middle of the day, the demon powers would come and bite me and handle me terribly roughly. But I never gave in. It would dethrone a higher principle if I had to give in.

May the God of grace and mercy strengthen us. In the measure that we destroy these evil powers, we make it easier for weak believers. For every time Satan overcomes a saint, it gives him ferocity for another attack; but when he is subdued, he will come to the place where defeat is written against him.

In your home, with your spouse and children, you will have audacity of determination, along with a righteous indignation, against the power of disease to cast it out. That is worth more to you than anything you could buy.

Thought for today: No one can have a knowledge of an inward Christ without having a longing that there will be an increase of souls saved.

October 14

Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, leading to edification. — Romans 15:2

Scripture reading: Romans 14:12–15:2

If it is only a finger or a tooth that aches, if it is only a corn on your foot that pinches you or anything in the body that detracts from the highest spiritual attainment, the kingdom of heaven is dethroned to a degree; “the kingdom of heaven suffers violence” (Matthew 11:12).

By the Word of God, I am proving to you that the kingdom of heaven is within you. “Greater is he that is in you” (1 John 4:4 KJV) — the Son of God, the kingdom of heaven within you — “than he that is in the world” (v. 4 KJV) — the power of Satan outside you.

Disease or weakness, or any distraction in you, is a power of violence that can take the kingdom of heaven in you by force. The same spiritual power that will reveal this to you, will relieve you.

On the authority of the Word of God, I maintain that “greater is he that is in you” (1 John 4:4 KJV) than any power of Satan that is around you (v. 4). How much more would be done if you would inwardly claim your rights and deliver yourselves!

I believe the Bible from front to back. If, by the power of God, I put in you an audacity, a determination, so that you won‘t let Satan rest, you will be victorious. Praise the Lord!

Why do I take this attitude? Because for every step of my life since my baptism, I have had to pay the price of everything for others. God has to take me through to the place so that I may be able to show the people how to do it. Some people come up to me and say, “I have been waiting for the baptism, and I am having such a struggle. I am having to fight for every inch of it. Isn‘t it strange?” No. A thousand to one, God is preparing you to help somebody else who is desiring to receive it.

The reason I am so firm about the necessity of getting the baptism in the Holy Spirit, and about the significance of the Spirit‘s making a manifestation when He comes in, is this: I fought it. I went to a meeting because I had heard people were speaking in tongues there. I forced myself on the attention of those in the
meeting almost like a man who was mad. I told the people there, “This meeting of yours is nothing. I have left better conditions at home. I am hungry and thirsty for something.”

“What do you want?” they asked.

“I want tongues.”

“You want the baptism?” they asked.

“Not I,” I said. “I have the baptism. I want tongues.”

I could have had a fight with anybody. The whole situation was this: God was training me for something else. The power of God fell upon my body with such ecstasy of joy that I could not satisfy the joy within with my natural tongue; then I found the Spirit speaking through me in other tongues.

What did it mean? I knew that I had had anointings of joy before this, and expressions of the blessed attitude of the Spirit of life, and joy in the Holy Spirit; I had felt it all the way through my life. But when the fullness came with a high tide, with an overflowing life, I knew that was different from anything else. And I knew that was the baptism, but God had to show me.

Thought for today: The Bible won‘t have an atom of power in you if you don‘t put it into practice in yourself.