Author: Billy Conrad

September 22

For when I am weak, then I am strong. — 2 Corinthians 12:10

Scripture reading: 2 Corinthians 12:1–10; 13:5–9

I must understand how mortality can be “swallowed up” (2 Corinthians 5:4). I must know how the old body, the old tendencies to the fallen nature, may be swallowed up. There is a verse we must come to. It would serve us to look at it now: “Always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body” (2 Corinthians 4:10).

What is this “dying of the Lord”? It is dying to desire. In the measure that we look to one another for our help, we lose faith in God. If you rely upon any man or woman, upon any human assistance, to help you, you fall out of the greater purpose God has for you.

You must learn that no earthly source can ever assist you in this. You are going to this realm of life only by mortality being swallowed up by life: “And the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God” (Galatians 2:20). It is a process of dying and living.

This life I am speaking about absolutely ravishes you. It absolutely severs you from earthly connections. It absolutely disjoins you from all earthly help. And I can understand this word now more than ever: “You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin” (Hebrews 12:4).

The great striving to the point of bloodshed—blood being the very essence of life—we have not yet resisted to that degree, but we will. I know the Scripture says we have not, but I know it means that we have not arrived there yet. But thank God, we are in it in a measure.

Thought for today: You cannot get into life except through death to self

September 21

For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. — 2 Corinthians 5:4

Scripture reading: 2 Corinthians 5

I believe that, first, we must all grasp the truth that we are not our own (1 Corinthians 6:19). In the second place, we belong to a spiritual order; we don‘t belong to the earth. And not only that, but our minds and our bodies—our whole position through the eternal Spirit—always have to be on the ascending position.

In this transforming condition, we may, by the power of the Spirit, as God gives us revelation, be lifted up into a very blessed state of fellowship with God, of power with God. And in that place of power with God, we will have power over everything else, for to have all power over the earth, we must first have power with God.

We know that we are heavenly citizens. We know that we have to exit this earth and have been preparing for our exit. Yet while we are on earth, we must live in the place where we groan over everything that binds us from being loosed from the world.

What will hold me? Association will hold me in this present world. I must hold every earthly relationship at a distance—and you know it is as natural to have earthly associations as it is to live. It must never tie me or bind me. It must never have any persuasion over me. Hear what the Scripture says, “Being conformed to His death” (Philippians 3:10).

What does it mean to conform to the death of Jesus? It leads me to that death of separation to God, of yieldedness, of exchange, where God takes me to Himself and leaves the old nature behind. “While we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen” (2 Corinthians 4:18).

Then I may grasp some idea of what it will mean if I die to myself. I want us to see, by the grace of God, that the dissolving of our earthly bodies (see 2 Corinthians 5:1 KJV) is a great thought. There is a position in God that we must clearly understand: “Not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life.”

While mortality is necessary, it is a hindrance. While mortality has done a great deal to produce everything we see, it is a hindrance if we live with only it in mind. It is a helpful position if we live over it.

Thought for today: To descend is to be conformed. To ascend is to be transformed.

September 20

But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all. — 1 Corinthians 12:7

Scripture reading: 1 Corinthians 12:1–11

We must never transgress because of liberty. What I mean is this: it would be wrong for me to take opportunities just because the Spirit of the Lord is upon me. But it would be perfectly justifiable if I clearly allow the Spirit of the Lord to have His liberty with me. However, we are not to behave inappropriately in our liberty, for the flesh is more extravagant than the Spirit.

The Spirit‘s extravagances are always for edification, strengthening character, and bringing us all more into conformity with the life of Christ. But fleshly extravagances always mar these things and bring the saints into a place of trial for the moment. As the Spirit of the Lord takes further hold of a person, we may get liberty in it, but we are tried through the manifestations of it.

I believe we have come to a liberty of the Spirit that is so pure it will never bring a frown of distraction over another person‘s mind. I have seen many people who were in the power of the Spirit, but they exhibited a manifestation that was not foundational or even helpful. I have seen people under the mighty power of the Holy Spirit who have waved their hands wildly and moved on the floor and gone on in such a state that no one could say the body was not under the power. However, there was more natural power than spiritual power there, and the natural condition of the person, along with the spiritual condition, caused the manifestation. Though we know the Spirit of the Lord was there, the manifestation was not something that would elevate or please the people or grant them a desire for more of that. It wasn‘t an edification of the Spirit.

If there are any here who have those manifestations, I want to help you. I don‘t want to hurt you. It is good that you should have the Spirit upon you; people need to be filled with the Spirit. But you never have a right to say you couldn‘t help doing this, that, or the other manifestation.

No manifestation of the body ever glorifies the Lord except the tongue. If you seek to be free in the operation of the Spirit through the mouth, then the tongue, which may be under a kind of subconscious control by the Spirit, brings out the glory of the Lord, and that will always bring edification, consolation, and comfort.

No other manifestation will do this. Still, I believe that it is necessary to have all these other manifestations when someone is filled with the Spirit for the first time. When the Spirit is there, the flesh must find some way out, and so, through past experience, we allow all these things at the beginning. But I believe the Holy Spirit brings a sound condition of mind, and the first thing must pass away so that the divine position may remain.

And so there are various manifestations, including kicking and waving, that take place at the incoming of the Holy Spirit, when the flesh and the Spirit are in conflict. One must decrease and die, and the other must increase and multiply. Consequently, when you come to understand this, you are in a place of sound judgment and know that now the Holy Spirit has come to take you on with God.

When the Holy Spirit is allowed full reign over the operation of human life, He always works out of divine wisdom. And when He gets perfect control of a life, the divine source flows through so that all the people may receive edification in the Spirit. If you act foolishly after you have had wisdom taught you, nobody will give you much leeway.

“We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak” (Romans 15:1 KJV). Some who come to church services know nothing about the power of the Holy Spirit. They get saved and are quickened, and after the Spirit comes upon them, you will see all these manifestations. In love and grace, you should bear with them as newborn babes in the Spirit and rejoice with them because that is only a beginning to an end. The Lord wouldn‘t want us to be anything but “strong in the Lord and in the power of His might” (Ephesians 6:10) to help everyone around us.

Thought for today: Liberty is beautiful when we never use it to satisfy ourselves but use it in the Lord.

September 19

I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes. — Matthew 11:25

Scripture reading: Matthew 19:13–30

I wonder how many people today are prepared to be baptized. Oh, you say you couldn‘t be baptized? Then you have been an adult too long. You need to become childlike again. Do you know that there is a difference between being a baby and anything else in the world?

Many people have been waiting for years for the baptism, and what has been the problem? What is the wise man‘s difficulty? A wise man is too careful. And while he is in the operation of the Spirit, he wants to know what he is saying. No man can know what he is saying when the Spirit is upon him. His own mind is inactive. If you get into that place in which you are near God, the mind of Christ comes by the power of the Spirit. Under these conditions, Christ prays and speaks in the Spirit through you as the Spirit gives utterance. It is the mind and plan of God for us to receive the Holy Spirit.

The natural man cannot receive the Spirit of God (1 Corinthians 2:14). But when you get into a supernatural place, then you receive the mind of God. Again, what is the difference between a “wise and prudent” man and a baby? The man drinks cautiously, but the baby swallows it all, and the mother has to hold the bottle, or some of that will go down, too. This is how God wants it to be in the Spirit. The spiritually-minded baby cannot walk. However, God walks in him. The spiritually-minded baby cannot talk, but God talks through him. The spiritually-minded baby cannot dress himself, but God dresses him and clothes him with His righteousness.

Oh, beloved, if we can only be infants in this way today, great things will take place along the lines and thought of the Spirit of God. The Lord wants us all to be so like-minded with Him that He can put His seal upon us.

Does the baby ever lose his intelligence? Does he ever lose his common sense? Does the baby who comes into the will of God lose his reason or his credentials in any way? No, God will increase your abilities and help you in everything. I am not talking here about just being a baby. I am talking about being a baby in the Spirit. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 14:20, “In malice be babes, but in understanding be mature.” And I believe the Spirit desires to breathe through all the attributes of the Spirit so that we may understand what the mind of the Lord is concerning us in the Holy Spirit.

Thought for today: If you will become childlike enough, if you will yield to God and let the Spirit have His way, God will fill you with the Holy Spirit.

September 18

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. — 2 Corinthians 4:7

Scripture reading: 2 Corinthians 4

One day, in England, a lady wrote to ask if I would come and help her. She said she was blind, having two blood clots behind her eyes. I had been in London recently, and I didn‘t feel I wanted to go. However, I sent a letter, not knowing who she was, saying that if she was willing to go into a room with me and shut the door and never come out until she had perfect sight, I would come. She sent word, “Oh, come!”

The moment I reached the house, they brought in this blind woman. After we shook hands, she made her way to a room, opened the door, allowed me to go in, and then came in and shut the door. “Now,” she said, “we are with God.”

Have you ever been there? It is a lovely place.

In an hour and a half, the power of God fell upon us. Rushing to the window, she exclaimed, “I can see! Oh, I can see! The blood is gone; I can see!” Sitting down in a chair, she asked, “Could I receive the Holy Spirit?”

“Yes,” I replied, “if all is right with God.”

“You don‘t know me,” she continued, “but for ten years I have been fighting your position. I couldn‘t bear these tongues, but God settled it today. I want the baptism of the Holy Spirit.”

After she had prayed and repented of what she had said about tongues, she was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in tongues.

When you put your hands upon people to pray, you can tell when the Holy Spirit is present. And if you will only yield to the Holy Spirit and allow Him to move, my word, what will happen!

Thought for today: The Lord Jesus wants those who preach the Word to have the Word in evidence in their lives.

September 17

Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. — James 5:7–8

Scripture reading: James 5:1–12

What is the “precious fruit of the earth”? It is the church, the body of Christ. And God has no thought for other things. He causes the vegetation of the earth to grow and creates the glory of the flower. He gives attention to the beauty of flowers because He knows it will please us. But when speaking about the “precious fruit of the earth,” our Lord has His mind upon you today.

If you desire the coming of the Lord, you must certainly advocate having every believer filled with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit cannot come until the church is ready. And you say, “When will the church be ready?” If believers were in an attitude of yieldedness and were in unity with God and each other, God could send the breath right now to make the church ready in ten minutes, even less than that.

So we can clearly say that the coming of the Lord is near to us, but it will be even closer to us as we are ready to receive a fuller and greater manifestation. What will be the manifestation of the coming of the Lord? If we were ready, and if the power of God were stressing that truth today, we would be rushing up to one another, saying, “He is coming; I know He is coming.” Every person around
would be saying, “He is coming,” and you would know it to be true.

This is the only hope of the future, and nothing except the Holy Spirit can prepare the hearts of the people for His coming. Praise God, He will come! He is coming!

Thought for today: The more a person is filled with the Holy Spirit, the more he will be ready to forecast the return of the Lord and send forth this glorious truth.

September 16

I will declare Your name to My brethren; in the midst of the assembly I will sing praise to You. — Hebrews 2:12

Scripture reading: Hebrews 2:1–13

The Spirit of the Lord must have His way in everything. Oh, what would happen if we would all loosen up! Sometimes I think it is almost necessary to give an address to those who are already baptized in the Holy Spirit. I feel that, just like the Corinthian church, we may have, as it were, gifts and graces, and we may use them all, but we sit in them and do not go on beyond where we are.

I maintain that all gifts and graces are only for one thing: to make you desire gifts and graces. Don‘t miss what I say. Every touch of the divine life by the Spirit is only for one purpose: to make your life go on to a higher height than where you are. Beloved, if anybody has to rise up in the meeting to tell me how they were baptized with the Holy Spirit in order for me to know they are baptized, I say, “You have fallen from grace. You ought to have such a baptism that everybody can tell you are baptized without your telling how you were baptized.” That would make a new day. That would be a sermon in itself to everybody, not only in here but also outside. Then people would follow you to get to know where you have come from and where you are going. (See John 3:8.) You say, “I want that. I won‘t settle until I get that.” God will surely give it to you.

The Holy Spirit can only come into us (His temples) when we are fully yielded to Him, for the Spirit “does not dwell in temples made with hands” (Acts 7:48) but in “tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart” (2 Corinthians 3:3). So it doesn‘t matter what kind of a building you get; you cannot count on the building being a substitute for the Holy Spirit. You will all have to be temples of the Holy Spirit for the building to be anything like Holy Spirit order.

Thought for today: The Holy Spirit never comes until there is a place ready for Him.

September 15

Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. — Isaiah 43:19

Scripture reading: Revelation 21

See to it that today you press on with a new order of the Spirit so that you can never be where you were before. This is a new day for us all. You say, “What about the people who are already baptized in the Spirit?” Oh, this is a new day also for those who have been baptized, for the Spirit is an unlimited source of power. He is in no way stationary. God has no place for a person who is stationary. The man who is going to catch the fire, hold forth the truth, and always be on the watchtower is the one who is going to be a beacon for all saints, having a light greater than he would have naturally. He must see that God‘s grace, God‘s life, and God‘s Spirit are a million times mightier than he.

The man who is baptized in the Holy Spirit is baptized into a new order altogether. You cannot ever be ordinary after that. You are on an extraordinary plane; you are brought into line with the mind of God. You have come into touch with ideals in every way.

If you want oratory, it is in the baptism of the Spirit. If you want the touch of quickened sense that moves your body until you know that you are completely renewed, it is by the Holy Spirit. And while I say so much about the Holy Spirit, I withdraw everything that doesn‘t put Jesus in the place He belongs. For when I speak about the Holy Spirit, it is always with reference to revelations of Jesus. The Holy Spirit is the Revealer of the mighty Christ who possesses everything for us so that we may never know any weakness. All limitations are gone. And you are now in a place where God has taken the ideal and moved you on with His own velocity, which has a speed beyond all human mind and thought. Glory to God!

Thought for today: Nothing in God is stationary.

September 14

That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection. — Philippians 3:10

Scripture reading: Philippians 3

The power of the Holy Spirit creates new men and new women. The Holy Spirit takes away stony hearts and gives hearts of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26–27). And when God gets His way like that, there is a tremendous shaking among the dry bones. (See Ezekiel 37:4–10.)

We must see that we are no good unless God takes charge of us. But when He has real control of us, our future takes on a new outlook. What a wonderful open door of opportunities for God to use us!

Beloved, we must seek this ideal by the Spirit. What should we do? We do not dare to do anything but go through and receive the baptism. Submit to the power of God. If you yield, other people are saved. You will die unless you have a power of resurrection, a touch for others. But if you live only for God, then other people will be raised out of death and all kinds of evil into a blessed life through the Spirit.

We must see that this baptism of the Spirit is greater than everything. You can say what you like, do as you like, but until you have the Holy Spirit, you won‘t know what the resurrection touch is. Resurrection is by the power of the Spirit. And remember, when I talk about resurrection, I am talking about one of the greatest things in the Scriptures. Resurrection is evidence that we have awakened with a new line of truth that cannot cease to be, but will always go on with a greater force and increasing power with God.

Remember that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is resurrection. If you can touch this ideal of God with its resurrection power, you will see that nothing earthly can remain; you will see that all disease will clear out. If you get filled with the Holy Spirit, all satanic forces that cause fits, all these lame legs, all these foot afflictions, all these kidney troubles, and all these nervous, fearful things will
go. Resurrection is the word for it. Resurrection shakes away death and breathes life in you; it lets you know that you are quickened from the dead by the Spirit and that you are made like Jesus. Glory to God!

Oh, the word resurrection! I wish I could say it on the same level as the word Jesus. They very harmoniously go together.

Thought for today: Jesus is resurrection, and to know Jesus in this resurrection power is to see that you no longer have to be dead; you are alive unto God by the Spirit.

September 13

He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself. — 1 John 5:10

Scripture reading: 1 John 5

If you are a businessman, you need to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. For any kind of business, you need to know the power of the Holy Spirit, because if you are not baptized with the Holy Spirit, Satan has a tremendous power to interfere with the progress of your life. If you come into the baptism of the Holy Spirit, there is a new realm for your business.

I remember one day being in London at a meeting. About eleven o‘clock, they said to me, “We will have to close the meeting. We are not allowed to have this place any later than eleven o‘clock.” There were several who were under the power of the Spirit. A man rose up and looked at me, saying, “Oh, don‘t leave me, please. I feel that I do not dare be left. I must receive the Holy Spirit. Will you go home with us?” “Yes,” I said, “I will go.” His wife was there as well. They were two hungry people just being awakened by the power of the Spirit to know that they were lacking in their lives and that they needed the power of God.

In about an hour‘s time, we arrived at their big, beautiful house in the country. It was wintertime. He began stirring the fire up and putting coal on, and he said, “We will soon have a tremendous fire, so we will get warmed. Then we will have a big supper.” And I suppose the next thing would have been going to bed.

“No, thank you,” I said.

“I have not come here for your supper or for your bed. I thought you wanted me to come with you so that you might receive the Holy Spirit.”

“Oh,” he replied. “Will you pray with us?” “I have come for nothing else.” I knew I could keep myself warm in a prayer meeting without a fire.

About half past three in the morning, his wife was as full as could be, speaking in tongues. God was doing wonderful things that night. I went to the end of the table. There he was, groaning terribly. So I said, “Your wife has received the Holy Spirit.” “Oh,” he said, “this is going to be a big night for me.” I tell you, you also will have big nights like this man had, whether you receive the baptism or not, if you will seek God with all your heart.

I often say there is more done in the seeking than in any other way. We have to get to a place where we know that unless we meet face-to-face with God and get all the crooked places out of our lives, there will be no room for the Holy Spirit, for the indwelling presence of God. But when God gets a chance at us, and by the vision of the blood of Jesus we see ourselves as God sees us, then we have a revelation. Without this, we are undone and helpless.

At five o‘clock in the morning, this man stood up and said, “I am through.” He was not baptized. “I am settled,” he continued. “God has settled me. Now I must have a few hours‘ rest before I go to my business at eight o‘clock.”

My word! That was quite a day at his business. In many years, he had never lived a day like that. He went about his business among all his men, and they said, “What is up with the man? What is up with the boss? What has taken place? Oh, what a change!”

The whole place was electrified. Formerly he had been like a great big lion prowling about, but God had touched him. The touch of Omnipotence had broken this man down until right there in his business the men were broken up in his presence. Oh, I tell you, there is something in pursuing; there is something in waiting. What is it? It is this: God slays a man so that he may begin on a new plane in his life.

That night, at about ten o‘clock, he was baptized in the Holy Spirit in a meeting. A short time afterward, when I was passing through the grounds toward this man‘s house, his two sons rushed out to where I was, threw their arms around me, and kissed me, saying, “You have sent us a new father.”

Thought for today: God turns lions into lambs.