…but the people who know their God..

Author: Billy Conrad

  • Do You Walk In White?

    Oswald Chambers

    Buried with Him…that…even so we also should walk in newness of life. — Romans 6:4

    No one enters into the experience of entire sanctification without going through a *“white funeral” — the burial of the old life. If there has never been this crisis of death, sanctification is nothing more than a vision. There must be a “white funeral,” a death that has only one resurrection — a resurrection into the life of Jesus Christ. Nothing can upset such a life; it is one with God for one purpose, to be a witness to Him.

    Have you come to your last days really? You have come to them often in sentiment, but have you come to them really? You cannot go to your funeral in excitement, or die in excitement. Death means you stop being. Do you agree with God that you stop being the striving, earnest kind of Christian you have been? We skirt the cemetery and all the time refuse to go to death. It is not striving to go to death, it is dying — “baptized into His death.”

    Have you had your “white funeral,” or are you sacredly playing the fool with your soul? Is there a place in your life marked as the last day, a place to which the memory goes back with a chastened and extraordinarily grateful remembrance — “Yes, it was then, at that ‘white funeral,’ that I made an agreement with God”?

    “This is the will of God, even your sanctification.” When you realize what the will of God is, you will enter into sanctification as naturally as can be. Are you willing to go through that “white funeral” now? Do you agree with Him that this is your last day on earth? The moment of agreement depends upon you.

    * “white funeral”: a phrase from Tennyson’s poem “To H.R.H. Princess Beatrice”; to Chambers, it meant a passage from one stage of life to another; leaving the past behind and moving into the future; he often used it to mean death to self and a complete surrender to God.

  • Be a bold voice for Him!

    Isaiah 52:7-8 How beautiful upon the mountains Are the feet of him who brings good news, Who proclaims peace, Who brings glad tidings of good things, Who proclaims salvation, Who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!” Your watchmen shall lift up their voices, With their voices they shall sing together; For they shall see eye to eye When the Lord brings back Zion.

    In the 4th century lived a Christian named Telemachus, in a remote village, tending his garden, and spending much time in prayer. One day, he believed he heard the voice of God telling him to go to Rome, so he obeyed, setting out on foot. Some weeks later, weary from his journey, he arrived in Rome about the time of a great festival. The little man followed the crowd surging through the streets into the Colosseum. He saw the gladiators standing before the Emperor and proclaiming, “We who are about to die salute you.” Then Telemachus realized that these men were going to fight to the death for the entertainment of the cheering crowd. So he cried out in a loud voice, “In the name of Christ, Stop!” Yet the games began, so he pushed his way through the crowd, climbed over the wall and dropped onto the floor of the arena. The entire Colosseum watched this tiny figure rushing toward the gladiators, crying, “In the name of Christ, STOP !!!” The gladiators thought it was part of the show and began laughing. But in a few moments, they realized it was not part of the show, and then the crowd became angry. Telemachus stood his ground, insistently pleading with the gladiators to stop their bloody show, when one of them plunged a sword into the saint’s body. He fell to the sand. As he was dying, his last words were, “In the name of Christ, STOP!!!”

    Then a strange thing happened. The gladiators stood there looking at the tiny Christian lying there dead. A hush fell over the Colosseum. Way up in the upper rows, a man stood and made his way to the exit. Others followed. In dead silence, one by one, everyone left the Colosseum. The year was 404; and that day saw the last battle to the death between gladiators in the Roman Colosseum. Telemachus’ martyrdom initiated an historic ban on gladiator fights by the Roman Emperor Honorius. Never again in the great stadium did men kill each other for the entertainment of the crowd. One tiny man’s bold voice — one voice — reshaped Roman history, and saved thousands of lives, by fearlessly proclaiming the truth in God’s name!

    You may be a little man, or woman, spending time alone with Jesus. And He may be preparing you in the quiet place, for a moment when you will be called to raise your voice in some public square or stadium, to fearlessly stand for His truth, even if it might cost your life. Remember Telemachus, whose voice changed the world because God’s word was behind it. Boldness is not bravado but is rooted in deep conviction based on deep relationship and unswerving obedience. And its effects resound through history. So cultivate that intimate relationship with Him, and be ready to be launched into the arena of death-dealing humanity. Your lack of fear and your love for others will reveal the Jesus whom you love, to many souls. – Worthy Briefs

  • A. W. Tozer Was Right

    “In every Christian’s heart there is a cross and a throne, and the Christian is on the throne till he puts himself on the cross; if he refuses the cross, he remains on the throne. Perhaps this is at the bottom of the backsliding and worldliness among gospel believers today. We want to be saved, but we insist that Christ do all the dying. No cross for us, no dethronement, no dying. We remain king within the little kingdom of [ourselves] and wear our tinsel crown with all the pride of a Caesar; but we doom ourselves to shadows and weakness and spiritual sterility.”

    “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me” (Luke 9:23). – Jesus

  • Religion Without the Holy Ghost

    “I consider that the chief dangers which confront the coming century will be religion without the Holy Ghost, Christianity without Christ, forgiveness without repentance, salvation without regeneration, politics without God, and heaven without hell.” – William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army

  • A Life of Perfect Activity

    June 26

    My God shall supply all your need according to His riches
    in glory by Christ Jesus. — Philippians 4:19

    Scripture reading: Acts 5:14–42

    Only believe! God will not fail you, beloved. It is impossible for God to fail. Believe God; rest in Him. The Bible is the most important book in the world. But some people have to be pressed in before they can be pressed on. Oh, this glorious inheritance of holy joy and faith, this glorious baptism in the Holy Spirit — it is a perfected place. “All things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17), because “you are Christ‟s, and Christ is God‟s” (1 Corinthians 3:23).

    God means for us to walk in this royal way. When God opens a door, no man can shut it (Revelation 3:8). John made a royal way, and Jesus walked in it. Jesus left us the responsibility of allowing Him to bring forth through us the greater works (John 14:12). Jesus left His disciples with much and with much more to be added until God receives us in that Day.

    When we receive power, we must stir ourselves up with the
    truth that we are responsible for the need around us. God will supply all our need so that the need of the needy may be met through us. God has given us a great indwelling force of power. If we do not step into our privileges, it is a tragedy.

    There is no standing still. “As He is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17). “We are the offspring of God” (Acts 17:29), and we have divine impulses. After we have received, we will have power. We have been focusing too much on feeling the power. God is waiting for us to act. Jesus lived a life of perfect activity. He lived in the realm of divine appointment.

    We must dare to press on until God comes forth in mighty
    power. May God give us the hearing of faith so that the power may come down like a cloud. Press on until Jesus is glorified and multitudes are gathered in.

    Thought for today: God‘s rest is an undisturbed place where heaven bends to meet you.

  • Ask in Faith

    June 25

    Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find;
    knock, and it will be opened to you. —Matthew 7:7

    Scripture reading: Hebrews 11:1–40

    Many people do not receive the Holy Spirit because they
    are continually asking and never believing. “Everyone who asks receives” (Matthew 7:8). He who is asking is receiving; he who is seeking is finding. The door is being opened right
    now; that is God‘s present Word. The Bible does not say, “Ask and you will not receive.” Believe that asking is receiving, seeking is finding, and to him who is knocking, the door is being opened.

    When will we see people filled with the Holy Spirit and things done as they were in the Acts of the Apostles? It will be when people say, “Lord, You are God.” I want you to come into a place of such relationship with God that you will know your prayers are answered because He has promised.

    Faith has its request. Faith claims it because it has it. “Faith is the substance of things hoped for” (Hebrews 11:1). As sure as you have faith, God will give you the overflowing, and when He comes in, you will speak as the Spirit gives utterance (Acts 2:4).

    You must come to a place of ashes, a place of helplessness, a place of wholehearted surrender where you do not refer to yourself. You have no justification of your own in regard to anything. You are prepared to be slandered, to be despised by everybody. But because of His personality in you, He reserves you for Himself because you are godly, and He sets you on high because you have known His name (Psalms 91:14). He causes you to be the fruit of His loins and to bring forth His glory so that you will no longer rest in yourself. Your confidence will be in God. Ah, it is lovely. “The Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” (2 Corinthians 3:17).

    Thought for today: If you would believe half as much as you ask, you would receive.

  • Receive the Holy Spirit

    June 24

    That the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus. — Galatians 3:14

    Scripture reading: John 16:7–22

    W hen we have the right attitude, faith becomes remarkably active. But it can never be remarkably active in a dead life. When sin is out, when the body is clean, and when the life is made right, then the Holy Spirit comes, and faith brings the evidence.

    Why should we tarry, or wait, for the Holy Spirit? Why should we wrestle and pray with a living faith to be made ready? Because we need the Holy Spirit to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment—that is why the Holy Spirit is to come into your body. First of all, your sin is gone, and you can see clearly to speak to others. But Jesus does not want you to point out the speck in somebody else‘s eye while the plank is in your own. (See Matthew 7:3–5.)

    The place of being filled with the Holy Spirit is the only place of operation where the believer binds the power of Satan. Satan thinks that he has a right, and he will have a short time to exhibit that right as the Prince of the World; but he can‘t be Prince as long as there is one person filled with the Holy Spirit. That is why the church will go before the Tribulation.

    Now, how dare you resist coming into the place of being filled with the life and power of the Holy Spirit? What is the attitude of your life? Are you thirsty? Are you longing? Are you willing to pay the price? Are you willing to forfeit in order to have? Are you willing to allow yourself to die so that He may live? Are you willing for Him to have the right-of-way in your heart, your conscience, and all you are? Are you ready to have God‘s deluge of blessing upon your soul? Are you ready to be changed forever, to receive the Holy Spirit, to be filled with divine power forever?

    Thought for today: There are two sides to the baptism of the Holy Spirit: the first condition is that you possess the baptism; the second is that the baptism possesses you.

  • Found in Him

    June 23

    I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him. —Philippians 3:8–9

    Scripture reading: 2 Peter 3:9–18

    There is a place of seclusion, a place of rest and faith in Jesus. Nothing else is like it. Jesus came to His disciples on the water, and they were terrified. But He said, “It is I; do not be afraid” (Matthew 14:27). My friend, He is always there. He is there in the storm as well as in the peace; He is there in adversity. When will we know He is there? When we are “found in Him,” not having our own work, our own plan, but resting in the omnipotent plan of God. Oh, is it possible for the child of God to fail? It is not possible, for “He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep” (Psalms 121:4). He will watch over us continually, but we must be “found in Him.”

    I know there is a secret place in Jesus that is available to us
    today. My brother, my sister, you have been nearly weighed down with troubles. They have almost crushed you. Sometimes you thought you would never get out of this place of difficulty, but you have no idea that behind the whole thing, God has been working a plan greater than all.

    Today is a resurrection day. We must know the resurrection of His power in brokenness of spirit: “That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection” (Philippians 3:10). Jesus said to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25). Oh, to know the resurrection power, to know the rest of faith. Any one of us, without exception, can reach this happiness in the Spirit. There is something different between saying you have faith and then being pressed into a tight corner and proving that you have faith. If you dare to
    believe, it will be done according to your faith: “Whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them” (Mark 11:24). Jesus is “the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25). With God‘s help, we must gain this life. We can reach it with the knowledge that He will make us as white as snow, as pure and holy as He, that we may go with boldness to His “throne of grace” (Hebrews 4:16). Boldness is in His holiness. Boldness is in His righteousness. Boldness is in His truth. You cannot have the boldness of faith if you are not pure. What blessed words follow: “the fellowship of His sufferings” (Philippians 3:10). Remember, unless that fellowship touches us, we will never have much power.

    Jesus came forth in the glory of the Father, filled with all the fullness of God. It was God‘s plan before “the foundation of the world” (Matt. 25:34). God loved the fearful, helpless human race, with all its blackness and hideousness of sin, and He provided the way for redemption. May God give us such “fellowship of His sufferings” (Philippians 3:10) that when we see a person afflicted with cancer, we will pray right through until the disease is struck dead. When we see a bent and helpless woman or a man who is weak and sick, may God give us compassion and a fellowship with them that will lighten their heavy burdens and set them free. How often we
    have missed the victory because we did not have compassion at the needed moment. We failed to pray with a broken heart.

    Is there anything more? Oh, yes, we must see the next thing. We must be “conformed to His death” (Philippians 3:10). “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain” (John 12:24). God wants you to see that unless you are dead indeed, unless you come to a perfect crucifixion, unless you die with Him, you are not in the “fellowship of His sufferings” (Philippians 3:10). May God move upon us in this life to bring us into an absolute death, not merely to talk about it. In this way, Christ‘s life may be made manifest.

    The Lord wants us to understand that we must come to a
    place where our natural life ceases, and by the power of God, we rise into a life where God rules and reigns. Do you long to know Him? Do you long to be “found in Him”? Your longing will be satisfied today. I ask you to fall in the presence of God. If you want to know God, yield to His mighty power, and obey the Spirit.

    Thought for today: When the Spirit of the Lord moves within you, you will be broken down and then built up.

  • Who God Uses

    “God, the Father, takes ordinary people and births them into a relationship with Himself through the blood of Jesus Christ and by the Holy Spirit. And as He speaks to and enables them, and as they hear and obey His voice, He does great exploits in and through their lives, to the glory of His great name.”

    Excerpt from: But the People Who Know Their God

  • Be Made New

    June 22

    But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.
    — Philippians 3:7–8

    Scripture reading: 2 Corinthians 5

    Daily, there must be a revival touch in our hearts. God must
    change us after His fashion. We are to be made new all the
    time. There is no such thing as having all grace and know
    ledge. God wants us to begin with these words of power found in Philippians 3 and never stop, but go on to perfection. I am positive that no man can attain like-mindedness except by the illumination of the Spirit.

    God has been speaking to me over and over that I must urge people to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. In the baptism of the Holy Spirit, there is unlimited grace and endurance as the Spirit reveals Himself to us. The excellency of Christ can never be understood apart from illumination. I must witness about Christ. Jesus said to Thomas, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29).

    There is a revelation that brings us into touch with Him where we get all and see right into the fullness of Christ. As Paul saw the depths and heights of the grandeur, he longed that he might gain Him. Before his conversion, in his passion and zeal, Paul would do anything to bring Christians to death. His passion raged like a mighty lion. As he was going to Damascus, he heard the voice of Jesus saying, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” (Acts 9:4). What touched him was the tenderness of God.

    Friends, it is always God‘s tenderness that reaches us. He
    comes to us in spite of our weakness and depravity. If somebody came to oppose us, we would stand our ground, but when He comes to forgive us, we do not know what to do. Oh, to gain Christ! A thousand things in the nucleus of a human heart need softening a thousand times a day. There are things in us that unless God shows us “the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus,” we will never be broken and brought to ashes. But God will do it. We will not merely be saved, but we will be saved a thousand times over!
    Oh, this transforming regeneration by the power of the Spirit of the living God makes me see there is a place to “gain Christ” (Philippians 3:8), so that I may stand complete there. As He was, so am I to be.

    We cannot depend upon our works, but upon the faithfulness of God, being able under all circumstances to be hidden in Him, covered by the almighty presence of God. The Scriptures tell us that we are in Christ and Christ is in God (1 Corinthians 3:23). What is able to move you from this place of omnipotent power? “Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” (Romans 8:35). Oh, no! Will life, or death, or principalities, or powers? (v. 38). No, “we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (v. 37).

    Thought for today: The Holy Spirit is the great Illuminator who makes me understand all the depths of Him.