Living Above

by Courtney Gonzalez

Please read Ezekiel 6.
Do not return to your blood! He has clothed you, adorned you, washed you, fed you. You were given life through the repentance that was offered to you. The fruit that which you live by should not be of former, earthly things. We cannot operate in human strength and expect God to move in supernatural power. The fruit we bear must be of supernatural power, otherwise it is not ours! How could Jesus stay on the cross while others mocked Him? Only through the supernatural. Since we have died with Christ and we no longer live, His supernatural strength to turn the other cheek, rise above insult, take no offense when our flesh wants to justify our wrath, must be on display. Have we repented and been made free if we are in bondage to earthly responses? Oh, that we would ask Him to feed us! He will supply with choice honey and bread to satisfy us! Our satisfaction is not that our flesh is satisfied, but that our Fruit satisfies the Lord. When we have that perspective, we can overcome the former lusts of the world and so cling to Jesus and His ways (1 Cor 9:27)!

Does the Lord require perfection? Of course not. He knew we could only be made clean through Jesus’ blood. When gold is thrown into the flame, the gold does not go away or get burnt up into ash. Use the untamed flesh within yourself (your responses, your heart attitudes, your secret thoughts) as fuel to get you back to the altar, for the Lord to burn up that dross within you. Gold releases the dross to be discarded and the gold is now purified to shine even more brightly. That is what repentance does and the fruit of that repentance is a life shining brightly without anything inhibiting its luster.

In Matthew 7:21-23, we see Jesus’ disciples declare that their work should be good enough for salvation. Jesus replies that He never knew them. They did not allow their hearts to be laid bare before the Lord, even though their deeds were great. This is a call to move beyond the superficial and expose ourselves to the Lord who wants us to be bare before Him. Bear the fruit of love when someone has wronged you not for men to see, but for the Lord, who sees your inmost being, to see. Bear the fruit of self-control when your lips want to tear someone down, not because men can see you, but because Jesus Himself is elevated as King in your life. Bear the fruit of joy in the midst of your trial, for Jesus is our living hope. Bear the fruit of peace, for your God walks on water in the middle of the storm. These are the greater works the Lord desires, because the sacrifice is greater.