How much we need to have a clear sky between us and the Lord! Before we were saved, our spiritual sky was dark, cloudy, and even foggy – we couldn’t see God, we could not see the light, and everything was in darkness. But one day the Lord touched us and we repented, we confessed our sins, and we received the Lord Jesus as our Savior – our sky began to be cleared up!
The more we confessed our sins, admitting to the Lord in His shining light of the things we did / what we were in our past, the clearer our sky became. This is our experience: once we made such a thorough confession, we had the sense that the sky above us was so clear, and we could see the Lord and touch Him personally!
Just like the case of the living creatures in Ezekiel 1:22, we had an expanse above us, stretched forth – and we could see God! Actually, right above the expanse is the throne of God (see Ezek. 1:26) – when we confessed our sins, we enthroned God in our being and He became our Lord! Ever since then, our sky became clearer and clearer, and it was even expanding! We received not only a clear sky, but also an expanding sky.
Of course, later, as we grow in life and as we fail again and again, problems arise with either the people at work, with our family, our friends, our relatives, or even the brothers and the sisters in the church life.
As problems arise, there’s clouds that come up on the sky to block our relationship and our view – our sky becomes cloudy and dark, but not as dark as before. All these problems, all our sins, our attitude, etc – bring about clouds on the sky between us and God.
This is our experience many times – it is so easy to have clouds and even fog appearing on the sky, darkening our life… but as soon as we confess our sins, the Lord is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).
When we confess our sins, coming to the Lord in fellowship with Him and confessing our failures, condemning our wrong attitude towards the others, our motives, our intentions, and even our wrong goals, we receive God’s forgiveness and our sky is cleared again! The sky above us becomes clear again and we have the Lord on the throne – we can see Him and enjoy His sweet presence clearly!
Actually, through this kind of experiences – having many failures and then returning to the Lord to confess, humbling ourselves before Him – the Lord has a way to expand this sky in us and make it more and more stable, even crystal clear! We are having a deeper fellowship with the Lord(the vertical sky) and with the other members of the Body (the horizontal sky).
It is all dependent on the feeling in our conscience – the sky we as Christians have depends upon our conscience. When we deal with our conscience regularly, confessing our sins, it becomes keen to notify us of anything between us and God. Our conscience is connected to our sky – if there’s no blemish or spot/sin on our conscience, we have a clear sky!
But many times we have a clear feeling that we’re not right with the Lord – we need to come to Him and allow Him to shine on us, and as we confess our sins, our wrongdoings, our defects, and everything He shines on / any condemnation in our conscience, our sky becomes clear!
How we love a clear sky between us and the Lord! We need to pay the price to deal with any offense or condemnation that is in our conscience, since this clear sky depends on our conscience.
And what is the purpose of having a crystal clear sky with a throne above it? When we have a clear sky with the throne in our being, God can reign over us and He can accomplish His eternal purpose in us, with us, and through us.
[enjoyment from the Life-Study of Ezekiel, as quoted in the morning revival on Living under the Unique Headship of Christ and in the Unique Divine Fellowship.]
Lord, continue to shine on us and to keep us in the light! We want to have such a clear sky between us and You! We want to see You and enjoy You all the time as the One on the throne! Lord, make our conscience so keen to notify us of any dark clouds on our sky! We want to keep short accounts with You – dealing with anything that separates us and You. O, Lord, our sky…. may it be so clear and expanding, that whatever anyone says, we would not be offended, but rather we would minister Christ to them!
Our conscience is connected to our spiritual sky. If there is no blemish on our conscience, our sky will be clear.
Apostle Paul said, 2 Timothy 1:3, I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers in a pure concience…
1 Timothy 3:9: Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience.
Paul defended himself before Felix, Act 24:16, Because of this I also exercise myself to always have a consecience without offense toward God and men.
There is a hymn with a prayer of heart "Nothing between, Lord!"
Nothing between, Lord, nothing between;
Let me Thy glory see,
Draw my soul close to Thee,
Then speak in love to me—Nothing between.
Nothing between, Lord, nothing between;
Let not earth's din and noise
Stifle Thy still small voice;
In it let me rejoice—Nothing between.
Nothing between, Lord, nothing between;
Nothing of earthly care,
Nothing of tear or prayer,
No robe that self may wear—Nothing between.
Nothing between, Lord, nothing between;
Unbelief disappear,
Vanish each doubt and fear,
Fading when Thou art near—Nothing between.
Nothing between, Lord, nothing between;
Shine with unclouded ray,
Chasing each mist away,
O'er my whole heart bear sway—Nothing between.
Nothing between, Lord, nothing between;
Thus may I walk with Thee,
Thee only may I see,
Thine only let me be—Nothing between.
Nothing between, Lord, nothing between;
Till Thine eternal light,
Rising on earth's dark night,
Bursts on my open sight—Nothing between.