Jesus frees us from performance

In desiring to comfort others with the comfort the Lord’s given me, I hope to begin sharing some of my writings more through online formats via Facebook, blogs, emails, and so forth. So here’s today’s heartfelt insights unfiltered:

I was born into a culture that continues to be completely saturated with works based mindsets/performance in order to gain or maintain approval and acceptance, and unfortunately I grew up in churches that were no different from the world in this sense. In having the unique privilege of visiting 30+ different American churches over the past 3 years of all different denominational backgrounds, I unfortunately regularly hear sermons where men speak out of both sides of their mouths and I realize no wonder the lost don’t want the mixed messages our churches are peddling. God’s says that His perfect love casts out fear, yet I have witnessed over and over again fear filled church communities who speak the name of Jesus but have a false sense of identity and are attempting to teach, function and serve God in an effort to gain His approval. I have heard more Jesus pluses and Jesus buts than I care to mention… The gospel is not Jesus PLUS or Jesus BUT. The gospel is JESUS ONLY. It’s not believe in Jesus and then do all these things to achieve/maintain/keep your salvation, it’s believe and receive that Jesus has already DONE all these things for your salvation. Striving for perfection and seeking approval and acceptance from God or man through performance is not the good news. The gospel is to trust and believe that we have been made perfect and righteous, completely accepted and fully approved by God through the blood of Jesus (grace- an undeserved gift). Christ is the end of the law. He perfectly fulfilled the righteous requirements of the law on our behalf. If we could strive for perfection and attain it through striving (our good works/deeds/self effort) then Christ would not have had to come and die on our behalf. This business of you’re saved when you believe and then from that point forward you may be in or out according to your good or bad performance/behavior is a counterfeit gospel…it’s not good news at all…it’s really bad news…thank God that if we have believed that Jesus died for our sins and rose again that our relationship with Him doesn’t wax and wane according to our good or bad behavior but is eternally secure because of what He’s done, because of His faithfulness to keep His covenant promise to us. That’s our firm foundation, Jesus Christ our cornerstone. Hallelujah that His gift of grace isn’t dependent upon, measured or sustained by our “good” performance but by what Jesus performed on the cross on our behalf. All other religions point to what man must “DO” through rules, regulations, moral codes/laws and traditions of men to achieve a state of salvation- they are of the antichrist and they all ultimately lead to death. However, Jesus Christ who came to give us abundant LIFE says the one who becomes fully dependent on me like a child will inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. When Jesus returns there will also be those who came proclaiming His Name and professing to do "good" works in His Name, and when they speak to Jesus rather than pointing to a genuine relationship with Him based on their faith in His perfect provision and His ability to save them, they wrongly point to their works as a means for their justification as if they expected that their works earned them Heaven and that Jesus owed it to them and Jesus tells them to depart from Him for He never knew them. If we have been born again through faith in Christ, we are sealed by His eternal Holy Spirit and we are made forever in right standing, set apart unto Him, completely justified and sanctified through His blood and His blood continually cleanses us and transforms us (molds and shapes us throughout our entire journey). The message of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that holiness can’t be earned or achieved through our actions but only received by His one time for all action! The message of the gospel is that He owe's us nothing but He gave us everything!! As born again believers who are still living on the earth in the presence of sin, we still sin in thought and action and yet we should no longer take the name “sinner” or “dirtbag” on as our identity….praise God we are His redeemed children, He calls us SAINTS and He forgives us of all our sins- past, present and future. It was forever finished at the cross! Of course we no longer desire to sin for sin grieves us and we detest it, yet we rejoice in knowing He’s broken us free from the curse and power of sin. He’s redeemed us from the penalty and punishment of sin taking it all upon Himself for us, and we live our lives in gratitude for all He’s done for us understanding that the transforming work of the true gospel comes about from the inside out as we abide in Christ, soaking and growing in the grace of God. The transformation that we so desire to see take place in our lives comes through resting in the finished work of the cross, Jesus our perpetual Sabbath rest. It comes through believing and receiving more of Who He is, All He’s done for us, and who we are in Him, not through striving harder through self effort/performance/works based mindsets. For one who has been born again to then turn again trying to work out their salvation in their flesh through performance in order to be made righteous is to attempt to deny and reject the very righteousness that comes by grace through faith in Christ alone. Instead of working to achieve acceptance and approval through performance, self-righteousness, we must believe and receive that He achieved it all on our behalf. This is the GOOD NEWS!!!  It’s Godly to love the laws and the ways of the Lord, His instructions are good for us, yet I myself got off track several years ago in what seemed like an innocent or “good” desire to be obedient, and I am now recovering from a fallen, works oriented mindset and I’m so thankful that Jesus is continuing to rescue me and free me from performance. In desiring to be obedient in response to all He's done for me,  that unintentionally became my main focus rather than Jesus and His obedience being my main focus, and I spiraled downward into a state of complete exhaustion, anguish, weariness and despair. Although I would say to myself and others that it all is dependent upon Jesus, I had been living as though His grace was dependent on me being “good enough” rather than living knowing His blood was, is and will always be good enough for me- I crashed and burned, and yet God was sovereign over my plight and He came close to my side and has began teaching me a new and better way to live. What He is teaching me and reminding me of is that when I behold Jesus, as I keep my eyes on Him and abide in Him, the fruit of obedience, the fruit of His Spirit flows through me and out to the world as a result/byproduct of my intimate union with Him. Rather than the tendency to think we have to prove ourselves or gain approval through our works, I believe what Paul meant when He said I will show you my faith by my works was that good works of the Kingdom effortlessly flow from a heart filled with faith in God. He is my Vine, my Source of goodness where all goodness, good works, fruit of the Kingdom flows. Apart from Him I can do nothing. The enemy can be so subtle and crafty and he uses things like this to distract and discourage believers in order to hinder us from living in our new identity and in an effort to keep us from living in our spiritual inheritance- the joy, peace and freedom that are ours in the Lord. He sought to destroy me through this deception that I had bought into for a season, but I praise God that Christ is faithfully raising me up from the muck and the mire and turning ashes into beauty, and I share this today in order to encourage all His children and myself to live and walk more fully in the grace of God. In His arms, Tonya

Rays of Light in the Midst of Dark Times

In 2008, my family began a season of trial and darkness. Thankfully, however, that season was often wrapped in hope and light. I've noticed that during the toughest times in my life is when I hunger and thirst for God's presence, providence, and power the most. Oh, I know He's always there with arms wide open continually trying to show me glimpses of Heaven; however, I tend to be so much more aware of His hand in my life during the difficult times. His voice does not leave you or I, but my receiver always works best during the trying periods…I tune in better during those times. I wanted to share with you a few of those precious times during 2008 and 2009 when I heard Him speak to me. After having discomfort in one of his testicles, my husband, Mike, went to the dr. and was told that he may likely have testicular cancer. The way they find out for sure is by surgically removing the area of concern and running tests to see if it is indeed cancerous. After Mike had his surgery, the dr. told him that he may need to do radiation treatments also as insurance, if you will, to make sure they removed all of the possible cancer cells from his body.  At this time, we were trying to get pregnant with another child, and we feared that if it was cancer, and if they recommended radiation that this might possibly prevent us from getting pregnant a 2nd time. I remember telling some girlfriends about our desire to get pregnant, and tearing up as I told them that Mike was likely going to have to do radiation treatments and explained how I was worried about the effect that radiation might have on our chances of conceiving. Fortunately though, God had a plan, and little did I know at the time, that I was already pregnant with our 2nd child. God blessed us with this special news on the same day that Mike received his test results back that he did indeed have testicular cancer. The good news of the pregnancy was a ray of hope in the midst of the bad news blow of cancer. God's timing is always perfect! Mike did later begin his radiation treatments, and it was special that the last day that Mike completed his radiation just happened to be the same day of my dr. appt. where we found out the sex of the baby. When Mike was at his dr. visit completing his last round of radiation, I was in the waiting room reflecting over our past several months, and it hit me that we found out the sex of the baby on the same day that his radiation treatments were ending. I was excited to tell Mike what God had brought to my attention, and when Mike came out into the waiting room, he began to speak to me about how he was on the table getting his last treatment, and how he had just realized the special timing of his radiation treatments being completed and us finding out the sex of the baby on the same day. It was as if a chapter had been started and completed for us. It was a very special moment as we realized that God told us both in our spirits at the same time that this was due to His perfect timing, and it was another way of God showing us that He was with us. We were going to have our first baby girl!

Unfortunately, we later found out that the pin point targeted radiation treatments were unsuccessful in curing Mike as they found cancer cells in a different area in Mike’s body, and we were told that chemotherapy would be the next step. When Mike began his chemo treatments, we had been blessed with our healthy baby girl, Lydia, who was a few months old now. As you can imagine, the sleepless nights a new baby brings, and adjusting to a new routine combined with an energetic 3 year old boy, and a husband who was sick due to the chemo treatments was a tough combination. It was rough at first; however, God was still with us and He blessed me again in a huge way. My exhaustion and pity party that I had for myself the first few weeks began to turn into great strength, energy, and joy in the midst of our situation. Brothers and sisters at church would come up to me and ask me how I was coping with everything, and I would tell them that I was doing really good, and I could see their amazement to my response. Some of them would question me and make sure my response was genuine, and I reassured them that I really was doing good. I told several of them that I felt as if I had been given an energy that was not my own. I told them that I knew that it was from God because I had never felt anything like it…to a few of my friends, I specifically described it as a supernatural strength and energy. It greatly comforted and sustained me during that difficult season. Quite some time after Mike’s chemo treatments were over, we were laying in bed one night talking, and he told me that he had prayed for me during the entire time of his chemo treatments, and that he had specifically requested that God fill me with His supernatural strength…I looked at him in astonishment when I put two and two together and realized that God faithfully had answered Mike’s prayers during that time. For Mike to consider me, and pray for me like he did in the midst of his own sickness and suffering, and for God to answer his prayers exactly as he requested will touch me for the rest of my life, and my love and appreciation for my husband, and for God will continue to be forever changed. Whenever I get down now, I definitely need to remember that time in my life, and what God did for me. He is so awesome!!!

There was also another gift from God that greatly encouraged me and helped me to endure during that time. Mike was pretty sickly but he would have good days and bad days during his treatments. There was a Saturday when Mike was having a good day, and our family decided to head out to do a quick  shopping trip at Costco to get some basics. After we had finished most of our shopping, I came across some beautiful mums. They were so gorgeous and I wanted them so badly. However, we didn’t have any room in Lydia’s little stroller basket, and both kids were getting tired as it was close to nap time. We didn’t get a buggy because we only needed to grab a few items…to purchase the mums, I was going to have to go back up to the front of the store and get a buggy and then go back to the back of the store and grab them and then go back up front…you get the idea…I wanted them so bad though…they were so beautiful; however torn, I gave it up since everyone was expiring, and told Mike that maybe I could come back during the week some time and get them. Well, Saturday passed, and when we woke up Sunday morning Mike was feeling good enough to try to make it out to church. As we were backing out of the garage door, I noticed a big, beautiful pot of mums sitting down on the ground in between the two garage doors. I looked at Mike and thought, how could he have done that, and realized quickly that he didn’t do that. I gasped with excitement, and jumped out of the car and ran over and picked up the card sitting in the mums, and opened it and read it. It was from our precious neighbors across the street, Mrs. And Mrs. Heffington who also attend services with us. The card said something along the lines of how they were thinking about us and wanting to do something to let us know that we were on their minds and that they were praying for us. I couldn’t believe it!! How could she have known.  When I later saw her at church, I told her thank you for the mums, and asked her how she knew that I wanted mums. She said that she didn’t know that I wanted mums. She said that her and Ned were talking, and they were trying to figure out what they could do for us to let us know they were thinking about us, and she said, “mums just popped into my head”. I then recapped the story to her of the experience I had at Costco the day before and how I wanted some mums so badly, and she was amazed. I told her that I knew Who put it in her head. I then explained to her that God was showing me that He knew that I wanted mums, and that He was sending that gift to us through His servant that listened to His voice. You see, any other flower would have simply been a sweet gift from the Heffingtons, but because it was mums, I knew that it was directly from Him to our family, and that He gave those to us because He wanted us to know that He was with us. Throughout that difficult time, I definitely asked for and received His continual reassurance that He was watching over our family. He is so tender with us, and He loves us so much that He wants to reassure us. For instance, remember the story about Gideon….one of my favorites! God is so good, and He cares about all things concerning His children, big and small…just like we do our own children. He is in the details, and He has shown that to me over and over again in my life. I’m so thankful for His comfort and care. He can console a troubled heart like no other!

Praise God, Mike has been healed of cancer, and we could never thank or appreciate our Heavenly Father enough for all that He has done for us. To Him be the glory forever, and ever, Amen!

In His Arms,

Tonya Jett Jones