Join Cherry Campbell as she takes you on a journey through her missionary adventures from 2001 to 2012. In her series, “Adventures with Jesus,” Cherry shares powerful testimonies of faith and resilience in the face of numerous hardships. Learn about the myriad ways God’s grace empowered her to overcome challenges and renewed her zeal for missionary work. Be inspired by her insights into the true meaning of God’s grace and how it extends beyond salvation to every facet of our lives.
Good morning. Welcome to Victorious Faith. I’m Cherry Campbell. Yesterday, I began sharing with you a new series of broadcasts that I’m calling Adventures with Jesus, in which I’m sharing with you testimonies of my experiences on the mission field from 2001 to 2012. And during those 12 years, God was so faithful in so many ways that I have many, many testimonies. And I want to share these with you to encourage you and build your faith and share with you some of the lessons that I’ve learned during that time. And so yesterday I began talking to you about the grace of God. And I explained to you the grace of God or the grace of any person is the free gifts of God. And that is everything God gives. And so his grace includes our salvation. We are saved by grace through faith. It includes our provision and supply, our healing. It includes strength, knowledge. It includes help of every kind. It includes empowerments and abilities to do things. It includes everything that God gives us. And so I was sharing with you yesterday how God gave me grace when I first got to the mission field in January 2001 in Vanuatu. Now, Vanuatu is an island nation in the South Pacific, north of New Zealand. And when I first got there, it was a lot rougher than I expected. I had not expected another boot camp when I reached the mission field. And I wrote that that boot camp was harder than any that I had ever been through before until that time. And the hardships that were there physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. And after five weeks, the Lord showed me and spoke to me. I passed the test in order to continue on. And the Lord put a new strength in my spirit and a new fire and a new zeal. Actually, in the hardships that I faced, I lost the desire to be a missionary even. And that had been my lifelong dream. It had been like fire shut up in my bones, ready to consume me. Lord, send me now. This fire is burning me up. Well, I got there and the fire went out because of that hardship, the great difficulty that there was in that new place for me. And finally, after five weeks in the sixth week, I received and I was constantly asking for grace and praying and crying, Lord, give me more grace, give me more grace. And I received that new grace. After six weeks, the Lord put a new strength in my spirit and he renewed me. He renewed the fire and the zeal in my heart. The dream and the desire to go to the nations returned as big as it ever was. And I was ready to go harder and farther than I ever had before. And now I was ready for it. And then things began to open up and burst forth spiritually with great fruit in that work. And so the Lord opened doors from country to country. I went from Vanuatu to the Solomon Islands. And from the Solomon Islands to Papua New Guinea. God opening door after door after door. And I’ll share more about that again. But I want to get back to this issue of grace. Because with every level of grace. With every test and every situation that is hard in life. We need the grace of God. And the grace of God is God giving you what you need. And the wrong… understanding that most Christians have about Paul’s thorn in the flesh. First of all, it was not a sickness or a disease. It was the hardships that he was going through and the tests and the difficulties and the persecutions, because you’ve got to read everything in context. When he was writing about a thorn in the flesh, he was talking about what he just wrote about in the verses before that statement. And that’s in 2 Corinthians 12, verse 9. And Paul wrote, God said to me, my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Well, that test that he was referring to was everything that he talked about in the previous verses in chapter 11. In chapter 11, 2 Corinthians 11, he said, starting in verse 23, I have worked much harder. I have been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the 40 lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. I spent a night and a day in the open sea. I’ve been constantly on the move. I’ve been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen. Endanger from Gentiles, endanger in the city, endanger in the country, endanger at sea, and endanger from false brothers. Now that is the thorn in the flesh that he talks about in 2 Corinthians chapter 12. Chapter 12, he said in verse 7, there was given me a thorn in my flesh. And then he says what it was. A messenger of Satan. A messenger of Satan. A messenger of Satan. So why has so much of Christian theology and philosophy even tried to say that he had some kind of a sickness or a disease? That’s not what he’s talking about. He tells you what that thorn was. It was a messenger of Satan. That word messenger in the Greek is the word angelos. Angelos, from which we get our word angel. It’s the same word as elsewhere translated angel. In other words, it was an angel of Satan or it was a demon. It was a fallen angel. It was a demonic spirit, a messenger of Satan, an Angelos of Satan. That was a demon spirit. Well, what was that demon spirit doing? It was following him everywhere. He went and it was stirring up trouble. It was stirring up trouble with the Jews, stirring up trouble with the Gentiles, the Pharisees. They picked up stones to stone him. When he went out to see it, stirred up the sea and brought in a hurricane and It was following him, causing him trouble everywhere he went. It was a thorn in the flesh because it was constantly nagging him, pursuing him, even from city to city. As you read about in the book of Acts, that those Pharisees followed him from city to city and stirred up the crowds of people against Paul. And there would be a riot and he would be chased out of town. That was the messenger of Satan, the Angelos of Satan. It was a demon spirit sent by Satan to cause Paul trouble everywhere he went, whether he was in the city or in the country, there was trouble, whether he was on land or in the sea. There was trouble, but notice now people again, misunderstand verse eight and Paul wrote three times. I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me, but he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you for my powers made perfect and weakness. Well, again, Most Christians are reading that like God said, no, I’m not going to give you what you ask for. Most Christians are reading that and interpreting God’s answer as a no answer. It is not a no answer. It’s a yes answer. It’s a yes answer because you must understand what grace is. Grace is God’s willingness to give you everything you need in a situation to overcome. To overcome. And so God was saying, I’ve given you my grace. It is enough. In other words, it’s not insufficient. It’s sufficient. It’s more than enough for you to overcome. Now, what had God given him? Paul here was actually in a low moment. When just previously in chapter 10, he was writing in chapter 10 and verse 4, the weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. And in verse 3, for though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. So he knew his battle was, as he wrote in Ephesians chapter 6, against principalities and powers and demonic strongholds. And God was revealing to Paul, I’ve already given you everything you need to overcome. These are what God has given you. He said, I’ve given you my name. I’ve given you my word. I’ve given you my blood. I’ve given you my Holy Spirit anointing in power. Use it. In other words, it’s like this picture that you have an enemy, a thief trying to break in your house and And you cry out to God. Oh, God, save me from this thief. Oh, God, save me from this invader in my home. Oh, God, help. Oh, God, help. God comes in. And this is just an example. He takes his machine gun and goes to do and he kills and wipes out your enemy. And he destroys your enemy for you. And then he puts the machine gun in your hands. He says, okay, now here’s the machine gun. I put it in your hands. Now you use it the next time any enemy tries to come in. And so then the next time an enemy comes in, you’ve got the machine gun in your hands this time. And yet you still cry out. Oh, God, help me. Oh, God, help me. Oh, God, get the devil off. And God is saying, I’ve given you the gun. Use the gun. Use the gun. Use the gun. Well, what is the gun? The gun is the word of God. The gun is our faith in God’s word, standing up and speaking to any situation that is in front of us using the name of Jesus. Jesus said, I give you my name and whatever you ask in my name, I’ll do it. So use my name, take authority over the devil. And so that is the answer. Use the gun. Use the gun. I’ve given you what you need already to overcome. This is an overcoming verse. Now, someone showed me one time. Well, they read that verse as a survival verse. Oh, God, help us to survive. You’re not just called to be a survivor. You are called to be an overcomer. You are called to win the victory every time. Remember, he always leads us in triumph in Christ. He always gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Remember, in him we are more than conquerors. Remember that in Christ we can do all things. You see, we have to understand that we are called to be overcomers. We are called to be more than conquerors. And God has given us everything that we need. He has given us his name. He has given us his word. He’s given us his blood. He’s given us his Holy Spirit, who is our wisdom and counsel and our power. an anointing to overcome any and every situation in life. So I encourage you today. God has given you the grace. God has given you everything you need in whatever situation you are facing today. You can overcome through the power of God. So take it up and use it. God’s grace is sufficient power. for you. Well, I’m out of time today and I want you to join me again tomorrow. And remember, God loves you. You are blessed and highly favored by the Lord.
