Join Cherry Campbell as she shares her experiences from the mission field in the enlightening series Adventures with Jesus. Discover insights into overcoming life’s challenges through faith and perseverance, as Cherry navigates the difficult trials faced when fulfilling her calling. From debilitating presences to divine revelations, these stories showcase the importance of resisting temptation with the Word of God and walking in unwavering love and obedience to accomplish one’s divine purpose.
Good morning. Welcome to Victorious Faith. I’m Cherry Campbell. This week, I’ve begun sharing with you a 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 till 2012. And in the last couple of broadcasts, I was talking to you about the grace of God. There are things that Jesus bore for us. Those things we should not allow or tolerate. Those things we should resist. That is sin. Jesus bore our sins. It also says he bore our sicknesses and diseases. He himself carried our sicknesses and bore our diseases. Isaiah 53 and also Matthew chapter 8 verse 17. He himself bore our sicknesses and carried our diseases. If he bore sickness and carried disease, then we should resist it. This is another reason why Paul’s thorn was not a sickness. He was supposed to resist a sickness and also overcome the attacks of the enemy. Jesus gave us victory over everything that he defeated and everything he bore. But what are the tests that we do allow? Things that God allows. It is usually hard situations. The Lord showed me this, that the temptations and the tests that Jesus experienced in life, not in death, but in life. Those are the ones that we are supposed to imitate him in. He, first of all, was tempted by Satan to sin and he overcame temptation. Overcoming temptation is one of our tests, right? You must daily, daily overcome temptation. Jesus overcame temptation in Matthew 4 and in Luke 4 when Satan came to him and tested him and tempted him for 40 days in the wilderness. And in every situation of temptation, Jesus said, it is written. So he used the word of God to overcome temptation. You also must use the word of God every day to overcome temptation. And then what else did Jesus suffer? He suffered persecutions, persecutions And it’s strange that much of the time it’s from the religious people. He was persecuted by the Pharisees, just like Paul was. But also sometimes it’s also the wicked, vile unbelievers, people like the Roman Emperor Nero. you know, brought great persecution on the church. And even throughout history, there have been wicked men who have persecuted Christians. And then the third area of Jesus suffering was in the garden of Gethsemane when he submitted his will to his father. And he said to the father in prayer, as he sweat great drops of blood. So that means it was great pressure for, But he prayed, Father, take this cup from me if it is possible. Yet not what I will, but what you will. So you see, he knew he was going to have to endure the cross, the beatings and the floggings. If you missed that teaching I gave earlier, about the beatings and the floggings and the crucifixion, I encourage you to go back. It was far more horrible than most Christians have ever even imagined. It was even far more horrible than the movie The Passion of the Christ could portray. It was far more horrible. And Jesus knew what he was about to suffer and what he would have to endure. But it was the Father’s will for Jesus’ life to be a sacrifice. And so Jesus submitted himself to the father’s will. And so submitting yourself to God’s will, whether it’s on the mission field or whether it’s in a job or whether it’s in any other kind of place. And it’s oftentimes physical and relational hard places. Physical hard places or relationship hard places where you’re working with a co-worker or under a boss who is really mean and who treats you bad. Well, you need to pray and know if it’s God’s will because sometimes God will say, get out of there. But other times God will say, I brought you there. And that leads me to another thing, another situation in my travels. I faced different situations also that were very hard. Some of them were physical. Like I explained when I first went to the mission field and that first period of five weeks, especially getting adjusted to a life that was so far, from anything I had ever experienced before. It was so much harder. God again and again brought me into hard places. I went from place to place with no electricity and no running water, many times having to take a bucket bath outside. But God brought me in those places. So sometimes the hardships were physical. Sometimes they were emotional. Sometimes they were spiritual. Sometimes they were even relational. And so I want to share another experience and another thing the Lord taught me. I was in another country and this was about the same time. It was a couple of years after I’d been on the mission field and I was in this country and I was in a place where through different connections, one connection took me to another place and I stayed there in the home of a minister and And when I got there, I found out this minister was not living right. They were using manipulation. They were controlled. They were not operating in the spirit of God. They were not operating in love. And when I was there, I literally felt demonic spirit so strong. It was so oppressive. It was a very strong demonic presence. And I was only there a short time and I was ready to quit and I was ready to leave. I was thinking in my mind, I am getting out of here. I am going to go to town and I’m getting on the next plane and I’m leaving. And I even mentioned to this minister that I wanted to go to town. And thinking that I wanted to go in my mind, I’m saying I’m thinking I’m going to the airport and I’m getting on the next flight and I’m leaving. But then I was in my room and I was thinking so much about strongly about leaving. And the Holy Spirit spoke in my heart and the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, I called you here. I called you here. Well, immediately then I knew I had a choice and that choice was either to obey or disobey, obey God and stay or get out of his will, disobey and leave. Well, I’ll say this. My love for God kept me there. It was only that nothing more. Then my love for the Lord is what gave me the strength to stay. And I stayed. I said, Lord, I love you. I cannot say no to you. And I’m honestly telling you, your love for the Lord will sometimes be the very thing that will carry you through the places that are hard to endure. And that place I stayed there and obeyed God. Because of my love and my love alone for the Lord gave me the strength to endure. But I was there for six weeks and it was a battle the whole time. By the time I left, I felt beaten up spiritually, mentally, emotionally, physically. I was even weakened. I got sick right about that time I was leaving or just after I left. I was beat up. And the Lord said something to me. The Lord said to me very clearly, I was on the airplane already flying out of that city to go back to where I had originated from. And as I was on the airplane in the flight, the Holy Spirit spoke in my heart and said to me, Cherry, you passed the test because you kept the love walk. You kept the love walk. Now, not only did I love the Lord, but I had made a determination that as ugly as that person was, and they weren’t even really ugly to me, although there were some things that were done that were against me, but it was really what I saw them doing to other people. And I determined to walk in love, to be very loving and very kind the entire time I was there. I made that determination to walk in love. And so the Holy Spirit said to me, Cherry, you passed the test because you kept the love walk. And for this, you will be promoted. And the next year, that was the end of the year. The next year, there was an increase spiritually of the anointing. And there was an increase of finances that came the next year. That increase came. There was promotion. But the Lord said, you pass the test because you kept the love walk. And for this, there is a promotion for you. But you would have come out strong. If you had kept your joy, if you had kept your joy. So you see, I came out, I had survived, but I was beat up. I was beat up spiritually. I was beat up in my soul mentally and emotionally. And I came out even weekend physically where I got sick. But the Lord said to me, you would have come out strong if you had kept your joy. And then the Lord reminded me, it says in Nehemiah, the joy of the Lord is your strength, is your strength. And so I’ll pick this up tomorrow as I’m running out of time right now. But that lesson then of not only walking in love, but but then learning to keep your joy. The joy of the Lord is your strength. If you feel like you’re down and you’re weak, you need to receive the joy of the Lord. And the quickest way to receive the joy of the Lord is to start praising him and thanking him. And I’ll share testimonies about how the Lord brought his joy to me when I just started praising the Lord and thanking the Lord for his goodness. for his faithfulness, for his love, for his mercy. So today I encourage you as we’re closing this, as you go through this day, you need the grace of God. Receive it through willingness to his will. But then you also need the joy of the Lord to be your strength. So I encourage you all day today, go out with praise and thanks in your heart to God. Praise God all day long. As you walk down the street or the sidewalk, as you drive in your car, give him praise. Say, I praise you, Lord. I thank you, Lord, for what you have done. You are so good to me. You are so faithful to me. Oh, Lord, I love you. And as you praise him today, you will receive a fresh anointing of the joy of the Lord. Now join me again tomorrow. Remember, God loves you. You are blessed and highly favored by the Lord.
