Remember how it was with you in the past. In those days, after God's light had shone on you, you suffered many things, yet were not defeated by the struggle.

Be careful not to turn to evil; your suffering was sent to keep you from it.

One day spent in your Temple is better than a thousand anywhere else; I would rather stand at the gate of the house of my God than live in the homes of the wicked.

"Happy are those who are persecuted because they do what God requires; the Kingdom of heaven belongs to them!

Be happy and glad, for a great reward is kept for you in heaven. This is how the prophets who lived before you were persecuted.

But it does not sink deep into them, and they don't last long. So when trouble or persecution comes because of the message, they give up at once.

He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his help and took revenge on the Egyptian by killing him.

(He thought that his own people would understand that God was going to use him to set them free, but they did not understand.)

I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit has warned me that prison and troubles wait for me.

But I reckon my own life to be worth nothing to me; I only want to complete my mission and finish the work that the Lord Jesus gave me to do, which is to declare the Good News about the grace of God.

We also boast of our troubles, because we know that trouble produces endurance,

Since we are his children, we will possess the blessings he keeps for his people, and we will also possess with Christ what God has kept for him; for if we share Christ's suffering, we will also share his glory.

I consider that what we suffer at this present time cannot be compared at all with the glory that is going to be revealed to us.

Who, then, can separate us from the love of Christ? Can trouble do it, or hardship or persecution or hunger or poverty or danger or death?

No, in all these things we have complete victory through him who loved us!

neither the world above nor the world below---there is nothing in all creation that will ever be able to separate us from the love of God which is ours through Christ Jesus our Lord.

Anyone who is joined to Christ is a new being; the old is gone, the new has come.

And now I am happy about my sufferings for you, for by means of my physical sufferings I am helping to complete what still remains of Christ's sufferings on behalf of his body, the church.

Our friends, we must thank God at all times for you. It is right for us to do so, because your faith is growing so much and the love each of you has for the others is becoming greater.

All of this proves that God's judgment is just and as a result you will become worthy of his Kingdom, for which you are suffering.

Do not be ashamed, then, of witnessing for our Lord; neither be ashamed of me, a prisoner for Christ's sake. Instead, take your part in suffering for the Good News, as God gives you the strength for it.

Take your part in suffering, as a loyal soldier of Christ Jesus.

An athlete who runs in a race cannot win the prize unless he obeys the rules.

Think about what I am saying, because the Lord will enable you to understand it all.

Because I preach the Good News, I suffer and I am even chained like a criminal. But the word of God is not in chains,

my persecutions, and my sufferings. You know all that happened to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra, the terrible persecutions I endured! But the Lord rescued me from them all.

Everyone who wants to live a godly life in union with Christ Jesus will be persecuted;

Human anger does not achieve God's righteous purpose.

Be glad about this, even though it may now be necessary for you to be sad for a while because of the many kinds of trials you suffer.

Their purpose is to prove that your faith is genuine. Even gold, which can be destroyed, is tested by fire; and so your faith, which is much more precious than gold, must also be tested, so that it may endure. Then you will receive praise and glory and honor on the Day when Jesus Christ is revealed.

My dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful test you are suffering, as though something unusual were happening to you.

Happy are you if you are insulted because you are Christ's followers; this means that the glorious Spirit, the Spirit of God, is resting on you.

However, if you suffer because you are a Christian, don't be ashamed of it, but thank God that you bear Christ's name.

As it is, however, there still remains for God's people a rest like God's resting on the seventh day.

The rulers of the nations assemble with the people of the God of Abraham. More powerful than all armies is he; he rules supreme.

At one time you were not God's people, but now you are his people; at one time you did not know God's mercy, but now you have received his mercy.

no wicked people have been happy for long.

Their children run and play like lambs

They live out their lives in peace and quietly die without suffering.

You will put them in slippery places and make them fall to destruction!

They are like a dream that goes away in the morning; when you rouse yourself, O Lord, they disappear.

My head is spinning, and I am trembling with fear. I had been longing for evening to come, but it has brought me nothing but terror.

"Listen to this, you lover of pleasure, you that think you are safe and secure. You claim you are as great as God--- that there is no one else like you. You thought that you would never be a widow or suffer the loss of your children.

But in a moment, in a single day, both of these things will happen. In spite of all the magic you use, you will lose your husband and children.

Then I will say to myself, Lucky man! You have all the good things you need for many years. Take life easy, eat, drink, and enjoy yourself !'

But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night you will have to give up your life; then who will get all these things you have kept for yourself ? ' "

But Abraham said, 'Remember, my son, that in your lifetime you were given all the good things, while Lazarus got all the bad things. But now he is enjoying himself here, while you are in pain.

Your life here on earth has been full of luxury and pleasure. You have made yourselves fat for the day of slaughter.

Give her as much suffering and grief as the glory and luxury she gave herself. For she keeps telling herself: 'Here I sit, a queen! I am no widow, I will never know grief !'