Let me encourage you all to never be ashamed to tell others about our precious Lord!

With all the strength God gives us, we must all be ready to suffer for the sake of the Good News. It is promised that everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus WILL suffer some sort of persecution…. even though Jesus was God’s Son, perfect in every way and was without sin, He also learned obedience from the things He suffered, and we as servants are no better than the Master! Since He Himself has gone through suffering and testing, He is also able to help us when we ourselves are being tested, so we must continually look to Him as our inspiration and strength.

Yet, it has been promised that what we suffer during this life is nothing compared to the glory He will reveal to us later! For it is written that all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who His children really are. Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay! For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time; just look at the way we treat it generally, raping it for its minerals etc and using it as a rubbish dump…
And we believers also groan with it, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from such sin and suffering. We too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as His adopted children, including the new bodies He has promised us!

Since we are His children, we are essentially His heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory! But if we are to share His glory with Him, we must also share in His suffering. Yet if we suffer for doing what is right, God will reward us for it, so don’t worry or be afraid of anyone’s threats. For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with His comfort through Christ. Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies. That’s why I try to take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong. You have all been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christ, but also the privilege of suffering for Him. Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven! 
Of course, you get no credit for being patient if you are beaten and suffer for doing wrong. But if you suffer for doing good and endure it patiently, God is pleased with you. Remember, it is better to suffer for doing good, if that is what God wants, than to suffer for doing wrong!

It is written that NO power in the sky above or in the earth below – indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. May you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love is!

I want to fully know Christ and experience in totality the mighty power that raised Him from the dead. I find it an honour to possibly suffer with Him and for Him, sharing in His death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead… so with this in mind, since Christ suffered physical pain on our behalf, we must arm ourselves with the same attitude He had, and be ready to suffer for Him too. For if any of you have suffered physically for Christ, you have actually finished with sin, and set your heart unswervingly to the path of holiness..

It is no shame to suffer for being a Christian. Praise God for the privilege of being called by His name!