“for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake.” (Acts 9:16)

If a man of God states a prophecy where you are going to be “rich, have a big house & car, pretty wife etc.”, wouldn’t we be glad & “receive” it?

Now, let us pause a moment and consider now the other type of prophecy where we are told instead that “suffering, mistreatment, hate, persecution, injustice, pain etc.” await us; how many among us are “able” to “receive” such a prophecy, if it be true for us?

Now, suffering for Christ say by being in poverty or having less especially when we can have a better lifestyle by denying Christ is priceless.

So it was with apostle Paul.

Examples:

“I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.” (2 Corinthians 11:27)

“in beatings, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in hunger,” (2 Corinthians 6:5)

Paul states it as a sign that he is a servant of Christ:

“Are they servants of Christ?– I speak as if insane– I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death.” (2 Corinthians 11:23)

Holy Scripture also marks this type of “suffering in Christ” as the “general sign” too as the ‘mark faith’ in the infamous ‘Hall of Fame of Faith chapter’ (Hebrews 11):

“Women received back their dead by resurrection; and others were tortured, not accepting their release, so that they might obtain a better resurrection;

and others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment.

They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated” (Hebrews 11:35 – 37)

Were they approved by God?

“And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised,
because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect.” (Hebrews 11:39 – 40)

The conclusion regarding them:

“(men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground.” (Hebrews 11:38)

The point?

Fulfilling God’s Will for one’s life is the matter (for the Higher Gospel Purpose). It is not always prosperity nor it is always suffering. One has to seek the Blessed Lord personally to walk in His Will for one’s own life. The write-up above proves that some of us may be called to a greater suffering of faith than the rest.