Can Christianity Make A Difference In My Life?

³³sometimes being publicly exposed both to insults and to afflictions, and sometimes becoming sharers with those who were treated in this way. ³⁴For you both sympathized with the prisoners and put up with the seizure of your belongings with joy because you knew that you yourselves had a better and permanent possession. ³⁵Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has great reward.

¹¹Behold, we consider blessed those who have endured. You have heard about the patient endurance of Job, and you saw the outcome from the Lord, that the Lord is compassionate and merciful. ¹²Now above all, my brothers, do not swear either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your yes be yes and your no, no, in order that you may not fall under judgment. ¹³Is anyone among you suffering misfortune? He should pray. Is anyone cheerful? He should sing praise.

⁷And our hope for you is firm, because we know that as you are sharers in the sufferings, so also you will be sharers in the comfort. ⁸For we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, concerning our affliction that happened in the province of Asia, that we were burdened to an extraordinary degree, beyond our strength, so that we were in despair even of living. ⁹But we ourselves had the sentence of death in ourselves, so that we would not be putting confidence in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead,

²When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and through the rivers, they shall not flow over you. When you walk through fire, you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not scorch you. ³For I am Yahweh, your God, the holy one of Israel, your savior. I give you Egypt as ransom, Cush and Seba in place of you. ⁴Because you are precious in my eyes, you are honored, and I myself love you, and I give people in place of you, and nations in place of your life.

¹⁰You must not fear, for I am with you; you must not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, indeed I will help you, indeed I will take hold of you with the right hand of my salvation. ¹¹Look! All those who are angry with you shall be ashamed and humiliated; your opponents shall be like nothing and shall become lost. ¹²You shall seek them, but you shall not find them; your opponents shall be like nothing, and the men of your war like nothing.

³Though an army encamp against me, my heart will not fear. Though war arise against me, even in this I will remain confident. ⁴One thing I have asked from Yahweh; it I will seek: that I may dwell in the house of Yahweh all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of Yahweh, and to consider his temple. ⁵Because he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble. He will conceal me in the hiding place of his tent. He will set me high upon a rock.