I discovered the reason I wasn’t being persecuted was because I wasn’t acting righteous enough!
All of the descriptions of the elect child of God given by Jesus are evidences of the Spirit of God already dwelling inside the person.
Poor, weak, and worthless though I am, I have a rich Almighty Friend! Jesus, the Savior is His name. He freely loves and without end.
And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and…
Jesus tells James that he would follow Him through sufferings. As recorded in Acts 12, James became the first martyr among the Apostles. He wanted to be where Jesus was and his desire was fulfilled.