Revelation 6:9-11 (NIV)

⁹When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. ¹⁰They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?” ¹¹Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed.

Luke 6:22-26 (NIV)

²²Blessed are you when men hate you,
      when they exclude you and insult you
      and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.

²³“Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their fathers treated the prophets.
²⁴“But woe to you who are rich,
      for you have already received your comfort.
²⁵Woe to you who are well fed now,
      for you will go hungry.
   Woe to you who laugh now,
      for you will mourn and weep.
²⁶Woe to you when all men speak well of you,
      for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets.

James 1:2-4 (NIV)

Trials and Temptations

²Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. ⁴Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.