2 Tim 1:6 Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.
7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God

2 Cor 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,
4 who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
5 For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ.
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7 And our hope for you is steadfast, because we know that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so also you will partake of the consolation.

Though I have never been physically harmed for the sake of the gospel, I have walked with my life in my hands a few times. My sufferings have merely amounted to words spoken, emotional distress, confusion rising around me, sometimes evil plans that came to nothing. Paul was imprisoned, beaten, even stoned to death once. It is easier to walk in faith and stand in the power of God when nothing physical happens. What when it does happen ? There are so many reports of persecution where the spirit of it seems to be that the devil had his way and ruled the situation and that was all. Not every report, I'm sure, but many reports are like that. Paul seems to be talking about something different.

I've twice found myself in a presence of the Holy Spirit that corresponded to what they experienced at their best during the days of the early Church. I'm not talking about the days when Jesus walked the Earth but after the day of Pentecost. It happened again in Moldova in 2014 but that sort of built upon the first experience of that that I had in 2000. In 2000 I found myself in a presence of the Holy Spirit that seemed to be in liquid form and burning like a fire at the same time. For the first few moments I was convinced that the air had disappeared and had been replaced by that substance and I had a small shock similar to when people become afraid of drowning. The presence of the Holy Spirit was tranquile and both otherwordly and homely at the same time. This happened while I was watching a scene from a movie where someone was singing a lullaby while gunmen were approaching from all sides.

It only occurred to me much later that God had picked that setting because it corresponded to something that the apostles had experienced where the presence of the Spirit was that powerful. That they were about to be persecuted and that the result may or may not have been that they managed to escape unharmed. Maybe the presence signalled that God was in charge and would thwart their plans somehow or maybe it anointed them with consolation in relation to what they were going to suffer. Enabling them to suffer for the sake of the gospel, in the power of God. That may very well have been what Paul was talking about in the verses I quoted above. It doesn't seem to me that many Christians who are persecuted understand this very well nor that there is much teaching on it. More like if one has to suffer then one suffers and that is that. Maybe to pray that it won't happen too much or that it can be avoided or be made to come to an end somehow.