10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
13 Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.
14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Matthew 5 KJV
Persecution – 1. hostility and ill-treatment, especially because of race or political or religious beliefs 2. to harass or punish in a manner designed to injure, grieve, or afflict specifically: to cause to suffer because of belief
Persecution refers to the meanness that will come as a result of submitting to GOD and doing HIS will in the face of a perverse generation. The family will no longer be the loving, caring, kind-hearted people that have embraced you all your life.
They will hate you. They will speak evil against you. When the time comes brothers and sisters, they will even have you put to death for HIS namesake.

The Disciple
21 And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death.
22 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.
23 But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come.
24 The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord.
25 It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?
The disciple is not above his master, not in the least. Whatever the master(JESUS CHRIST) suffered, the disciple must know and understand that the same fate could very well be your lot.
We will not mislead you with sweet selling words suggesting life will be cupcakes and rainbow sprinkles. It will not. Life as you know it if you walk by faith, if you truly take up your cross and follow HIM, will be painfully lonely and could end in ridicule, rejection, and torture