"But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you"  (I Pet. 5:10).

Our Heavenly Father is a father of all grace.  Our Father is the one who spoke in existence the eternal plan for us to be in Christ before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4). Our Father wanted to have sons, with which  to have a genuine love relationship and fellowship.  His created angels could never fully have a Father/child relationship with him.  They do what they do out of a Master/servant relationship.  Two-thirds of the angelic host have remained faithful.  One-third of the angelic host led by Lucifer, the Archangel covering the Lord Jesus rebelled and were cast out of heaven (Rev. 12:7-9).  Our Father foreknew this would happen before He chose us to be in Christ before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4-5; Rom. 8:29-30).  Our Father chose us to be in Christ and Christ to be in us as the current Body of Christ, so that He would never have to cast us out of heaven by any disobedience that we might do.  The Father "qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light" (Col. 1:12).  Through the Spirit rebirthing when we simply believed in Him and His Word, our Father "delivered us from the kingdom of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love" (Col. 1:13).  Our Father of all grace has secured an eternal Father/child relationship with us, and called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus (Eph. 1:12-14; I Pet. 5:10).

To fully learn the family Spirit in this temporal walk, we will go through some pain and suffering.  Paul said, "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us" (Rom. 8:18).  The arena of suffering often can be the open door the Holy Spirit's greatest revelation in us.  Why cannot the natural eye see, nor the natural eye hear, nor enter into the heart of man the things of God.  Naturally, man looks at the good, the rich, the powerful and the mighty things for being God.  However, God works His eternal plan differently.  He uses opposites.  Our Father brings His life out of our death, His joy out of our suffering, His peace out of our unrest, His strength out of our weakness.  Paul said, "God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence" (I Cor. 1:27-29).  Through humility we can be brought to Christ and see that Christ is our everything – wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption (I Cor. 1:30).

Through suffering we learn the family Spirit.  Through suffering we learn obedience to God and the things of God just as Jesus did (Hebr. 5:8).  We can ask the question, "Father what do you want me to really know in the midst of this trial and suffering?"  Paul knew there was an important fellowship with the Father and Christ in the midst of His sufferings in us (Phil. 3:10).  Through sufferings a little while, our Heavenly Father will work it all together for good to those that love Him (Rom. 8:28).  Through these all these things the Father will have the Holy Spirit transform the mind so that we will matured, established, strengthened, and settled, by His revelation of Christ in us as us! V