Asoldier trains for battle, a doctor trains for healing, but what does a disciple train for? He trains for many things but they all focus around two main expressions: he bears the image of God, and he speaks the message of God.
In order to speak the message of God the disciple must become a prophet. A prophet is not a foreteller, primarily, but a “forthteller,” one who hears God speak and delivers the message to God’s people. Moses is an example. The Israelites said to him, “Go near and … tell us whatever the Lord our God tells you” (Deuteronomy 5:27, NIV). Moses was an intimate of God, and out of that intimacy he learned God’s will for the nation; his prophetship was simply telling his people what God wanted them to do and to hear.
Jesus Christ was the perfect Prophet. “This is my beloved Son [that is the intimacy]: hear him [that is the prophetship]” (Luke 9:35, KJV). I cannot expect to speak for God unless I know Him in an intimate way. I cannot speak for God merely by being a theologian; I must speak for God by being His “friend” who speaks to Him “face to face” (Deuteronomy 34:10). Thus, I may be a Sunday school teacher, a salesman, or a housewife and speak for God more authoritatively than a theologian, a pastor, or a missionary.
No one can presume to be a prophet; he must be called to it by God Himself. Yet I can “desire” the gift of prophecy (1 Corinthians 14:1) and prepare myself as fully as possible for the function by an avid pursuit of God and His person. A God-hungry person soon becomes a God-filled person, then he becomes a God-explaining person. What a joy to be a God-explaining person, one who invitingly says: “Taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8, italics added).
“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9).
Daily with the King 