I’ve encountered many people today who are eager to claim the title of prophet. Yet when I listen closely, I’m often unsure whether what they’re pursuing actually follows the scriptural pattern.

You see, there’s nothing glamorous about being a prophet according to the Bible.

It is a calling marked by pain, isolation, endurance, and persecution.

I once preached in Ghana, in Africa, to an audience of about 3,000 people — mostly young men. I was teaching on the ministries within the Body of Christ: apostles, prophets, and evangelists. The atmosphere was wonderful.

After spending quite some time teaching on the ministry of the apostle, I paused and asked, “How many of you would like to be apostles?”

Hands went up everywhere.

I said, “Wait just a moment. Before you apply, let me read you the job description.”

Turning to 1 Corinthians 4 — and I particularly like how vivid it is in the NIV — I began at verse 8, speaking to the Corinthian believers:

“Already you have all you want. Already you have become rich. You have become kings—and that without us!”

Paul goes on to say something very revealing:

“It seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like men condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe—to angels as well as to men.”

Listen carefully to the contrast:

“We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ.
We are weak, but you are strong.
You are honored, we are dishonored.”

Paul continues:

“To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless. When we are persecuted, we endure it. When we are slandered, we answer kindly. Up to this moment, we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world.”

That, my friends, is the New Testament description of apostolic—and prophetic—ministry.

If you want to understand the prophetic calling even more clearly, look at Hebrews 11, near the end of the chapter:

“They were stoned; they were sawn in two—that was Isaiah. They were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated. The world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.”

So I ask again: how many want to be prophets?

What’s required?

Endurance.

The Bible confirms this again in James 5:10:

“My brethren, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord as an example of suffering and patience.”

Not glamour.
Not applause.
But suffering and patience.

James goes on:

“Indeed, we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord—that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.”

If you trace these passages carefully, you’ll see a consistent theme:

Patience.
Perseverance.
Endurance.

That is the pattern for the people of God—especially for those preparing for the return of the Lord.

Sj