My calling as a prophet (part I)

Below are some journal entries from my first journal since arriving in Brazil (I am finishing up #5 now) pertaining to things God started to speak to me regarding my calling as a prophet. Perhaps I will post some entries from my later journals later.

19/5/08

I am a prophet

What I have learned about my calling so far since being here:
- God wants me to raise consciousness among His people who are ignorant of the role they play in contributing to oppression (rather than being repulsed/annoyed by them)
- God wants me to use my writing to raise consciousness in the body of Christ, to communicate regarding social issues and suggest roles Christians may play

31/5/08

My mission here is to seek Your Kingdom, to be solidary with the oppressed, to promote conscientização. Help me make the right steps toward fulfilling that, and finding Your specific calling for me.

31/5/08

Ezekiel 3:16-21
If I do not warn people with God’s message, to make them conscious of their wrongdoing, they will continue in sin, but if they had heard, the righteous would have responded and been cleansed from their sin. The weight is on me if I do not communicate the message. It is not for me to worry about how they respond, because the righteous will take heed. I am just the messenger, and my job is to speak the message God gives me, to point out wrongdoing and injustice so people are aware.

9/6/08

What I have learned so far regarding my gifts and calling:
- Writing – gift
o Can be used to raise consciousness, to fundraise, to spread ideas, be a voice for those who don’t have it – autora comprometida
- Calling – prophet
o Voice of those who are oppressed (portavoz)
o Raise consciousness among those who are ignorant of issues pertaining to poverty
- Listener, collector of stories, mobilizer
- Not one actually doing the work, but observing it, analyzing it, and communicating to others why it needs to be done.
- Looking for answers to questions regarding the roots of poverty – the best place to be is with the poor so I can learn their stories and begin to gain an understanding of their situation before seeking a way to improve it.
- I am not their savior, but I can fight at their side, and I must be at their side to fight at it

God, I thank you that You are putting faces on poverty and oppression, that my lofty ideals are being grounded into reality, that I am beginning to learn the practical side of things so that theory may be put into action.

Problem: training = theory with little action
practice = action with little theory
Practice needs more time for theory and training needs more time for action?

17/6/08

The oppressed have been deprived of their voices. Perhaps I can help their voices be heard as a portavoz because I can listen to their stories and share them with whatever audience I can gather through my writing.
- Through telling individual stories, I can help raise consciousness, help people see oppressed as individuals.
- Goal of email update is to help people see oppressed as individuals.

23/6/08

God,
The more I seek Your will for me, the more You speak to me and reveal to me, the more responsibility I have to obey. There is no use in hearing You if I don’t obey. I want to be a doer of Your will and not just a hearer. So as You speak to me while I am here, as I know You will, I ask that You would also be working in me and strengthening me and preparing me so that I am ready to obey when You ask me.