In his book The New Throne of David, Mr. Gerald Flurry talks a lot about the British royal family—specifically, about how no one wants to be king or queen. He quotes a Newsweek interview where Prince Harry said he “aches to be ‘something other than Prince Harry’”:

“‘Harry’s determination to be ordinary seems reflected in his love life,’ the article says. ‘His girlfriend, Meghan Markle, might be a well-known actress, but she is also a divorcée, a vocal feminist and American, none of which conforms to the stereotype of a royal consort.’”

It has since become clear that Harry chose a woman over his royal calling!

You have an even greater royal calling than Harry! What would cause you to give that up? Are you excited— really on fire—for your royal future?

To be on fire for that future, you have to open your eyes and set your heart on it. That takes effort! But when you do, even ordinary tasks take on extraordinary meaning and purpose. If you are on fire for your royal future, then you will see a trial as a stepping stone rather than an obstacle. Rather than seeing it as a grind you try to endure, you will see it as your training for kingship. You will stop seeing your academics as a hassle and start seeing them as your royal education.

How do you view the opportunities before you? Are they obstacles or stepping stones?

This is not wishful thinking or simply putting a good face on a bad situation. The reality is, all of your experiences are equipping you for your royal future. But to think that way, we all need more fire for our royal reality.

If you want to be a king-priest, study the life of King David. He is an excellent example of a man who used his youth to prepare for royalty!

As a teenager, David had built a good reputation for himself (1 Samuel 16:18). He was a renaissance man, he had courage and strength, he valued his education, he loved music and poetry. This was a king in training!

The Bible records more about David’s life than any other personality aside from Christ. Over 80 of the 150 psalms were written by him personally, and maybe more than that. These psalms show us what his prayer life and meditation were like. We also have advice that he gave his son Solomon as he prepared him to be king. This is advice from possibly the greatest king in history on how to be a king! (For more information, read Ryan Malone’s True Education article “David’s Advice to Future Kings: pcg.church/articles/5771).

When David received his call to greatness, he was a teenager like you. “David had to wait over 17 years from the time Samuel anointed him before he was actually crowned,” writes Mr. Flurry in The Former Prophets: How to Become a King. “That took a lot of patience. David had the right attitude, but he needed more preparation. God made him wait for years. He often works that way with people.”

God put David through a rigorous training process. That’s where you are right now—in the midst of that training.

Read the account of David and Goliath in 1 Samuel 17:20-50. Stretch your imagination and try to get a vivid picture in your mind of what this teenager was like. Imagine one of the campers at S.E.P. doing these things! David was active, alert and alive. He was surrounded by cowards, but notice the way he talked! He said, “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?” (verse 26). Can you imagine a teenager talking like that, with such boldness and faith? The older men saw David’s passion as youthful pride, but God saw it as something He could use. Some people say youth is wasted on the young, but it shouldn’t be. Your youth can be useful. God wants to use it as much as He can!

Saul was worried David would be too young and inexperienced, but David was thoroughly prepared to fight Goliath (verses 33-37). All those years he had spent tending his father’s sheep, he had not been bored with his job. He had been preparing for a life of heroism! Imagine him sitting out there, thinking about predators, honing his slingshot skills, maybe practicing with stones or leaves. He didn’t lazily dawdle around. You can’t take a sheep out of a bear’s or lion’s mouth if you’ve never been thinking about it! He was ready. He had his slingshot and knew what he would do if anything came after his father’s sheep. He was learning how to trust God and put his problems, concerns and fears into God’s hands. He was ready when Goliath came because he had built a strong relationship with God and developed the character of a king.

David used his youth to develop his talents and abilities. He was preparing for his future before it arrived. Here are four tips you can apply to prepare for your royal future today:

1. PREPARE FOR GREATNESS.

Let’s read some lyrics to a song David wrote in Psalm 71:5-6: “For thou art my hope, O Lord God: thou art my trust from my youth. By thee have I been holden up from the womb: thou art he that took me out of my mother’s bowels: my praise shall be continually of thee.”

David was a gutsy teen full of fierce, fighting faith—willing to go bare knuckles against giants for God—because he used his youth! What about you?

Herbert W. Armstrong called the years of 16 to 25 the vitally important years of preparation. You are building lifelong habits. You are living in a window of precious opportunity—don’t squander it! Be active. Conquer your fears. You have more time and energy now than you will later on in life, so travel if you can. I have known teens who found a way to travel internationally by themselves. You have to be a go-getter to make something like that happen!

Read 1 Samuel 17:48-51. Notice how on fire David was when he killed Goliath! He “ran” and “hasted” to defend God. Not only was he a giant-killer, he transformed an army of cowards into an army of giant-killers—and all because of his example as a teenager!

2. EXPAND YOUR THINKING EVERY MOMENT TO PRIORITIZE OTHER PEOPLE.

When she was only 21 years old, Queen Elizabeth ii’s coronation pledge to her empire was “I serve.” In a meeting with S.E.P. staff before the campers arrived, Mr. Stephen Flurry expanded this to “I serve cheerfully” and made that the motto for all the staff at this year’s youth camp.

Unselfish service is one of the hardest things to do. It is hard to prioritize other people. Prince Harry couldn’t do it! He prioritized himself, and he has dragged the royal family through the mud because of his self-obsession.

We have to see the bigger picture beyond ourselves. Obviously, you have to take care of your everyday needs. But throughout your day, you have to get your mind on other people. That is building royal thinking. We all still have a lot to learn about how much sacrifice it takes to really be royal for God!

“David had a lot of love for people,” writes Mr. Flurry in The Former Prophets: “He loved Saul greatly! And Saul wasn’t such a great person at this time; he was having some serious problems. But David loved him. He must have looked upon him the way God did. God loved Saul— He just didn’t like the way Saul ruled, and tried to get him to repent. But David thought like God in this way.

“How about you and me? Do we have a lot of love for God’s people and God’s leaders—in spite of their flaws—as David did? Are you outgoing and loving? Or do you sit back, maybe looking suspicious or having an evil eye toward people? David was full of love and truly loved being around other people.”

When he was on the run from Saul, David attracted a lot of people to him because he had a loving, magnetic personality and he really cared for people. A whole congregation followed him! He genuinely loved people, and they loved him back.

As Mr. Flurry says, “It just isn’t natural to think this way” (ibid). But this is how royalty must think!

At the campout during this year’s S.E.P., the water spigot at the campground was damaged. One of the staff members made it his mission to drive back and forth to town several times a day to get more water to fill everyone’s jugs. Imagine if he had thought, My water bottle is full—they can figure it out themselves. A leader can’t think that way—he has to think about other people.

“And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took an harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him” (1 Samuel 16:23). Mr. Flurry writes about this verse: “God used David to lift Saul’s spirit. There is a lesson here too. Clearly we must learn to control our own emotions and stay positive. But if you’re going to be royalty for God, you must also learn to be encouraging to other people. That’s what a leader does. Are you an encouraging person to be around?

“When we are negative, we can cause other people to become negative and discouraged. There isn’t any reason for God’s people to be discouraged” (ibid).

Get in the habit of asking yourself questions several times a day. How can I make this moment beneficial to the people around me? Am I improving the situation or making things worse? It only takes one person to start complaining to drag everyone else down. Open your eyes and see the people around you! When you walk past someone, look at them and acknowledge them with a smile. When you sit down for a meal, contribute to the conversation and make an effort to involve others who are a little quieter. Little things like that go a long way in lifting up others and getting your mind off yourself.

“Contrast these two kings,” Mr. Flurry continues. “Saul was depressed and discouraged, and he needed somebody to play music just to drive away his negativity. David was the opposite: He used his talents and personality to lift up those around him. He played inspiring music on the harp; he loved Saul, and he was outgoing and uplifting. He was a happy person; he was positive. That’s what God wants you to be.

“Think about this. If you’re going to help Jesus Christ rule in the World Tomorrow, you must be living by these laws. You must be a person who has a positive impact on other people. If you are, you can be a great encouragement to them!”

This is practical advice for God’s royalty. Get that vision in your mind every day, and you’ll begin to recognize those daily interactions as training for your royal future.

3. TOUGHEN UP, BUTTERCUP.

Being able to appreciate fine culture is important, but there is more to God’s royal training than appreciating classical music or knowing which fork to use at Etiquette Night. When Saul became jealous of David and wanted to kill him, David had to live as a fugitive and an outlaw for years. That was a major part of his training! “God worked with David during those years on the run,” writes Mr. Flurry. “It’s interesting that a big part of David’s training for his role as king was running from Saul! … Spiritually, David was being fitted for his calling by learning how to depend on God constantly. He was sorely tested before he became king. God was preparing him to rule!” (ibid).

Let’s look at a psalm David wrote while on the run: “I cry out to the Lord with my voice; With my voice to the Lord I make my supplication. … Look on my right hand and see, For there is no one who acknowledges me; Refuge has failed me; No one cares for my soul. … Attend to my cry, For I am brought very low; Deliver me from my persecutors, For they are stronger than I” (Psalm 142:1, 4, 6; New King James Version). What God put David through before making him king was very difficult. At times, David got exhausted and cried out to God because he had no more strength.

Doesn’t it make sense that training for this awesome future will be hard? Most of what teens do at S.E.P. is hard! You’re active, playing sports, stretching your physical limits. This year you went camping and slept on hard ground. You traversed a river on a rope. That was to show you that you are capable of doing hard things! The limits that you feel when you think you just can’t go any further are almost always mental. Your body is capable. You just need to push yourself harder.

We all need to do more of these types of things to toughen up and prepare for the awesome future God has planned for us. And when you’re overwhelmed, do what David did and cry out to God! Philippians 4:13 says, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”

When you find yourself in the proverbial cave with some challenge overwhelming you, remember that that is the same royal training David went through. Don’t complain about it. Toughen up and realize those difficulties are molding you into a king!

4. SACRIFICE THE ORDINARY TO BECOME EXTRAORDINARY.

Royalty cannot be ordinary. You must constantly make sacrifices and think longterm. If you don’t fix your eyes on your royal future, then you will become like Prince Harry! You will be unwilling to make the sacrifices necessary to inherit what God wants to give you.

The Apostle Paul compared being a true Christian to being an elite athlete, soldier or warrior (1 Corinthians 9:24-27; 2 Timothy 2:1-4). These are jobs that require real sacrifice. A soldier can’t get mixed up in things that make him weak. He can’t be like everyone else. Think about all that Olympic athletes must do to attain that level of mastery and excellence. That never happens on sheer talent alone. They endure a lot of sweat and pain to rise to the top. You can be sure they have to say no to a lot of the luxuries of normal life.

“The words of king Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him. … Give not thy strength unto women, nor thy ways to that which destroyeth kings. It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink: Lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted” (Proverbs 31:1, 3-5). There are things that destroy kings, including wrong relationships; Solomon didn’t follow this advice, and his strength was destroyed by women. Prince Harry didn’t follow that advice. Royals have to be willing to stay away from those things that destroy them.

To deny what looks good in the short run requires the vision to see the long run. Discipline yourself. Keep bringing your life into submission under God’s rule. You have to clearly see that this is the only way to obtain your royal future. You cannot be friends with the world and God at the same time (1 John 2:15). Read 1 Peter 4:4-5. People may make fun of you now because you obey God, but they are not who you need to be most concerned about. You have a far better future ahead of you!

In your day-to-day life, keep this vision of your royal future in mind. Remember the reality that all of your experiences are equipping you for. This is your training time, so go all out! Open your eyes to see how many opportunities God is placing before you on a daily basis, and do everything you can to take advantage of them. Heed this advice for royalty to capture the awesome future waiting for you! 1