says:
1 "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, Because the Lord has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn,
3 To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified."
Because we have been born again, the Spirit of God lives within our hearts, and desires to express the love of Christ through us. We have been given the message of freedom in Christ, the hope of the world, who brings healing to the human heart and repairs the broken relationship between fallen humanity and our Heavenly Father. He has come to bring the good news that we can be reconciled to God, and we, in all our brokenness and human frailty, can boldly proclaim His truth.
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We can strive to be dependable in spreading the awareness of Christ, and 2nd Corinthians 2 offers
these words of encouragement:
14 Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.
15 For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.
There is an unusual movement that is occurring in popular music these days - two rappers, both of whom declare their faith in God, are at the top of the Billboard album chart. They are at the top of their game, and can challenge us to proclaim our faith in Christ.
First up, it's Nathan Feuerstein, better known as NF. A FoxNews.com story says that he is 28 years old and "has been compared many times to one of his childhood influences, Eminem, but without the explicit lyrics, according to an interview with NME, a music website."
The Fox story continues:
His latest album, "The Search," which hits heavy on mental health and self-acceptance, scored the biggest sales week for a rap album this year. But his rise has some in the industry confused: How did a white Christian rapper with clean lyrics score a No. 1 spot on the album charts over Chance's long-awaited "The Big Day"?And the article adds:
"I want to thank every single fan who supported me by buying this album," NF wrote in a note on social media. "I put my life into this and to see this much support means a lot to me...thank you to my label for letting me do whatever I want creatively since day one. The fans made this album #1, and I am forever grateful."NF signed to a Christian label in 2014, has collaborated with Toby Mac and Flame, who just won that big copyright lawsuit against Katy Perry, and says this about his music:
"I mean, I’m a Christian, but I’m just an artist...To me it's like if you're a Christian and you're a plumber, are you a Christian plumber?" NF in 2016 told Idolator, a music blog.
He added: "I don’t make music for Christians. I make music for everyone."Obviously, a big part of "everyone" is resonating with his music and message. In a story centered on his previous #1 album, CBNNews.com related:
Labels aside, NF's lyrics routinely share his relationship with God.
In one song he proclaims, "I don't live for the world. I live for the king. I live for the king."
The Michigan native uses his music to open up about the pain in his life, from his parents' divorce to the day his mother died from an overdose.And what's up with Chance the Rapper? Well, ChristianHeadlines.com has a story about him that was recently published. It leads off by saying:
Hip hop artist Chance the Rapper has revealed that his life was completely transformed for the better following his wife’s faith-filled decision to abstain from sex and to get baptized.
The popular Chicago-based rapper opened up about his marriage on an Apple Music podcast, hosted by rapper, Nicki Minaj.The article continues:
In a bid to further demonstrate the transformation, the rapper pointed the host to one of his tracks. "I need you to hear one song on my album that has my best verse that I written in my life," he said. "It's called ‘we go high.’”
“I explain that my wife literally saved my life by becoming celibate and going and getting baptized,” Chance added.He shared, "This is all after Coloring Book, after I proclaimed that I love Jesus, and all that stuff,” adding, "You’re never fully, fully sanctified, so I had to keep figuring it out. I had to do the Grammy’s by myself. I had to do a lot by myself. Then when my girl was gracious enough to have me back, it changed my whole life.”
Chance married wife Kristen Corley in March of this year. They have been dating for some time and have a three-year-old daughter together.
And, Nicki Minaj has had a healthy dose of faith talk on her podcast over the past few weeks. CBNNews.com reports that on that same episode with Chance, she related that Kanye West has admitted to being a "born-again Christian." The story says:
News of West’s alleged faith came from fellow rapper Nicki Minaj, who, while hosting “Queen Radio” on Apple Music, revealed West told her that he turned to God in 2016, when he was hospitalized and ultimately diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
“Sometimes in the music business, we think that other artists don’t believe in God or aren’t spiritual as we are,” she explained. “Then when you find people because I was just with Kanye, and he told me he’s a born-again Christian now.”Kanye has attracted quite a bit of attention for his "Sunday Service" events, an invitation-only event that includes a number of high-profile entertainment types. Recently, A$AP Rocky was in attendance after being released from prison in Sweden, thanks in part to the efforts of Kanye and his wife, Kim Kardashian, lobbying President Trump to work for his release.
So, what do you make of this talk of God in the genre of rap music, which has been characterized by lyrics and culture that are not consistent with the awareness of the Lord? Well, I will say that God is using rap and hip-hop to spread His awareness; and when I consider the interviews with Christian rappers with whom I have spoken, say, at the Dove Awards, I sense a real devotion to Christ and a spiritual depth that is encouraging. With music, no matter what the style, it's the substance that can penetrate hearts; the style perhaps provides a hook.
These instances I have cited are all flashpoints, snapshots, of people who have positions who are choosing to talk about God rather than to reject Him publicly. I admit, you do see many out there who speak of God, yet espouse doctrine and behavior that does not line up with His Word. So, we have to be discerning. But, we can also trust that the Holy Spirit is working in the lives of those who are wanting Him to work through them, who demonstrate a life of surrender, rather than going their own way and attempting to twist the Scriptures to fit their own ideology. We can rejoice that high-profile people are bringing an awareness of God - the Spirit can use that; but we also can recognize the importance of God's Word being communicated with accuracy.
Finally, we can consider how we ourselves are bringing the awareness of God and evaluate if we are proclaiming His truth with compassion. Out of our relationship with Christ, we can produce fruit that shows the world that God is real, Jesus loves them, and He died to save all. What's in our hearts can overflow into our words and deeds and bring that awareness.
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