At the 59th Grammy Awards held Sunday, February 12, 2017, Chance the Rapper won three Grammys. The Grammy Awards are put on by The Recording Academy to honor outstanding achievement in music recording primarily in the English-speaking world.

Chance the Rapper who recently became a Christian received “Best New Artist,” Best Rap Album” and “Best Rap Performance” at this year’s awards.

He was nominated for seven in total for his recent 14-song album The Coloring Book. Five of the album’s songs have a significant Christian theme that marked the remarkable spiritual transformation that has taken place in the life of Chance the Rapper.

In a radio interview he shared what happened. His grandmother saw him while he was performing on his Acid Rap tour — the name reveals where he was at spiritually — and she began to pray for her grandson.

Chance the Rapper said:

“One day during my Acid Rap tour, my grandmther saw me and began to pray. She said ‘I break off anything in your life that is not God.’ After that, things began to change.”

Since that moment, fans have witnessed a startling transformation taking place in the rapper’s life.

And it was all on display at this year’s Grammys. As Chance the Rapper was accepting his award for Best New Artist, he proclaimed “Glory be to God. I claim this victory in the name of the Lord,”

He was also invited to perform at this year’s Grammys and sang songs off his recent album — all with a strong Christian message — including “Blessing” and “How Great.”

During the performance, Chance the Rapper told the audience “God is better than the world’s best things.” The finale included Kirk Franklin and a full Gospel choir.

Writing for Charisma Magazine, Alexis Maston described how she was caught up in the spiritual explosion taking place during the performance:

“At one point, he exhorted the crowd and told them to stand up for his God because He is worthy to be honored. As tears rushed to my eyes, I began to feel what you feel right before the church altar call. I was overwhelmed by the strong, tangible presence that could be felt through the screen by even the most callous of souls.”

And she was not alone. Others such as famed folk-singer Joni Mitchel stated that the performance impacted them.

Chance the Rapper is unique as he has unabashedly merged secular and sacred together in his music. He is not ashamed of His God or the Gospel and proclaims it boldly asking his fans to join the experience.

Remember it all started with his grandmother who broke things off her grandson that were influencing him in a negative way.

As we read the Gospels we see many instances of Jesus dealing with demons that were afflicting people emotionally, physically and spiritually.

Jesus gave His disciples the same authority to deal with these ungodly spiritual influences.

9 And He called the twelve together, and gave them power and authority over all the demons and to heal diseases. (Luke 9:1 NASV)

It is an authority all of us have today. It is an authority that Chance the Rapper’s grandmother understood and believed.

She prayed with authority and her answered prayer is today impacting hundreds of thousands of people around the world.

It is not enough to just pray, you must believe when you pray.

 

Sources

• How the newest name in Rap turned the Grammys into an all-out Act of worship: Charisma News
• Watch: Chance the Rapper Turn Grammy into a worship service singing “How Great is our God”: Faith it
• Chance the Rapper, Kirk Franklin Performance Turns 2017 Grammys Into Worship Service: Christian Post
• Main image credit: Youtube Capture: The Recording Academy