The Forerunner's Calling

The bible has a lot of stories to share about being a forerunner. It speaks about God doing something for his people through someone, in every generation, even in the hardest of time.

God is still in the business of doing stuff through his people even today. The reality of God moving through our circumstances speaks of who he is in our lives and even in the course of our history. But you see, God also gives special tasks to people. 

I’d like to call these people “forerunners” which basically means:

fore·run·ner  (noun)

A person (or thing) that precedes the coming or development of someone or something else.

In the context of my topic, it simply means that we are a people called by God to run ahead and pave the way. This is for the fulfillment of something God intends to accomplish through our lifetime.

In this simple endeavor, I’d like to share to you briefly what I believe Forerunners should be and how we can take part of this move of God. I’ll be venturing on four important lessons I learned which will help us understand that we are called to be a forerunner and that we are to:

       

• Run ahead from the rest, to set the pace of the journey
• Have a clear-cut vision of what God wants to accomplish
• Set ourselves apart for His GLORY!
• Persevere to do God’s work
• Make a distinct sound

My prayer is that God will open your eyes to the reality of a higher purpose. He intends to do something big in and through you, and if you say “yes” to him, He can make everything beautiful in his time.

Our God is up to something…

It was through an exposition ten years ago that I learned a song that has this line –

“Our God is up to something, He’s always up to something…He has a mighty purpose, He has a master plan…”

Ever since I heard that song, I kept on wondering what could be a possible plan for someone like me to accomplish. My life was a mess and it was pretty obvious that there were certain things in my life that I needed to give up.

But what makes it different to the biblical examples we call “heroes” nowadays? Trying to figure out what happened can be a gruesome experience but simple as it is, God can turn our situations around for the completion of his plans for us.

Try to look at these people as vivid examples:

Abraham – God called him out of Ur to become the Father of many nations. He was without an heir for almost 50 years and then the promise of Jehovah was fulfilled in an unusual way, bearing the name Abraham as the “father to may nations”.

Joseph – He was rejected, enslaved, imprisoned at an early age. He was desired by the wife of his master who led him to imprisonment. Although he had a lot to endure, God brought favor in his life and later became the governor of Egypt, the 2^nd highest authority in the ancient world.

Daniel – was an alien, enslaved and became the leader of all the wise men in Persia. He was young but full of wisdom. He was not afraid of opposition and God blessed him with wisdom and favor of four kings who ruled over him.

Esther – became the queen at a time of great distress for the Jewish people. She was an orphan raised by her uncle, Mordecai. Although raised in captivity, Esther has her people at heart and did everything to save her people from destruction.

David – was a shepherd who became a famous King. He probably was famous because of his psalms but he was also a warrior, a strategist and probably the most humble King that he was called “a man after God’s own heart.” 

The Disciples – who turned the world upside down with the message of the gospel. They were a bunch of fishermen, a doctor, a tax collector and among other things. Jesus was able to disciple them that they were able to disciple others.

Join Me In This Journey!

I could name another bunch of biblical and non-biblical examples of which God has used through the years but I intend not to. Simple as it is, I believe that God has purposely allowed you to read this, because just like me, you believe God is up to something good in your journey.

I'd like you to join me as we uncover and learn how God can use us to advance his kingdom, to become a forerunner, a hall of faith famer or whatever you may want to call it. My prayer is that we will be able to convince you that God is up to something, and it will always be for your good.

Be blessed!

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How Prophetic Worship Can Shape a Nation - Ana Paula Valadao

Worship will always be part of the prophetic or any movement for that matter. Its a rich variety of intimate expression of our love for the Father through Jesus Christ. 

Just imagine church without songs on it, wouldn't it feel weird of not having anything before the sermon? or a time of ministering with only prayers at the background? 

Check out this nice rendition of the author's rendition of Isaiah 40:

How we worship in church determines how we affect the community we live in. I'd like to share this interesting article on how prophetic worship affected the church's growth in Brazil below. Regardless of cultural diversity, geographical location and distinctiveness in the way we do things, I believe that God has something in store for us through this article.

How Prophetic Worship Can Shape a Nation

BY: ANA PAULA VALADÃO

Brazil’s evangelical church has grown more in the past 16 years than at any other time, and worship has been key to that growth because we understand that our worship clears the heavens. Prophetic worship is a distinct characteristic of Brazilian worship. We not only sing worship songs to God, but we also sing our prayers—especially prayers for the healing of our nation.

We have many native songs in which we cry out for the healing and restoration of our families, our government, our economy—and these songs often have preceded a move of God, as they’ve literally broken open the heavenly realm.

Since 2001 we’ve held large gatherings across the country to worship and pray for our nation, just as we’ve seen the Holy Spirit do with similar movements around the world. It’s nothing that one person is organizing. In the U.S. there’s been TheCall and similar events; ours began in 2001, and since then we’ve seen Christians gather to worship and pray in public arenas. 

Virtually every major city’s soccer stadium has held gatherings—which says a lot in Brazil, where soccer rules! Our largest gathering to date was in 2003 in São Paulo, the nation’s largest city, and drew 2 million people. Last year we were in Manaus, the capital of the Amazonas state. Though Manaus is much smaller than São Paulo, with about 2 million inhabitants, out of those 2 million, more than 800,000 people showed up—almost half the city!

I believe that as we’ve cleared the heavens for much of our nation with our prophetic praise and worship, people have been saved. We give altar calls in our local churches in every service and see hundreds of people come to Jesus every day in every service. We have altar calls at weddings and altar calls at birthday parties. We have small groups meeting on college campuses, in schools—everywhere, we have people evangelizing. 

Brazilians’ hearts are open to the gospel more than ever. They’re open to break traditions that have bound them to nominal Christianity, and they’re coming to a new birth in Christ, both evangelicals and Catholics. They are also breaking the traditions of witchcraft, which is still strong in Brazil, and Brazilians are stepping forward to receive Jesus as their Savior.

Brazil is naturally a musical country. It blends different cultures, different styles, and our music reflects that. Though worship is much more than music, music is an instrument for our worship expression. And that’s why I believe worship has been such a key part of this revival. But it’s not just casual worship; it’s strategic, prophetic worship. We’ve been strategic with where we’ve held these worship and prayer gatherings.

Brazil is also known for its many national festivals, such as Carnival, and at their core these are worship festivals. They involve men seeking worship, but what we’ve seen is that God is redeeming our gift of worship so we can turn that expression back to Him. In fact, one of the strategies God gave our ministry was to go to these festival sites and gather God’s people. Wherever there’s a pilgrimage festival, we worship Jesus there. Wherever there’s a dancing festival or parade like Carnival, we celebrate the Lord there. Even soccer can be an idol that Brazilians worship. So we’re going to every soccer stadium and transforming it, redeeming it and declaring that everything in the earth is the Lord’s. Because of this, we believe everything will be converted to true worship of God.

Out of this worship movement we’ve seen incredible unity among believers. These open-air gatherings bring together worship leaders, pastors and believers from every church group and denomination. Many of these pastors come from regions where church growth is challenging, so to help them we have prophetic gatherings where we specifically pray for those areas. We use Scriptures such as in Daniel where we ask God for the forgiveness of the fathers, and we identify the spiritual curses behind the corruption and poverty in many of these regions. We expose hidden sins. Though those leaders may have different doctrines, the meetings bring them together like never before with a focus on the Bible and a common cry in intercessory prayer.

God is obviously moving, and it’s increasing. In the process, He’s giving us more wisdom, as believers—particularly worship leaders—enter the secular media like never before. Secular shows now regularly include Christian worship leaders and artists—singing worship songs, mind you—and we’re doing concerts in very popular settings. From television to newspapers to radio, everybody is talking about us and looking at us. It’s a privilege, yes, but also a big responsibility, which is why it’s been so important for these worship leaders to remain committed to our local church with a community that keeps us humbled and grounded. 

But as our culture is engaged in spiritual warfare—for example, we’re currently battling legislation involving same-sex marriage—worship leaders are a voice to reinforce biblical principles. With so many people listening to us and watching us, even people struggling with homosexuality, our worship is a vital link to teach the truth and expose darkness. That’s why our songs reinforce biblical principles about family, the value of life and other key issues. Our worship is intercession for a nation. We believe it’s the key to keep us from a corrupted religion. Worship is leading the way in the declaration.

The Author:

An award-winning worship artist, Ana Paula Valadão is the founder of the music ministry Diante do Trono (Before the Throne). She has recorded multiple worship CDs in Portuguese and English, serves as a worship pastor at Lagoinha Baptist Church in Belo Horizonte and has led millions in worship throughout the world.

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