I’ve been sitting here writing and reading- trying to determine 
what it is I am supposed to share with you. I was going to share Psalm 107:2 with you today. However, as I read the whole chapter, I decided I couldn’t just share one scripture. Therefore the whole chapter is listed below.
This passage of scripture reminds me of the situations of life that we find ourselves in for whatever reason. However, it also reminds me of how God redeemed us. I forget sometimes that I have actually been redeemed. When you forget you have been redeemed, you allow yourself to stay in negative, unhealthy and unproductive situations much longer than you need to. Psalm 107:2 tells us ”Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.” We should consistantly announce that we are the redeemed, Who redeemed us, what we were redeemed from, and what we have because of that redemption.
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, redeem means: to buy back, to get or win back; to free from what distresses or harm: as to free from captivity by payment of ransom; to extricate from or help to overcome something detrimental; to release from blame or debt; to free or clear from the consequences of sin; to reform: to change for the better; repair, restore; to free from a lien by payment of an amount secured; fulfill; to atone for, to offset the bad effect of; expiate, retrieve, rescue.
The death and resurrection of the Christ, and my accepting Him, redeemed me from the curse of the law. I am not only an heir of the old Abrahamic covenant, but I am an heir to better promises because of Christ. However, I must access those promises by my faith and by speaking them out of my mouth. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so! I am redeemed from poverty and I say so! I am redeemed from the distresses and choas in my life and I say so! I am redeemed from sin and I say so! I am redeemed from my past and the foolish and stupid stuff that I did and I say so! I am redeemed from sickness and I say so. God has released me to a peaceful life and I say so! I have been given an abundant life and I say so! I am prosperous spiritually, emotionally, financially, physically, socially- nothing lacking, nothing broken, and I say so!
Oh, I wish you could hear me scream!! I sometimes forget to declare what God has done in my life! I sometimes forget to decree the blessings of God over my life! I sometimes forget what I have been redeemed from! I have allowed myself to sit in prisoned places sometimes when I didn’t have to. I have stayed in despair sometimes when I didn’t have to. I’ve allowed other people from time to time to dictate my future to me when I didn’t have to! No more! No more! Lord help me to stay reminded of who You are, what You’ve done and what You’ve given! Help me to declare it every day! I am redeemed and I say so!
I want to challenge you redeemed folks to stay reminded of what you have been redeemed from and what you now have because of the love of God. Saturate yourself in the Word of God so you’ll know the love and promises of God. He gave everything for us! Talk about it! Write about it! Sing about it! Praise God for it! “Oh, that men would praise Him!” Don’t stay silent. Expect the goodness of God, the promises of God, the favor of God, the peace of God, the Word of God and the hand of God to be evident in your lives TODAY! I challenged you to get out of the prison that God has set you free from. I challenge you to talk like the redeemed person that you are! I challenge you to walk redeemed! Are you up for the challenge? I know that you are!
Stay encouraged and stay in God’s presence!
Wendy M. Reynolds
Psalm 107
BOOK FIVE
1O GIVE thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever!
2Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He has delivered from the hand of the adversary,
3And gathered them out of the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the [Red] Sea in the south.
4Some wandered in the wilderness in a solitary desert track; they found no city for habitation.
5Hungry and thirsty, they fainted; their lives were near to being extinguished.
6Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them out of their distresses.
7He led them forth by the straight and right way, that they might go to a city where they could establish their homes.
8Oh, that men would praise [and confess to] the Lord for His goodness and loving-kindness and His wonderful works to the children of men!
9For He satisfies the longing soul and fills the hungry soul with good.
10Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and in irons,
11Because they had rebelled against the words of God and spurned the counsel of the Most High.
12Therefore He bowed down their hearts with hard labor; they stumbled and fell down, and there was none to help.
13Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses.
14He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death and broke apart the bonds that held them.
15Oh, that men would praise [and confess to] the Lord for His goodness and loving-kindness and His wonderful works to the children of men!
16For He has broken the gates of bronze and cut the bars of iron apart.
17Some are fools [made ill] because of the way of their transgressions and are afflicted because of their iniquities.
18They loathe every kind of food, and they draw near to the gates of death.
19Then they cry to the Lord in their trouble, and He delivers them out of their distresses.
20He sends forth His word and heals them and rescues them from the pit and destruction.
21Oh, that men would praise [and confess to] the Lord for His goodness and loving-kindness and His wonderful works to the children of men!
22And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving and rehearse His deeds with shouts of joy and singing!
23Some go down to the sea and travel over it in ships to do business in great waters;
24These see the works of the Lord and His wonders in the deep.
25For He commands and raises up the stormy wind, which lifts up the waves of the sea.
26[Those aboard] mount up to the heavens, they go down again to the deeps; their courage melts away because of their plight.
27They reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken man and are at their wits’ end [all their wisdom has come to nothing].
28Then they cry to the Lord in their trouble, and He brings them out of their distresses.
29He hushes the storm to a calm and to a gentle whisper, so that the waves of the sea are still.
30Then the men are glad because of the calm, and He brings them to their desired haven.
31Oh, that men would praise [and confess to] the Lord for His goodness and loving-kindness and His wonderful works to the children of men!
32Let them exalt Him also in the congregation of the people and praise Him in the company of the elders.
33He turns rivers into a wilderness, water springs into a thirsty ground,
34A fruitful land into a barren, salt waste, because of the wickedness of those who dwell in it.
35He turns a wilderness into a pool of water and a dry ground into water springs;
36And there He makes the hungry to dwell, that they may prepare a city for habitation,
37And sow fields, and plant vineyards which yield fruits of increase.
38He blesses them also, so that they are multiplied greatly, and allows not their cattle to decrease.
39When they are diminished and bowed down through oppression, trouble, and sorrow,
40He pours contempt upon princes and causes them to wander in waste places where there is no road.
41Yet He raises the poor and needy from affliction and makes their families like a flock.
42The upright shall see it and be glad, but all iniquity shall shut its mouth.
43Whoso is wise [if there be any truly wise] will observe and heed these things; and they will diligently consider the mercy and loving-kindness of the Lord.
As I was writing a book review for Judith Couchman’s “The 
Mystery of the Cross,” on our Book Review page here on Higher Heights, I just had to take a moment to reflect on who Christ is to me, and what Christ did for me! I know He loves everyone but some days you just have to make it personal. Without Christ, I am nothing. I shiver to think about where I would be without Him. I am amazed to think about where I am in my life because of Him!
