During my high school days, we had this lady (let’s call her Emily) who, in her own way, tried to prepare us for life after school. Every time she was allowed to speak, she would tell us to start preparing for the future that we want to see. According to Emily, this meant, walking, dressing, and speaking like our future selves. It didn’t help much that we were in boarding school and didn’t have access to anything better than the uniform and pajamas. How do you transform pajamas into a suit fit for a corporate powerhouse? None of us had Cinderella’s fairy godmother. Emily often encouraged us to confess our dreams to ourselves and others because “you become what you believe.” Yet, despite her enthusiasm, none of us became Bill Gates or Dangote overnight. We also never saw her transform into Viola Davis. We admired her faith and her positivity, but we never took it to heart.
Now that the naivety of high school has worn off, I can see and appreciate what she tried to instill in us. There is a reason why the story of creation starts with God speaking. Words have power; they influence our thoughts and even our actions. God spoke and the world came into being. From a biological standpoint, the offspring of a lion is still a lion. A cub’s roar may not scare the wits out of you but do not mistake it for weakness or insignificance. If we are God’s children, then our words have power. If our words have power, we do not speak senselessly. But we speak of things we want to see. We speak the truth of what God says about us. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.
The Redeemed of the Lord
Psalm 107:2 NKJV
Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy.
What does to redeem mean?
Redeem is defined as making amends, repurchasing something, or to free from captivity by making a payment.
When we say that we are redeemed of the Lord, then that means that Christ freed us from the captivity of sin and destruction, and He paid for our redemption with His own life.
If you found yourself struggling to pay off a debt so big that if you can’t pay it you might end up in jail, then someone came and paid the whole thing for you, would you keep silent? Or would you be jumping up and down, shouting because you are finally free? That is why the word of God is telling the redeemed of the Lord to say so. By giving His life on the cross, Christ redeemed us from sin, diseases, fear, and all manner of addictions. If He has set you free from anything, then your response is to speak out!
One of our major weapons of warfare is the word of God. The word of God allows us to create our reality. The word of God as a weapon of warfare allows us to bring our thoughts and everything about us in obedience to Christ. There are times when you do not even need to pray. What you need to do is decree a thing; to say so! If you have been feeling weak, the word of God gives you an antidote to this problem; let the weak say I am strong.
Mark 11:23-24 NKJV
“Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
Just as God used words to establish the earth, so can we establish realities in our world using words. However, if you speak, you need to do it without doubt in your heart. Do you believe that you have been set free from addictions because the word of God says so? Then you need to say it without a doubt. So when you are sick, then you remember the word of God, “By His stripes, we are healed” and declare that you are healed, what you have done is not just utter words but create a reality called healing.
The prayer of agreement
This is one of the most powerful prayers that you can ever make. The prayer of agreement is basically agreeing with what God has said. This means agreeing that you are blessed, delivered, fruitful, and all the other words that God has said concerning you even though at the moment your life looks nothing like it.
Agreeing with the word of God
Psalm 103:20 NIV
Praise the Lord, you his angels,
you mighty ones who do his bidding,
who obey his word.
Do you know that as long as you are a believer, there are angels assigned to you? Angels are ministering spirits who are assigned to perform the word that you speak. Let’s reflect a bit, with this information in mind, do you think your angels are extremely busy? Or they have just been idle since your words just can’t seem to agree with what God says about you?
Are you the redeemed of the Lord?
Do you know why “read your bible, pray every day” should not just be a Sunday school hymn but should become your daily life? It is in searching the scriptures that you get to understand what the Lord has redeemed you from. It is by speaking that you now make it your reality. But if you never go through your bible, you may never get to enjoy some of the things that God has for you. It is by going through the word of God that you learn “when there is a casting down, there is a lifting up.”
Matthew 7:7-8 NIV
Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
So, my dear reader, comb the scriptures and as you do, the Lord shall show you great and mighty things that you have not known before. As He shows you these things, speak them into being.
Being the redeemed of the Lord means that Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, the consequences of sin, and from every tribe. But He didn’t just take us out of something horrible. He also ushered us into a new reality. A reality that has these benefits:
Psalm 103:1-5 NIV
Praise the Lord, my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Praise the Lord, my soul,
and forget not all his benefits—
who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
Who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
From darkness into light
1 Peter 2:9 NKJV
But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
The good thing with God is that He does not just save you from the enemy, but He also ushers you into a new life. If someone paid off your debt, you would be very grateful. However, if they left you as you were, with no source of income or anything, then chances are before long, you will end up in debt again and this time round, it might be worse than before. But Jesus is not like that. He called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. This means that if you have been living in darkness, struggling with addictions, sorrow, and shame, He not only takes you out of this, but He brings you into something much more wonderful.
The intertwining of salvation and healing through the work of redemption
When you go through the scriptures, you will understand that healing goes hand in hand with salvation. This means that on that cross when all our sins were forgiven, healing was also achieved for us.
Matthew 4:23 NIV
Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.
As a believer, you are conscious of the forgiveness of sins, right? If someone asks you, you can provide evidence that your sins have been forgiven; that at the cross, Jesus declared, “It is finished.” However, are you also conscious of the fact that at the cross, Jesus also obtained your healing?
Matthew 8:17 NKJV
that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: “He Himself took our infirmities And bore our sicknesses.”
Jesus “took” our infirmities.
As a child, my brothers and I attended a school that was quite a distance from our home. This meant that to get to school before 8 am, I had to be up by at least 5:30 am. We were living in a remote area which means school buses were a strange concept for us. One day I got late and found my fellow latecomers already kneeling near the gate, waiting for their punishment. One of my brothers, who had gotten to school quite early saw me and came to the teacher on duty, asking if he could receive the punishment on my behalf. Now, I didn’t like the fact that he got caned, but I very much liked the idea of not being beaten up!
Now imagine if after my brother took my punishment, I still went to the teacher and asked him for my punishment. That would have been extremely stupid, right? Yet we do it time and time again. Jesus bore our sicknesses so that we do not have to. He did not just redeem us from sin, He also redeemed us from our sicknesses. It is just wrong for us to bear something that Jesus already took for us.
Mark 2:9-11
Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic— “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.”
The first thing that Jesus said to the paralytic man is not you are healed, but that you are forgiven. This simply means that the minute you embrace salvation, you automatically receive God’s healing as well.
Galatians 3:13-14 TPT
Child of God, Christ dissolved the curse so that we can now enjoy the blessings of Abraham. Remember those blessings? I will bless those who bless you…I will make you a great nation…people will be blessed through you…
By faith, we are Abraham’s descendants and partakers of his blessings. And you know what is even more amazing?
Jeremiah 33:20 NKJV
“Thus says the LORD: ‘If you can break My covenant with the day and My covenant with the night so that there will not be day and night in their season, then My covenant may also be broken with David My servant,
God is very intentional in keeping His covenant with His people. This means that if you are the redeemed of the Lord, then you have been set free from sin, sickness, destruction, and poverty. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so! Shall we say so?
“Thank you, Master Jesus, for You have called us the redeemed of the Lord. In obedience to your word, we declare that we are redeemed by the Lord. We have been set free. Free from sin, free from infirmities. As the redeemed of the Lord, I declare that I am God’s chosen people. I am God’s special possession. I have been crowned with your loving kindness. I am an heir of the kingdom. I am extremely fruitful. And as I take my position as the redeemed of the Lord, let this truth come as light shattering every darkness.
In the name of Jesus. Amen”
Let the redeemed of the Lord say so!