No One Took Him — He Laid It Down

“You will not fear the terror of the night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.
A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
You will only look with your eyes
and see the recompense of the wicked.”
— Psalm 91:5–8 (ESV)

I wasn’t even planning to study.

I was tired.
Frustrated, honestly.
Two scrolls had gone sideways and I almost called it a night.

But I opened a devotional in the Bible app, just to read something before bed.
It brought me to Psalm 91.

I read the promises—protection, deliverance, judgment on the wicked.
But then my mind wandered to something I couldn’t shake.

I remembered a face.
A pastor.
Faithful. Bold.
Killed while sharing the gospel.
His picture had been all over Facebook.

And my heart asked—quietly, but honestly:
“Wasn’t he protected too?”

That’s when this Scripture came to me:

“No one takes My life from Me. I lay it down of My own accord.”
— John 10:18

And everything shifted.

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They didn’t take him.
He laid it down.

Just like Jesus did.
Willingly. Boldly. For a greater crown.

Psalm 91 still stands.
God never broke His Word.
That pastor wasn’t outside His protection—
he was right in the center of it.

He didn’t die as a victim.
He died as a witness.

And when judgment falls,
when the wicked are repaid—

He’ll see it with his own eyes.

Because death didn’t end the story.
It passed the torch.

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✨ The Bride’s Posture

Not trembling.
Not hiding.
Not asking, “What if I die?”
But declaring—“If I do… I laid it down for Him.”

That’s not weakness.
That’s not loss.
That’s unshakable strength.

“Whoever would save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”
— Matthew 16:25

The world thinks survival is power.
But the Christian life says:
Surrender is victory.

Not because we want to die—
but because we already did.

We’re crucified with Christ.
So if they threaten us with death, we don’t flinch.

“Go ahead. I laid it down already.”

And when you live like that—when your life is not your own—
you become untouchable.

Not because bullets won’t hit…
But because death has no sting.

That’s not just courage.
That’s identity.

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