Unlocked: Daily Devotions for Teens

READ: ISAIAH 55:1; LUKE 5:29-32; COLOSSIANS 3:12-15 "Why is there an empty seat?” Banji asked after swallowing a warm bite of soup. “Is someone else joining us?” Banji, Laz, and Sera enjoyed the food laid out in front of them on the mysterious table in the middle of the darkness. The man’s light still encircled them, and it even softened the sounds of the battle beyond. But Banji was right; there...

READ: PSALMS 23:1-6; 46:8-11; ISAIAH 25:6; LAMENTATIONS 3:24-26 This darkness wasn’t just pitch black like the night or chilled like a cave deep within the terrain, no, it was consuming, alive, and predatory. It crept up on Laz, Banji, and Sera as they huddled close, petrified they’d lose each other in whatever this chasmic place was. Their swords were gone, and they’d been stripped of their armor...

READ: ROMANS 8:26-30; HEBREWS 13:20-21; JAMES 1:2-8 "I don’t know, Lord,” I said. This was two weeks ago. I was sitting in my car before worship practice. For the last two years, I have been following the Lord on a wild journey. I switched churches to lead a youth group. It has been an amazing ride, but recently I’ve been feeling discouraged. I’ve been missing going to church with my parents. I’ve...

READ: GENESIS 3; ROMANS 8:19-39; GALATIANS 3:13-14 I love trees. They’re strong, and beautiful, and their shade feels great on a hot day. The real reason I like them so much, though, has nothing to do with their physical characteristics. I love trees because they remind me of God’s redemption. How do they do that? Well, to explain we have to go back to the very beginning. When God created the worl...

READ: 2 TIMOTHY 3:14-17 I just started a Bible-reading plan that encouraged me— encouraged me—to skim through the chapters that I was going to be reading. This plan lists so many chapters to read per day that it suggests you simply fly through them, get the main idea of the passage, and then move on. That is very different from the way I usually read my Bible—and the way I’ve heard I “should” read...

READ: DANIEL 6:16-23; MATTHEW 19:26; ROMANS 1:20; 1 PETER 1:3-5 The sky at night is one of the most amazing sights in the world. Thousands of stars hang against a dark sky, with the moon lighting up the earth on a clear night. In a word, it’s beautiful. But have you ever thought about how difficult it would be for a human to recreate that? We don’t know how to hang one star, let alone thousands. W...

READ: MATTHEW 5:21-22; JAMES 2:10; ROMANS 3:23-24 Every year in the college basketball tournament called March Madness, four sets of teams, numbered one to sixteen, are assigned to play each other. In each of the first sets, number 16 plays number 1, number 15 plays number 2, etc. It seems each game should be easy to predict. Just pick the better ranked team. But watching a lower-ranked team beat...

READ: PSALM 33:6-15; HEBREWS 13:8   Rain was in the forecast again today, But there’s none falling, only clouds. The weather never seems to be What we’re expecting, what is said to be coming.   She told me that we’d get together, Then she canceled at the last minute. Plans never seem to work out How I’m expecting, how I think they will.   I saved my money, ready for this, But the price is too high...

READ: JAMES 5:13-20; 1 JOHN 5:13-15 As a freshman student attending college in the hub of Nashville, Tennessee, I took it upon myself to explore the best coffee stops in the area. One afternoon I happened to visit a small, rustic coffee shop run by a local church. Upon entering, the first thing that caught my attention was a large bulletin board that stretched along one side of the seating area. T...

READ: MARK 10:13-16 Even though I would be one among a crowd of thousands, I was completely confident I could meet the President of the United States of America. As a child, I joined one of my classes in visiting a political rally. We drove a couple of hours to hear the current president speak as he campaigned for a second term. On the way to be dropped off for the field trip, I announced to my mo...

READ: ESTHER 4:1-17; 1 CORINTHIANS 15:57 In the book of Esther, a young Jewish orphan named Esther is living in captivity in Persia, being raised by her older cousin, Mordecai. Esther is most likely a teenager when she becomes the wife of a powerful Persian king. She keeps her true identity a secret until Mordecai learns of a horrible plot to destroy the Jewish people: a high-ranking official name...

READ: ROMANS 8:16-17, 28-39; EPHESIANS 2:1-10; 1 PETER 5:8-11 I can’t do this. I’m worthless. I’m a failure. I’ll never be enough. Sometimes our minds can be our own worst enemy, telling us things that we know deep down aren’t true, yet we can’t help but believe them anyway. We may know the truth of what God says about us in our hearts, but the whispers keep coming back, drawing us in and tearing...

READ: MATTHEW 6:31-34; 22:37-39; 28:18-20; 1 PETER 4:8-11 When I was in my final year of high school, I dreaded the moment when people asked me, “Do you know what you want to do?” It felt like something was wrong with me when I replied, “I don’t know.” There were so many different paths I could take—how could I ever figure out what God was calling me to? I wanted to serve the Lord but had no clue...

READ: ROMANS 10:14-15; EPHESIANS 2:10; 2 TIMOTHY 4:2 In the year 1838, near Gainesville, Alabama, a girl named Maria Fearing was born into slavery. While she was still a kid, she heard her white master talking about the children in Africa who had never heard the gospel. This fact stuck in Maria’s mind for the rest of her life, and impacting the lives of children for God’s glory became her calling....

READ: PSALM 9:9-10; JOHN 14:16-21; ROMANS 5:5-8; 8:16, 35-39 One morning, I rushed into my parents’ room to say, “Good morning.” Mom removed her wedding ring and shoved it to the bottom of her jewelry box. “Mommy, where’s Daddy?” “He’s not coming back,” she said. I returned to my room and wept in my closet. The number of times I saw him after that, I could count on my fingers. Abandoned. I felt ut...

READ: EPHESIANS 2:4-9; 3:12-21 One of the things that bothered me about God while I was growing up was that I thought He just loved me because He had to. I learned that God loved the whole world (John 3:16), but I didn’t think He really loved me personally. I thought He just loved me because I was part of “the world.” And honestly, I thought the main reason God saved me was so that He could save o...

READ: PSALMS 103:1-22; 139:7-12; JOHN 14:16-18 Have you ever heard someone say, “I really feel the Lord’s presence?” I hear this most often after or during a worship service. Whether it be a church service, youth group, or some other event, I’ve heard many people say they feel closest to God when worshipping through music. Maybe you agree with them, and during worship songs you find yourself throw...

READ: JOHN 8:32; EPHESIANS 6:10-20 I participate in a unique physical therapy program for a spine condition I have. Before getting into a swimming pool, I snap on a wide, thick flotation belt, which makes my body very buoyant. With this big blue belt around my midsection, I go to the deep end and stay upright. In that position, I can do all sorts of exercises to help my spine condition improve. An...

READ: PSALMS 40:1-3; 119:1-16; 1 JOHN 1:8–2:2 Tanisha stepped off her lander onto the strange planet. The ground was soft, almost gelatinous. Odd formations surrounded her. But when she took a step toward one, her navigator—programmed by the king himself to guide her on her mission—beeped insistently. Glancing at it, she saw it was directing her the opposite way. It was no big deal if she explored...

READ: LEVITICUS 19:4; JOHN 4:1-26; 1 CORINTHIANS 10:14 When things get tough, my instinct is to run—run to everything else and away from what is causing me pain and stress. I run to overworking. I run to comfort. I run away from staying connected with others. We all have vices we turn to when things get tough. It’s easy to go to things like overwork, exercise, screen time, food, shopping, or busyn...

READ: ZECHARIAH 13:7-9; 1 PETER 1:3-25 The image of fire appears many times in the Bible. For example, in Exodus 13, God comes as a guiding pillar of fire to the Israelites. And in 1 Kings 18, He uses fire to show His power and legitimacy against the false god Baal. But another type of fire mentioned in the Bible is a refining fire. When metals are heated in a refining fire, this process removes i...

READ: PSALM 103; ISAIAH 1:18 Egg-eaters are one of a chicken keeper’s worst nightmares. Nothing can ruin your day faster than when you head out to the henhouse, only to discover your hens have smashed their freshly laid eggs, leaving you with nothing but a sticky, eggy mess to clean up. I found myself in that situation several years ago. My flock had started eating eggs, and while I was able to br...

READ: JUDGES 3:12-30; 1 CORINTHIANS 1:18-31; 2 CORINTHIANS 12:6-10 In a world that prized normal, I was abnormal. A left-hander in a world of righties. For me, being left-handed meant not learning archery because there were no left-handed bows. Not being able to use most scissors. Being left-handed made me feel like the villain rather than the hero. Then I read Ehud’s story. Ehud lived in a nation...

READ: EXODUS 13:21-22; 40:34-38; DEUTERONOMY 1:33; PSALM 73:25-27 Have you ever been between houses or apartments? When you had to leave one home, but you didn’t have another home to go to? That’s happened to our family. It’s not pleasant. Those times can be very stressful, and there are so many unknowns. You don’t know how long you will have to stay with friends, or live in a hotel, or camp in a...

READ: PSALM 107; ROMANS 5:1-10; 15:1-13 Our world is constantly changing, and our individual lives are no different. At any given moment, the most mundane of days can be altered by some life-changing event. When change is inevitable, and happy days are not a guarantee, where do we look for hope? The apostle Paul was well acquainted with massive life changes and plenty of brutal trials. But in his...