Unlocked: Daily Devotions for Teens

READ: LUKE 15:11-32 I was reading through the story of the prodigal son in Luke 15 recently, and instead of paying attention to the parts of the story that I normally would or that are normally preached on, I felt jealous of the young man in the story. I thought about how nice it would be to have a father come running toward you like that, to fall into his arms, to have him take care of you when y...

READ: PSALM 23; ROMANS 8:28-29; JAMES 1:5 My dog, Gibson, wakes me up very early every morning. Some mornings I just feed him, and other mornings I take the time to let him outside. But either way, it’s still dark when we get up. Because the rest of the family is still asleep, I often leave the lights off. The problem is, then I can’t see—and my mom is constantly rearranging furniture, so I can’t...

READ: JAMES 1:2-4; 1 PETER 2:21-23 Do you remember the last time you had a cold? Maybe you had a scratchy, sore throat, congested sinuses, body aches, a fever, or all of those at once. Colds can be pretty awful. Do you have someone to help you when you get sick? Someone who’ll bring you warm drinks and food, help you call the doctor and tell them about your symptoms, and remind you to take your me...

READ: EXODUS 12:31-42; MATTHEW 4:1-11 Have you ever seen a desert before? Maybe you’ve been to Arizona, New Mexico, or Southern California, where some of the terrain is desert. The land is often rugged, rocky, and barren, with little plant life and plenty of dangerous animals. The desert is also remote; not many people live in deserts. In fact, the desert doesn’t offer much in the way of opportuni...

READ: PSALM 23; PHILIPPIANS 4:4-13 I didn’t care much about mental health until I suffered from insomnia. It was so bad that I couldn’t sleep for many days. I was constantly worrying about my problems. And when I had problems sleeping, I started worrying about not being able to sleep. It was kind of crazy. By the grace of God, I eventually recovered. I tried to follow what Paul taught us in Philip...

READ: MATTHEW 21:12-16; REVELATION 4:8-11; 5:8-14   God is ever being praised— His land, His sea, His sky, His waves!   All creation His glory sings— Every creature extols Him King!   Angels hallelujahs raise— O Holy One, the Ancient of Days!   Mighty and just in all His ways, Forever shall His name be praised!   Come join the everlasting song— All voices blended, raised as one!   From mouths of b...

READ: PSALM 119:97-104; JEREMIAH 15:15-17; MATTHEW 4:4 What is your favorite food? Think about how good it feels to eat that food, especially when you’re hungry! Now, listen to what the prophet Jeremiah says: “When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight, for I bear your name, Lord God Almighty” (Jeremiah 15:16). Have you ever wanted to eat the Bible? Probably not. But...

READ: PSALMS 23:4; 37:1-9; 139:1-18; ROMANS 8:28-29 Somewhere along in my life, I realized I loved taking photos. To me, it was the most amazing thing to be able to capture a moment forever. A camera is one of the best tools for rendering an image we want to remember. It takes the light and shadows and makes them into a two-dimensional picture we can enjoy. When we look at a photo, we see how the...

READ: JOHN 13:3-17; 15:7-17; ROMANS 10:9-13; EPHESIANS 2:1-10 The knight Yavain was on the verge of tears as he pulled off his dying comrade’s helmet. “Why on earth would you do that—my life is not any more valuable than yours, Rosalind.” As he cradled her head, Yavain noticed she wore the royal crest around her neck. He stared in disbelief—he hadn’t known that his friend was also the princess of...

READ: PSALM 63:1-5; JOHN 4:7-14; 6:35; 7:37-39; ROMANS 14:7-12 As two knights of the Carissian court traveled through the forest on a scouting mission, they passed the time discussing their different beliefs. Rosalind brought up what she called the Holy Spirit. “In my end, dear friend, it is not water that I thirst for, but for my God, who gives me the water of life. My soul thirsts to meet my God...

READ: PSALM 25:16-17; 1 SAMUEL 18:1-4; 20:1-42; JOHN 15:13-15 When I was sixteen, it felt like my world was crumbling. My best friend had a boyfriend, spent all her time dancing for a prestigious ballet company, and excelled at math and science. Meanwhile, I was lonely, struggling to improve at my hobbies, and hated math and science with a burning passion. What I thought would be a lifelong friend...

READ: EXODUS 14:14; PSALM 32; LUKE 15:1-7; JOHN 20:11-16   Lost in the dark, Can’t see the light, Too tired, too weary, Too sad to fight.   Burdened by shame, Haunted by the past. Looking for help, Turning to God last.   Suddenly He’s there. Suddenly there’s light. Don’t need to be strong. He’ll win the fight.   Lost in His love, Mercy from above, Pouring down on me. At last I see.   Darkness is g...

READ: 1 CORINTHIANS 12:12-27; EPHESIANS 4:1-6 I attended the same church until I turned twenty-three. Through a service opportunity, I started attending a different church. But I wasn’t just switching buildings and service times. I was switching denominations too. Denominations are groups of churches (like Free Methodist, Church of God, Presbyterian, etc.) that are united by a particular set of be...

READ: PHILIPPIANS 1:3-11 Imagine you pick up a violin and attempt to play it for the very first time. You tuck it under your chin, pick up your bow, and draw it gently across the strings. Would you expect to hear lovely music? Of course not! You’d probably get some screeches and sour notes. But if you took time to learn and practice, eventually your playing would improve. In the same way, we can h...

READ: ROMANS 8:31-39; EPHESIANS 3:14-21 "Could we with ink the ocean fill, and were the skies of parchment made; were ev’ry stalk on earth a quill, and ev’ryone a scribe by trade; to write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry; nor could the scroll contain the whole, though stretched from sky to sky.” The lyrics in this hymn, “The Love of God” by Frederick Lehman, often run through my he...

READ: GENESIS 29:16-35; COLOSSIANS 3:12; 1 PETER 2:9 I went through my first heartbreak in high school when a boy I liked chose another girl over me. Have you ever had something like that happen to you? Maybe a friend is favoring another friend over you, or maybe, like me, you’ve experienced rejection from someone you like. Genesis 29 tells the story of how Jacob loved his wife Rachel more than hi...

READ: ISAIAH 1:18; 1 JOHN 1:6–2:2 Have you ever accidentally folded a basket of dirty laundry? At first, you probably didn’t even notice the clothes weren’t clean. But, when you took a closer look (or smell), you could probably tell that the clothes had been worn. If you decided to just fold them up and put them away, you wouldn’t deceive anyone—soon enough it would become apparent that the clothe...

READ: PSALM 127:1-2; MATTHEW 7:24-29 At a youth group party, my friends and I gathered for a night of worship and fun. Afterwards, we piled paper plates with snack food and headed outside to eat. We squeezed ourselves around an outdoor table. In the dark, though, we didn’t notice the patio table that we thought held a clear glass tabletop actually held no top at all. That “table” was simply a meta...

READ: PSALM 55:22; JOHN 14:27; ROMANS 8:15-39   He made the world, Yet He knows my name. With every glorious sunset And bright shimmering moon, God sighs the words, “I love you.”   When ocean waves crash Against quiet, golden shores, When stars fall across the sky, God’s words touch against my soul, “I see you. I know you. I love you.”   He’s never left me alone Not even when I’ve turned away. He’...

READ: ROMANS 12:4-8; 1 PETER 4:7-11 When you watch or play a sport, do you expect everyone to be good at every part of the game? For example, if you watch baseball, does everyone who bats get the same number of hits? Does everyone throw the exact same way? Of course not! Everyone on a team has different strengths. Maybe you play baseball, and hitting isn’t your biggest strength, but you’re a very...

READ: JOHN 1:12-13; ROMANS 8:15-30; 1 JOHN 3:1-5 I look in the mirror and meet my gaze. Who am I? I can study my looks and see bits and pieces of my parents, and similarities to my siblings. I can remember my ancestors and where they came from and know that they are the reason I look the way I do. But beyond the way I look, beyond what I see in the mirror, who am I? I am God’s child. That thought...

READ: LUKE 12:13-48; 1 TIMOTHY 6:3-21 Greed is a treacherous sin. But, because Jesus died on the cross for us and rose from the grave, we can be free from the power of every sin, including greed. As people who’ve put our trust in Jesus, we have His Holy Spirit living in us, so we have the power to reject greed—and not only reject it, but replace it. What do we replace it with? Hope: Instead of set...

READ: MATTHEW 6:19-34; PHILIPPIANS 4:4-20 I am guilty of greed. It’s one of those sins that seems to keep popping up in my life, sometimes in the same old ways, sometimes in new and surprising ways. But I’m thankful that God keeps pointing out this sin to me as I read His Word. It’s uncomfortable, and sometimes downright appalling, to realize how guilty I really am. But God’s correction also gives...

READ: PSALMS 19:1-4; 148:1-14 Have you ever looked around at nature and just felt in awe of how beautiful God’s creation is? God made a wonderful world, and He invites us to enjoy it with Him—from sunsets to ocean waves. Sometimes we’re so moved by the beauty around us, we can’t find the words to express how we feel. God made everything that exists, and He made it all good. Though creation has bee...

READ: JOHN 15:1-17 Have you ever seen someone prune a tree or another plant—or done some pruning yourself? Pruning involves cutting off part of a plant so there can be new growth. As a gardener clips, cuts, or saws off branches, sometimes it looks like they’re trying to harm the plant rather than help it. But pruning is an important part of helping trees and other plants grow and flourish. For exa...