Unlocked: Daily Devotions for Teens

READ: PSALM 119:14; PROVERBS 2:1-5; JAMES 1:5-11 Have you ever cleaned out an attic in search of treasure? Like an old baseball card that could be worth a lot of money, found in a dusty old box. Or maybe a precious painting worth millions of dollars under a cobwebby tarp. Or maybe a sentimental letter from a long-gone relative tucked away in a faded envelope. You never know what treasures you migh...

READ: PSALM 46:1-7; MATTHEW 8:23-27 What’s the scariest storm you’ve ever been through? When you’re in the middle of a storm, you never know what could happen. As the wind picks up, trees start blowing wildly. Branches come crashing down. The wind hurtles at the windows and makes a loud shriek. The house feels like it’s shaking—or worse, if you’re driving it feels like the wind might pull your car...

READ: EPHESIANS 6:18-20; 1 TIMOTHY 2:1-4; JAMES 5:13-16 One day, I heard a beautician chatting to her colleague as I was selecting a nail polish. She said, “I’m trying to stay strong, but when I’m alone, my husband’s illness overwhelms me.” My heart lurched. Sadness welled up inside, and immediately I knew I needed to pray for both this woman and her husband. Not long after, I overheard a snippet...

READ: JOHN 8 It can be hard to answer people who question us about our beliefs, especially if they speak aggressively and make us nervous. Studying the Bible can help us have answers in our heads, but getting those answers out can still be an issue. In John 8, Jesus was questioned by some Pharisees, a group of Jewish religious leaders who wanted to trap Him and accuse Him (verse 6). Jesus had an a...

READ: JOHN 11:32-36; ROMANS 12:15; HEBREWS 4:14-16 There are a lot of lies in our world, and one of them is that real men don’t cry. But what about Jesus? God became human, and it was well-documented that Jesus cried, including when His friend Lazarus died. In John 11:35, Jesus was crying with grief at His friend’s death. We live in a world where terrible things like death are the norm. This is be...

READ: EPHESIANS 2:11-22 The village of Koselig had begun building ships. For too long the Blodugur clan had pillaged their tiny coastal town (and they, in turn, had done the same to them) and now the village of Koselig had made plans to leave before more bloodshed. But they are too late. A horn bellows, alerting Koselig to gather. Blodugur approaches, and they must prepare for battle. The people e...

READ: PSALM 66:16-20; JAMES 1:19-27; 3:13-18 Sometimes our orchestra would split into ensembles. In these smaller groups, we’d sit down with our sheet music, then all start at the same speed, or tempo. But sometimes, it didn’t stay that way for long. Soon the cello had sped up, the violin had slowed down, the bass was too loud, and the viola was ready to quit from sheer exasperation. The song did...

READ: ECCLESIASTES 3:1-14 Do you ever feel like you’ve been stuck in the age you are forever? Maybe you have big dreams for the future, but you just don’t have the resources or experience or age to do the things you want to do yet. The teenage season of life has its own challenges and joys. And, just like in every season of life, there will be individual variations on how each person experiences t...

READ: EPHESIANS 5:1-2; COLOSSIANS 3:8-10 When you hear an accent different from yours, do you find yourself slipping into the new accent? For example, maybe you say y’all around your grandparents or brilliant around your British friend. Whatever it looks like, switching accents is a pretty common and often funny phenomenon. Thinking about accents can actually help us understand a truth we find in...

READ: MATTHEW 9:20-22; MARK 5:25-34; LUKE 8:43-48 Drained, the blood flows, Labelled, “unclean” and “lost” Doctors fail, trying everything I don’t care about the cost. “The healer is here, Jesus,” An echo of Your name Sings in my ears. Can He heal my shame? In pain, I scrabble on my hands Battling through loud crowds. Desperately needing You Humbled, by the proud, Crawling in faith, Jesus, I trust...

READ: GENESIS 1:9-31; PSALM 119:73 I’ve always loved going on road trips for various reasons, one being that I get to see so much of God’s creation along the way. Traveling gives us an idea of how beautiful and large the world is. Just the United States of America alone is so big that when I road-tripped from Wisconsin to California, it took over thirty hours to get there. The scenery we passed th...

READ: PSALM 116 When I was fifteen, my grandma passed away. I had never dealt with a loss like that before, at least not one I remembered well (I had been much younger when my grandpa passed away). I was devastated. It was a hard time, and I couldn’t imagine her being gone. I wanted more time with her. In the midst of my sadness and grief, I was reading in the book of Psalms and came across Psalm...

READ: JOSHUA 1:9; ECCLESIASTES 4:9-12; ISAIAH 43:1-3; MATTHEW 28:20 Einar pushed open the portal door of his new habitat and started down the desert path. He’d only lived on the planet Themisto for a few weeks, and he still wasn’t used to its dry climate—or its moonless nights. Even in the afternoon sun, he shivered at the thought of the nocturnal creatures that came out after sunset. This place w...

READ: 1 CORINTHIANS 15:42-49; 1 JOHN 3:2 Have you ever been involved in renovating a house? It’s usually pretty chaotic. Maybe there’s a constant dripping in the bathroom sink, the walls are covered with holes, the carpet is old and worn out—plus a long list of other things that need fixing! In the midst of the chaos, we hold onto the hope of how nice it’ll be once our home has had all the renovat...

READ: ROMANS 8:38-39; 1 JOHN 4:7-11 One thing I wish I could go back and tell my younger self over and over is “God loves you.” It’s something I wish every young person could grasp and believe. Life can be tough, especially when you’re a teenager. You’re trying to learn about yourself. You discover your style, your likes and dislikes, and how you differ from your friends and family. It can be a ha...

READ: MATTHEW 12:33-37; ROMANS 12:2; EPHESIANS 4:22-24, 29-32 Take a moment to remember a compliment that has stuck with you. For example, I remember a friend telling me I was very intentional, and I really appreciated that. Now, think of something someone said that was harsh. Maybe it was a biting remark, a lie, or a put-down. Unfortunately, those can come to mind much easier, and the negative th...

READ: PSALM 32:1-5; ROMANS 3:23-24; 1 JOHN 1:8-9 Have you ever buttoned your shirt wrong? One button off can cause a shirt to hang longer at the bottom on one side than the other…or cause a sagging of extra fabric in the middle. Usually, the only way to fix this problem is to unbutton the entire shirt, start with the top button, and work your way down. No one likes to do a task all over again, but...

READ: PSALMS 39:7; 119:49; LAMENTATIONS 3:13-26 In the Bible, we see over and over again how the Israelites (God’s people) turned away from God, abandoning His good ways and embracing sin. But God still had a great love for His people, even though they sinned and no longer followed His commands. He often sent prophets, people He spoke through supernaturally to remind the Israelites of His love and...

READ: MATTHEW 11:28-30; 1 PETER 4:10-11 Do you know what I hate? Limits. I hate that I’m a finite being and I can’t do everything. I hate that I can’t have all the skills, all the energy, and all the knowledge. I can’t do all the things, and I can’t be all the things. And I hate that. But I’m learning not to hate it anymore. I used to think it was valiant to hate limits. I’ve always been told that...

READ: GENESIS 16:13; PSALM 34:17-22; 2 CORINTHIANS 1:3-4 “The LORD is close to the brokenhearted” (Psalm 34:18). He knows about every one of your heartbreaks, both big and small. God knows when you’ve been having a tough day or year. It’s not always easy to see God during those times, but He sees you. He sees you during a breakup, and He wants to help you through it. He sees you when you lose a lo...

READ: LUKE 5:17-26; 23:32-43; EPHESIANS 2:1-10 Icy iron chains bind my hands behind me, weighing me down more and more with every step as I’m led toward the throne room. My heart pounds in my chest and sweat slides down my temple. Why did I have to be so foolish?! Why did I think it would be a good idea to steal from the King’s table? What was I thinking! The groan of the great, gold doors of the...

READ: JOHN 10:27-30; HEBREWS 4:14-16; 12:1-3 Click-click-click-click. Drumsticks rose and fell in unison. As drumline leader in our marching band, it was my job to ensure the drummers played tightly together, with sticks all rising up to the same height and hitting the drums with the same intensity. To do this, I had to watch the drum major, who marched ahead of us and kept time. While playing wit...

READ: PSALM 148 I love getting out in nature and exploring all that God has made. And I’ve always enjoyed traveling and getting to see places and things that are new to me. Over the years, I’ve been able to go to several national parks and see a wide variety of God’s stunning creations. From views of the Atlantic Ocean framed by colorful trees at Acadia National Park in Maine, to gorgeous sunrises...

READ: MARK 2:1-12; LUKE 5:17-26; JOHN 15:12-15 I was reading through Mark 2 last night, and I was struck by all that a group of friends chose to do in order to bring one man to see Jesus. Mark 2:3-4 says four men carried a paralyzed man to Jesus. “Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat...

READ: GENESIS 22:1-18; EXODUS 12:12-13, 21-23; 1 JOHN 2:1-2 The story of Abraham taking his son Isaac up to the mountain Moriah to be sacrificed has always been a difficult one for me to read. Why would God ask Abraham to sacrifice his son? And then why does God instead provide a different sacrifice to take Isaac’s place? Even Isaac himself is confused by the ordeal. He sees the firewood but asks...