Unlocked: Daily Devotions for Teens

READ: ISAIAH 53:1-12; MARK 15:16-41; LUKE 23:34, 39-43 Anguished, Blood splatters On the sacred ground. Jesus weeps for us. Soldiers taunt Spitting, striking Upon His holy face Our Savior scars for us. Falling, rejected, Brutal nails pierce Into the Son of God Jesus dies for us. Many did not understand Who you were and are: The Lamb, the Messiah, Restorer of our brokenness. • Cindy Lee • Today’s p...

READ: JOHN 13:1-38 Maundy Thursday is one of my favorite times in the church calendar. The evening service I attend is one I have always found deeply moving. Listening to Scripture during the commemoration, it’s as if the words transport me back in time to the upper room sitting with Jesus and His friends. Key moments from the Bible unfold, like when: Jesus washes His disciples’ feet. As Jesus was...

READ: MARK 14:27-31, 66-72 A rooster crowed at the moment of the apostle Peter’s biggest failure. Let’s back up a few hours before that awful choice. On the night of Jesus’s betrayal, He warned His disciples that they would scatter when He was taken from them. That’s when Peter spoke up: no matter what the others would do, he would not deny Jesus! But Jesus had sad news for Peter. That very night,...

READ: ISAIAH 53:3-12; MATTHEW 27:15-26; ROMANS 5:6-11; 8:15 I love names. I’m a fiction writer, and every time I start a new book, I have to choose character names. Sometimes one just lands on the character from the very beginning and sticks, but other times I have to do in-depth research about name meanings to pinpoint the name that’s just right. God also likes using names with meanings! The Bibl...

READ: EZEKIEL 36:26-27; ROMANS 7:14–8:2; PHILIPPIANS 1:6 I’d been looking forward to the slumber party at our Sunday school teacher’s house for weeks. It was a rite of passage for girls at our church entering middle school. Little did I know the party included a surprise. After living in a rundown house with a leaky roof in almost every room, our family built a new home. For the party, our teacher...

READ: MATTHEW 2:1-18; 27:27-54 Two hills stood in ancient Israel. One was the highest peak in the Judean desert where King Herod the Great built his Herodium Palace, a lavish monument to his own fame and military triumphs. The other hill was Golgotha, the “Place of the Skull,” where Jesus—mockingly called the “king of the Jews” was crucified (Matthew 27:29, 33). The Herodium was so massive it took...

READ: JOHN 11:1-44 When I was little, I would talk with God, praying, “God, if you’re really up there, please show me a sign!” I think my prayer is one that, at one point or another, we all pray. We want to know if God is there. But we also want to know, “Is He here? Does He care about my thoughts and situations?” In John 11, Jesus’s close friends, Mary and Martha, sent a message asking Jesus to c...

READ: GENESIS 3:1-15 The sign of the serpent had been engraved on the doors for as long as anyone could remember. Every time she went past, she was reminded of their enslavement. It was carved into the wood deeper than the ocean itself, a writhing ribbon of sickening green. One could almost imagine it was moving, undulating toward them with a rasping tongue and obsidian black eyes that were slits...

READ: ROMANS 8:14-17; GALATIANS 3:26-28 Liar. Drunk. Adulterer. Coward. Scroll through the news on any given day, and chances are you’ll find individuals who have been assigned disparaging labels. These labels are not new. In the Bible, we find that Jacob was a liar, Noah was a drunk, David was an adulterer, and Jonah was a coward. And yet, God worked in and through each of them in mighty ways. Wh...

READ: GENESIS 1:27; PSALM 139:13; MATTHEW 5:14-16 Bullying. It’s painful to experience. But here’s the thing: I don’t know bullying’s pain because I’ve been bullied. I know its pain because I have been the bully. I’ve made fun of people. I’ve gossiped about people I didn’t like. I’ve secretly judged the so-called “losers.” But I’d been trying to live my life for Jesus and be different. I wasn’t on...

READ: LUKE 17:11-19 “Jesus is coming,” Nathanael whispers. “He’s coming.” “Jesus?” I say, scratching another sore on my arm until it weeps. “Oh, you Samaritans! Don’t you know anything?” Nathanael sighs. “He’s the Healer, like the prophets predicted. He can save us—even you.” Ten of us are still alive in this leper colony. Staying at home would put our families at risk. Tears prick my eyes as I th...

READ: JUDGES 2:16-19; ROMANS 6:1-14 If you’re a pet owner like me, then you know sometimes your pets do things you don’t understand. One thing I don’t understand about my cat Elora is that she loves to get into my bedroom closet. Elora knows how to slip in between the two sliding closet doors, but she doesn’t know how to get out. Whenever she gets stuck inside, I hear her meowing for help, and so...

READ: EPHESIANS 6:10-17 Have you ever been deceived? Confused, lied to, twisted around, and pulled into a pit of despair? We all have. Deception is one of the enemy’s favorite tactics. The devil is “the father of lies” (John 8:44). He tells us we aren’t good enough—that God couldn’t possibly love us. He uses the world’s voices to shout lies like: “Make straight As at school, join every club that w...

READ: ISAIAH 43:19; 61:3; EZEKIEL 37:1-14; PSALM 107:20 Draw near, Lord I’m waiting for You To do a new thing, A God-thing. Bring beauty only You can From these dust and ashes. Open the grave and Breathe Your life Into me Over me All around me. Restore my hope and Resurrect these bones to Praise You once again. • Kelly Hope Parke • One of the Scriptures that inspired today’s poem is Ezekiel 37. Wh...

READ: 2 CORINTHIANS 5:17; GALATIANS 5:13-23; PHILIPPIANS 2:13 Last night I accidentally let a popsicle melt on my desk. It dripped down onto my manuscript, and fifty pages of a book I was writing were ruined. The amazing thing about all this is that I wasn’t the least bit upset. It truly astonished me that I felt no anger or frustration over it. God must have been working in me again, because this...

READ: MATTHEW 11:28-30; 2 CORINTHIANS 1:3-7; HEBREWS 4:14-16; 1 PETER 1:22 When I was growing up, my grandma was always ready for visitors. She’d often have homemade cookies that she would plate up for us, along with a glass of cold milk. Or if she didn’t have any baked, then she would get out a package of cookies and serve them up. She welcomed us warmly, and our visits always ended with a hug. T...

READ: PSALM 34:18; MATTHEW 11:28-30; HEBREWS 4:12-16 Sometimes, I feel like a disco ball. Everyone thinks I’m the life of the party, that I’m always happy, having fun. If they looked a little closer, though, they’d discover the truth: I’m mostly broken, spinning in the dark, reflecting so many chaotic emotions that I feel like I just might crash. If that resonates with you, know you are not alone....

READ: ACTS 1:8; 8:4-8, 26-40 The first time I visited Ireland, I toured Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin. I saw a museum exhibit of an ancient stone slab with a cross on it. The slab was from a nearby well that Patrick may have used to baptize people who converted to Christianity in the fifth century. The reason we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day on March 17 is to remember Patrick, the patron saint...

READ: 2 KINGS 22:8-11; 23:1-3; MATTHEW 1:1; 24:35 The following story is an allegory based on 2 Kings 22-23, which tells the true account of King Josiah and the rediscovery of the book of the law.  The lieutenant of the fourth galactic league rushed into General Lazlo’s office: “General, my platoon was searching old Lymerian archives. We found something you should see.” The lieutenant pulled up a...

READ: PSALMS 13:5-6; 149:1-5; ISAIAH 42:10-12; EPHESIANS 5:19 Sometimes I find myself in an empty house, and I can’t stop myself from singing at the top of my lungs. I tend to belt numbers from The Sound of Music, especially “Climb Every Mountain.” There’s something about hitting those high notes, with the sound filling the space around me, that brings me great joy. Our voices, lifted in songs of...

READ: EXODUS 15:2-3; PSALMS 46:1-3; 59:16-17; EPHESIANS 1:15-23 In life, I tend to approach a problem thinking I can handle it all by myself, like a toddler taking on a task that’s obviously too big for them. I think, “I know tons of things—I can reason my way out of this mess, and I don’t need anyone’s help. I can do this, right?” Unfortunately, reality sets in as I try to solve everything and I...

READ: ACTS 9:1-22; 2 TIMOTHY 1:5; 3:15 Of all the conversion stories in the Bible, none are more dramatic than the Apostle Paul’s. Before knowing Jesus, Paul—also called Saul—was one of the most vicious, violent persecutors of the early church. Brilliant in intellect, he used his mind to orchestrate beatings and deaths against the converts of this new religion called Christianity, fearing it threa...

READ: JOHN 4:1-30, 39-42 There was something about His eyes, the way He looked at her. It was unsettling. She thought she knew all about men, understood how they thought. But this was different. “Go and call your husband,” He said. She hesitated, eyes lowered. “I have no husband.” He nodded. “True. You’ve had five—and the man you live with now isn’t one of them.” Her fists tensed defiantly. “Since...

READ: 1 KINGS 11:4-6; 1 CORINTHIANS 7:39; 2 CORINTHIANS 6:14-18 He’s cute, he’s sweet, and he’s oh-so-nice. But he’s not a Christian. She goes to church, and she’s so much fun, but Christ is not particularly important to her. Is it okay to date them? Being attracted to someone who doesn’t love Christ can be a really tough situation. Trust me, I’ve been there. What can you do? First off, dating the...

READ: 1 CORINTHIANS 7:1-9, 25-38 You know that cute couple who’s always taking pictures of how much fun they’re having together and raving about one another? Ever been envious of them? It can feel really lonely to be the person who is still single when your friends are all dating. The Bible has good news: it’s okay to be single! In fact, sometimes it can be better than being in a relationship. In...