Unlocked: Daily Devotions for Teens

Recently, I was on a flight from Chicago. Shortly after takeoff, we reached our cruising altitude. The pilot warned us about some possible turbulence. “No big deal,” I thought. Suddenly, the plane dropped. A lot. It probably lasted barely two seconds. The oxygen masks didn’t even fall from the ceiling. But there was an audible gasp from the passengers as our stomachs seemed to fly upward. The guy...

I have days when I wonder, “How am I going to get through this?” It feels like the things I need to do and the steps I have to take are too much for me. I wonder if I will be strong enough to keep moving forward. But in the times when I feel like I am not enough and that I am too weak, I can reach out to God. When I don’t have the power to take on the things that I need to do, I turn to the One wh...

I used to have a little baby bird that I raised all on my own. Her parents neglected her since she was disabled and not as strong as the rest of her siblings. I fed her many times a day, including getting up twice a night (even on school nights) so that she would get enough food to become strong. She needed a lot of care, but I was willing to put in the effort to try and save her life. Even when I...

If we are honest, at one time or another we all have doubts about our faith, what God is doing in our lives, or God’s character. In Mark 9, a man brought his son, who had been possessed by a demon since childhood, to Jesus for healing. The father said to Jesus, If you can do anything, take pity on us and help us (verse 22). Jesus replied, Everything is possible for the one who believes (verse 23)....

I recently learned of two newborn babies who died, mere days and weeks after being born. Having a baby of my own, learning of such tragedies breaks my heart. I look at my sweet baby boy and hug him a little tighter, thankful for the gift of a healthy baby. But I can’t help but ask, Why, Lord? Why is there so much sorrow and grief and suffering in this world? Why is life filled with such heavy thin...

Abeo sat alone in his room. He heard laughing and talking coming from downstairs. Are they singing? He laid back on his bed. He’d told everyone that he wanted to be alone. He really wished that they would miss him down there, though. There was part of him that hoped someone would come up by him and insist that he join them. The night went on and no one came to get him. None of his family’s guests...

The psalmists weren’t afraid to admit when they were afraid. They even talked about feeling abandoned by God. Some of my favorite psalms are those that cry out desperately to God. You can feel the writers’ authenticity. You can feel their struggle. It’s easy for me to relate to what was going on with them. These psalms remind me that God is not against our honesty. He knows what is on our hearts a...

Do you get frustrated with the amount of stuff accumulating in your space? For some of us, it’s easy to get things but not as easy to get rid of those items when they are no longer being used. Although the Israelites in the Bible did not necessarily have the issue of accumulating too many possessions, it’s possible that the root cause of their problems was similar to my own when it comes to materi...

I swam to an old sea cave before the battle. Our odds of winning were beyond scary. Soon my kingdom could be enslaved to the Sinades again. There was already talk of surrender. Once inside, I removed my helmet and wept the salt into the water. My armor clanked as I fell to the sea floor. I was not equipped for this. How could I possibly save my people? I knew what I must do. I began untwining the...

My heart aches for unity in the church. I see so many divisionsChristians disregarding each other, judging, shaming, excluding and I feel powerless. Unity seems impossible. One day I shared my feelings with my church small group, and then one of my friends shared John 17:20-26. In this passage, Jesus was sharing the Passover meal with His disciples, a hodge-podge group of fishermen, tax collectors...

June 4, 1942. Commander Mitsuo Fuchida, leader of the Pearl Harbor attack, was steaming across the ocean on the aircraft carrier Akagi, alongside the powerful Japanese navy. Six months after crippling the United States Pacific Fleet in Hawaii, he was poised to destroy another targetthe US airfields of Midway. Fuchida felt invincibleexcept for a ruptured appendix. After surgery, he was recovering o...

Have you ever been reading a Bible passage and a certain word or phrase keeps popping up over and over again? That happens to me with the word good when I read the book of Titus, and it’s why I think one of the main themes of Titus is doing what is good. The book of Titus is known as one of Paul’s pastoral letters. Paul wrote it to instruct and give advice to Titus, who had been put in charge of o...

As a daughter of missionaries, I had memorized John 3:16 in both English and Portuguese. I knew that God loved me and that Christ had died for me. But it still felt like a generic kind of love. So, God loves me. But with what kind of love does He love me? In a letter to the Christians in Galatia, Paul declares, When the fullness of time came, God sent out his Son, born to a woman, born under the l...

People can push us down and mess with our minds. When others treat us wrongly, we can get into a dark place mentally and be scared to keep moving forward. When we have enemies coming against us, it can be hard for us to stay positive or keep our trust in God. In Psalm 143, we can see that David felt the same way. He writes, The enemy pursues me, he crushes me to the ground; he makes me dwell in th...

“Laila, don’t go in! I yell, as my friend opens the door of an abandoned hut in the hills. You can’t. Ignoring my pleas, she whispers, her dark eyes staring back at me, It’s not what you think. I have to, and you will too. Within seconds, the door creaks shut behind her and is locked. I bang on the hut, calling her name, but there is no response. Prowling around, I realize there are no windows, on...

Four different authors wrote accounts of Jesus’s life (called Gospels), and three of them recorded one of my favorite stories about Jesus: His interaction with a woman who bled for twelve years. This woman had spent over a decade suffering physically, but on top of that, in that culture she would’ve been considered unclean. She probably felt isolated, lonely, and hopeless. But then, she saw Jesus...

Do you find yourself reaching for the tissues at the end of a movie? Are you someone who chokes up when you hear a tragic news report? I am. Do you sometimes feel ashamed for shedding tears that you want to hide away? Believe me, I can empathize. Growing up, I was (and still am) very sensitive about everything and anything. There were certain shows I would avoidanything to do with animals was a de...

While talking to one of my friends, I was refreshed by their honesty about a current situation: I was angry but God can handle our feelings. There is often the temptation to put on the mask of perfection or plaster on a smile when our world feels like it’s falling apart. My friend understood: God does not want us to stuff our feelings inside and suffer silently, He wants us to be real. He desires...

Wandering, lost, and alone. How long have I been like this? My sins are against me, sapping my strength. Bones wasting away, I groan in agony. Those I had trusted in betrayed and enslaved mequite honestly, my own evil heart enslaved me. This heart is as hard as stone, my transgressions heavy from the time of my birth. Have mercy, God. Wash away my sins! Your love is great, your mercies are endless...

Are you getting enough sleep? So many of us are sleep-deprived; studies show we are tired at school, tired at work, and tired when we are driving our cars. During our teen years, most of us need eight to ten hours of sleep every night. That’s hard to get if we are worried or stressed about the day ahead. We may push stress to the back of our minds during the day, but at night, our minds circle aro...

God strengthen me Sometimes I feel so weak God guide me Sometimes I feel so lost God hold me Sometimes I feel alone God care for me Sometimes I can’t care for myself God save me I cannot save myself Jesus, your sacrifice is enough for me I know you gave everything Let me cling to your salvation I want to be yours I want to be with you God keep me going until you return I want to honor you Emily Ac...

In first grade, my teacher picked a leader for our class each day. The leader’s primary job consisted of taking the daily collection of lunch money to the school office. Additionally, the leader had the chance to select a classmate to join them on the trip to the office. We six-year-olds felt important marching the large envelope of coins and bills to the secretary who sat behind her desk, keeping...

“I must be the worst evangelist in the world,” I thought, as worry knitted itself inside of me. In church, I preferred being at the back, behind the scenes. Everyone around me was confident, talkative, and quickly put themselves on the frontline. I had heard about the Holy Spirit transforming the disciples from quivering cowards to strong, bold preachers but still my mouth was clamped shut. I wore...

The next morning, we continued down the forest path. After a couple hours, we came to a clearing on the top of a hill. I set down my pack with a grunt. My shoulders were sore where the straps had been digging in. He gestured to my pack and said, That’s a heavy load. I stooped down to check the straps and buckles. Has to be, I replied. Why? He asked. I looked at Him for a moment, then started pulli...

After a while, I kept walking. Mercifully, the sun continued its course in the sky and no longer beat down on me. I pulled a crust of stale bread from my pack and ate as I walked. I tried to remember an old hymn to turn my thoughts to praise, but I was too tired to sing. Then I realized night was falling. The path sloped downward, and soon I was surrounded by trees. “Great,” I thought. “I guess I...