Unlocked: Daily Devotions for Teens

Oftentimes, we do not think before we speak. We can be quick to speak and slow to hear (James 1:19). We tease, tell jokes, and ramble on about things without thinking. And these things may be totally fine, as long as we are not being mean with our words! But we may not often think about the dangers of speaking thoughtlessly. A harshly spoken word can hurt the person we are speaking to. Thoughtless...

Thoughts waging war upon this tortured soul I want to be thankful, I long to have hope But some days the darkness won’t seem to end My eyes are bone dry, my faith feels thin Send forth Your truth to cut through the attack Remind me I’m Yours and I never will lack Your unfailing love, compassion, and grace Keep me here kneeling and seeking Your face When each step is pain, Despair overwhelming Remi...

People can do good, but there is only one person who did good all His life, and that’s Jesus. Even though He is fully God, Jesus came to live among us. He interacted and celebrated with different kinds of people, including the outcasts of society. Jesus was moved with compassion for a widow who had lost her son, and Jesus brought him back to life. Jesus healed a Canaanite woman’s daughter who was...

“All that I’ve done all the people I’ve hurt there is no way I’m still worthy of being saved. Jesus might have died for some, but He definitely didn’t die for me. She wiped at her eyes with a shaky hand. There is no way I could be forgiven for all I’ve done. No way. Shh Her grandmother touched her shoulder, her hand warm. Nothing you do can take you too far away from God. Jesus died for all, not j...

Have you ever found yourself desperately praying for someone in a situation that seems helpless? Perhaps it’s a parent who isn’t following Jesus, a sibling struggling with addiction, or a close friend who is hurting. You pray, but nothing seems to be happening, except personal exhaustion. Your hope is sapping dry. If this is you, Jesus’s invitation to you is to rest in Him (Matthew 11:28-30). God...

I was a very shy kid and struggled to fit in at school. At home, my older brother teased me endlessly. Yet, I knew my family loved me. I also knew Jesus loved me and was always with me. By middle school I was also teased at school because I was tall and my pants weren’t quite long enough, plus my clothes weren’t the cool brands. I also got teased because I attended church and my favorite necklace...

Have you ever tried to solve a Rubik’s Cube? I can’t tell you how many times I’ve tried and failed to unscramble this complicated mess of colors. It amazes me that there are people out there who can decipher this puzzle. I once saw someone solve a Rubik’s Cube in less than fifteen seconds! I think life is much like a Rubik’s Cube. Time and time again, I have struggled against the obstacles of life...

We all struggle, and it can be both heartwarming and strengthening to know that someone is praying for us during those times. Have you ever been in a really tough situation and found yourself just wishing that someone would pray for you? Maybe you didn’t feel like you could even find the strength to pray for yourself, and you just hoped that someone was talking to God about you. When you are strug...

In kindergarten, I owned a pair of sturdy brown shoes with thick, black shoelaces. My mom often insisted I wear them, but I hated them. I thought they were hideous and felt embarrassed to wear them. They also did not fit me well. More than once, I was enjoying the playground swings, pumping to swing higher and higher, only to witness those shoes slip off my feet and soar through the air. That brou...

There is a truth that is unfolding before me: God is holy, and He requires holiness of us. For years, I never saw this tRuth I became a Christian at age eleven and through the years I have been in church, but I never really considered the issue of holiness. I thought I was okay since I was not committing big sins. I had categorized stealing and murder as big sins, while I labeled telling lies, gos...

CLANG! Raymnd’s sword clashed against the training dummy, his flowing movements getting faster and faster. SWOOSH! Raymnd was determined to become one of the strongest, fastest knights there was. As he trained, his thoughts wandered to the king. Raymnd ached to be accepted by the ruler of Fidem, King Justain. Though he would never speak it aloud, Raymnd wanted more than anything to become a close...

I used to love writing letters to my pen pal. Whenever her letters showed up in my mailbox, I had the thrill of ripping into them, excited to hear what was going on in her life. The Apostle Paul wrote two letters to the church in Corinth. In his second letter, Paul calls the Corinthian Christians living letters, not written in ink but written on human hearts. When people looked at these Christians...

“I wish God understood how hard this is for me, you whisper. You’re trying to live right, but the temptation to do wrong is really strong. This is the hardest thing I have ever had to do. In the book of Hebrews, we are told that we serve a God who understands our weaknesses and our temptationsJesus is a human, and He faced everything we do. As His forgiven followers, we serve a God who knows just...

Hey, Jesus, we need to talk. I have to tell you about someone we both know. She tries to follow you, but she tends to gossip. She doesn’t make up lies or say cruel things, but she shares information she has heard about other people. She indulges in conversations based on rumors. Sometimes, she tells secrets. Friends trust her with their private lives, and she betrays them. When she’s sharing the i...

King David was called a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14; Acts 13:22). He is remembered as noble, a man of character and courage. In many instances, he obeyed God, but David also sinned just like you and me. We can read about two heinous sins David committed in 2 Samuel 11-12. When David should have been out fighting with the Israelite army, he stayed in his palace and had sex with Bathsh...

READ: GENESIS 2:4-25; SONG OF SONGS 8:6-7 The book of the Bible called Song of Songs is...confusing. It uses all kinds of metaphors and imagery that make no sense to us twenty-first-century readers. And, to make it more confusing, scholars have argued about how we should read Song of Songs for centuries. Is it a love song between husband and wife? Is it all a metaphor for God and Israel? Or Christ...

Do you find it hard to love people as Jesus tells us to? I know sometimes I do, and it is especially hard to love people who have hurt you. In John 15:12, Jesus tells us to love people as He loves us. If we know Jesus, we can love others because He lives in us through the Holy Spirit, and His love overflows from us to the people around us. But sometimes sin gets in the way. Sometimes, instead of l...

“You’re not good enough and nothing is ever going to change that.” The words rang through his head over and over again. “Forget trying out for the team.” He turned and dashed out of the school. The things others say about us can stick with us and cause us to have doubts about our abilities or even our worth. We are quick to believe the hurtful comments others make about us, and those comments can...

Some people spend long hours looking into their family history. They want to find out where they came from, who came before them in their family, and which countries they have a connection to. You might have tried to look into your family history, and you might have struggled as you tried to trace things back as far as you could. Most people eventually get stuck at some point. Yet ultimately, huma...

God is our help. How amazing is that? The Bible tells us so many times that we can rely on God. If we’ve put our trust in Jesus, we can know that He is always with us (Matthew 28:20). In Deuteronomy 31:6 and then again in Hebrews 13:5-6, we are told that God will never leave us. Never. He is always on our side. In 1 John 4:4, we are reminded that God is great, and He is in us through the Holy Spir...

Tragedies wrap themselves around my heart Clinging tighter. Constricting Squeezing and squeezing and squeezing until I can’t move. Can’t breathe. Can’t think Locked in place by overwhelming hurt Anger. Grief. Shame. Take your pick Each one amplifies another Louder and louder and louder until I hear nothing. But chaos People shouting And oppressing. And killing And dying. And hurting Creation screa...

My absolute favorite story in the Old Testament is about these three Israelites, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who were taken as prisoners to Babylon when they were teenagers, and how God was with them every step of the way. King Nebuchadnezzar built a humungous gold statue of himself and declared that everyone in his kingdom was to bow down and worship it. He threatened that anyone who did not...

God is always at work. But because we are just human and we can only see a small portion of the big picture, sometimes we get so discouraged when it feels like things are falling apart because we don’t know what’s going to come next. But God does. God knows what needs to work out and what needs to fail. He knows what is best for us in the end. God’s power is amazing. So often we underestimate the...

In high school, I wanted to be like my friend Alyssa. Alyssa has a passion for loving others. She’s outgoing and good at making friends. I admire how she and her family often travel to serve communities that are struggling. I’ve been out of high school for seven years now, and I wish I’d known sooner that God gives us different gifts. While love and service are important to all of us who follow Ch...

Many of us hear it all the time: I’m going to church tomorrow, or I attend this church. But what is the church? It isn’t a place we go or something we do; it’s who we are. If you’re a Christian, you are part of the church (1 Corinthians 12:27)! God’s family is made up of all Jesus’s followers from all over the world, regardless of their background or where they meet. Acts is a great book of the Bi...