Unlocked: Daily Devotions for Teens

When difficulties come, it’s easy to give in to worry and fear. When problems arise, we can find ourselves shaken, beaten, and hurt. The Israelites experienced this when God was rescuing them from slavery. They were stuck between the Red Sea and the Pharaoh’s army. But Moses told the Israelites, The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still (Exodus 14:14). Then God sent an angel to block...

As Christians, how should we approach science? From forests to soil, seas to sky, planets to microorganisms, to you and me, God’s creation is incredible! God calls us to be caretakers of His creation, and to best take care of something and appreciate it, we have to understand it. But first, we have to acknowledge that our human interpretations and understandings of the world are imperfect and inco...

Kiara slammed her mug of coffee on the blue diner counter, defeated. She had just spent the last of her sratos on what was most likely her last meal for a long time. She’d thought there was no way she’d run out of the intergalactic currency. She sighed, thinking about all she had done with the fortune of sratos her rich dad had given her when she demanded her share of the inheritance and left home...

“You’re not part of the team. You can’t come with us. You’re not invited. Has anyone said something like this to you? It hurts when others make it clear you are not welcome. We all want a place to belong. Whether in a family, church community, with friends, or on a team, having a place to belong gives us a sense of value. It’s a reminder that someone cares for us. And the truth is, God created us...

It’s okay to not know what is to come. It’s alright to go into a new year or phase of life without plans or expectations. My expectations don’t always happen anyway. My plans aren’t always for the bEsther But when I look to Jesus, when I ask Him to guide my life, everything will turn out alright. It’s scary to not know what to expect in this life. It’s hard to just move forward without knowing wha...

Your mission will be riddled with perils. Make no mistake, this exoplanet is uncharted territorythere are no illusions about our exploration team making it back to our home planet safely. Commander Sholer crossed his arms over his chest, his gaze penetrating the souls of the group gathered around him. Anything to add before we embark? Tylana adjusted her Rememlet tighter against her lavender skin....

I. ran a marathon once. In case you are unfamiliar, a marathon is 26.2 miles of running. That was in the year 2000, and I’ve never even considered running another one. I’m completely convinced it’s because I didn’t create a celebratory moment at the finish line. I’ve found that if I don’t celebrate something that’s worthy of celebration, I’m less likely to want to do it again. But if I make a big...

A baby cries because the crib is too large, and they don’t feel secure until they are in the arms of their parent. A toddler reaches for the hand of an adult when a loud noise frightens them. A young child turns from strangers and clings to their parent. An older child grasps the hand of the adult beside them on a rollercoaster. Children are willing to cling to the adults in their lives without sh...

Dull gray eyes stared back at me in the mirror. Unimpressive, unimportant, unseen. That’s how I feltinvisible. Would anyone notice if I were gone? Would anyone really care? Contemplating my apparent superhero power of invisibility really lifted my spirits. Sighing deep, I tried to stop the tears from leaking from my eyes. As I turned my back on the mirror, wondering if I even wanted to face one mo...

Consider the birds, Whose magnificent wings Propel them through the air. No human voice could match Their song, and their beauty’s Beyond compare. Consider the lilies, As they color the fields, And wonder at how they grow. Flowers do not work, Or look after themselves, Yet they’re clothed by a heavenly glow. The God of all nature, Creator and King, For both roses and sparrows provides. Seek first,...

He takes a whole mass of nothing, a void of empty, and fills it with lightand life! This is our God. When His heart breaks over evil and sin consuming His precious creation, He seeks out the faithful and delivers them. After the waters roar and the mountain peaks are covered, He covers us with the promise of His unending lovea rainbow. This is our God. Despite the continuing cycle of disregard, di...

Last Christmas, our pastor used the hymn Hark! The Herald Angels Sing as inspiration for a sermon. In the third verse, eighteenth-century preacher Charles Wesley wrote lyrics about how Jesus was born to give us second birth. But what does it mean to have second birth? When Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s command, sin and death entered the world. God’s good creation was stained by the brokenness of hu...

For many years, my family celebrated Christmas at my grandparents’ home in northern Wisconsin, where winter is typically very cold and snowy. One year my dad thought it would be fun if he and I hiked out into the woods and cooked breakfast over a fire. We got lost. Then we couldn’t start the fire. We were mocked by our family upon our return. We learned though, and the following year everything we...

Every Christmas, I hear about the wise men coming to Bethlehem to see baby Jesus as recorded in Matthew 2. But why is this historical event important? Who were the wise men and how did they play a key role in the Christmas drama? Let’s take a closer look at the wise men. The Bible gives us very little detail about these people. How many were there? Did they ride camels? Were they kings? The correc...

READ: ISAIAH 9:6; MATTHEW 2:1-2, 9-11 For as long as Sahine could remember, the world had been at war. For years she had defended her small kingdom against the fierce advances of the Hadyssian empire, and so far they had remained free, as had her sisters’ kingdoms to the north and to the south. But every time her armies returned from battle, the soldiers were fewer and more ragged than before. It...

On a rainy African day, we flew in a small plane from the city of Monrovia, Liberia, to a small airstrip in the northern part of the country. This ninety- minute flight saved us two days of travel on muddy, washed-out roads. The most amazing part was rising above the rain clouds and emerging into the glorious light of the sun. From underneath the clouds, it was all dark, rainy, and gloomythe belly...

One person in the New Testament I admire is Joseph. He isn’t mentioned much in the Bible, but his actions had a tremendous impact on humanity. Who was he? How did his role influence Christianity today? The Bible tells us Joseph was a descendant of King David, and he was pledged to marry a woman named Mary. But when Joseph found out Mary was pregnant before their wedding, his thoughts must have bee...

When Mary and Joseph were in Bethlehem with the newborn Jesus, there were shepherds in a nearby field. Suddenly an angel appeared and told them about the baby Jesusthe Savior they had all been waiting for had come! The shepherds ran down to the village to see this sight. Immediately after they had seen Jesus, they went and told others this amazing good news. That is being a missionary. When Jesus...

Mary paused her vigorous kneading of the bread dough, her thoughts whirling. She was pledged to be married to Joseph. He was a good man who had shown her only kindness, but lately her life moved faster than the river’s currents after a spring rain. Suddenly, there was a being standing before her. Mary trembled and clutched the edge of the table for support. Then the being spoke. Greetings the Lord...

The holiday season isn’t always a time of joy. Stress can push at us from all sidesfamily, school deadlines, Christmas preparations, etc. Life is shaky. And not just for us. While Ahaz was king of Judah, his life was pretty shaky too. Both Syria and Israel (what was left of it after it split from Judah) were ganging up on his kingdom. In response, Ahaz put his hope in the king of Assyria to save J...

We’d all love to be wise sages, knowing exactly what to do each time a major life decision pops up. However, that kind of wisdom can take time to develop. Time spent in God’s word and time living through life. But what about the decisions you need to make in a month, next week, or right now? You don’t always have the time to discern what to do on your own. The good news is, God loves His children...

The Incredible Sparkle, superhero and defender of Glimmer City, couldn’t tell whether her constant shivering came from the cold or from the raw terror she felt coursing through her body. Behind her, the roof extended mere inches before dropping ten stories to the busy street below. Looking forward frightened her even more. Her nemesis, Dr. Danger, stood smiling wickedly a few feet away. Injured an...

Curling up with a gripping read is something I love to do, and I’m blessed to regularly receive novels from family or friends so that I rarely have to buy one. For ages, after reading them, I would keep these precious books on shelves or in boxes in the loft until I realized that I would never have time to reread them. Holding on to all these books without passing them on felt selfish; I was allow...

Darkness. That’s all I’d ever seen. I’d heard countless people’s voices. I’d tasted numerous kinds of food. However, I didn’t actually know what humans looked like. I’d never seen one. I’d never seen the fruit I ate or the money I begged. But I knew the weight of the thin, round coins, and I could identify the fruits from their different shapes and sizes and textures. As you can see, I was blind,...

Let’s face it relationships can be hard. Maybe you and your mom had another fight and you both used harsh words that hurt the other person. Maybe your best friend won’t talk to you and you don’t know why. When relationships are good, life seems to be good, but when relationships go bad, life seems really bad. We don’t usually start our day wanting to hurt people, but sometimes we might say the wro...