Unlocked: Daily Devotions for Teens

Anytime there’s a meteor shower, comet, or planet sighting, I’ll walk down to the lake across the road at night and check it out. The last time I walked to the lake, a couple family members joined me. Most people know that a flashlight would help a person walk a quarter mile in the dark. My family members are not most people! I was the only one who brought a flashlight. So, I decided walking in fr...

Just like when He led the Israelites of old, God is also leading us to a promised land. When Jesus was on earth, He made a promise to all those who would believe in Him, saying, I am going to prepare a place for you (John 14:2). Throughout the whole Bible, God reminds us of the promised land He is preparing for us. Our promised land is more than a land flowing with milk and honey. It’s renewed cre...

In the Old Testament, God promised to give His people a land to call home. He made a covenant (a promise) with Abram, promising him that he would have so many descendants that they would become a great multitude. He also told Abram that his descendants would be forced to serve in a foreign land for many years, but after that time, the Lord would bring them out of captivity and into the Promised La...

Kindness. How many times have you heard that word? Growing up, I heard it all the time: Be kind to people. But what exactly is kindness? One of the best biblical examples I can think of involves David and a man named Mephibosheth. In the days of David, when a new family became king, all family members of the old king would be killed. Crazy, right? Well, when King Saul and his son Jonathan are kill...

One night, Jesus did something unexpected. When it was time to eat the traditional Jewish Passover meal, Jesus took off His outer clothing, wrapped a towel around His waist, then filled a pan with water and proceeded to wash His disciples’ feet. Because they wore sandals as they trudged across Israel and Samaria, their feet got dirty and stinky. It was customary that if you went to someone’s house...

When I pray out loud with friends, some of them begin by saying, Hi God. At first, this struck me as odd and maybe even disrespectful. After all, God is the Creator and Supreme Ruler of everything. But I realized it actually makes some sense to talk to God in this casual way because God wants to be in this kind of relationship with us: personal, everyday friendship. And knowing that He is also the...

Some of my Christian friends like to start praying by calling God Father, and they aren’t the first! When Jesus’ disciples asked Him how to pray, He taught them a prayer that many Christians have since memorized (Matthew 6:9-13; Luke 11:1-4). This prayer begins by calling God our Father. Isn’t it amazing that when Jesus came, He revealed the kind of relationship God wants to have with us? Not only...

One of my friends was walking through a difficult time. While I was reading in Ezekiel 22, a phrase from verse 30 tugged at my heart: God said, I looked for someone among them who would stand before me in the gap but I found no one. The people of Israel were full of wickedness: worshipping idols, acting in impurity, etc. God told the prophet Ezekiel how He looked for someone, anyone to rebuild the...

Christians understand the incredible life-changing power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. His death and resurrection bring each believer new life. This is truly good news. How far would you go to share this news with people who didn’t know it? While reading about church history, I came across one of the greatest names of all time: Mesrop Mashtots. I believe it is impossible to improve upon this name...

Hollywood blockbusters sometimes portray supernatural events with big orchestral scores, thunder, lightningthe works! But the supernatural special effects at the crucifixion were so much more than dramatic artistry. These events, which no one could have engineered, had a special significance as Jesus willingly gave Himself as the sacrifice for sins. Darkness over the land: Matthew writes that, in...

Years ago, a friend invited me to a huge Christian conference. It was amazing! In an arena filled with people worshipping God, I felt so uplifted and inspired. I was filled with excitement after hearing people discuss the power of God’s Word and how they had read the whole Bible in a year, and I desired to achieve the same result. After all, as an avid reader, surely I could succeed. How wrong was...

White flowers in the meadow I pretend they are your grave Remembrance pulls me back in time To our younger days Wildflowers by the dozens Red and orange in the sun That race to fill our buckets full I don’t even know who won In my mind I hear your laughter Close my eyes and see your smile Thank God that we had you If only for a while When grief comes round the corner Though tears may ebb and flow...

 READ: DANIEL 3:1-30; JOHN 14:27; ROMANS 8:34-39; 1 CORINTHIANS 15:20-28 "Do you see this vase here?” she asked. “Could it be called by any other name than what it is?” “No,” her father replied. “Well, neither can I be called anything other than what I am, a Christian.” Perpetua, a devoted follower of Christ, uttered these words in the year 203 AD, mere days before she was asked to recant her fait...

Have you ever wondered what David’s older brothers did while he fought Goliath? While the Bible doesn’t tell us, can you imagine a conversation between two of them? Guess who volunteered to fight Goliath? Shammah ran up the hill to his older brother. Who would be that crazy? Did you see how big that guy is?” Eliab scoffed. Our little brother David, Shammah replied. What! All he knows how to do is...

What are we here for? What is our purpose in life? In the apostle Paul’s letter to the Christians in Ephesus, we find some answers to these questions. The first three chapters of Ephesians talk about who we are in Christ. God chose us to be His adopted children before He had even created the world. If we’ve put our trust in Jesus, we are fully forgiven by His blood, and we get to bring praise to h...

My sandals brush the street as I walk the familiar way to the tavern. I always walk a little faster when I pass by the open door of the King’s courtyard, keeping my gaze on my dusty toes. But today, something catches my eye. Blue fabric ripples like water in the sun. I look up and see the blue belongs to a woman’s sari, and she’s dancing in the courtyard. And I recognize her. I’ve seen her before...

False advertising is the worst: a click that leads to a blank page, a product that doesn’t perform as promised, or a heap of hype for something new that actually isn’t. But when something is the real thing, it needs no ad campaign. If a product proves itself to be amazing, no one needs to promote itword spreads and soon everyone wants one! The same is true about faith in Jesus. If you’ve experienc...

What do you want to be when you grow up? I never liked that question because I never had a good answer. My sister wanted to be a Bible translator, my brother dreamed of becoming a missionary pilot, but me? All I could say was, A mom. That was part of what I wanted to be, but I felt there was more. Maybe a teacher? Maybe a police officer? I wasn’t sure, and I prayed that God would give me the answe...

Do you know what your name means? Recently, I looked up my name, Macy. I found out that “Macy” might come from a Hebrew word that means Gift of Yahweh. (Yahweh is one of God’s names, and it means I am). I also discovered that the Greek form of the word my name comes from is the same Greek word my brother’s name comes from. So, in a roundabout way, my brother and I have the same name! Cool, right?...

God is so worthy of our praise. Have you ever let yourself really focus on some of the things God has done and then gotten carried away with how much you are in awe of Him? Have you ever looked at nature to see what God has created or thought about how He keeps life going and sustains the entire universe every single day? God made all things good, and even though the world has been broken by sin,...

When I’m barely hanging on I know that you’ve got me When there is so much to be done I know that you’ll help me When I don’t know what to believe I know that you have answers When I’m scared I know that you are there When life isn’t what I want it to be I know that you comfort me When I was dead in my sin I know that you saved me Emily Acker Do you ever feel like everything around you is too much...

Have you ever felt disgusted by all the suffering, corruption, and pure wickedness happening in our world? When I hear about twisted officials, abandoned children, and senseless violence, I either get really angry and queasy, or I try to shut it out and look somewhere else. But how should Christians respond to injustice? We start with the gospel. Because Jesus cares deeply about injustice, He came...

I had never seen someone braid with such calm fury. But there He was, the one some called the Messiah, methodically twisting three leather cords into a whip. “About time,” I thought. “These Romans have been oppressing us for years! And if He’s supposed to be some kind of king, surely He would have overthrown them by now. Oh well, better late than never.” Eager to watch this Messiah turn His weapon...

If you have ever looked up to someone, only to have them mess up and fail, you’ve probably felt a deep sense of disappointment. Maybe you felt betrayed or even foolish for looking up to them. If you have longed to be like someone and then watched that person make a mistake that you never want to make, you might have been left wondering who you can look up to, who you can trust. It’s important to r...

I stood at the end of a long, long driveway. It was pretty, with pine trees neatly lining it and a shimmering pond on the other side, but it was so long. I was working door-to-door book sales that summer, and it was a tough Job I’d worked all morning and sold just three books. And I didn’t want to walk down that driveway. I could picture the scenario in my head already. I’d make it all the way up...