Unlocked: Daily Devotions for Teens

The older I get, the more I love Easter. And not just because of the chocolate (although chocolate is amazing), but because I’ve started to understand more about the meaning of Easter. Because the truth is, without the event we celebrate on Easter, there is no Christianity. Without Easter, our faith is pointless. Without Easter, we have no hope. At Easter, we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. L...

Nicodemus was a religious leader who came to visit Jesus one night. Jesus reminded him of an old story in Israel’s history about a time when the Israelites sinned against God, so God sent venomous snakes among them. Many people were bitten. Many died. Those still alive came to Moses, acknowledging they had sinned against God and asking Moses to pray to God to take the snakes away. When Moses praye...

Carrying the bag of groceries on my head seemed like a good idea at the time. But when the glass jar of mayonnaise slipped out of the sack and landed on the brick sidewalk, I immediately regretted that decision. Growing up, my family’s home sat on a piece of land that bordered my grandfather’s farmland. That hot summer day, a team of men were working in the pastures. My mother planned to prepare l...

In an ever-changing world, we all want something to hold on to, don’t we? When we go through a big transition in our life, it always helps to cling to something that doesn’t change, though everything else around us may be changing. Maybe you’re starting a new school, and you’re not sure what that will be like. Perhaps your best friend is moving away, and you have to branch out to make new friends....

There’s a lot of pressure on teenagers to know what they want to do in life. I’m nearing the end of my junior year of high school, and college is often at the forefront of my mind. With so many decisions to makedecisions that have so much weight to themit’s very easy to start feeling terrified. “What if I make the wrong choice?” “What if this isn’t what God wants for me?” “What if this ruins my li...

How can I know if I have eternal life? If there’s one book that can best answer that question, it’s 1 John. This letter is one of five books in the New Testament written by the apostle John. He wrote this letter to help guide Christians who were facing challenges to their faith. Just like in our world today, believers back then had to deal with all kinds of false teachings. John wanted to remind h...

Sacrifices. They appear all throughout the Bible, beginning with the animal killed to clothe the first humans after they fell into sin (Genesis 3:21): Adam, my sheepskin is wearing thin. Soon, I’ll have nothing to wear. I need a new sheepskin too. I’ll go hunting tomorrow for another one. Please be careful! Oh, I hate the thought of killing a sheep! Sacrifices were instituted to cover for human si...

I am weak, falling apart, but You are my deliverer. I am crushed, beaten, but You are the shelter from the storms. I am rebellious, disobedient, but You are the faithful and just God. I am fearful, panicky, but You are the Lord of peace. I am depressed, weary, but You are the God who gives encouragement. I am powerless, defenseless, but You are Lord over all. I am bitter, seeking revenge, but You...

Have you ever played Follow the Leader? One person leads, then the rest follow, copying every move. But if a leader is someone in chargesomeone we look to for directionsthen what makes a good leader? Is it honesty? Integrity? Public speaking abilities? Humor? Organizational skills? Timothy was a young pastor who was like a son to the apostle Paul. As Timothy was leading the Christians in Ephesus,...

The tale of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem is listed in all four of the gospels. In this account, Jesus rides a donkey’s colt into the city as people His peoplethrew their cloaks to the ground at His feet, shouting, Hosanna! But only one gospel, Luke, mentions a key factor that drastically changes the mood of the whole story: when He looked out over that great city of Jerusalem, Jesus wept...

The storm was getting more violent by the second. The little boat couldn’t handle it. It creaked and groaned. There was no way we could make it. We would sink and all of us would drown, for there was no land near us. Our master was asleep. No normal human being could sleep through a time like this. I mentally said farewells to my family as I tried to keep hold of the rail on the boat and not fall...

I love having a plan for anything. I love being prepared for whatever life might throw at me. But it seems the moment I have the perfect plan, things go downhill. Maybe you can relate: one minute, everything is wonderful, the next minute everything is going wrong. People get sick. Things don’t go the way we think they will. Plans fall through. Friends leave us. In the midst of plans falling apart,...

Lightning splits the sky, so I dash inside the nearest store, before I’m drenched. A woman polishes. Welcome, Hayley. I’m Nancy, she says, placing the duster to one side. Come on in. Get shelter from the rain. How do you know my name? I ask, transfixed by the treasures and jewels on display. Nancy smiles, saying nothing. Removing a golden key from her apron, she unlocks the glass cabinets, lifting...

“Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded”these are the words describing the fate of each of Henry VIII’s wives until July 1543 when Katherine Parr married King Henry of England as his sixth wife. “Published author” are words describing Katherine. In her inner circle as queen, Katherine was a scholar and leader in England’s complicated, tumultuous, and violent Reformation Era. She spent much o...

I keep it handy. A college notebook. From time to time, I open it to the back of my American History final. On this page, my favorite professor wrote: It was a real joy to have had you as a student this past term. Your diligence and enthusiasm were always apparenteven on those days when it was hard to be hard-working and excited!! Without fail, when I read these words, I smile. They remind me some...

Once again, the Pharisees were out for Jesus’ blood. Eager to catch Jesus in a mistake, they tugged a woman before Him and announced their plans to stone her for her sin of adultery. The Pharisees hoped Jesus would protest her sentence and contradict the law of Moses, which said adulterers had to die. Finally, Jesus spoke. If anyone here is without sin, they can throw the first stone. The Pharisee...

We like control. We like comfort. We fear the things that threaten our personal security, and we do everything we can to eliminate them. But God never promised us an easy life. In fact, He tells us we as Christians can expect the opposite. Yet God also tells us not to worry. How can we reconcile these two apparently opposite ideas, especially during periods of religious persecution, war, or health...

I don’t know about you, but I love a good mystery. The allure of figuring out where that certain key item is hidden, the suspense of the unknown, the intrigue! And that’s the cool thing about the book of Colossians: this letter to the church at Colossae centers on the solution to the greatest mystery of all. What was this long-hidden mystery, revealed to the believers in Colossae (and to us as wel...

God created us in His image. He created us to trust in Him and not to worry about what the future might hold. At the dawn of creation, Adam and Eve didn’t spend their days stressing over the unknown. They knew God would provide for them: He had provided them with each other, and He had crafted the earth with fruits and nourishment. But when Adam and Eve ate from the tree, they showed a distrust of...

When you’ve shared your faith in Christ, has someone ever asked you, But where in the Bible does it say that? Or have you ever been asked why you believe the way you do? It can be scary if you don’t know what to say in an interaction like this, but it doesn’t mean you are a failure. Instead, it’s an opportunity to study God’s Word in preparation for future conversations. Whether you are eager to t...

St. Patrick was a Scottish teenager when his village was attacked. The invaders threw him on a ship and took him to Ireland where he was sold as a slave to a farmer. Most of Patrick’s slavery was spent alone as a shepherd, so he talked to God almost constantly. Their relationship deepened. One day, the Holy Spirit told him to go to the coast and find a ship waiting for him to take him home. The sh...

Waking up on rocky ground amid the wreckage, I stared at the purple sky. My body ached. The last thing I remembered was a strange force pulling my pod ship toward a crater on this moon. But the twisted panels around me could not comprise my pod. Where was it, and where was I? A small, three-legged creature crossed in front of me. Using suction cups for fingers, it picked up metal objects and scatt...

Have you ever felt like God has abandoned you? Like no matter how much you pray and ask for His guidance, you never seem to get an answer? If you’ve experienced this, take comfort. As Christians, even when life seems uncertain, we can always know God is with us (Matthew 28:20)! Consider the sun in the sky. No matter what, it’s always there, shining brightly. It may be shining on the other side of...

At the start of creation, insecurity was not a known struggle. Adam and Eve did not look into a mirror and wince at their reflection. Their eyes saw each other. They saw the glory of God’s creation, the perfection of the garden, and all the goodness that clothed the earth. God had created them in His image, and He saw that it was good (Genesis 1:26-31). But then the serpent came. Adam and Eve ate...

By grace alone, through faith alone. Many believers describe the how of salvation in these terms (based on Ephesians 2:8-9). If a person places their faith in Jesus, that person receives forgiveness of their sins by the grace of God. Good works cannot add to or grant the forgiveness that comes by grace alone through faith alone. However, when reading the book of James, it seems like James teaches...