Unlocked: Daily Devotions for Teens

READ: COLOSSIANS 1:15-23

Think for a minute about everything you see around you every day—the sky, your home, your shoes, your food…Within each of those visible objects are invisible objects that are working together to create something tangible. Your shoes are made of molecules, which are made of atoms, which are made of electrons and protons and neutrons, which are made of quarks. I...

READ: JONAH 4; MATTHEW 12:38-42; ROMANS 10:9-13

Out of all the biblical prophets, Jonah is probably the most infamous. The book focuses on a prophet who didn’t want to go to the city of Nineveh when God told him to. It’s not hard to see why. Nineveh was a brutal and cruel place, where they removed the noses and ears of some of their prisoners, practiced witchcraft, and worshiped idols...

READ: PSALMS 23:1-3; 116:7; MATTHEW 11:28-30

Let me take you several thousand feet above sea level. It’s a warm, summery day, and the sun shines hot on your head. Sweat runs down your back. You’ve just climbed from the bottom of Yosemite to the top of a mountain. Green trees fill the park as far as you can see. Mountains surround you. The normal response would be to sit down and enjoy...

READ: PSALMS 64:1-10; 116:10; 142:1-7

Have you ever greeted someone you haven’t seen in a while with a friendly, “Hi, how have you been?” and they responded with a shrug and said, “I can’t complain”? I never know how to interpret that. I end up translating it in my head to mean, “I’m not quite content, but there’s nothing glaringly wrong with my life.” Often, I end up wondering if the...

READ: EXODUS 16:8-31, 35; NUMBERS 14:8; PHILIPPIANS 4:10-20

Sometimes God only gives us what we need for the moment. Can you relate? Maybe God is only providing enough money for your family to get by each month, or maybe He sent you a temporary friend instead of a longer lasting friendship. You fill in the blank.

In the book of Exodus, when the Israelites ran out of food in the wil...

READ: PSALM 8; MATTHEW 5:1-16; 2 CORINTHIANS 4:6; PHILIPPIANS 2:12-18

It was midnight. I put my paddleboard into the saltwater of the Puget Sound, then pushed off the shore and hopped aboard, surrounded by darkness. I dipped my paddle into the water, gently swirling it around, and gasped—the water sparkled! It looked as if the stars had fallen into the ocean. In utter disbelief, I did...

READ: GALATIANS 6:1-10; EPHESIANS 4:11-16

Do you know what a symbiotic relationship is? It’s when two beings interact, live near each other, and have a relationship that benefits both of them. The animal kingdom is filled with these kinds of relationships.

The clown fish lives in an anemone, and it scares away the butterfly fish, one of the anemone’s enemies. The anemone has sting ...

READ: JOHN 11:1-44; HEBREWS 4:14-16; REVELATION 21:1-5

I closed the book and pondered what I had just read. Jesus weeps for me? The novel I was reading explained it in such a way that I just had to stop for a moment and think. The book said Jesus is there with us in our suffering. His heart breaks over human pain, and He mourns with us.

But He doesn’t mourn because all is lost. Chr...

READ: PSALM 19:7-11; 2 TIMOTHY 3:16-17; HEBREWS 4:12

Martin Frobisher, an English explorer, once discovered a huge hoard of gold on Baffin Island in Canada. He sent three ships, carrying 160 tons of gold-containing ore, back to Queen Elizabeth I in England. Unfortunately, the ore contained nothing more than a pile of yellow mica or iron pyrite—otherwise known as fool’s gold.

Fool’s...

READ: ROMANS 5:6-11

Jesus Christ died for your sins.

Does this sentence amaze you every time you read it?

For many of us (especially those of us who have grown up going to church), this amazing statement has become so normal in our lives that we often glance over it. But that’s just what this truth is—amazing. Something that inspires awe, admiration, or wonder.

Jesus’s death ...

READ: PSALM 139; LUKE 12:6-7

Any other “middle kids” out there? I’m a middle child. Not the exact middle, but I’m number three out of four kids. My older two siblings were very outgoing when we were young, and my little brother was the baby of the family, so all three of them received a lot of attention. And then there was me, somewhere in the middle. I was a really quiet kid, and it ...

READ: PROVERBS 16:3-9; ROMANS 8:28-29; PHILIPPIANS 4:4-7

When I was seventeen, my second choice for a summer activity rose to become my first. Early in the year, I auditioned for the all-state marching band, which would travel and perform during the summer. However, I didn’t get selected for that honor, so I set my sights on something different. I decided to work with a group called t...

READ: GALATIANS 1:6-12; 2:14–3:6; 5:1, 16-26

Imagine you’re standing in a burning building. Everything is on fire. Smoke fills the air, and it’s hard to see or breathe. But you, quick thinker that you are, hold your breath. You get down low. You bob and weave between burning furniture and crumbling walls. You dodge the pieces of ceiling that crash to the floor around you. You tuck and...

READ: GENESIS 1:26–2:3; MATTHEW 11:28-30; LUKE 10:38-42

Alistair hefted his saw and adjusted his vision screen over his eyes. As he made the final cut, the virtual gift box opened in the corner of his vision screen and a few digitized fireworks exploded. Though he knew the praise was only automatic, it still felt good. A banner floated across the screen: “Congratulations! You have ear...

READ: ROMANS 8:18, 23-25; REVELATION 21

If you were a character in a book, it would be nice to know that your story has a happy ending. When we’re the ones reading a book, usually we try to avoid spoilers, but sometimes we can’t help ourselves. As a kid, I can remember the suspense surrounding the fate of favorite characters. Unable to take the tension any longer, I would peek a few c...

READ: MARK 16:19-20; LUKE 24:50-53; ACTS 1:4-11; REVELATION 1:7

Recently I noticed Ascension Day on the calendar of a religious publication. In my faith tradition, little attention is given to this monumental event. However, the fact that Jesus ascended into heaven is vital to our understanding of His birth, death, and resurrection. Scripture reveals that Christ ascended into heaven f...

READ: ISAIAH 49:13-17; JOHN 10:1-30

I have a bad habit of losing umbrellas. As a little girl, I flipped through a catalog one day and spotted an umbrella I desperately wanted. It featured an array of soft, pastel colors—baby blue, mint green, and lavender. I begged my parents for it and later unwrapped this present with glee. I was in umbrella heaven!

Then one day, after shielding ...

READ: ESTHER 4:1-17; EPHESIANS 2:1-10

Do you ever wish you had been born during a different time? I sometimes wish I was living earlier in history. I read books about knights, ladies, and castles, and I think I would like to have lived during the Middle Ages. Or I wish we could go back to when people worked harder for themselves and didn’t have to rely so much on technology. Maybe you...

READ: DEUTERONOMY 31:8; PSALMS 8:1-9; 139:1-14; EPHESIANS 2:13

 

I step into the night,

surrendering my eyes,

enveloped in darkness

like plunging into water.

 

Desperate for light, I look up.

 

A few brave stars gleam,

unafraid of night’s unknowing.

Silhouetted black pines rise

and frame the gray sky.

 

Leaves tumble and wrestle,

keeping me alert.

I can’t tell if I’m alone

or being watch...