Unlocked: Daily Devotions for Teens

READ: PSALMS 55:16-18; 57:1-11

I’ve had days when I’ve cried out to God again and again because I cannot face all that is going on in my life without Him. It takes humility to admit that I need Him to get through my life, and that I especially need Him to step in when things aren’t going well.

I have had days when I’m at my computer, and I close my eyes and cry out to God. On those...

READ: MATTHEW 6:25-34; 18:1-4; 19:13-15

When I was a young child, I didn’t worry about the future or what I was going to do next. I was focused solely on the present, and I relied completely on my parents to guide me. They prepared my meals, drove me places, and bought me clothes and toys. My complete dependence on my parents created an unavoidable humility within me. I relied on thei...

READ: JUDGES 6:1–7:25; ROMANS 5:6; 2 CORINTHIANS 12:8-10

Have you ever made excuses to God? Blamed God when bad things happened? Feared what others would think if you obeyed God’s voice? I have. But so did Gideon, and God worked through Gideon to rescue an entire nation. When the Israelites were oppressed by the Midianites, the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon and called him a “mi...

READ: PSALM 139:1-18; 2 CORINTHIANS 5:16-17

Who am I? What is my purpose? Do I matter? If you’ve asked these questions, you’re not alone. When describing ourselves, we often list physical attributes such as age, height, hair color, and ethnicity. Or we may list hobbies, accomplishments, or skills that we are proud of. Perhaps we discuss our family heritage, or other relationships that...

READ: PSALMS 1:1-3; 92:12-15; ROMANS 4

Arbor Day has come around again, prompting us to take notice of an important part of God’s creation—trees! It’s good to appreciate all the good things trees provide us with, like clean air, food, wood, beauty, and shade. On a trip I took to southern California, I noticed that even in the desert, palm trees can flourish. As their spindly trunks st...

READ: PSALM 18:1-2; MATTHEW 7:24-27; 1 JOHN 4:9-10

When my high school sweetheart broke up with me in college, my whole world turned upside down. He had been my everything: my best friend, my anchor, my fortress, my rock. And suddenly it was all gone. I was devastated, lost, and alone.

I kept pursuing him in the hopes that we might get back together. I even followed him to a Christ...

READ: PSALM 139:1-12; ROMANS 8:26-39; HEBREWS 13:5

My heart beats quickly in my chest, and I feel a bit nauseous. Everything feels out of my control again, and I don’t like it. Moments like this come and drag me to a dark place. I feel uncertain. I feel alone. But as my head starts to clear, as I slowly release the anxiety inside of me, I see that it’s all lies. I am not alone now, an...

READ: PSALM 19:1-6; MATTHEW 27:45-54

The sky is one of the most varied and beautiful parts of God’s creation. In the morning you can see soft pinks and yellows amid golden sunlight as the sun rises up. In the afternoon you can see fluffy white clouds sailing. In the first part of the evening there are bold reds, oranges, purples, pinks, and blues while the sun is going down. After the...

READ: MATTHEW 28:16-20; JOHN 20:19-31; 1 PETER 1:5-9

Doubt can be so sneaky. It could be that our whole lives we feel like we’ve had rock solid faith, and then one day we find ourselves asking, “Is God real?” For anyone experiencing doubt today, this week, or even years from now, I have some great news.

God is big enough for you to explore your doubts and questions. If He wasn’t, H...

READ: LUKE 23:50–24:12, 36-48; JOHN 20

The resurrection is vital to the Christian faith. It proves that Jesus is both fully God and fully human. But did Jesus really come back from the dead? Or did someone steal His body? Let’s look at some facts.

The Roman soldiers guarded the tomb day and night. Nobody could get past them. Even if they had fallen asleep, a huge rock that took sev...

READ: MATTHEW 20:17-19, 28; 27:27-54; JOHN 19:16-37

One of the questions people often ask about Jesus is, “Did He really die? Or did He just pass out and revive later on? Did He fake it so He could get everyone’s attention…and then pretend to rise from the dead?” All good questions. What evidence is there for Jesus’s death? Let’s take a look at what the Bible says.

First, Jesus wen...

READ: MATTHEW 27; ROMANS 10:9-13; 1 JOHN 1:7–2:2

"His blood is on us and on our children!” the people shouted. This quote comes from Matthew 27:25. The people are gathered around the Roman governor of Judea, Pontius Pilate. They are begging him to have Jesus crucified. At this point Pilate has already reluctantly agreed, literally washing his hands to show he does not condone this pun...

READ: MATTHEW 26:14-56; 1 CORINTHIANS 11:23-25; HEBREWS 4:14-16

Have you ever been betrayed? From large betrayals to small disappointments, betrayal is a hard thing to bear. And yet, it is so common. There probably is not a person in the world who hasn’t felt that sense of astonishment when a trusted person lets them down. As the hurt settles into our hearts, we learn to guard ourselv...

READ: 1 PETER 2:22-25

It seems so unfair, how Jesus was taken to the cross. He is perfect. He never did anything wrong, much less anything deserving of death. It seems so confusing that He would allow it to happen. Jesus had all the power. He is God the Son—He could have gotten away at any point.

But He didn’t.

Instead, Jesus fulfilled God the Father’s plan for Him. He was to be...

READ: ROMANS 8:1; GALATIANS 6:14; HEBREWS 12:1-3; 1 PETER 2:23-25

When I see a cross, I don’t think much of it. People use the shape of a cross on jewelry, t-shirts, tattoos, logos, books, and church buildings. But back in the New Testament times, crosses were a symbol of condemnation and shame. Crucifixion was the most brutal, humiliating death the Roman Empire could come up with, an...

READ: ISAIAH 53:3-5; 1 PETER 2:24; REVELATION 21:4

Throughout human history, a wide variety of cultures have had rites of passage where individuals had to endure something painful to be seen as an adult. Having a high pain tolerance has often brought respect. For instance, a while ago someone close to me had surgery to remove her wisdom teeth. After that type of procedure, the doctor ...

READ: JOB 40:15-24; PSALMS 57; 142

The young man leaned heavily against the cave’s wall. He gasped for breath, clutching a wound at his side where blood seeped through his shirt and stained his fingers red.

“You promised,” he spat into the empty cave to the God he once trusted. “You told me it was mine, but then you let them take it from me. Now I have nothing.”

He slid down the...

READ: PSALM 10:11-18; EPHESIANS 6:18; HEBREWS 4:14-16

I accidentally tapped “emergency call” on my phone today. Immediately, I felt my heartbeat speed up. I had never done that before, and I wasn’t sure what it would do. Thankfully, I was able to cancel the call before it did anything, but it got me thinking…

There are people out there who are available to help us in emergency situ...

READ: 1 CORINTHIANS 15:20-28, 54-57; REVELATION 1:17-18

Today, we’re going to revisit yesterday’s poem. Not only does Jesus’s death and resurrection give us victory over sin, but it also gives us victory over death! In 1 Corinthians 15, we see how our personal hope of resurrection is tied directly to Christ’s own resurrection—and His coming reign over every evil force in this world. Paul...