Unlocked: Daily Devotions for Teens

READ: JOHN 15:13-15; ROMANS 3:21-24; 15:7; 1 JOHN 1:8–2:2

Are you good enough? I’m not. Not nearly good enough to please all those voices that tell me to do better, try harder, be perfect. How I’v…

READ: DEUTERONOMY 31:8; MATTHEW 6:25-34; JOHN 10:3-5

I was 24 years old, and I was bawling. I sat halfway down a mountain slope, one ski at my feet and the other several yards uphill where it had …

READ: PSALM 139:14-18; MATTHEW 6:26; 10:29-31; EPHESIANS 2:10

I love snow. I love the way the delicate little snowflakes dance and spin as they fall from the sky. I love it when they all pile up i…

READ: 1 SAMUEL 20:32-42; LUKE 1:26-45; HEBREWS 2:18

Do you know Mary’s story well? It begins when the angel Gabriel appeared to her and told her that she would be carrying the Messiah, the Son of …

READ: PSALMS 106:1-2; 146:6-10; 1 THESSALONIANS 5:16-18

When I look at my hands, each finger formed by You, When I feel the wind, each breath coming because of You, When I hear the noise of a crow…

READ: GENESIS 12:1-3; JOHN 1:1-13; GALATIANS 4:4-6

For many people, the word family evokes ideas like safety, love, acceptance, and happiness. But for others, family evokes ideas like anxiety, str…

READ: ISAIAH 53:1-6; LUKE 15:1-10

Shivers snaked through my body. I blinked. The sun lit the surrounding snow with gleaming white light. I pushed my curls out of my eyes and away from the wound on…

READ: ROMANS 12:13; HEBREWS 13:2; 1 PETER 4:7-10

Did you know that all Christians are called to some sort of ministry? You don’t have to be a pastor or missionary to have a ministry—the fact is, G…

READ: MATTHEW 6:25-34

Since I was young, I’ve often had to remind myself to just consider the next moment instead of trying to figure out everything that’s going to happen in the future. The truth…

READ: MATTHEW 23:27-28; EPHESIANS 2:4-10; PHILIPPIANS 3:7-9

Have you ever cut into a shiny red tomato, only to find it was all rotten in the middle? It may have looked perfect on the outside—not e…

READ: PSALMS 46:1-3; 61:1-3; MATTHEW 14:22-33; HEBREWS 13:8

You are my refuge and strength, My strong tower in the storm. So I do not shudder as The clouds darken. You promised peace In the midst…

READ: PSALM 73:11-28; 2 CORINTHIANS 4:16-18

We can ask God hard questions. In Psalm 73, Asaph’s question to God is basically, Why are the wicked so successful, while people like me who follow God …

READ: PSALM 73:1-15; HEBREWS 4:14-16

Usually when I hear adults pray publicly, they sound very wise. They thank God and ask for blessings, but they never complain or disagree with God. But that’s …

READ: 1 SAMUEL 16:1-13; PSALM 139:14; ISAIAH 60:1

Every single day we are bombarded with social media posts, pictures, and videos of friends, actors, models, singers, and superstars. And seeing th…

READ: MATTHEW 4:16; 1 THESSALONIANS 5:5; 1 PETER 2:9

Darkness. That’s all I can see. There used to be so many dazzling lights—my friends, my family. They’re all gone now. I’ll probably never see t…

READ: PSALM 139:23-24; 2 TIMOTHY 3:14-17; HEBREWS 4:12-16

Do you know why dentists take x-rays of our teeth? Even though dentists and dental hygienists look for cavities while they clean people’s …

READ: EPHESIANS 4:20-32; 6:10-18; 1 PETER 5:6-10

What would you say is the most dangerous animal in the world? Sharks, lions, snakes? If we look at the number of humans killed each year by these p…

READ: 1 CORINTHIANS 3:4-9; 1 PETER 2:1-5

What do we need to do to become more spiritually mature? Be really self-sufficient? Come up with all the right answers to life’s questions? In 1 Peter 2:2,…

READ: PSALM 18:1-19; EPHESIANS 5:8-20

I find myself surrounded by The lies that tangle through my mind. It started with just one falsehood of the enemy, One measure of deceit I did not quell with …

READ: 1 KINGS 19:1-18; HEBREWS 12:1-3; 1 CORINTHIANS 15:54-58

A failure. That’s how Elijah saw himself as he fled for his life into the wilderness. He’d had such high hopes going into the dramatic…