Unlocked: Daily Devotions for Teens

READ: MATTHEW 6:25-34; PHILIPPIANS 3:7-21

Lots of things in life can feel important in the moment. You might worry about your grades. You might think you need the most fashionable clothes. Maybe y…

READ: PHILIPPIANS 2:1-11; JAMES 1:19-20

I had just entered my first summer in Romania as a missionary, and one morning I discovered a stranger at my apartment door spouting words I didn’t understa…

READ: ROMANS 6:4-11; COLOSSIANS 3:1-4

Do you have a favorite book or movie that you like to read or watch over and over? Do you ever find yourself wishing you were part of the story? It can be fun…

READ: PSALMS 34:15-18; 139:7-12; HEBREWS 13:5

When it all slips away When I am left alone The darkness surrounds me I feel like hiding When it all gets too heavy When life is hard to bear The wor…

READ: MATTHEW 25:35-40; LUKE 2:15-20

Do you ever get that bored, depressed, or letdown feeling after Christmas ends? When all the fun and festivities come to a close and we wait for the new year t…

READ: MATTHEW 2:1-12; 2 CORINTHIANS 9:15; JAMES 1:17

Galumph, galumph. The magi had been traveling for weeks. Nothing but sand under their feet and stars in the sky above. Though the heavens were …

READ: GENESIS 4:2-5; EXODUS 3:1-4; 1 SAMUEL 16:11-13; LUKE 2:8-20

Shepherds couldn’t even testify in a court of law. That’s how much people looked down on us. They assumed we were liars. I hated t…

READ: LUKE 15:11-32; ROMANS 5:6-8; 15:7; 1 JOHN 4:9

As a kid, the one thing I wanted for Christmas—every Christmas—was a puppy. Sometimes a collie, sometimes a German shepherd, sometimes a cocker …

READ: MICAH 5:1-4; MATTHEW 2:1-6; LUKE 2:1-15

Are you a detail-oriented person? Some people are, some people aren’t, and some people—like me—can be if it’s something they care about. Did you know …

READ: 2 KINGS 6:8-23; PSALM 135:5-6

Wars, earthquakes, crime—all kinds of awful things are going on in the world. Sometimes it seems like there’s only bad news. But when things look bleak in our b…

READ: LUKE 2:4-7; JOHN 1:1-18

Christmas tends to get a lot of hype as far as holidays go. I love the holiday personally. It’s a time when I get to celebrate with my family, share presents, and eat…

READ: PSALM 62:5-12; MATTHEW 2:1-11; LUKE 2:1-7

From the time we’re young, Christmas can leave us feeling disappointed. As a little kid, you might have longed for a certain gift and gone without i…

READ: LUKE 1:26-56; 2:1-35; 1 TIMOTHY 4:12

In Luke 1, when the angel Gabriel suddenly appeared out of nowhere, Mary was probably no more than sixteen. As if the angel wasn’t terrifying enough, he …

READ: GALATIANS 4:4-5; REVELATION 21:1-5

When He came the first time

The world was in dire need

Arriving as a newborn baby

Not atop a gallant steed

This might come to some’s surprise

READ: ISAIAH 9:1-7; MATTHEW 1:18-23

God with us. Closer than our very breath, YH-WH, “I am,” here (Exodus 3:14). From the seeking of humanity in the Garden of Eden, when we first sinned and God ca…

READ: PSALMS 39:4-7; 90:1-17

When I was young, my family would visit my grandmother 750 miles away, and at night, she would sit with me on her lap and read from her Bible and tell stories of her l…

READ: LUKE 2:25-35

Long ago, God promised Simeon that before he died, he would see the Messiah. And so, Simeon waited.

I imagine that, as he grew in years and felt his physical strength lessen,…

READ: EPHESIANS 6:10-20

If you live in a part of the world where the winters get cold and snowy, you’re probably used to putting on layers of warm clothes before venturing outside. Hats, mittens, …

READ: PSALM 25:16-18; 1 PETER 1:3-13

Lonely, sad, life isn’t what I hoped

Desperate, scared, I feel alone

No one is for me, I stand by myself

Many are against me, I can’t face them

READ: ACTS 2:42-47; 4:32-35; 1 CORINTHIANS 12:25-26

For a few years, my family and I lived near enough to our church’s meeting location that we could bike to church services. The youngest ones, to…