Unlocked: Daily Devotions for Teens

READ: SONG OF SONGS 2; 8:6-7; EPHESIANS 5:25-32

Today we’re looking at a book in the Old Testament called Song of Songs. Many readers are confused when they find this love poem in the Bible. It ta…

READ: PSALMS 1:2; 119:103-105; 2 TIMOTHY 3:14-17

Have you ever canned food? Throughout much of history, people have canned and preserved food—often in glass jars. This has been an important way fo…

READ: ISAIAH 56:5; ACTS 11:26; 1 PETER 4:16

Do you know what your name means? Across cultures, names have meanings, and when we give names to babies, those meanings can be a beautiful way to commu…

READ: PSALMS 36:7; 94:18; 143:8-12; ISAIAH 54:10

Unfailing love...

We sin and sin again. We mess up and try to put the blame on someone or something other than ourselves. We fail to help the hu…

READ: MATTHEW 4:1-11; 1 CORINTHIANS 10:13; HEBREWS 4:14-16

How can we resist temptation?

As Christians, when we encounter something we know Jesus wouldn’t want us to do, we have a choice. Will …

READ: ROMANS 8:28; 1 CORINTHIANS 13:12; REVELATION 21:1-5

It might seem odd, but I often think of kittens when I consider a very hard question: “Where is God with all the hurt going on?”

It’s a…

READ: JOHN 1:14; 3:16-17; COLOSSIANS 1:12-14

I think being a professional kitten rescuer might be one of the cutest jobs in existence. But the practical realities of the job are anything but cute.…

READ: EPHESIANS 1:3-14

We don’t always fully agree with everyone who shares our faith in Jesus Christ. Some people might judge us, and we might fall into judging them too. The decisions that we ma…

READ: 1 CORINTHIANS 9:19-23; PHILIPPIANS 2:5-8

I sat down at a table lavishly spread with traditional Romanian foods. And that was the day I began eating meat again.

Years ago, at age sixteen, …

READ: PSALMS 9:10; 63:1-8; ACTS 17:27

When I search for You  You’re not hard to find  When I need a friend You are always kind When I ask for help You are always there Whenever I’m in a mess You …

READ: JOHN 14:18; REVELATION 21:1-5; 22:20

One semester, while my friend was taking a seminary class on Tuesday mornings, I’d watch her two-year-old daughter. These mornings were typically filled …

READ: MATTHEW 20:1-16; 2 CORINTHIANS 9:6-15

Veena had to hold herself back from running to the fruit stand. She’d finished her first week on the job—pulling weeds from the pine-melon fields—and no…

READ: JOHN 1:18; ROMANS 12:19; REVELATION 21:3-4

Do you have a favorite place to think or pray? I do. Most mornings I grab my coffee and head to the back porch. There, I meet with God in prayer, a…

READ: JOHN 16:33; ROMANS 8:17-39; 1 PETER 1:6-7

I once saw a bowling team that called themselves, "It’s All Good." Wouldn’t it be awesome if the saying "it’s all good" were true? Sadly, troubles a…

READ: PSALMS 73:28; 119:67-71; 2 CORINTHIANS 1:4-7; HEBREWS 12:5-12

Let’s continue our study on suffering. Suffering exists because God’s good world has been broken by sin. Today, we’ll talk about…

READ: PHILIPPIANS 4:6-8, HEBREWS 4:14-16; 1 PETER 5:7

When I was thirteen, I attended my first church camp. I experienced life-changing things, like when I encountered 1 Peter 5:7, “Give all your …

READ: ISAIAH 53:2-6; ROMANS 8:17-39; REVELATION 21:3-4

At age seventeen, Joni Eareckson Tada awoke after a diving accident—paralyzed from the shoulders down. Thus began her new life—from a wheelch…

Why do we do kind things for other people? If we really examine our motives,/is it so we’ll win points with them and make them like us? Or do we think doing good deeds will win us points with God?.In…

When you start worrying about things happening in your life or in the world around you, look at the stars..If it isn’t dark out and you can’t see the stars,/then look at the wildflowers..If it’s too …

When you were little, did you ever dress up as royalty—making paper crowns, walking around in old fancy clothes from a dress-upbin, or sitting on imaginary thrones and bossing around the people of yo…