Unlocked: Daily Devotions for Teens

Resurrection

READ: ISAIAH 43:19; 61:3; EZEKIEL 37:1-14; PSALM 107:20 [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=ISAIAH%2043%3A19%3B%2061%3A3%3B%20EZEKIEL%2037%3A1-14%3B%20PSALM%20107%3A20&version=NLT] Draw near, Lord I’m waiting for You To do a new thing, A God-thing. Bring beauty only You can From these dust and ashes. Open the grave and Breathe Your life Into me Over me All around me. Restore my hope and Resurrect these bones to Praise You once again. • Kelly Hope Parke • One of the Scriptures that inspired today’s poem is Ezekiel 37. When the Israelites were saying, “We have become old, dry bones—all hope is gone” (verse 11), God spoke to the prophet Ezekiel, showing him a valley covered with dry bones. Then the Lord said, “Look! I am going to put breath into you and make you live again!” (verse 5). And that’s exactly what happened: the bones became living people! This passage points forward to Jesus, the one who died on the cross and came back to life so that people who were dead in their sins (that’s all of us) could be forgiven and made alive. If you’ve put your trust in Jesus, this is your story too. You have the Holy Spirit, the breath of life, in you. And when Jesus returns, He will raise you from the dead to live forever with Him on the new heavens and new earth. For more about this good news, see our "Know Jesus" page. • Is there anything in your life right now that feels like those dry bones—things that seem hopeless and beyond repair? Consider taking some time to talk to God about whatever is on your mind. You can be honest with Him about how badly your suffering hurtsand how much you long for Him to bring hope. Remember, Jesus is with you, and nothing can separate you from His love. (Romans 8:38-39) • Why is it never foolish to hope in Jesus? (Hint: read Romans 5:5; Hebrews 4:14-16; Revelation 21:1-5) “This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Look! I am going to put breath into you and make you live again!” Ezekiel 37:5 (NLT)

Popsicles and God's Work

READ: 2 CORINTHIANS 5:17; GALATIANS 5:13-23; PHILIPPIANS 2:13 [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20CORINTHIANS%205%3A17%3B%20GALATIANS%205%3A13-23%3B%20PHILIPPIANS%202%3A13&version=CSB] Last night I accidentally let a popsicle melt on my desk. It dripped down onto my manuscript, and fifty pages of a book I was writing were ruined. The amazing thing about all this is that I wasn’t the least bit upset. It truly astonished me that I felt no anger or frustration over it. God must have been working in me again, because this surely wasn’t the old me. The old me would have cried out something like, “Forget it—it’s not worth it. I’m going to quit writing this!” (Although I wouldn’t have quit.) How God does it, I don’t know. I don’t feel anything going on inside. A light doesn’t flash and display the words “I’m different today.” But somehow, in God’s own timing, I am being lovingly changed, little by little, into the image of His Son. The fruit of the Spirit is beginning to blossom in my soul. This time the particular fruit was patience, or maybe it should be called longsuffering. Whatever you call it, it was something not evident in me yesterday, and it certainly wasn’t something I brought forth from myself. It’s God’s work. • Sharon Roberts • If we’ve put our trust in Jesus, believing in His death and resurrection, He lives in us through the Holy Spirit. As the Holy Spirit works in us, He produces fruit in our lives: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). Have you ever been surprised to see one of these fruits pop up in your life? What was that like? Consider taking a moment to praise Jesus for this! • As we grow in our faith, Jesus has so much patience with us. He loves us, and He knows that we will continue to struggle with sin until the day He returns. And He wants to help us. So when we fail, we can confess our sins to Him and rest in His sure forgiveness (1 John 1:9–2:1). He won’t give up on us. He keeps walking with us, forming us more and more into His perfect image (2 Corinthians 3:18). Consider taking some time to talk to Jesus in prayer, confessing any sins that come to mind and resting in His patient love. I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6 (CSB)

Ready for a Visit

READ: MATTHEW 11:28-30; 2 CORINTHIANS 1:3-7; HEBREWS 4:14-16; 1 PETER 1:22 [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=MATTHEW%2011%3A28-30%3B%202%20CORINTHIANS%201%3A3-7%3B%20HEBREWS%204%3A14-16%3B%201%20PETER%201%3A22&version=NIV] When I was growing up, my grandma was always ready for visitors. She’d often have homemade cookies that she would plate up for us, along with a glass of cold milk. Or if she didn’t have any baked, then she would get out a package of cookies and serve them up. She welcomed us warmly, and our visits always ended with a hug. Those were some special times, and looking back now, I think she gave us a good example of pure love, like God offers us. God is always ready for a visit. He always welcomes us. He is always prepared for us to sit and talk for a while. God meets us with comfort and love. You never have to feel like it’s a bad time to go to God. You never have to worry that He won’t be prepared for your prayers. Just like a loving grandparent, God is always there for you. He will always hear you. He will always love you. If you ever begin to doubt God’s love for you, then consider the most loving person in your life—and know that He loves you even more than they do. He wanted so badly to become your Father that He went all the way to the cross and grave for you! Jesus died and rose again so you could be forgiven and adopted into God’s family. That means, if you’ve put your trust in Jesus, God is your heavenly Father. So remember, you are His priceless creation, and you are infinitely special to Him. He always wants to hear from you. • Bethany Acker • Do you have someone in your life who is always welcoming and ready to visit? This is the kind of love God has for you! He is always eager for you to “visit” by drawing near to Him. Can you picture God this way? Consider taking some time to draw near to Him in prayer, and receive His warmth in whatever way you need it today—whether it be sharing in your joy, comforting you in your pain, listening compassionately as you process frustration, giving wisdom and direction in your confusion, covering you with forgiveness as you confess your sins, or something else. [Jesus said,] “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28 (NIV)

Disco Ball Reality

READ: PSALM 34:18; MATTHEW 11:28-30; HEBREWS 4:12-16 [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=PSALM%2034%3A18%3B%20MATTHEW%2011%3A28-30%3B%20HEBREWS%204%3A12-16&version=NLT] Sometimes, I feel like a disco ball. Everyone thinks I’m the life of the party, that I’m always happy, having fun. If they looked a little closer, though, they’d discover the truth: I’m mostly broken, spinning in the dark, reflecting so many chaotic emotions that I feel like I just might crash. If that resonates with you, know you are not alone. God’s Word warns us that big, glittering smiles could hide a great deal of pain—sometimes our own. While we may be able to fool the people around us—and even ourselves on occasion—God is not deceived. He knows the griefs we carry. He knows each one of our broken pieces. And while He can shine light that brings joy, whimsy, and laughter into even the darkest of places, He is not interested in us spinning through the dark, putting on a show. He wants to heal us, to make us new, to give us purpose even when we are in pain. He wants our lives to rotate to the rhythm of His grace. And that grace is revealed in Jesus. God loves us so much that He took all our pain, sin, and brokenness on Himself on the cross. Then He rose from the grave, making the way for us to be with Him forever. When Jesus returns, all the chaos will be over, and we will be completely healed, whole, and restored. In the meantime, He’s with us in our pain—bringing hope and help. People around us may not be able to see a difference between spinning in chaotic brokenness and having faith in Christ’s redemption of the brokenness. They may only see us as the cheerful life of the party they’ve always seen, simply because they’re not privileged to deeply know us. But God notices all the deepest truths of you, and He sees how you’re coping. You can bring all your brokenness and chaos to Him, trusting Him to redeem it somehow, to heal it. You don’t have to carry the burden of making everyone else happy, especially when you’re struggling. You can release your burdens to Jesus, and rest in His love. • Abigail Aswegen • Do you ever pressure yourself to be happy for everyone else? Because of Jesus, we can slowly let down our guard, be honest about our brokenness, and rely on Him to bring healing. • When you feel the chaos inside of you ramping up—whether it’s anxiety, emotions, or pressure—how can you step back, slow down, and recenter on Christ? Who are trusted Christians in your life who can come alongside you and help you do this? Laughter can conceal a heavy heart, but when the laughter ends, the grief remains. Proverbs 14:13 (NLT)

The True Story of St. Patrick

READ: ACTS 1:8; 8:4-8, 26-40 [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=ACTS%201%3A8%3B%208%3A4-8%2C%2026-40&version=NIV] The first time I visited Ireland, I toured Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin. I saw a museum exhibit of an ancient stone slab with a cross on it. The slab was from a nearby well that Patrick may have used to baptize people who converted to Christianity in the fifth century. The reason we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day on March 17 is to remember Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. When Patrick was about sixteen years old, he was captured by foreign raiders, carried off to Ireland, and sold as a slave. Patrick was enslaved for six years until God brought him back to his home country in Britain. Patrick recognized that God’s presence was with him at all times, and we can see this through the prayer of Saint Patrick, part of which says: “Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me.” What amazes me is that, after Patrick escaped home to Britain, God called him back to Ireland as a missionary. Patrick knew there were dangers if he returned, but he still obeyed what God was calling him to. He shared the hope of Jesus with the Irish people, in spite of opposition from the church in Britain. He shared the message of the gospel—the good news that Jesus loves us so much that He died on the cross and rose from the dead to save us from sin and make the way for us to have eternal life with Him. God worked powerfully through Patrick’s ministry, and pagans who formerly worshiped nature came to put their trust in the one true God. God loves to draw people to Himself, and we get to be part of that work! If we’ve put our trust in Jesus, we are equipped and empowered by the Holy Spirit to share the gospel with people from around the world, like Patrick did with the people of Ireland. • Brooke Morris • Similar to how Patrick went to the place that formerly enslaved him, Jesus came to be with us—people who were God’s enemies (John 1:1-18; Romans 5:6-11). And, like Patrick, Jesus came with a mission to love and save the people who hated Him. Jesus even died for us! Then He rose from the dead, defeating sin and death on our behalf so we could have eternal life with Him. What good news! To learn more about the gospel, and how to share it, check out our "Know Jesus [https://unlocked.org/knowjesus/]" page. • Can you think of a time someone shared the gospel with you? Maybe it was a pastor, family member, youth leader, or friend. What did they say that stuck with you? • Have you ever shared the gospel with someone? What was that like? Consider taking a moment to ask God to help you notice any people in your life He is inviting you to share the gospel with. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8 (NIV)