Devotions for Teenagers and Youth

Daily Bible Verse and Devotion – Proverbs 27:17

Posted on November 21, 2019

It takes a grinding wheel to sharpen a blade, and so one person sharpens the character of another. – Proverbs 27:17 (TPT)

We’ve probably heard someone tell us how we should be careful to not have bad friends. However, have you ever thought about the fact that you should be making good friends too?

You should be trying to find friends that motivate you to do better.

Today’s Key – Have Friends That Motivate You To Do Better

If you want to do better at band, then find friends that excel at an instrument. Spend time with them. Find out the habits they have to do so well at the band and emulate them. Learning good habits from them will help you do better at your instrument too.

Perhaps you want to do better at sports. Then the same logic follows. Find friends that do well in sports. Copy their habits. If they spend Saturday afternoons lifting weights at the weight room, then go with them.

[Tweet “To be successful, find friends who motivate you to do better – @studentdevos”]

Finding good friends with good habits can be very helpful. Friends that are successful in an area you’d like to grow in can really push you on to success in that area too.

So if you haven’t put any energy into finding good friends, determine to do that today. Don’t let all your friends be people that you simply have fun with and watch movies with. Instead, find friends that push you to do better and be better.

If you’d like to download a PDF copy of this week’s study, you can in our online resource center.

If you’d like to follow along with this week’s devotions on friendship, you can download a PDF copy here.

This week’s devotions:

Day 1 – Choose Friends That Choose You
Instead of pursuing popularity, pursue relationships with people who care about you.
Day 2 – Avoid Friends That Make You Compromise
Your friends make a huge impact on your life. If you want to really live for God and accomplish big things, you will have to avoid friends that make you compromise.
Day 3 – Be Friendly & Treat Others Well
Being nice goes a long way toward having good relationships with others. Treating others well helps others want to be around you.
Day 4 – Have Friends That Motivate You To Do Better
Finding good friends with good habits can be very helpful. Friends that are successful in an area you’d like to grow in can really push you on to success in that area too.

Daily Bible Verse and Devotion – Luke 6:31

Posted on November 20, 2019

Do to others as you would like them to do to you. – Luke 6:31 (NLT)

It can be easy to feel like others don’t understand you. Maybe you feel like your friends just don’t understand what you’re going through. Perhaps you feel like everyone at your school just doesn’t get you.

There are going to be times in your life where you feel like you’re misunderstood.

Read: Help No One Gets Me

The key in the middle of all of those feelings is to make sure that you’re still treating others well. It can be easy if people don’t treat you right to want to retaliate or to hurt others. However, today’s Bible verse challenges us to treat others how you’d want to be treated.

If you’d like to be treated nice, then treat others nice. If you feel left out, look for someone to include.

[Tweet “Treat others how you’d like to be treated – @studentdevos”]

Today’s Key – Be Friendly & Treat Others Well

Being nice goes a long way toward having good relationships with others. Treating others well helps others want to be around you.

If you feel like you don’t have any friends, ask yourself this: Am I doing anything to push others away?

It can be easy if you’ve been hurt to not be nice or hog all the attention. However, these things may push away other potential friends. So if you’ve noticed that people don’t want to hang out with you, take an honest look at how you treat others.

Look for opportunities to help and befriend others. You’ll be glad you did.

If you’d like to follow along with this week’s devotions on friendship, you can download a PDF copy here.

This week’s devotions:

Day 1 – Choose Friends That Choose You
Instead of pursuing popularity, pursue relationships with people who care about you.
Day 2 – Avoid Friends That Make You Compromise
Your friends make a huge impact on your life. If you want to really live for God and accomplish big things, you will have to avoid friends that make you compromise.
Day 3 – Be Friendly & Treat Others Well
Being nice goes a long way toward having good relationships with others. Treating others well helps others want to be around you.
Day 4 – Have Friends That Motivate You To Do Better
Finding good friends with good habits can be very helpful. Friends that are successful in an area you’d like to grow in can really push you on to success in that area too.

Daily Bible Verse and Devotion – 1 Corinthians 15:33

Posted on November 19, 2019

Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.” – 1 Corinthians 15:33 (NIV)

Have you noticed who you hang out with makes a big difference? I had a friend that used to swear all the time. Every other word was a bad word. I noticed that after I hung out with this friend for a while, I was starting to swear more.

It’s amazing the influence our friends have on our lives.

Today’s Key – Avoid Friends That Make You Compromise

Who you spend time with is important. Your friends influence the way you think, your decisions, and even sometimes what you do.

If you’ve got some friends that push you to do things that are wrong, consider distancing yourself from those friends. Maybe when you’re around them you’re more likely to make bad choices or bully others. Realize this and choose to limit time with those people.

Read: Why You Shouldn’t Compromise, Even In The Smallest Ways

Your friends make a huge impact on your life. If you want to really live for God and accomplish big things, you will have to avoid friends that make you compromise.

This isn’t to say that you can’t be friendly to those people, but rather your time with them should be limited. If you know they’re going to influence you to do and say things that you don’t want to do, avoid hanging out with them all the time.

Challenge yourself to avoid friends that make you compromise.

If you’d like to follow along with this week’s devotions on friendship, you can download a PDF copy here.

This week’s devotions:

Day 1 – Choose Friends That Choose You
Instead of pursuing popularity, pursue relationships with people who care about you.
Day 2 – Avoid Friends That Make You Compromise
Your friends make a huge impact on your life. If you want to really live for God and accomplish big things, you will have to avoid friends that make you compromise.
Day 3 – Be Friendly & Treat Others Well
Being nice goes a long way toward having good relationships with others. Treating others well helps others want to be around you.
Day 4 – Have Friends That Motivate You To Do Better
Finding good friends with good habits can be very helpful. Friends that are successful in an area you’d like to grow in can really push you on to success in that area too.

Why You Shouldn’t Compromise, Even in the Smallest Ways

Posted on November 18, 2019

It can be really easy to begin to compromise. Many times, you don’t even realize that you’ve compromised in an area. Compromises can happen in big areas of your life, but they also happen in the smaller ones too.

Usually, compromise happens in small things. You wouldn’t probably go out and kill someone because that would be really WRONG. But you might tell a lie or cheat on your homework. It’s easy to justify small compromises.

If left unchecked, small compromises will eventually lead you down a path that you never intended.

Those small compromises can easily grow and before you realize it, you’re compromising in bigger areas too. Do you tell a lie to look better to others? Perhaps you decide to go to a party that you know your parents wouldn’t approve of. Do you date that guy in math class that is really cute, but who you know isn’t a good influence? Each day these small decisions that you make set the tone and direction for your life.

Read: How to Make Better Decisions

Small Choices Matter

Those small choices have gotten you to where you are at so far. Do you like the person you’ve become? Do you make godly choices even in the small things? Have you begun to compromise your beliefs?

The good news is that if you have been compromising, Jesus offers us forgiveness and a fresh start. You can stop compromising and begin living a life full of character.

But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from everything we’ve done wrong. – 1 Jn 1:9 (CEB)

You Can Choose to Not Compromise

He’s ready to pick you up and help you get started on the right track. You can choose to make good decisions every day. Even though it isn’t always easy to choose to not compromise what you believe, you will be really glad that you made the choice to follow God and not compromise…even in the smallest areas!

How Do You Break Free From Compromise?

One of the best ways to break free from compromise is to spend more time with God. Instead of watching Netflix until late at night, switch that for some Bible time. If you don’t like to read, watch a Biblically solid preacher on YouTube or listen to Bible verses being read to you.

To break free from compromise you’ve got to really get into God.

“If you love me, obey my commandments. – John 14:15 (NLT)

It’s so much easier to stay free from compromise when you’re into God. If you really seek God, you’ll find that you don’t want to compromise. You find that you just want to get to know God more.

[Tweet “The more you get to know God, the less you want to compromise! – @studentdevos”]

The more you get into God, the less fun the compromise is. So if you’ve struggled with compromise, determine to make changes in your life. Choose to take a look at the books you’ve been reading, the friends you’ve been hanging out with, and the things you’ve been watching. Ask God to show you what to say no to so that you can say yes to Him!

I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me. – Proverbs 8:7 (NIV)

Youth Group Discussion Questions

If this devotion has challenged you to ditch compromise and walk into the plan God has for your life, grab some friends or your youth group and do a study on compromise. We’ve got some discussion questions already made up. Just print them off and show up and see what God does in your group!

Daily Bible Verse and Devotion- November 8

Posted on November 8, 2019

“We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.” – Romans 3:22 (NLT)

The fact that we have been made right with God is such great news. Regardless of who we are, or what we had done, we needed a savior, Jesus Christ.

When we place our trust in Jesus as our savior the Bible tells us that we are made right with God. That means that despite what we’ve done or who we are, we are in right standing with God. This place of right standing with God comes by simply placing your trust in Jesus as savior. You simply need to believe that what Jesus dying on the cross was the payment for your sin. By accepting what Jesus did, you become right with God.

[Tweet It doesn’t matter who you are or what you’ve done. When you put your faith in Jesus you’re made right with God – @studentdevos”]

Knowing that you’ve been made right with God can greatly change your outlook on life. It’s easy to focus on what’s going wrong in your life or how the current circumstances you’re facing are making things difficult. The truth is that when we focus on how we’ve been made right with God it helps us change our outlook. We know that no matter what we’re going through right now, we can get through it because we’ve been made right with God.

So today remember, it doesn’t matter who you are, what you’ve done, or what you do. When you put your faith in Jesus you’re made right with God!

Daily Devotion and Bible Verse – Ephesians 2:10

Posted on November 7, 2019

It’s so easy to feel like you don’t measure up to others. You can see the things other people are posting on social media and if you’re not careful, you can begin to think that your life isn’t that exciting, or doesn’t matter. The truth, however, is that you were created for an awesome purpose. Today’s Bible verse describes what God sees when He looks at you.

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. – Ephesians 2:10 (NIV)

God sees you as someone that is important. You are His handiwork, that means He cares about you and has an interest in you. He cares what you’re up to and He’s created you to do something good. The last part of today’s Bible verse shows us that God has prepared good things for you to do.

God has a unique plan for your life. He wants to use you to touch other people and to make a difference in your world. There are people around you that need to know about Jesus. God wants to use you to show them Jesus.

God has so much in store for you to do. So don’t give in to the lies that you’re not important, or you’re not as talented as someone else around you. Chose to believe what God says about you, and know that you’ve been created to do good things!

[Tweet “Choose to believe what God says about you. He’s created you to do good things! – @studentdevos”]

Daily Bible Verse and Devotion – Luke 12:7

Posted on November 6, 2019

And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows. – Luke 12:7

Have you ever looked in the mirror and wished that there was something different about yourself? Maybe you wish you had a different hair color. It’s easy to nitpick everything that is wrong about yourself until you don’t like who you are at all.

And it’s true. You’re not perfect. No one is.

But even in the midst of your imperfection, God loves you. He wants the best for you. He knows you so well that He even knows how many hairs are on your head.

Today’s Challenge: Be Happy to Be You

So even though there are things that aren’t perfect about yourself, you can choose to be happy to be you. God sees your potential in Him. He sees the plans He has for you, and He’s excited about who you are and what He’s called you to do.

God created you for a purpose. He loves you, and there is nothing wrong with who you are. So today, choose to be happy to be you.

Daily Bible Verse and Devotion – Colossians 3:2

Posted on October 31, 2019

Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. – Colossians 3:2 (NIV)

What do you spend the majority of your time thinking about? Is it how you can get ahead? Is it making the basketball team? What holds the majority of your focus?

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to make the basketball team. And there’s certainly nothing wrong with wanting to do well in life. However, when those types of things become all we’re consumed with, we need to refocus our thoughts.

God hasn’t called us to simply do well at basketball. Instead, He has called us to help others. We are to be loving others, doing things to help people and point them to Him.

Today’s Challenge: Be Eternally Focused

Often our lives get so busy, we forget that we are called to be pointing others to Jesus.

So take a moment today and examine your life. Have you allowed your focus to shift off of Jesus and onto success or things? If so, choose today to focus your thoughts and energy on Jesus. Live your life in a way that brings glory to Him.

[Tweet “Choose to live your life in a way that brings glory to God – @studentdevos”]

Today, look for ways to help others. Choose to do things that point people to Jesus. Do things that make the world a better place because you were there. The more you do that, the happier you’ll be!

Daily Bible Verse and Devotion – John 8:31

Posted on October 30, 2019

Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. – John 8:31 (NLT)

Jesus talks in the Bible about being His disciple. What does that mean? Today’s verse helps us understand a bit of what Jesus meant when he said to be a disciple.

In the verse, we see that to be a true disciple we are to be faithful to Jesus’ teachings. So what are His teachings? The answer to that is they are found in the Bible.

The Bible shows us what it means to be a disciple.

Today’s Challenge: Be a Disciple

When we talk about following the teachings in the Bible you might feel like you’re ready to just give up on the idea of discipleship. The Bible is a big book. And the idea of following what it says can feel pretty overwhelming.

However, Jesus isn’t asking us to do something that is too hard to do. We start following Jesus one step at a time. So today, take out your Bible or go online and read one verse. One verse, that’s it. Pretty easy, right?

Then take a few minutes and think about what that verse says. Get quiet and listen. See if God is speaking anything to your heart. If the verse tells you to do something that you’re not doing, then do it.

Following after Jesus doesn’t have to be hard. It’s done one verse at a time. Read one verse and do it. Then read the next verse and do it. Before long, you’ll realize that you are starting to look more and more like Jesus. Being a disciple isn’t hard. It’s just reading something in the Bible and then putting what you read into practice in your life.

Today’s Challenge – Be Generous

Posted on October 29, 2019

The generous will themselves be blessed, for they share their food with the poor. – Proverbs 22:9 (NLT)

When I was in college, God really began to deal with me about generosity. I had an apartment, a decent job, and was going to school. I began looking for ways to be generous to others.

I’d go out to a restaurant and decide to buy a friend’s food. I’d be in class and hear about someone who had a need and decided to hand them some money to help with their bills.

It was amazing how freeing it felt to be generous.

Today’s Challenge: Be Generous

God wants us to be generous to others. He does this because he knows what generosity does to our hearts. It’s hard to be depressed when you’re always looking for ways to bless others around you. When you begin to take your eyes off yourself and look for needs around you, it brings you happiness in ways you can’t imagine.

God challenges us to be generous because not only does it help others, it helps us too.

God doesn’t want us to live our whole lives completely focused on ourselves. Instead, he wants us to begin to look for ways to bless others. Maybe you don’t have a ton of money, but what could you do?

Could you give some time to someone who needs help? Perhaps you could write a card to a friend that is having a bad day or do something small like buying a friend a bottle of water. Ask God to begin to show you ways you can be generous.

As you practice generosity, you’ll be surprised how much joy you experience. So today, begin to take your eyes off yourself and look for ways to help others!

If you liked today’s devotion, challenge your faith by downloading Every Teenager’s Guide to Growing In God. It will help you grow closer to God by helping you develop Godly habits in your life.

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