Devotions for Teenagers and Youth

Daily Bible Verse and Devotion – December 19

Posted on December 19, 2017

Don’t be impressed with your own wisdom. Instead, fear the lord and turn away from evil. – Proverbs 3:7

In the Christmas season, it’s easy to get really busy. We get caught up in the excitement of presents, giving, and shopping. In all the busyness, it’s often easy to forget to include God in our daily lives. Many times when things are going good, we don’t really stop to include God in our day to day activities and decision making. If we’re not careful, we can fall into the trap of thinking that we’ve got everything together in our own ability.

However, God encourages us to not get busy and impressed with what we can do in our own strength. Instead we should be respecting God, spending time with him, and turning away from the things that keep us from Him. To do this, you might have to take a break from Snapchat or binge watching your favorite show, but spend some time this holiday season getting close to God.

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Challenge yourself today to spend some time identifying any areas in your life where you’ve become impressed with what you can do by yourself. Choose to give those areas to God and to spend time getting to know God.

Daily Bible Verse and Devotion – December 18

Posted on December 18, 2017

And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins. – 1 Peter 4:8

During a professional basketball game, there’s no confusion as to what players play for what team. Why? Because in professional basketball, each player wears a jersey. That jersey has the team logo on it. Each team member wears the same colors and logo. The jersey identifies them and tells others which team they play for.

In the same way, as Christians we should have an identifying characteristic. There shouldn’t be any confusion as to whether someone is a Christian or not, it should be evident.

The Bible tells us what our identifying characteristic should be, and it’s love. Love is what should make us different from everyone else. Love is about seeing people and valuing them like God would. It’s looking past what they look like and talk like. Love sees others like Jesus sees them and chooses to say they’re important. So decide today to love others, not in response to how they treat you, but because they have value to God.

[Tweet “Choose to love others, not based on how they treat you, but because they have value to God – @studentdevos”]

Have trouble dealing with mean people? Here are few tips for dealing with mean people that we’ve found helpful.

Daily Bible Verse and Devotion – December 8

Posted on December 8, 2017

For even Christ didn’t live to please himself. As the Scriptures say, “The insults of those who insult you, O God, have fallen on me.” – Romans 15:3 (NLT)

Jesus didn’t live His life here on earth to please Himself. He wasn’t using his awesome water walking skills to get more friends, or making extra cash by turning water into wine. Instead of doing things to please Himself, Jesus was selfless. He wasn’t intent on doing things that made Him happy.

Jesus had a mission and a purpose for His life. When He gave His life at the cross, He became sin and a curse for us. He took the punishment for sins that He never committed. He was totally just, yet took the punishment for the unjust. Jesus was selfless. He gave all He was so that we could become all He is.

[Tweet “Jesus gave all He was so that we could become all He is. – @studentdevos”]

How Jesus lived His life on earth should be an inspiration to us this Christmas season. We should be thankful to Him for what He did for us, but His life’s example should stir us to be more selfless. Everyday, there are people around us who need hope. They need to hear that they’re important to God. This Christmas season, will you get out of your comfort zone and reach out to those around you?

You could go visit the lady who lives near you that can’t get out. You could volunteer time at a food pantry, or at your church. You could tell a friend that their life matters to God. Whatever you do, let Jesus be your inspiration. Choose to reach out to someone around you in need today!

Daily Bible Verse and Devotion – 1 John 5

Posted on December 7, 2017

And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. – 1 John 5:11

Lots of times in our busy online world of Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter, we forget to think about what it really means to have eternal life. Eternal life isn’t just something to glance over. It’s really pretty great. Eternal life is life that’s better.

My favorite candy is Reese’s Peanut Butter cups. Before Reese’s, I’d tried chocolate and I’d tried peanut butter. When eating a Reese’s, I realized that something really great happens when you combine peanut butter and chocolate. It just tastes better than either ingredient does on it’s own. Eternal life is the same way. It’s a way of living that is way better than life was before Jesus.

Eternal life is a way of life that’s all about letting God live and breathe and work through you. It’s getting to know God and His word. There’s so much power available to you, if you just take the time to get to know and have a relationship with God. So take some time today to set aside you phone, iPod or TV and get to know God. He’ll show you what’s really so great about eternal life.

For more information about eternal life and getting to know Jesus better, check out this Discipleship Track.

Daily Bible Verse and Devotion – December 6

Posted on December 6, 2017

“And if you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own?”

– Luke 16:12 (ESV)

You might want to do something awesome for God but you’re waiting on Him to put it together for you. And while, it’s always good to get God’s timing on things, today’s Bible verse challenges us to do something else while we’re waiting.

This verse is saying that a first step is to serve another person’s dream. Get involved in helping someone else reach their potential. As you are faithful in the small things, you’ll see that God will advance your steps little by little.

As you learn to give and be a blessing with the money you have you’ll see that God trusts you with more. So choose today to live your life differently. Determine to start being faithful today with the small things and realize that God will take care of your future.

Daily Bible Verse – December 5

Posted on December 5, 2017

Even strong young lions sometimes go hungry, but those who trust in the LORD will lack no good thing. – Psalm 34:10

It’s easy to think that if you serve God, you’ll be missing out. You’ll miss out on the parties, and all the fun it appears that those around you are having. Sometimes it even feels like you have to give everything up to serve God. However, today’s Bible verse shows us a different side of things. We see in this verse, that when we put our trust in God we will lack no good thing.

That’s great news. We don’t have to be concerned about having enough fun, relationships, or anything else. If we place our trust in God, He will see to it that we will not miss out on any good thing!

So don’t get discouraged, and don’t think that serving God is not worth it. Rather, focus on the fact that when you serve God you don’t have to lack any good thing.

Daily Bible Verse and Devotion – December 4 (God is With Us)

Posted on December 4, 2017

All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’). – Isaiah 7:14 (NLT)

Have there ever been times in your life when you felt alone? Maybe you feel like your parents don’t understand you, or you’re going through a hard time and everyone around you is just too busy to care. Feeling alone is something that everyone faces at some point in their lives. However, the good news is, you’re never really alone.

You might feel like every person around you has left you, or doesn’t care, but the good news is Jesus will never leave you. In this verse it tells us that His name is Immanuel, which means God is with us. God is with you. That’s good news.

If you’re going through a tough or lonely time, take comfort in today’s verse. You can know that you’re never really alone. You’ve got Jesus with you. He’s there to walk with you through every trial and situation that you face.

[Tweet “You’re never alone. Jesus is there to walk with you in every difficulty you face! – @studentdevos”]

Daily Bible Verse and Devotion – December 1

Posted on December 1, 2017

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. – Phil 4:6 (NLT)

Life is stressful. The stresses of life can hit us at different times and in different ways. You might have a tough class load at school, or perhaps your family is going through a difficult situation. It can be really hard when things are difficult to stay in God’s peace.

It’s easy to want to lose your cool, lash out, or take your stress out on others. However, God’s word challenges us to handle our stress differently. We’re told to tell God what we need and to thank Him for what He has done.

It doesn’t matter if our stress is justified. It doesn’t matter if it makes sense for us to be mad, upset or lose our cool. In spite of what makes sense and feels right, we should be spending our energy focused on thanking God. When we begin to be thankful and think of all the things God has done for us, it changes our perspective.

Instead of being upset, down in the dumps or out of control mad, when we practice thankfulness we are able to be at peace. Being thankful is powerful because it takes our eyes off of ourself and puts them on God. It’s when we focus on God and what He’s done that we can find peace in the midst of our stress.

[Tweet “When we focus on God and what He has done, we can find peace in the midst of stress – @studentdevos”]

Daily Bible Verse and Devotion – November 30

Posted on November 30, 2017

Walk with the wise and become wise; associate with fools and get in trouble. – Proverbs 13:20

Who you let speak into your life is important. You might not think about the fact that what you watch, listen to, and even the people you hang out with makes a huge impact in the course your life takes.

You’ll never grow or be exceptional at anything if you don’t hang around others who are exceptional. For example, if you wanted to train to be a better athlete, you’d train with other athletes who were better than you. Training with better athletes would help you improve your game.

The same is true in life. Who we spend time with matters. You should be spending time listening to, reading after, and hanging out with people who challenge you to be better. You’ll never do anything exceptional if you don’t do anything different. Choose today to not just hang out and follow people who are at the same level as you. Choose to find friends, books, podcasts and videos that inspire you to greatness. Like today’s Bible verse says, walk with the wise and become wise. Choose to make any adjustments in your life today to let wise people speak into your life.

Daily Bible Verse – November 22

Posted on November 22, 2017

As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; – Psalm 103:13

Life can be overwhelming sometimes. In those moments where you’re tired or just feeling down, remember today’s Bible verse. It talks about how God has compassion on us. God is a good father to us. He extends compassion to us.

Today, don’t forget how awesome it is to be a child of God. We can be encouraged knowing that God loves us and has compassion on us each and every day!

Pray: Thank you Father for having compassion on me. I’m so thankful to be your child and choose to take time to think about how good you’ve been to me today. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.

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