In this 5-day devotional, designed specially for teens, you’ll explore how to stand strong when you feel broken, ashamed, overlooked, or stuck. Through Scripture, discover how God meets you in your lowest moments, restores your identity, and gives you the courage to keep going—no matter how hard life gets.
ABS Armed Services Ministry
Day 1
Scriptures: Acts 2:23-24, Psalms 34:22, Isaiah 43:11-12, Luke 22:22, 1 John 4:9-10
The Great Comeback
God had already planned and decided that Jesus would be handed over to you. So, you took him and had evil men put him to death on a cross. But God set him free from death and raised him to life. Death could not hold him in its power.
Acts 2:23–24 (CEV)
No one could come back from this. The night before Jesus died, he was arrested and sent to various trials. One of his closest friends, Peter, followed along. But instead of defending Jesus, he denied he even knew him—three times. Peter betrayed not only his best friend but also God.
Yet when Jesus rose from the dead, he brought Peter back as his follower. He forgave him and allowed him to be the first public speaker to tell of his death and resurrection.
And when Peter spoke, he pointed out that God had this plan all along. Before the first humans sinned, God knew he would send his Son to bring salvation. Jesus would be the perfect sacrifice to take the punishment of death, which we all deserve. But death was not his end; he would be raised to life, and he would have victory over all evil.
You may feel like there’s no coming back from what you have done. You may have deeply hurt the people closest to you. Maybe you refused God himself. Peter’s life shows us that God can wipe the slate clean for you. God isn’t surprised or overwhelmed by your actions, and he is willing to save you. He can forgive you, restore your relationship with him, and help you to be faithful to him.
You just have to be willing. You have to accept God’s plan, ask for his forgiveness, and believe he will forgive you.
SPIRITUAL FITNESS TRAINING
Hollywood movies are full of redemption stories—times when the hero did something bad, but then it was made right somehow. Usually, the problem is solved by the hero fixing it himself. These examples pale in comparison to the ultimate redemption plan God put into motion to restore our relationship with him. Thankfully, we didn’t have to fix things ourselves—because we couldn’t. God had to step in. Think about some of your favorite movie plots and about how much better God’s plan of redemption is for us.
INSPIRATION
“When we stray from his presence, he longs for you to come back . . . he throws his arms open, runs toward you, gathers you up, and welcomes you home.”
—Charles Stanley, American pastor from Georgia
Day 2
Scriptures: Galatians 2:20, Psalms 51:1-2, Psalms 51:17, Romans 6:6, Colossians 2:20
The New Standard
I have died, but Christ lives in me. And I now live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave his life for me.
Galatians 2:20 (CEV)
Are you embarrassed by your past or proud of it? Do you just wish you could be free of yesterday so you could live boldly today?
Paul thought he was doing everything right. He was a religious man, zealous for God. He went to the right school, was respected as a leader in the Jewish church, and followed all the rules. He even persecuted those he thought were going against God!
But then, he met Jesus. Paul realized Jesus held a different standard. Everything he had done amounted to nothing in God’s eyes; he was still hopelessly unholy. His only chance was to accept Jesus’s death on the cross as the perfect sacrifice for sin and be forgiven by Jesus. Jesus was the only way for Paul to be made perfect before God.
You might think, “But Paul did so much good in his life . . . doesn’t that count for something?”
There are a lot of good things we can do. Go to church, volunteer, help a neighbor, serve our country, listen to our parents. But the truth is that we don’t earn salvation through the good things we do. The only way to be saved is by turning over our lives to Jesus, God’s one and only Son.
When you make that decision, your old life is dead and gone. Jesus comes into your heart and you begin a new life with Christ! Are you ready for that today? He is waiting for you!
SPIRITUAL FITNESS TRAINING
Write or draw what each of these key words in today’s verse mean to you.
- died
- Christ
- lives
- faith
- loved
- gave
- me
INSPIRATION
“The Spirit-filled life is not a special, deluxe edition of Christianity. It is part and parcel of the total plan of God for his people.”
—A.W. Tozer, American pastor and author in the 1950s-60s
Day 3
Scriptures: 1 Peter 3:18, Psalms 51:11, Isaiah 44:22, Ephesians 2:12-13, Colossians 1:21-22
The Unsettled Soul
Christ died once for our sins. An innocent person died for those who are guilty. Christ did this to bring you to God, when his body was put to death and his spirit was made alive.
1 Peter 3:18 (CEV)
Have you ever felt kind of . . . homeless? Feeling at home might be less about being somewhere, and more about being with people who love and understand you.
Our souls find their home in God. When we wander away from God through rebellion or even apathy, our souls are lost and unsettled, whether we feel it or not. We were made to be at peace with God, loving him and being loved by him.
Peter understood this. When he was with Jesus, he was convinced Jesus was showing him the way to have a friendship with God and have eternal life. When Peter messed up, in fear or in prideful rebellion, he was hopelessly homeless. Still, Jesus helped Peter find his way back to the safety of friendship with God. He offered Peter forgiveness.
Peter went on to write letters to God’s people, including this week’s reading, showing us how Jesus made a way for our souls to come home so we can be with God eternally.
Find your home in Jesus today. His forgiveness and friendship are there waiting. He loves you so much!
SPIRITUAL FITNESS TRAINING
What makes a place feel like home? What places have elements of home for you? Thank God for the experiences you’ve had, and that being home with him is possible because of what Jesus has done.
INSPIRATION
“Again, one of the qualities that makes the gospel so real and so great is that it doesn’t eliminate our past but just so thoroughly deals with it. God forgives it. He changes it. He transforms all that mess into this huge mountain of grace that only takes us higher and closer to him.”
—Priscilla Shirer, author, motivational speaker, and evangelist from Texas
Day 4
Scriptures: Luke 7:47, Psalms 116:1, Psalms 130:3-4, Philippians 1:9, 1 John 4:19
The Cost of Forgiveness
“So, I tell you that all her sins are forgiven, and that is why she has shown great love. But anyone who has been forgiven for only a little will show only a little love.”
Luke 7:47 (CEV)
She walked into a room where she wasn’t invited. She embarrassed herself. Crying over Jesus’s feet, her tears smeared the dust, making mud. No one had washed his feet before the dinner—something that was always done for an honored guest. The tears kept coming. Her hair fell around her. She used it to wipe off his feet.
With determination, she opened a perfume jar, and its scent filled the room. This, her prized possession worth a year’s wages, she poured out on Jesus’s feet. The dinner host did not approve of her actions.
But when she saw and heard Jesus’s approval, her bravery was all worth it. She would give everything to please the one who loved her and forgave her sins.
How does a person love Jesus that much? How can you get to the point where you would bravely give your most prized possession, or even your life, for him? Jesus said it was because she knew all her many sins had been forgiven.
Jesus paid a high price to forgive us our sins by dying on a cross for us. When we realize how much we’ve been forgiven, how awful the punishment we deserve, and how great his love for us, our love for him grows. We can willingly and courageously hand our lives over to him.
SPIRITUAL FITNESS TRAINING
What are you willing to give your life for or dedicate your life to? Why? Ask a few people these questions and think about it!
INSPIRATION
One of the most expensive perfumes of all time was called Shumukh. Made by a perfumer in Dubai, its bottle was adorned with diamonds, pearls, and gold. It sold for $1.29 million.
Day 5
Scriptures: Revelation 1:9, Psalms 33:13-14, Isaiah 66:1, Revelation 1:2, Revelation 1:10-11
Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop
I am John, a follower together with all of you. We suffer because Jesus is our king, but he gives us the strength to endure. I was sent to Patmos Island, because I had preached God’s message and had told about Jesus.
Revelation 1:9 (CEV)
Feeling sidelined? Stuck? Or like there are things preventing you from doing what God has made you to do? What would get you through today, give you hope, and make you bold? How about seeing the promise of the final victory of good, a glimpse of the power of God, and words of encouragement from the Commander of the heavenly armies himself?
A man named John seemed to be out of the game. He had been preaching about Jesus to anyone and everyone. The authorities wanted to shut him up, so they banished him to an island.
But even exile will not stop God’s work. God was not surprised nor did he give up on his plan to use John to spread his message. Instead, he unfolded his next step to reveal to John amazing things about the heavenly realm and the future. By the Spirit, John saw things in Heaven and wrote about them, and God used this book of Revelation to encourage billions more people than John could have told in his own lifetime.
In the book of Revelation, it’s clear we serve an awesome, powerful God who will conquer all evil in the end; that he controls all things; that his plans will absolutely succeed. So, if you are feeling stuck or you are struggling to accomplish what God made you to do, remember that God is in control and will win every battle in the end. Give it over to him today!
SPIRITUAL FITNESS TRAINING
Skim over the following verses in Revelation that talk about Heaven. What encourages you from these verses?
- 1:12–18
- 4:2–8
- 8:3–5
- 11:16–19
- 22:12–13
INSPIRATION
“The enjoyment of him is our highest happiness and is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied. To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here…”
—Jonathan Edwards, American preacher in the 1700s