Family Devotionals With Teens
As often as your teen hangs out with friends or is behind a screen scrolling through social media, you, as their parent, hold the trump card. As much input as your teen takes in on a daily basis, your voice carries the most weight. You ARE the greatest influence in your teenager’s life. Phew! However, during this pivotal time in your teen’s life, they can become susceptible to new ideas, including negative ones. So as a parent of a teen it is vital to take advantage of the last few influential years you have with them and pour God’s truth into their hearts. And since we are born sinners and have a tendency to lean towards our fleshly nature, it is important to not only lead by example but to help them find their footing on God’s firm foundation. A relationship with God in a teen’s life can help set them up to continually pursue him all the days of their life, and a constant flow of biblical truth can help them make faith their own.
Remember being a teenager? The awkwardness, peer pressure, or just trying to fit in. It’s a time in a person’s life when they are trying to figure out where their identity lies. For you, being a teenager may have been your glory days and you breezed through it, while others may have felt like they were constantly grasping for some sort of acceptance. Parents, help ground your teenager by constantly reminding them who they belong to and whose they are: A child of God! A masterpiece! Beloved! But Mom, Dad, if you really want to help develop faith skills in your teen’s life you have to be doing it too. Prayer, reading the Bible, and going to church are habits that all believers need to implement in their life, but as the parent of a teen, they will be more willing if they are seeing firsthand your relationship with God.
Teenagers have a superpower! They can spot a fake anywhere so be willing, to be honest, and vulnerable with your own inconsistencies and what’s helped you push through. Be willing to own your own failures and model course corrections because, as hard as it is, your teenage children need to see your imperfections with your relationship with God and how you’ve changed those behaviors. Allow your teen to see God’s saving grace through your own life.
For your teen to be successful in building their faith, make sure they have the right resources. Does your teen have a Bible? Do they have a journal? Do they know you are available to help answer questions or help them find answers? The Bible, as a teenager, or even as an adult, can be difficult to fully understand making it harder to pick up and read. So parent, get involved, read scripture alongside your teen or better yet find a devotional you can either do as a family or one that will help guide your teen to a better understanding of their faith. Here are a few devotionals that can keep God’s biblical truth flowing throughout your home.
- Fuel: 10-Minute Devotions to Ignite the Faith of Parents and Teens
Do you need a way to connect with your teen spiritually? You only need 10 minutes to ignite that spiritual spark that will bring you and your teen together while building faith. Joe White has made it possible for parents and teens to dive into the New Testament with quick and powerful devotions. You will have an opportunity to enjoy some great stories, intriguing discussion starters, and life applications that will challenge you to grow. This devotional is designed to help you and your teen walk together spiritually and get you both talking.
- The Family Bible Devotional: Stories from the Bible to Help Kids and Parents Engage and Love Scripture
Do you desire to have an authentic discussion about faith with your children? Do you want something that is engaging and will keep the whole family interested in God’s word? If that were the case this devotional would be great for your family. The Family Bible Devotional offers a way of exploring God’s word that will challenge both adults and children. It gives children an opportunity to be active learners while stretching the parents with interesting and thought-provoking questions. This devotional weaves together Old and New Testament encounters through different versions to help bring a fresh perspective to the reader. No matter the age this devotional has the ability to shed new insights.
- One Year of Dinner Table Devotions and Discussion Starters: 365 Opportunities to Grow Closer to God as a Family
Does dinnertime seem to be the only time you and your family come together? From TV and computer screens to sports and friends it may seem difficult to come together with your teen children, let alone do a family Bible study, but thankfully everyone needs to eat. So what if dinner and the Bible became a combination, one that feeds your stomach and your soul all in one sitting? This devotional helps families start a spiritual journey together where they are already gathered, around the dinner table. And well everyone has at least one person who scarfs down their food, that person can be the one who reads the devotional for that day or you can take turns each day reading. This special time around the dinner table is designed to discuss scripture together within about 10 to 15 minutes. Dinnertime with this devotional can become a sweet, meaningful time together as you discuss God’s word. The result will be a family that is growing closer to God and to one another.
- Live in Light: 5-Minute Devotions for Teen Girls
This is a devotional that is geared towards girls as it hits all the struggles girls go through: from crushes, and girl drama to the stress of school. It’s hard enough being a teen girl trying to figure out who you are versus what you want to be when you grow up. Live in Light is a teenage girl’s guide to overcoming teen struggles with the comfort and wisdom of God’s word. This devotional will navigate your teen girl through the pressures of taking the perfect social media picture to date and dealing with any “mean” girls. It’s a 5-minute devotional that will help your teen daughter grow into the woman of God you desire her to be.
- Walk in Faith: 5-Minute Devotions for Teen Guys
This devotional is focused on the teenage boy and the everyday struggles they walk through. As a teenage boy steps into manhood, it is important that God’s word lights and directs their path. Throughout a boy’s life, they ask questions like, “who am I?” “What type of person do I want to be?” or “what should I believe?” This devotional will navigate your teenage son through the challenges of peer pressure to dating all within 5 minutes. It will lead teen boys through their journey of life with some faith and God’s steadfast guidance.
Remember parents, you ARE the greatest influence in your teens’ life so not only walk beside them as they journey through faith and what it all means but pray for them. Don’t stop praying for your teen and be encouraged by Proverbs 22:6, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.”
God’s got you and your teenager!