The editors at New Growth Press along with David Powlison’s daughter, Gwenyth Powlison Ray, have adapted the popular devotional Take Heart for a teenagers, helping them learn how to go to God to ask for help and take hold of the grace he offers.
To create Take Heart, the team carefully and thoughtfully listened to the sermons, lectures, conference talks, and interviews of David Powlison and combed through his books and articles as they compiled 366 days of devotions that speak to the heart of every Christian. Take Heart for Teens: Daily Devotions to Deepen Your Faith is a yearlong devotional that helps readers grow a deeper, stronger faith by taking their real troubles to the real God. Daily readings speak to friendship struggles, academic pressure, busy schedules, and questions about the future.
Below, we share a few of the daily devotionals from Take Heart for Teens.
And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
Galatians 4:6–7
Who are you really? What defines you? You’re not defined by your place in your family, whether you are single or dating, whether you got the starring role or are captain of the team. You’re not defined by your grades or your college acceptance. You’re not defined by your friendships. You’re not defined by your local church or your school. You’re not defined by your ethnic background.
If you were, you’d be cursed if you got a C+, a wreck if your best friend betrayed you or you had a breakup, in despair if you happened to be sick for the championship game, or hopeless if your ethnic background was mocked.
You’re defined by your relationship with the living God. Getting that straight is the one thing that lets you actually engage in the right way with all of these other roles, embracing the joys and positives and the blessings. And it lets you face whatever evils, darkness, or disappointment is there. Whatever your family history, current ranking, friendship situation—whatever the future brings in gains or losses—your most true identity stands.
Here’s who you are: You belong to Jesus Christ. You have been bought with his blood. You belong to your Father. You’ve been given the identity of a child who says, “Abba, Father.” Your God is gracious to you. He is always gracious.
Take with You: God is always up to something good in your life. That is what defines you. Thank him for your identity in Christ.
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”
James 4:13–15
You don’t know how either your big decisions or your daily decisions will turn out. But you can trust your God. He is in control over your entire life. You don’t need to try to figure out what you can’t know. No need to look for signs or coincidences. No need for magical thinking. No need for repetitive praying to try to get a specific answer. We often come to know God’s will, what he meant for our lives, only afterward when we’re looking back. Today, ask for wisdom and make decisions about school, activities, and friendships. You can make mature choices and have childlike trust at the same time.
How he tells us to live and how he chooses to work meet in the mind and heart of God. Everything our Savior commands describes our sanctification, how we become more like him: a life of wisdom, self-giving love, self-control, gratitude, and joy. And our Savior God is in control, always working to grow us in these ways. He gives wisdom, love, self-control, and all other fruits of the Spirit—but often in ways we never would’ve imagined or planned.
Take with You: Think about one fruit of the Spirit. How is God growing you in that? Where do you see your need to make wise choices and trust his work?
[I pray] that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe. Ephesians 1:17–19a
Sometimes when people think about God, they ask the wrong questions. Will he meet my desires and needs? Will he help me get through life? Can I get him to make my day, my homework, and my friendships work out? If I do this for God, will he do this for me? Is it possible he might disappoint me?
What does God want you to know? Himself. His glory. Nothing less than the Lord who’s at the center of the universe and history. Jesus Christ. God wants you to know right relationship between yourself and him. His light poured out into every nation: the mystery now revealed. He wants us to share in his mission to invade darkness. People who were once outcast are now welcomed into the community of promise. He wants you to know how to have peace and wisdom in all your relationships.
The letter to the Ephesians tears the doors off mysteries. The love of Christ was once beyond knowing and is now known. The endless riches of Christ, now seen. Things so far beyond all you can ask or imagine, now revealed in front of your eyes through Jesus.
Take with You: He wants you to know him. Which of the promises and truths above amaze you the most about God? Reflect on his goodness.
Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
Galatians 6:2
Who of us can see ourselves perfectly? We all have a million flaws. We may be aware of some of them, but other people often see us better than we see ourselves. One of the characteristics of wisdom in the Proverbs is that the wise person listens and invites correction—wants correction. We need to develop a willingness to invite one another into the real, moral dramas of our lives. God created community for this reason—we need each other.
I can’t think of how many good sermons I’ve heard on “one-anothering”—for you to forgive one another, for you to love one another, to do toward other people the things you want done toward you. And the main point of the exhortation is to encourage us to bear one another’s burdens. But every one-anothering passage also implies a reciprocity. I’m to bear your burdens, and you need to let me know your burdens. I’ve got burdens too, but how can I seek help unless I share them?
One-anothering cuts both ways. And the giving of help replies on the asking for help. Who can you reciprocally share burdens with today? Friendship and fellowship come alive when you open yourself up in that way. You start to create a community in which people are both asking and giving of aid, bearing one another’s burdens, praying for one another about real stuff.
Take with You: Are you always the helper? Are you always being helped? How can you nudge your Christian friendships toward the full reciprocity of one-anothering?
My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.
Psalm 63:8
The Lord describes our relationship with him from many perspectives. Love him. Fear him. Walk in his ways. Entrust yourself to him. Believe his promises. Seek him. Do what he says. Serve him. Yet he knows we tend to get stuck in ruts—I do anyway, and I’m pretty sure you do too. So he keeps coming at us from different directions. Here’s one way the Bible puts it that we don’t often hear mentioned: cling to him. Hold on tight.
Be glued to him. Don’t let him go. Hold fast.
What does it mean to cling to Christ by faith when you face something threatening: a cancer diagnosis for yourself or a family member, the sudden loss of a friendship, the disapproval of your parents, or other difficult news? Faith has two core activities: dire need, then utter joy. The order matters. First, we are weak and need his help. Second, knowing his care, we become strong and joyful. When loneliness surrounds you, when you feel like you’ll never measure up, when your relationships break down, when sickness and death come knocking, you are invited to become aware of your dire need for help. Many psalms cry out to God in need. We cling to Christ. We ask the Lord to save us from our real troubles, real sins, real sufferings, and real anguish.
Take with You: What does clinging to Jesus look like to you? How might you tighten your soul’s grasp around the Savior? Do you need a greater sense of your own need or a greater sense of Jesus’s readiness and willingness to save?
Excerpted from Take Heart for Teens: Daily Devotions to Deepen Your Faith by David Powlison ©2025 by Nancy Powlison. Used by permission of New Growth Press. May not be reproduced without prior written permission.
Take Heart for Teens: Daily Devotions to Deepen Your Faith
Friendship struggles, academic pressure, busy schedules, questions about the future—where can you turn when life presses in? Through these daily devotionals from the writings of David Powlison, you will learn how to go to God for the help you need and take hold of the grace he offers. No matter what your day holds, you can take heart because the Lord is with you. He hears your cries for mercy and knows your every need. He guides, helps, and strengthens you every day. He is your true north.
