A devotional Bible for teens
As a Christian mom, I most want my children to know and have a relationship with God. So from the beginning, I have found ways to make the Bible part of their lives.
It started with illustrated, simple children’s Bibles and has progressed from there. Now at 12 and 15, my son and daughter need something deeper.
Yet, I have learned in my own faith journey that simply reading the Bible to check it off my to-do list isn’t super beneficial. I need to really dig into the Word in order to get the most from it.
This is true for my children as well. As a tween and teen, they need their own way to grow in their faith through personal devotion time. This looks different for each child — and that’s perfectly fine.
My daughter loves her current teen Bible with devotionals, but she’s had it long enough to have gone through them. Finding something fresh and engaging for her is important.
When I heard about “The Message Student Devotional Bible,” I had to check it out.
And, even better, I have a chance for you to get your own FREE copy of the Psalms portion of this Bible as well. You’ll find a button at the bottom of this post to get you right to it.
Affiliate links are used in this post, if you make a qualifying purchase via my link, I receive a small percentage of the sale at no additional cost to you. It helps support my blog, so thank you for your support! Read my full disclosure here.
I received a partial copy of “The Message Student Devotional Bible” at no charge in exchange for providing a teen Bible devotional review and social media posts about it. All opinions, however, are completely my own and not influenced by the free copy.
What is a devotional Bible?
Let’s start with talking about what a devotional Bible actually is. There are different options for Bible study and devotionals. One is a stand-alone devotional like this free 7-day “Finding Grace at Home” family devotional.
And the other option is a Bible with devotionals included and interwoven throughout. “The Message Student Devotional Bible” falls into this category.
While it includes the full text of the Bible in The Message translation, it has a devotional every few pages to help students go deeper.
What I love is the devotionals are concise and bite-sized. Just a few sentences long, each devotional is impactful while also fitting in with the time constraints (and attention spans!) of teens. Three reflection questions go along with each devotional.
Having worked with my daughter a couple of years ago on writing a mother-and-daughter shared journal, “Connecting with Grace,” I learned to spot the typical Sunday School-type questions. When I added those in for our journal, she was quick to call me out.
Sunday School is by no means wrong. I’m all for small group meeting to get into the Word! But, teens know these types of questions. They don’t go as deep or get as personal. Today’s teens crave sincerity and honesty more than ever.
The questions in this devotional Bible for students are spot-on with addressing topics and ideas that really matter in daily life without sounding too much like your favorite Sunday School teacher from second grade.
This makes sense because the devotional content comes from a variety of youth ministry professionals who know how to connect well with teens.
Why use The Message version?
In English alone, we have 450 versions of the Bible. That’s a lot! Many folks have their favorite. The Message is one of the more contemporary versions.
In its original text, the Bible was written in words that everyday people could easily understand. It was never meant to be a book that only intellectual scholars can read and understand.
Yet, one of the struggles with early translations is the words, phrases and metaphorical concepts that were easy for the average person to understand years ago are not as understandable today.
Contemporary translations, such as The Message, have been carefully researched and worked on to use modern words and phrases to convey the same message. This makes it easier for people today to understand.
Most teens are relatively new to devotionals and Bible study — just for the sheer fact of their limited age and life experience. Using a translation that makes it even easier for them to understand seems like a great starting point.
How to use “The Message Student Devotional Bible”
Right from the beginning, “The Message Student Devotional Bible” presents the Bible itself takes the main focus over everything else.
“If you skip all the parts we created and read only the Bible stuff, we’ll still be very, very happy about it. That’s first and foremost. Our additional words are not the living Word of God; the Bible is.”
Of course, “The Message Student Devotional Bible” can be used as merely a reading source, but it goes much deeper with guides and plenty of additional content for students.
Each section and each book have a short introduction for context about time, place and author.
Every few pages is a short devotion that gets to the heart of the matter and presents three reflection and life application questions. There are 320 of these throughout the entire Bible and 26 included in the Psalms portion of it alone.
“The Message Student Devotional Bible” is also sprinkled throughout with 30 character studies of key players. Because, the Bible is full of all kinds of interesting people whose stories reflect God’s love played out in their lives.
Another great features of this devotional Bible is the large margins on each page that are perfect for making notes. (Personally, I love a devotional book or Bible with space to write so I don’t have to keep track of the book and a separate notebook.)
Where to get “The Message Student Devotional Bible”
The full version will be released by NavPress in the spring of 2026; however, the Psalms portion is available for purchase right now and is what I received.
You can purchase it around $10 at most book retailers — or you can grab a FREE copy of it here:
If you have a teen, know a teen or work with teens, this is a great resource you don’t want to miss!
