Student Devotionals
want to go deeper on your own? Here is a devotional tied to each session, just for you.
MADE FOR MORE
Friday NIGHT:
DO NOT CRY
-
Jesus Raises a Widow’s Son
11 Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him. 12 As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out—the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her. 13 When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, “Don’t cry.”
14 Then he went up and touched the bier they were carrying him on, and the bearers stood still. He said, “Young man, I say to you, get up!” 15 The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother.
16 They were all filled with awe and praised God. “A great prophet has appeared among us,” they said. “God has come to help his people.” 17 This news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding country.
-
The Bible teaches us that death is an enemy of Christ (look up 1 Cor. 15:25-27). Death doesn’t belong here. So when Jesus sees the mother crying, “…his heart goes out to her.” Jesus knows what grief feels like. Since Joseph doesn’t show up in the Gospels after Jesus’ childhood, it is likely that Jesus had to grieve the death of his earthly father.
Why does it matter that Jesus understands the pain, loss, and fear that death brings into our lives?
Jesus tells the woman, “Don’t cry.” If you go to a funeral and tell a grieving mother, “Don’t cry,” you would just sound cruel, because you can’t bring that person back. But Jesus is about to resurrect the child. His statement is one of hope. It is more like, “Don’t cry, because what you have lost is about to be restored.”
Grieving death is natural and ok, but what changes when we remember that what we lost will also be restored when we are reunited in heaven?
What, or who, have you lost? What does restoration look like?
-
What does it mean to live like you are made for more than the grave?
Pick one thing from this list to do today.
Text a friend that you have hope for eternity because of Christ.
Set a reminder to read this story from Luke 7 every day this week.
Set a reminder to thank God for your hope beyond the grave every day this week.
Find a peer who is dealing with grief, share your grief with them, share your hope with them, and pray with them.
Find a trusted adult to open up about your grief with.
Take a few quiet minutes to journal about your feelings, fears, and pain.
Choose joy. Take some time to sing praises, play, get outside, exercise, laugh with friends, give some hugs, or be creative… and thank God for it.
SATurDAY MORNING:
DO NOT FEAR
-
Jesus Raises a Dead Girl and Heals a Sick Woman
40 Now when Jesus returned, a crowd welcomed him, for they were all expecting him. 41 Then a man named Jairus, a synagogue leader, came and fell at Jesus’ feet, pleading with him to come to his house 42 because his only daughter, a girl of about twelve, was dying.
As Jesus was on his way, the crowds almost crushed him. 43 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years,[c] but no one could heal her. 44 She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped.
45 “Who touched me?” Jesus asked.
When they all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you.”
46 But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; Iknow that power has gone out from me.”
47 Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed. 48 Then he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.”
49 While Jesus was still speaking, someone came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” he said. “Don’t bother the teacher anymore.”
50 Hearing this, Jesus said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.”
51 When he arrived at the house of Jairus, he did not let anyone go in with him except Peter, John and James, and the child’s father and mother. 52 Meanwhile, all the people were wailing and mourning for her. “Stop wailing,” Jesus said. “She is not dead but asleep.”
53 They laughed at him, knowing that she was dead. 54 But he took her by the hand and said, “My child, get up!” 55 Her spirit returned, and at once she stood up. Then Jesus told them to give her something to eat. 56 Her parents were astonished, but he ordered them not to tell anyone what had happened.
-
Have you ever lain awake at night, gripped with fear over what might happen if you died in your sleep? If so, you are not alone. 100% of humans are naturally afraid of death. But Jesus says, “Do not fear.” He makes it sound so easy.
Why would Jesus say, "Do not fear”?
Also, why are there two stories smashed together here? Which are we learning about, Jesus raising Jairus’ daughter or Jesus healing the woman who touched his robe? Actually, it is about both. It is all one story. You see, Jesus is trying to get to Jairus’ daughter to help her from sickness. Sickness can be healed. You have been sick and not died, right? So did people in that time. Jairus wanted Jesus to hurry and heal his daughter while she was still sick, but alive. But because of the crowd and the woman, Jesus is delayed. During the delay, Jairus’ daughter dies, and a servant comes to find Jairus, who is still urging Jesus to hurry and get to his house. The servant tells him to leave Jesus alone; it’s too late for healing; she is dead. There is nothing Jesus can do now. There is no more hope.
At this point, Jairus is overwhelmed with fear. Fear of what comes next, fear of life without his daughter, fear of the unknown after death, fear of the pain his family will feel every time they see her empty chair at dinner for the rest of their lives. And Jesus says, “Do not fear… believe.”
Why is belief the opposite of fear?
Jesus knows that death is not final, that the unknown can be known, and that he is about to restore what Jairus has lost. In one sense, he is saying, “Didn’t you just see me heal this woman who had bled for 12 years? If I have power over the illness, don’t you believe I have power over the outcome?” For humans, there is still hope the person may survive until they die; then that hope is gone. But Jesus demonstrates that he has power over death just like he has power over illness. There is ALWAYS hope; just believe.
-
What does it mean to live like you are made for more than the grave?
Pick one thing from this list to do today.
Text a friend that you have hope for eternity because of Christ.
Set a reminder to read this story from Luke 8 every day this week.
Set a reminder to thank God for your hope beyond the grave every day this week.
Identify your fear about death and openly talk to God about it, ask him to replace your fear with belief and hope.
Find a peer and share with them your feelings about death, ask them how they feel about it, and pray with them.
Find a trusted adult to open up to about your fears.
Take a few quiet minutes to journal about your feelings, fears, and pain.
Choose hope. Write a list of things you are afraid of, then search for Bible verses that address those fears and write them next to each item.
SATURDAY MIDdAY:
BELIEVE
-
The Death of Lazarus
Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) 3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”
4 When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, 7 and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”
8 “But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?”
9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world’s light. 10 It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light.”
11 After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.”
12 His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” 13 Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.
14 So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, 15 and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”
16 Then Thomas (also known as Didymus[a]) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”
Jesus Comforts the Sisters of Lazarus
17 On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18 Now Bethany was less than two miles[b] from Jerusalem, 19 and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother.20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.
21 “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”
23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24 Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
27 “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God,who is to come into the world.”
28 After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. “The Teacher is here,” she said, “and is asking for you.” 29 When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31 When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.
32 When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34 “Where have you laid him?” he asked.
“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.
35 Jesus wept.
36 Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”
37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind manhave kept this man from dying?”
Jesus Raises Lazarus From the Dead
38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39 “Take away the stone,” he said.
“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”
40 Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”
43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.
Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”
-
Why do we have funerals? If you ask someone, you will typically get an answer like, “so the family can have closure.” The grief begins at the realization that death has arrived and will last months or years past the death. But there is something about the funeral, when the body is seen for the last time and laid to rest, that helps people begin to come to terms with their loss. Funerals normally take place a few days or longer after the death. Denial is a recognized stage of grief, and there seems to be a period of time that has to pass for many people before they are ready to begin to accept that the person is not coming back.
This was no different in the ancient world. In fact, in a world where they didn’t understand much about medicine, that denial led to a tiny sliver of hope that maybe something might change and the person might suddenly gasp for breath and recover. But that hope didn’t last long. The writings of rabbis in the centuries just after Jesus preserved what appears to be an earlier tradition about this belief.
Bar Kappara taught: The most intense time of mourning is only on the third day. For three days, the soul is hovering over its grave, believing that it will return [to the body]. When it sees that the radiance of the face has changed, it goes and leaves it. -Genesis Rabbah 100:7
They believed the soul hovered nearby for a few days, maybe for a chance at recovery, or maybe so that it could hear the cries of grieving loved ones. Either way, after the third day, the soul was gone, and the funeral was over. There was no more hope of recovery or that the deceased might still hear you. They believed this because by the fourth day, everyone could see a visible change in the body. By the late third to early fourth day, the skin begins to bloat and blister, a pale green color starts in the abdomen and spreads over the body, and an unbearable stench arises. It doesn’t take a modern medical examiner to know that this person isn’t coming back.
And this is the moment in which Jesus arrives at Lazarus’ tomb. The funeral is over, the body is buried, and everyone is finally accepting that he is gone. It’s over. Which is why Martha says, “If you HAD BEEN HERE, my brother would not have died.” A few verses later, Mary sees Jesus and says the exact same words. Is this a coincidence, or is it fair to assume that it is because they had been complaining to each other about Jesus not being there for several days?
Mary & Martha believe in Jesus, but their belief is limited by their experience of how death works. What limits your belief?
Jesus replies that their brother will rise again, and that he who believes in him (Jesus) will never die. Then he asks Martha, “Do you believe this?”
She answers yes; she does believe, but when Jesus asks to open the tomb, she still cries out in protest. Jesus can’t open the tomb; doesn’t he understand it’s been four days, the body will be bloated and the stench unbearable, her brother’s spirit will be gone; there is nothing that Jesus can do about it. Her belief just isn’t that big.
Is Jesus’ power limited to only what we believe he can do? How do we believe beyond what we think we know?
The stone is rolled away, and Lazarus comes out. And in Jesus’ prayer, he tells us why, so that we may “..believe that you (God) sent me (Jesus).”
-
What does it mean to live like you are made for more than the grave?
Pick one thing from this list to do today.
Text a friend that you have hope for eternity because of Christ.
Set a reminder to read this story from John 11 every day this week.
Set a reminder to thank God for your hope beyond the grave every day this week.
Identify the limits of your faith. What do you struggle to believe Jesus can do? Talk to God openly about it.
Find a peer and share with them your doubts, struggles, and limits of belief.
Find a trusted adult to open up to about your questions and/or doubts.
Take a few quiet minutes to journal about your feelings, fears, and pain.
Choose faith. Find a place you can be alone and loudly proclaim that God rules the universe, Christ has defeated death, Jesus blood forgives, you belong to Jesus, and that you have hope for eternity.
SATURDAY NIGHT:
GO TELL OTHERS
-
Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene
11 Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
13 They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”
“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
15 He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).
17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.
-
Poor, poor Mary. Jesus was buried in a hurry because the Sabbath would start at sundown and no good Jew could work or touch a dead body on the Sabbath. But because he was buried in a hurry, no one honored him with the traditional funeral rites, such as pouring oil over him and laying spices in among the grave clothes. These small acts of kindness simply showed respect and were the least Mary could offer to the miracle-working teacher who had set her free from demon possession. But she had to wait until the Sabbath ended.
Sunday morning, she arose early, before dark, and with a heavy basket of spices in hand, she headed to the tomb. As she walked, did she wonder how she would roll away the heavy stone, or if the guards would even let her near the tomb? But when she arrived, the guards were gone, the stone rolled away from the entrance, and the tomb…….. was empty. Mary began to cry uncontrollably. She assumed someone had taken his body. Was it taken by the Romans or the Jews, wanting to disgrace Jesus even more by leaving his corpse by the roadside to be pecked at by vultures? Or perhaps Joseph of Arimathea changed his mind and ordered it moved out of the brand-new rock-cut tomb he had cut for his family at great expense?
Can you imagine what Mary must have felt in this moment?
Suddenly she saw a man moving around; he must be a gardener or caretaker to be here so early. Maybe he was the one who moved her Lord. She asked him to tell her where he had moved the body. But the man instead spoke her name, “Mary.”
In John 10:2-3, Jesus had told the disciples that he was the good shepherd, and that he would call his sheep by name, and they would know his voice. When Jesus called Mary by name, she knew his voice and instantly recognized him. She cried out and embraced him, filled with joy, wonder, and worship. Here was the same Jesus whom she saw crucified, whose heart was pierced by a Roman javelin, sealed in a guarded grave for three days, now standing before her alive and well.
Can you imagine what Mary must have felt at this moment? How do you feel about Jesus’ resurrection?
I wonder when the dots began to connect for Mary. Jesus had raised others, and he had taught that they were made for more than the grave. Jesus had taught that in him all would live forever. And now here he was, living beyond the grave. Did this mean, could this possibly mean- that death was defeated? Could this mean that the grave held no power over her or anyone else? That is not just good news; that is the best news!
Jesus, recognizing this moment, tells her…”Go, tell the others.”
When our grief, fear, and unbelief give way to faith in Jesus as the grave-conquering Savior, what does that mean for the rest of our lives? Who do you know who is still living in fear and hopelessness? Who do you need to tell?
-
What does it mean to live like you are made for more than the grave?
Pick one thing from this list to do today.
Tell someone about Jesus.
Tell someone about Jesus.
Tell someone about Jesus.
Tell someone about Jesus.
Tell someone about Jesus.
Tell someone about Jesus.
Tell someone about Jesus.
Tell someone about Jesus.