Hope your week has started out beautifully. Covenant grace and peace be to you in the name of Jesus our Lord and Savior, who reigns forevermore. Thank you for your responses to Hilda’s question. She is really encouraged.
Today, we have another question on the Infant Steps Series. It has to do with pressures from friends as a Christian. How did you manage to overcome peer pressures? How did you manage your relationship with people who knew you before you gave your life to Christ? Julia asks similar questions. Please read her question and advise her accordingly. Thank you.
Dear Rita,
I saw the question on backsliding and I want to imagine that Hilda would have had a lot of peer pressures. It is not easy. Speaking for myself, I recently gave my life to Christ but I find it a daily struggle to keep my faith.
Since I gave my life to Christ, I have not felt any different. I still like the things I have always liked, think the things I always thought and react the way I have always reacted. My challenge is in the pressures from my close friends who knew me before I gave my life to Christ. They make me participate in the activities I am trying to let go of. They gang up against me if I do not give in to their requests. They also want to see me fall. When I make a mistake, they taunt me by saying “Is this how a Christian should behave?” These are people that I have grown to know and love. How do I handle my relationship with them? How do I also handle the pressures from them? Do you know anyone that has successfully overcome this challenge?
Julia.
If you have any questions you would like to discuss on the Infant Steps Series, please drop me an email at esurunma@gmail.com or leave the question as a comment in any of my blog posts.
All posts on the Infant Steps Series will be posted on Tuesdays, 9 AM West Africa Time.
10 comments:
hi Julia, I can only speak from experience here okay?
i gave my life a number of times to God, before I REALLY gave my LIFE to HIM. and after the last time, I had friends of both sex, who believed I was crazy, who just wouldnt help me, and kept taunting me. While most times I found myself doing things that a child of God shouldn't do, I still held on to God and gradually with the help of the Holy Spirit, I grew.
Becoming newly born again doesn't automatically change you, as you are still a child where the word of God is concerned, but as you grow, so does your understanding and your faith and your strength. one day, you will wake up to realise that you cant remember the last time you did so and so or thought so and so.
Just ask the Holy Spirit for help everytime you pray to change you. It is a gradual process. and those friends might have to get out of the picture, if that is what it will take for you to get to where you need to be with Christ. It doesnt mean you stop loving them. You might even influence a change in their lives also.
everytime u pray, dedicate your day, your thoughts and activities into God's hand. get into the habit of always doing that and always asking for His help. You won't fall. You will overcome the pressure. Hope I made sense
The renewing of a mind is a process that spans nearly a life time.The tool is the entrance of the word.Now what worked for me when i got saved was cutting of ties from people i knew could cause me mortal damage for awhile. I fed on the word and grew in strength until i couldn't be easily swayed.Not to say i don't have peer pressure challenges today but i'm better equipped to handle them.
Dear Julia,
You can Start by praying constantly!
Also,I suggest the best way to do this would be to be firm in your decisions..If you are put in a situation that makes you feel uncomfortable..Darling, you can always leave. And don't be scared to say no..I know you may be hesitant because you may not want to hurt your friends..But sometimes we have to sacrifice the old for the new and better..
Wishing you all the best!
G'luck..
ok all i can say is that there is a power of goo counsel!
food 4 thot!
all the best on ur race hunny!
het rita!
dear julia,
everytime u pray, dedicate your day, your thoughts and activities into God's hand. get into the habit of always doing that and always asking for His help. You won't fall. You will overcome the pressure.
(cpoied n pasted 4rm 'uzezi)
It's not even always about peer pressure. Sometimes, you just make a decision to do things a certain way but you don't always succeed. God will be our strength!
x!
my best thought is to ignore them..thats what i do.
i was thinking about the same thing yesterday 'peer pressure' i guess its just about being your self, dont do things that will displease you or God just to please your friends.Also there is power in prayers.
i'm echoing Uzezi thots on this
i couldn't have said it better
one more thing
don't be afaird to spend less time with your friends.
for instance if you know that friday nite they will be going clubbing just call in advance and let them know you won't be there,
it is harder to say no when u are present than via the phone
You may have to break with those friends. "If therefore anyone shall have purified himself from these .. he shall be a vessel to honour", 2 Tim 2: 21. "These" are "vessels to dishonour".
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