“My name is Katy. I had gone to church all my life. Rarely would I miss a Sunday. I had been involved in my Sunday school class and with the Youth. I am a good person and I had taken my church and school life seriously. In a matter of nine months I started doing things I had told myself for years that I would never do. I have always been in control of my actions until my family moved to a new place. I had always lived in an area where I didn’t feel safe to walk down the street. When I waited at the bus stop in the morning I was afraid of strangers passing by. When my family moved to the new house it seemed so different. The town homes we moved into was new and clean. Kids played outside, and there were so many things to see and do. I met many nice kids my age, and we did things together every day after school. I had a boyfriend, but not long after I moved we broke up. So, I started dating a guy in the neighborhood. “Tony” was really cool and everybody liked him. We started spending more and more time together until one day Tony asked me to smoke some weed with him and his friends. I said no. However, he continually kept bringing me into a group of people who smoked every day until I finally succumbed to the pressure. Tony and I continued to hang out with all the gang, smoking weed after school every day. We would go off/by ourselves and start making out until the desire was so out of control I relented to having sex. After that Tony treated me differently. He wasn’t as affectionate anymore, and sometimes he wouldn’t even bother coming over to get me.
We finally broke up a couple of months later. I can’t, for the life of me, figure out what happened. I have disillusioned all my friends at church. Everyone knows what I have been doing, and it has destroyed my reputation. I used to be well respected because I had always tried to do what was right, but now all that is gone. I succumbed to peer pressure. We give in to peer pressure because we want to be liked. I just want to fit in and not have anyone laughing at me. I was curious how all these things worked, and I wanted to try something new. Everyone else was doing it! I had no idea that it would change me the way it did.” As a young adult we can do many things to deal with and even avoid peer pressure. We have to stand up for what we believe in and learn how to say the word “NO”. We should defend our friends in the same situation and when the table’s are turned they will defend you.
If we can’t make up our mind about a situation we should talk it over with people we trust. Most times when we come into a pressured situation we do well defending our self the first time, but when we are constantly placing our self at risk we will eventually succumb to the pressure. We have to remind ourselves where we stand. If we are in a situation where people are trying to change us, we have to remember who we are. We are a son’s and daughter’s of God and a representative of Jesus Christ. Don’t let someone else lead you into a situation. Lead them to Christ. If you have a boyfriend make him addicted to you. You shouldn’t be running after him. Remember the goals and plans you of set in life. Don’t let a bunch of foolishness like drugs and premarital sex get in the way of your dreams. Keep a comfort zone of people you can trust around you. Turn peer pressure into positive pressure We were called to mix with sinful people to keep our distinctive Christian value. We are not to loss our faith by absorbing the values of the pagan world. We are not to be isolated from unbelievers either. Giving into temptation is a gradual thing.
Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death. James 1:14-15 NLT
When we are enticed by temptation we originally don’t plan for it to go beyond the first step, but the reality of it all is sin always takes us one step further. When you give into temptation in your life you will soon realize that you will continually and habitually practice the temptation that has ensnared you. If I only give in this one more time I will not ever want to give into it again, but immorality is a disease and you are only deceiving yourself. The more times you submit to temptation the stronger the desire becomes. As time goes on the enjoyment of the desire fades and you will require stronger drugs and more illicit sex to reach the same fulfillment of your desires. The saddest thing about all of this is we lose our relationship with God. It is so gradual that most of us don’t even realize we have fallen out of fellowship until it is to late. Sin deadens our spiritual longings and makes the still small voice of God inside of us deaden to the point we don’t listen anymore. Now when we try to quite our desires our spiritual being will be at war with our physical being.
The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. Galatians 5:17 NLT
However, we can achieve victory by setting out to fight temptation everyday.
If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall. The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure. 1 Corinthians 10:12-13 NLT
God will help you fight temptation. He has given us a direct path of communication to Him through prayer. Secondly He has given us the sword of the spirit which is the Word of God. Temptation by its very nature is a lie. Satan with his deceitful nature presents what is evil as good and what is harmful as helpful. He presents drugs as an antidote to boredom, but they are really poison. He enslaves you with sexual desire, but presents it as a liberation of the soul. Temptation always offers something that sounds good, but in the end it only brings death and destruction. Satan was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. (For more see John 8:44) There is a method to the way Satan deceives us. He tries to attack us when we are weak. When our bodies are sick or when our mind is depressed. Satan will often attack us when we are idle. When boredom comes creeping in he leads us to temptation. He will lead us to doubt God’s wisdom trusting more in our own reason that the Word of God. Relishing the praise of man over the written truth. We start feeling sorry for ourselves, neglecting our prayer life, rebelling against our parents, lying, stealing and cheating like it was our only way to achieve success. We have a false sense of security and we become over confident in our own ability. We may even decide that we don’t need God anymore and stop all association with our church life. We are lost in our trespasses and sins. We have turned our back on our blessed Savior and there is only one way to get Him back! Repent, which means to stop what we know we are doing wrong and go towards what we know is right.
“But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first! Look how far you have fallen! Turn back to me and do the works you did at first. If you don’t repent, I will come and remove your lampstand from its place among the churches. Revelations 2:4-5 NLT
True repentance is where we are sorry for sinning against our God. Turning from that sin, completely stop doing that sin and turn to our Heavenly Father whose Spirit lives inside of us. When we stop committing sin it is not because we fear the consequences of sin. It is not because we fear the judgment of God. True repentance from the heart looks at the sin with hatred and moves away from sin. We look at sin in it’s true light and realize that our Savior was crucified on the cross to defeat the things we have been doing. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world. 1 John 1:8-2:2 Your can not overcome the power of sin by yourself. It is absolutely impossible. You will try and fail until you finally give up. You have to turn back towards God. He alone has the power to heal you. He is the Great Physician. 1.) Therefore submit to God… James 4:7 Surrender your entire life to Him. Pray to Him, “Lord I have made a miserable mess of my life. Please come in take control of my life, my will and my emotions.” Take a spiral ring binder and write Him a letter every night for 90 days. Tell Him everything that happened to you during the day. Tell Him how lonely you feel because I know you feel the loneliest you ever have in your life. You are going to have to abandon all those people that lead you astray. You can not have a relationship with them. You can not help them because you are in a position now where you can’t even help yourself. Prayer is a extremely important weapon that God gave us to fight temptation. Your spiral binder or prayer journal helps you to put your thoughts together before you go to your Heavenly Father in prayer. Two things we want to ask our Father daily if to “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Jesus said, “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”Matthew 26:41 This means we should pray on a daily basis and an when we are tempted. When we pray our prayer journal we should go to a room by ourselves and close the door. Get down on our knees and elbows and read our prayer out to God. This is consecrated prayer. Then we 
should be in a prayerful mind continuously. Our eyes should be open as we carry on a conversation with God as we walk, drive, ride or even talk to others because He is constantly talking to us. Dear Heavenly Father, “ I surrender all resistance in my soul. Please enter my mind at will and speak the Words of life to me. Remove me from the world of the lost so that Your love will fill my heart with unspeakable joy.” 2.) Resist the devil and he will flee from you. James 4:7 You have to fight for this. This is not given to you. You are fighting for your life and everything you have believed in since birth. Fight. Resist. Expel the notions and desires of your past. Refocus your life on things you use to do prior to your temptation. Concentrate on your work or studies. Write a letter to one of you old Christian friends and let them know how you are doing. Keeping your temptations or your sinful past a secret is a mistake. Compose a testimony of the temptations you suffered through and share it with others. Show how God is changing you and how you came about this change. This will lead others to change and cause you to become stronger in your faith. 3.) Draw near to God and He will draw near to you… James 4:8 Don’t just read your Bible , consume it. We must take in the Word of God for our own use. We must take on it’s appearance. It must be a part of our very being. When we eat food it becomes us. When we read the Bible it becomes all of us. When we simulate the Word of God it is received into our hearts and it saves our soul. People don’t change themselves. People don’t change people. If that was the case there wouldn’t be any crime or hatred. It is the Bible that changes people. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saint. Ephesians 6:11-12, 14-18 4.) Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. James 4:8 Reframe from any sin whatsoever. Carry on a continuous conversation with God at all times. As you walk to your class discuss with Him the things you read in your Bible that morning. Avoid thinking about the things you did while you were on drugs. Wash your hands of the people and the places you use to know and go. Above all resist. Fight. This is your future. 5.) Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. James 4:9 This is not a pleasant task. This will not be a happy time for you. Cry Out To GOD! Beg Him for His help because He says, “ With My love I will keep you by My power alone. I don’t care where you have fallen or where you have been. I will never forsake you, My love never ends, it never ends.” Through the years of depression I had separated myself from God, and I had found myself in a state of emptiness that was unbearable. On November 8th, 1997, I got down on my hands and knees and cried out to the Lord for help. Little did I know I was changed instantly. 6.) Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up. James 4:10 I know for a fact that God had His hand in healing me. For those many years I was a stubborn hard headed self indulging fool that placed my will above everybody else’s. The hatred I had inside of me it was no wonder I did the things I did. For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Titus 3:3-7 He changed me into a loving, caring person who is now consumed with the welfare of others. My goodness He has changed me. I no longer live for myself which is the most empty existence there is on earth. I live for my Heavenly Father and my King and Savior Jesus Christ. There is no obstacle great enough to stop my service to Them. I went from a person who was condemned to die to a servant of Jesus Christ and a son Of God. I have a prayer for you, “Dear Heavenly Father, I pray that you will submit yourself to God. Surrendering your life to Him, that you will trust Him and obey His word. I pray that you will resist the sin and temptations that have trapped you into a lifetime of suffering. I pray that you will draw near to God through daily Bible study and prayer. I promise you that He is eagerly waiting to draw near to you. I am begging you to wash your hands of your sinful life, purifying your heart and separating yourself from the people that have lead you astray. I especially want to pray for you during your time of struggle. When you are fighting addiction , loneliness and despair. I realize the days will feel long and the nights even longer. I pray for you all these things so that one day a new dawn will rise in your life and all the things in your past will be gone. You will be a new creation. Designed, developed and molded into a servant leader of God. You will have need of absolutely nothing save your Bible and the faith that it delivers through the power of the Holy Spirit that resides inside of you. Your light will shine forth by your actions and words. I pray that your blessings will be many and one day, I pray, I will see you shining like a star when we are all free from sin again. In Jesus Christ name I pray. Amen
The Millennial Christian 
Posted on March 21, 2013 by millennialxtian
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