What is peer-pressure and how do we over come it?

[Soldier4Christ]

What is peer-pressure and how do we over come it?

  Peer-pressure is pressures from friends, family and peers to conform to their way of living. Peer-pressure can be both positive and negative. First I want to talk about negative peer-pressure. This is pressure to do something you know is against God’s word and the way your parents raised you. Below are some negative peer-pressures that you might face on a daily basis.

1. Lying to your parents.
2. Using bad language.
3. Wearing revealing or worldly Clothes.
4. Cheating on a test.
5. Being mean to another young person or siblings.
6. Smoking cigarettes
7. Drinking alcohol
8. Taking drugs
9. Sex before marriage
10. Sneaking out


  Peer-pressure is not a new tool that Satan uses to get God’s children to do things they know is not right. It is a method that he has been using since the time of Adam and Eve.

Genesis 3:1-7,
“Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?2  And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3  But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.4  And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:5  For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.6  And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.7  And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.”

Here we see Satan, in the form of a serpent, coming to Eve and pressuring her to disobey God.  He pressures her to eat of the tree in the middle of the garden, which God commanded them not to eat of. Eve gave into the pressure from Satan and ate of the tree, and then she pressured her husband into disobeying God as well.

A lot of times, like Satan, our peers will try to get us to doubt God’s word and what our parents say. They may say that God, or your parents, just do not want you to have fun or to enjoy your life. When they get you to see God and your parents as party poopers, then they get you to start looking at what they are pressuring you into and get you to desire to do it. This is what Satan did to Eve in Genesis 3. He said, “Ha, ha God just don’t want you to be like he is.” “Will you allow him to withhold this from you?” When Eve started seeing God as a party pooper, she looked at the fruit and desired it and she ate it.

  It was not directly Satan’s fault because; Eve made her own choice to give into that pressure and to disobey God and Adam made his own choice as well. We are all responsible for giving into peer-pressure and we cannot blame it on anyone else.

Let’s take a look at another Biblical instant of pressure in the life of the first ruler of Israel, King Saul.

2 Samuel  13: 5-14,  "And the Philistines gathered themselves together to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and people as the sand which is on the sea shore in multitude: and they came up, and pitched in Michmash, eastward from Bethaven6  When the men of Israel saw that they were in a strait, (for the people were distressed,) then the people did hide themselves in caves, and in thickets, and in rocks, and in high places, and in pits. 7  And some of the Hebrews went over Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. As for Saul, he was yet in Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling. 8 ¶  And he tarried seven days, according to the set time that Samuel had appointed: but Samuel came not to Gilgal; and the people were scattered from him.  9  And Saul said, Bring hither a burnt offering to me, and peace offerings. And he offered the burnt offering. 10  And it came to pass, that as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him, that he might salute him. 11  And Samuel said, What hast thou done? And Saul said, Because I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that thou camest not within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered themselves together at Michmash;12  Therefore said I, The Philistines will come down now upon me to Gilgal, and I have not made supplication unto the LORD: I forced myself therefore, and offered a burnt offering. 13  And Samuel said to Saul, Thou hast done foolishly: thou hast not kept the commandment of the LORD thy God, which he commanded thee: for now would the LORD have established thy kingdom upon Israel for ever.14  But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the LORD hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the LORD hath commanded him to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that which the LORD commanded thee."

cont'd

[Soldier4Christ]

Saul was the King of Israel, which was a tremendous privilege to be the greatest man under God. However, we see this great man ruling God’s people, crumble under peer-pressure from his soldiers. The Philistine were great in number and were about to wage war on Saul and his men. The men saw the greatness of the Philistine army and many of them hid in caves, bushes, pits and mountains, while others continued to follow Saul. When Samuel did not show up to offer the sacrifice, Saul, feeling pressure from his men and the armies around him, made the sacrifices that he was not permitted to make. Because Saul gave into peer pressure he lost the right to be King and was later killed at war.

  We are putting a lot on the line, when we give into Peer-pressure. We lose our parent’s trust, a right relationship with God, our Christian witness, our reputation, and even our lives. A few years ago a teenager was out with his friends on his nineteenth birthday. They were out driving around the town, when his friends began to dare him to jump out of the moving vehicle. He gave into their dares and jumped out of the van, but when he jumped out he fell and hit his head on the curb. They rushed him to the hospital where he later died.

Now that we see the danger of peer pressure, let’s take a look at how to fight against it.

Purpose in your heart not to give into peer-pressure when it comes. Daniel 1:1-8
King Nebuchadnezzar fought against Jerusalem and took many of them captive into Babylon. Out of those he took into captivity, he chose certain of them to live and serve in the palace. They were going to feed them food and wine from the king’s table, so Daniel purposed in his heart not to defile himself with the food and drink. He made up his mind before hand that he was not going to give into the peer-pressure to eat what royalty would eat. In order to be able to fight off peer-pressure you need to make up you mind that you are not going to give in.

Stay away from those who pressure you when at all possible.  Proverbs 1:10-16
In this passage it gives an example of someone being pressured into killing someone and taking their money. And the writer is telling his readers not give into them when they pressure them, but to stay away from them. If someone pressures you to lie, to steal, smoke or do something against what your parents and what the word of God says on a regular basis, then you are to stay away from them.

Remember who you will hurt.  Genesis 39:5-12
Giving into peer-pressure always hurts someone: your parents, your Pastorm your Sunday school teacher and your God. Nobody wants to see their children, students or congregations give into peer-pressure and have to face the consequences their choices bring. In his passage Joseph is being pressured by his master’s wife to do something with her that is against his master’s rules and forbidden by God. He said he could not sin against his master or his God. He would not give into her pressures because he knew it would hurt the people he cared about must. So Joseph got away from her…

Peer-pressure is a very powerful force that affects everyone, however we can take the necessary steps to ensure our victory when we are faced with peer-pressure. Next time you are pressured, will you be ready?