Be Bold, Be Brave, BE YOU

Peer pressure is defined as influence from members of one's peer group. It doesn't matter where you are in life there will be peer pressure of some point. 

Growing up you get a lot of peer pressure because you want to fit in, as a young adult you give into it because you want to have a good time and the older you get you get this because people think they know what is best for you. 

Growing up you may be tempted to do certain things that you normally wouldn't do. You want people to like you, so you do what it takes to make them happy. Let me tell you, there is no person "cool" enough in high school, that you should feel the need to impress. After you graduate high school, everyone goes on to live their own lives and anything you did "to fit in" won't matter to anyone anymore. BE YOU. whoever that may be. Be happy and confident in who you are and who God made you to be. Did you know that you are "Fearfully and wonderfully made" Psalm 139:14. God put so much thought into you, it says in Ephesians 2:10, "For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago." So do not let people of this world influence you to be someone you are not. God created you to be you and according to his purpose for your life. Find confidence in that. You are beautiful, you are loved, you are AMAZING.

As a young adult, you may be tempted into a lot of sin. Drinking, partying, drugs and sex. Temptation and peer pressure are REAL when you are a young adult. Even when you try to do good you constantly get text messages from your friends "come on, lets go out" or from guys you like "want to come over." I know how hard it is to say no. I have been there. But I have learned there is so much more to life than THAT life. I have come to find that most people living their life in sin are trying to fill a void. A void that can only be filled by Jesus. You see we were designed to need Jesus but you get so blinded by the things of this world that you lose sight of that. The only one who can truly satisfy the human heart is the one who created it. That isn't a guy, that isn't a friend, that isn't a drug, that isn't a drink and that isn't a club, It is none other than GOD. "Yet you, LORD, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand." Isaiah 84:8. God created you, he knows what you need. When you lean on him to give you what you need, he will fill you up like no one else can.

Now, as a mature adult, peer pressure turns into everyone thinking they know what is best for you. Although it is usually with good intentions, you need to be careful of how much you allow people to play into the decisions you make in your life. Your friends may give you what they believe is the best advice for you and that's great, the bible teaches us to seek wise counsel, however we must not neglect our own intuitions and seeking God's counsel. If you are feeling hesitant about a situation maybe that's God's way of telling you that, that's not for you. Whether that be a decision you are making or whether that be a relationship you are pursuing, make sure at the end of the day you are doing what is best for YOU. It doesn't matter if people aren't happy about your choices, as long as you feel peace about it, then you know God is on your side and you made the right decision for your life. And honestly that is more important than the approval of anyone else in your life. The last thing you want is to be stuck in a situation where it may be good, but what if God had better for you. You want God's best and you can only know you are living in God's best when you are walking closely with God. 

So I encourage you today, wherever you are in life, seek God first. He will not allow the pressure of life be too much for you to bare. "You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!" Isaiah 26:3.