Having completed Steps One through Five, there are some fundamental recovery questions in the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous that must be answered before we can move on.1) Have we omitted anything?
2) Is our work solid so far?
3) Are the stones properly in place?
4) Have we skipped on the cement put into the foundation?
5) Have we tried to make motor without sand?
If we can answer these questions in the affirmative, then we have completed the first five steps in such a way that we have acquired the humility necessary to be entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
The Big Book of AA states "if we can answer to our satisfaction, we then look at Step Six. We have emphasized willingness as being indispensable. Are we now ready to let God remove from us all the things which we have admitted are objectionable? Can God now take them all, every one? If we can answer in the affirmative we have then completed Step Six.
The Seventh Step of Alcoholics Anonymous is "humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings." In the Step Book it states "this lack of anchorage to any permanent values, this blindness to the true purpose of our lives produced another bad result, for just as long as we convinced ourselves that we could live by our own individual strength and intelligence, for just that long was a working faith in a higher power impossible. This was true even though we believed God existed. As long as we placed self reliance first, a genuine reliance upon a higher power was impossible. THE BASIC INGREDIENT of all humility, a desire to seek and do God's will, was missing."
I have learned through experience that belief in God is not enough, that we must trust in God in every area of our lives, even as our every day life unfolds. The purpose of the program of Alcoholics Anonymous is to bring us from a thought process propelled by our human desires to a thought process propelled by the will of God. In the will of God our defects that exist in our human nature cannot possibly be manifested in our behavior. And it is only through true humility, a desire to seek and do God's will, that that can occur. We can free ourselves from the bondage of self, we can trust in God in all things and, if so, we are protected from the disease of Alcoholism.
Written by Armand
Armand,
ReplyDeleteThe Biblical basis and foundation for the 12 Steps of AA is clearly found in 2 Chronicles 7:14-15 and is God's divine promise well worth repeating: "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place." And as St. Peter further encourages us in Acts 3:19 "that times of refreshing may come from the Lord."
Consider God's promise gleaned from above, "Then I will forgive their sin and will heal their land." The clear declaration is that God himself will do for us what we could not, and cannot do for ourselves... We need merely offer our myriad malignancy's for removal by the Divine Surgeon's hand and as we climb upon the table it will be done according to His will and perfect timing. This is the essence of Steps 6 and 7.
I need only confess then surrender my specific sins, faults and failures and He promises to release me from the prison of sinful thoughts, acts and actions that had heretofore captured every aspect of my former existence. Isaiah 43:18-19 becomes my new reality "Do not remember the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, now it will spring forth; shall you not know it?" Yes, by His Spirit who now resides inside me I do. He has carried me a long way on this journey through life. There is yet some time to travel but, oh what a journey it is...
A Gratefully Recovering Alcoholic
A Gratefully Recovering Alcoholic 2 Chronicles 7:14-15 is just incredible Scripture. It is one of those rare times - when I hear those words all else around me stops as those words permeate all I am. I know my love for the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous comes from my love of God...Thank you...Armand
DeleteEven before drinking, my life was unanchored to anything of permanent value, and a real purpose for my life didn't exist within my thinking. Adrift as I was, a sea of alcohol helped me ride the waves of discontent until everything finally crashed down upon me. Even in the abysmal depth of that pain, somehow I found that flimsy reed we read about in the Big Bookl. I came to understand that all I had to do in AA was to reach out in a genuine way by surrendering my will and accepting spiritual help. In Steps Six and Seven, I had to humble myself enough to find myself. My human nature had to be sublimated to The Will of The Power Within me in order to live in a divine status. I had to be entirely ready to become me. A daunting challenge but one that was and is necesssry for my happy survival. And now I must give myself away. Without question I have found my purpose.
ReplyDeleteMichael in order to recover in the way that is necessary so that the Power needed to help others is available to us takes Humility. In that state our nature is surrendered to the will of God...Thank you...Armand
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