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
Reviewing my work through Step Five was a valuable exercise in expanding and deepening the humility necessary for recovery. I entered AA with no humility - broken yes, humbled no. I didn't have enough honesty to seek humility as an end unto itself. No question I wanted to change and I knew that AA had the answers, that it was the only place of reconciliation for me. However, the action of integrating all Twelve Steps into my life had to be taken if I were to have the life I was born to live. The Big Book program of recovery had to be taught to me by a teacher who had been taught by a teacher. For me and to me, there is no other way. The only thing greater than my defiance was my pain. And pain,as we know, is the touchstone of all spiritual awakenings. Upon reflection I understand that the answers to those six questions had to be leavened with trust which is the pathway to faith, the forerunner of humility.
ReplyDeleteMichael love when you wrote "the integrating all Twelve Steps into my life had to be taken if I were to live the life I was BORN to live."...Thank you...Armand
DeleteArmand,
ReplyDeleteThe Biblical basis and foundation for all 12 Steps of AA is clearly found in the first “ Big Book”, universally used by the founding members, before the current Big Book was ever written as a record of their common testimony to the miraculous effects of finally surrendering their alcoholism to God as they understood Him. This was and always will be God's divine promise and is well worth repeating as found in 2 Chronicles 7:14-15, "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 reminds 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 it will be done according to His will and perfect timing. This is the essence of Steps 6 and 7.
I need only confess my specific sins, faults and failures and He promises to release me from the prison of sinful 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 a long way to go but oh what a journey it is...
A Gratefully Recovering Alcoholic
A Gratefully Recovering Alcoholic 2 Chronicles 7:14-15 is by far the most impact full Scripture in relation to the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. I love it...Thank you...Armand
ReplyDeleteI have a true desire to seek and do God’s will. I can’t live life in my defects of character. I am ready and willing to let go and trust In God's will for me.
ReplyDeleteJessica
My Creator,
I am now willing that you should have all of me, good and bad. I pray that you now remove from me every single defect of character which stands in the way of my usefulness to you and my fellows. Grant me strength, as I go out to do your bidding.
Jessica a life lived in the manifestation of our character defects is a life of untreated Alcoholism even without the use of alcohol...Thank you...Armand
ReplyDelete