I am often asked, "HOW will I know what God's will for me is???." The "Big Book" of Alcoholics Anonymous says, "...that it is not probable that we are going to be inspired at all times. We might pay for this presumption in all sorts of absurd actions and ideas. Nevertheless, we find that as time passes our thinking will be more and more on the plane of inspiration We come to rely on it." Inspiration is defined as, "the thoughts of God implanted in the mind and soul of man." Once the thoughts of God hit our souls we do not need to run it by our intellect to know it is indeed the Truth.
Although we are not yet capable of turning our will and our life over to the care of God in Step Three, we are capable of making a decision - a final choice - to do so. Deciding from this day forward we are willing to overturn our thought processes that are propelled by our human instincts in order that they may be ruled only by the will of God - which is received through inspiration.
If you have already made that decision, may God bless you and may He keep you. If you have not, perhaps now (this moment, right now) would be the time for you to make it... to turn your thoughts and your behaviors over to the care of God and begin to live a life of peace and a life of pure, unimpeachable joy.
Written By Arman
Thank you Armand. An important post because it's one of the biggest questions that comes up in early sobriety: how am I supposed to know what's God's will, and what's my will? Always a work in progress for me, but an important tool was learning to pause. If I'm blindly and impulsively reacting in the moment, chances are pretty high I'm in Dan's will. If I stop, wait, keep my mouth shut, maybe run my thoughts and plans past someone else-- chances increase that I can be in God's will. I heard a wise man at a meeting once say, "I find God in the pause."
ReplyDeleteDan thank you so much for sharing your experience with us...Armand
DeleteI've always viewed this question in terms of not just one but two "how's." First, what is the process (methodology) by which I will find His Will? Secondly, by what means will I be able to recognize it (awakening). The answer to both, I've found, comes as a result of making that Third Step decision - final choice. For me, that meant fully turning my thoughts and my subsequent behavior over to the remaining Steps of the program of recovery as delineated in The Big Book. As a result, there is no question. There is certainty without thinking, there is peace for the asking.
ReplyDeleteMichael love when you wrote "certainty without thinking. there is peace for the asking."...Thank you...Armand
ReplyDeleteArmand, another great topic.
ReplyDeleteNo matter how far along the path I have traveled, Gods will too often seems the diametric opposite of my own. Always inconvenient and never focused on what I think He should think is the right spin for the planet, and... surrounded by an overriding fear of the impending loss of some person, place or thing that I have invariably put in His place and upon the seat of His throne. Although my conscience readily agrees with His revelation I become paralyzed by the fact that to overcome this newly revealed form of slavery requires internal power I simply don't possess.
Devine will requires Devine power and anything less is tantamount to trying to climb a rungless ladder with the expectation of reaching the roof. The source of that power is clearly contained in the back half of Step 11, "praying only for knowledge of God's will for us and the power to carry that out." That power has turned out to be, for me, the "grain of a mustard seed of faith" called "willingness." Willingness to first leap from the burning building of a misspent life and, more importantly, never trying to reenter it. Willingness to make prayer and devotion the primary fuel for a life now centered on God's eternal paradigm which begins with completely abandoning my own best efforts and to humbly seeking His face through prayer and meditation on His Word ..
A Gratefully Recovering Alcoholic
A Gratefully Recovering Alcoholic as Bill says"simple but not easy. It meant destruction of self."...Thank you...Armand
ReplyDeleteI think you are Billy Graham reincarnated! Shortly after I stopped drinking and before I completed the 164 pages of the BB, I saw a 1963 video of one of his sermons. At the same time my sponsor was carefully walking me through the steps as precisely described in the BB. I was so moved I even visited Billy Graham museum in Charlotte. The Creator gave me free will so I can choose to do His will. Try to imagine how tough that is for God, but also imagine how so sweet it is when one of His creations turns their life over to Him. The twelve steps of AA were developed to take a jack ass like me into His will.
ReplyDeleteJim we are all jack asses...Thank you...Armand
DeleteThere is no doubt that making this conversion will yield amazing results. But also know that you may run into the same snag as I. It’s a phenomenon known as “Dark Date of the Soul”. And has been well documented through history to have affected the lives of those who have gone on a serious spiritual mission.
ReplyDeleteAs explained to me by a Shaolin Monk, the soul becomes so joyful and excited for you to ditch your egoic nature that it may dart ahead before you and your ego have caught up. Thus leaving a VOID in your life that produces great discomfort and anguish to your human self. I also know this to be true because I have gone thru it !
And it feels HORRIBLE! Like falling into quicksand. The harder you try to get out, the deeper you sink.
But the good news is that when you come out it you will be happier and greater peace than you have ever fealt before. My own personal opinion regarding this phenomenon is that God so appreciated the work that I did in an effort to be closer to Him that he set aside something special for me. And I hope I’m right. And I hope that all of you that have chosen this journey get to experience THE LIGHT as well!
Mike Don't know that you have commented before. Welcome and I encourage you to continue to do so...Thank you...Armand
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