The 12 Steps

For General Use

• Step 1 – We admitted we were powerless over our ourselves – that our lives had become unmanageable
• Step 2 – Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity
• Step 3 – Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood God
• Step 4 – Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves
• Step 5 – Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs
• Step 6 – Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character
• Step 7 – Humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings
• Step 8 – Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all
• Step 9 – Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others
• Step 10 – Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it
• Step 11 – Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood God, praying only for knowledge of God’s will for us and the power to carry that out
• Step 12 – Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to others, and to practice these principles in all our affairs

 

 

THE TWELVE STEPS

OF ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS

1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol — that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

 

12 STEP PRAYERS

SERENITY PRAYER

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.

THIRD STEP PRAYER

God, I offer myself to Thee – to build
with me and to do with me as thou wilt.
Relieve me of the bondage of self,
that I might better do thy will.
Take away my difficulties,
that victory over them may bear witness
to those I would help of
Thy Power, Thy Love and Thy Way of Life.
May I do Thy will always! AA pg. 63

FOURTH STEP PRAYERS

#1: This is a sick man. How can I be helpful to him? God save me from being angry. Thy will be done. AA pg 67

#2 God, remove my fear and direct my attention to what You would have me be. AA. p 68

SEVENTH STEP PRAYER

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 from here,
to do your bidding. Amen AA pg. 76

TENTH STEP PRAYER

How can I best serve Thee
Thy will (not mine) be done.
AA pg. 85

ELEVENTH STEP PRAYER

Lord, make me a channel of Thy peace–
that where there is hatred, I may bring love–
that where there is wrong, I may bring
the spirit of forgiveness–
that where there is discord, I may bring harmony
that where there is error, I may bring truth —
that where there is doubt, I may bring faith —
that where there is despair, I may bring hope —
that where there are shadows, I may bring light –
that where there is sadness, I may bring joy.
Lord, grant that I may seek rather
to comfort than to be comforted —
to understand, than to be understood —
to love, than to be loved.
For it is by self-forgetting that one finds.
It is by forgiving that one is forgiven.
It is by dying that one awakens to Eternal Life. Amen.
AA 12 &12 pg. 99