12 Steps, Principles & Prayers

12 Steps, Principles & Prayers

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Serentity 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 hardship 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.

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First Step
We admitted we were powerless over alcohol --
that our lives had become unmanageable.

Principle:
Surrender:
(Capitulation to hopelessness.)

Honesty:
After many years of denial,
recovery can begin when with one simple admission
of being powerless over alcohol --
for alcoholics and their friends and family.

Prayer:
Today I ask for help with my addiction.
Denial has kept me from seeing how powerless
I am and how my life is unmanageable
I need to learn and remember that
I have an incurable illness and that
abstinence is the only way to deal with it.
Amen.

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Second Step
Came to believe that a Power greater than
ourselves could restore us to sanity.

Principle:
Hope:
(Step 2 is the mirror image or opposite of step 1.
In step 1 we admit that alcohol is our higher power,
and that our lives are unmanageable.
In step 2, we find a different Higher Power
who we hope will bring about a return to sanity
in management of our lives.)

Faith:
It seems to be a spiritual truth,
that before a higher power can begin to operate,
you must first believe that it can.

Prayer:
I pray for an open mind so
I may come to believe in
a Power greater than myself.
I pray for humility and
the continued opportunity
to increase in my faith.
I don’t want to be crazy any more.
Amen.

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Third Step
Made a decision to turn our will and our lives
over to the care of God as we understood him

Principle:
Commitment:
(The key word in step 3 is decision.)

Commitment:
(The key word in step 3 is decision.)

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 may 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.
Amen.

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Fourth Step
Made a searching and fearless moral inventoryof ourselves.

Principle:
Honesty:
(An inventory of self.)

Soul Searching:
There is a saying in the 12-step programs
that recovery is a process, not an event.
The same can be said for this step --
more will surely be revealed.

Prayer:
Dear God,
It is I who has made my life a mess.
I have done it, and I cannot undo it.
My mistakes are mine, and I will begin
a searching and fearless moral inventory.
I will write down my wrongs, but
I will also include that which is good.
I prayer for the strength to compete the task.
Amen.

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Five Step
Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another
human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

Principle:
Truth:
(Candid confession to God and another human being.)

Integrity:
Probably the most difficult of all the steps to face,
Step 5 is also the one that provides the greatest opportunity
for growth.

Prayer:
Higher Power, my inventory has shown me who I am,
yet I ask for Your help in admitting my wrongs
to another person and to You.
Assure me, and be with me this Step,
for without this Step I cannot progress in my recovery.
With Your help, I can do this and I will do it.
Amen.

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Sixth Step
Were entirely ready to have God remove all
these defects of character.

Principle:
Willingness:
(Choosing to abandon defects of character.)

Acceptance:
The key to Step 6 is acceptance -- accepting
character defects exactly as they are and
becoming entirely willing to let them go.

Prayer:
Dear God, I am ready for Your help in removing
from me the defects of character which I now
realize are obstacles to my recovery.
Help me to continue being honest with myself and
guide me toward spiritual and mental health.
Amen.

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Seventh Step
Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

Principle:
Humility:
(Standing naked before God, with nothing to hide, and
asking that our flaws—in His eyes—be removed.)

Humility:
The spiritual focus of Step 7 is humility,
asking a higher power to do something that
cannot be done by self-will or mere determination.

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 Your bidding.
Amen.

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Eighth Step
Made a list of all persons we have harmed, and
became willing to make amends to them all.

Principle:
Reflection:
(Who have we harmed? Are we ready to amend?)

Willingness:
Making a list of those harmed before coming into
recovery may sound simple.
Becoming willing to actually make those amends
is the difficult part.

Prayer:
Higher Power, I ask for Your help in making
my list of all those I have harmed.
I will take responsibility for my mistakes, and
be forgiving to others just as You are forgiving to me.
Grant me the willingness to begin my restitution.
This I pray.
Amen.

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Ninth Step
Made direct amends to such people wherever possible,
except when to do so would injure them or others.


Principle:
Amendment:
(Making direct amends/restitution/correction, etc.)

Forgiveness:
Making amends may seem like a bitter pill to swallow,
but for those serious about recovery it can be
great medicine for the spirit and soul.

Prayer:
Higher Power, I pray fro the right attitude to make my amends,
being ever mindful not to harm others in the process.
I ask for Your guidance in making indirect amends.
Most important , I will continue to make amends by staying abstinent,
helping others, and growing in spiritual progress.
Amen.

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Tenth Step
Continued to take personal inventory and when
we were wrong promptly admitted it.

Principle:
Vigilance:
(Exercising self-discovery, honesty, abandonment,
humility, reflection and amendment on a momentary,
daily, and periodic basis.)

Maintenance:
Nobody likes to admit to being wrong.
But it is absolutely necessary to maintain
spiritual progress in recovery.

Prayer:
I pray I may continue:
To grow in understanding and effectiveness;
To take daily spot-check inventories of myself;
To correct mistakes when I make them;
To take responsibility for my actions;
To be ever aware of my negative and
self-defeating attitudes and behaviors;
To keep my willfulness in check;
To always remember I need Your help;
To keep love and tolerance of others as my code;
And to continue in daily prayer how I can
best serve You, my Higher Power.
Amen.

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Eleventh Step
Sought through prayer and meditation to improve
our conscious contact with God was we understood Him,
praying only for knowledge of His will for us
and the power to carry that out.

Principle:
Attunement:
(Becoming as one with our Father.)

Making Contact:
The purpose of Step 11 is to discover the plan
God as you understand Him has for your life.

Prayer:
Higher Power, as I understand you,
I pray to keep open my connection with You and
to keep it clear from the confusion of daily life.
Through my prayers and meditations I ask especially
for freedom from self-will, rationalization, and wishful thinking.
I pray for the guidance of correct thought and positive action.
You will, Higher Power, not mine, be done.
Amen.

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Twelfth Step
Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of
these steps, we tried to carry the message to alcoholics,
and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

Principle:
Service:
(Awakening into sober usefulness.)

Service:
For those in recovery programs,
practicing Step 12 is simply "how it works."

Prayer:
Dear God,
My spiritual awakening continues to unfold.
The help I have received I shall pass on and
give to others, both in and out of the Fellowship.
For this opportunity I am grateful.
I pray most humbly to continue walking day by day
on the road of spiritual progress.
I pray for the inner strength and wisdom to
practice the principles of this way of life in all I do and say.
I need You, my friends, and the Program every hour of every day.
This is a better way to live.
Amen.

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Lord, take me where you want me to go;
Let me meet whom you want me to meet;
Tell me what you want me to say
And keep me out of your way.
Amen

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St. Francis' Prayer

Lord, make me a channel for thy peace
that where there is hatred,
I may bring love;
that where there is wrong,
I may bring a 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 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

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Good Morning, This is God!
I will be handling all your probems today.
I will not need your help.
So have an awesome day.

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