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Miracles In Progress 12 Step Recovery Forums -> Alcoholics Anonymous -> Alcoholics Anonymous -> 12 Step Prayers (Big Book Style)
Post Info TOPIC: 12 Step Prayers (Big Book Style)
Jane05


MIP Old Timer

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12 Step Prayers (Big Book Style)
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I could be wrong, as usual, and I have tried to find this here and couldn't.  Anyway this is a list of the 12 Step Prayers (Big Book Style).  I don't remember where I got them from, but I still use them today and wanted to share with you.

NIGHT-PRAYER
God forgive me where I have been resentful, selfish, dishonest or afraid today. Help me to not keep anything to myself but to discuss it all openly with another person - show me where I owe an apology and help me make it. Help me to be kind and loving to all people. Use me in the mainstream of life God. Remove worry, remorse or morbid (sick) reflections that I may be of usefulness to others. AMEN
(p. 86 BB)

MORNING-PRAYERGod direct my thinking today so that it be divorced of self pity, dishonesty, self-will, self-seeking and fear. God inspire my thinking, decisions and intuitions. Help me to relax and take it easy. Free me from doubt and indecision. Guide me through this day and show me my next step. God give me what I need to take care of any problems. I ask all these things that I may be of maximum service to you and my fellow man in the name of the Steps I pray. AMEN
(p. 86 BB)

[A QUICK NOTE--there are several versions of these prayers that float around. You may have been given a copy by your sponsor at sometime. Some versions claim to be "from the BIG BOOK". The problem is some are written in the Big Book "Alcoholics Anonymous" or in the "Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions", and others are only inspired by or derived from what is in these books. To avoid confusion, what is in the Big Book (BB) or Twelve & Twelve (12&12), I'll put quote marks around, the others I'll either give page numbers from which the inspiration may have come, or quote that page first.]

PRAYERS OF THE STEPS

1ST STEP
God, Creative Intelligence, Universal Mind, Spirit of Nature or Spirit of the Universe my name is ______, And I'm a real alcoholic ... and I need your help today.
(pg.. 10-2, 46, & Chp. 3 BB)

2nd STEP
God, I'm standing at the turning point right now. Give me your protection and care as I abandon myself to you and give up my old ways and my old ideas just for today.
AMEN
(p. 59 BB)

3rd STEP
"God, I offer myself to Theeto 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!" (p. 63 BB)

God, Take my will and my life. Guide me in my recovery. Show me how to live. AMEN
(the step on p. 59 BB)

4th STEP
WHEN IN DOUBT
"I was to sit quietly when in doubt, asking only for direction and strength to meet my problems as He would have me. Never was I to pray for myself, except as my requests bore on my usefulness to others. Then only might I expect to receive. But that would be in great measure."
(p.13)

WHEN I AM DISTURBED BY THE CONDUCT (SYMPTOMS) OF OTHERS
"This is a sick man. How can I be helpful to him? God save me from being angry. Thy will be done."
(p. 67 BB)

God help me to show this person the same tolerance, pity and patience that I would Cheerfully grant a sick friend. This is a sick person, how can I be helpful to him? God save me from being angry. Thy will be done.
(see above and p. 141 of 12&12)

WHEN I AM AFRAID
"We ask Him to remove our fear and direct our attention to what He would have us be."
(p. 68 BB)

God, relieve me of this fear and direct my attention to what you would have me be. AMEN
(see above)

WHEN I AM AWARE OF MY OWN DEFECTS AND SEEKING GOD'S HELP TO CHANGE
"We asked God to mold our ideals and help us to live up to them. . . we ask God what we should do about each specific matter."
(p. 69 BB)

God mold my ideals in this particular area of my life and help me to live up to them. What should I do in each specific matter? Guide me God and give me strength to do right. AMEN
(see above)

5th STEP
God I thank you from the bottom of my heart that I know you better. Help me become aware of anything I have omitted discussing with another person. Help me to do what is necessary to walk a free man at last. AMEN
(p. 75 BB)

6th STEP
God help me become willing to let go of all the things to which I still cling. Help me to be ready to let You remove all of these defects, that Your will and purpose may take their place. AMEN
(p. 76 BB)

7th STEP
"I humbly offered myself to God, as I then understood Him, to do with me as He would. I placed myself unreservedly under His care and direction. I admitted for the first time that of myself I was nothing; that without Him I was lost. I ruthlessly faced my sins and became willing to have my new-found Friend take them away, root and branch."
(p. 13)

"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."
(p. 76 BB)

8th STEP
"We attempt to sweep away the debris which has accumulated out of our effort to live on self-will and run the show ourselves. If we havent the will to do this, we ask until it comes."
(p. 76 BB)

God help me to become willing to sweep away the debris of self will and self reliant living. Thy will be done for this person as well as for me. AMEN
(see above)

9th STEP
God give me the strength and direction to do the right thing no matter what the consequences may be. Help me to consider others and not harm them in any way. Help me to consult with others before I take any actions that would cause me to be sorry. Help me to not repeat such behaviors. Show me the way of Patience, Tolerance, Kindliness, and Love and help me live the spiritual life. AMEN
(p. 78-80 BB)

10th STEP
God remove the Selfishness, dishonesty, resentment and fear that has cropped up in my life right now. Help me to discuss this with someone immediately and make amends quickly if I have harmed anyone. Help me to cease fight anything and anyone. Show me where I may be helpful to someone else. Help me react sanely; not cocky or afraid. How can I best serve You - Your will, not mine be done. AMEN
(p. 84-5 BB)

"How can I best serve TheeThy will (not mine) be done."
(p. 85 BB)

11th STEP
"As we go through the day we pause, when agitated or doubtful, and ask for the right thought or action. We constantly remind ourselves we are no longer running the show, humbly saying to ourselves many times each day 'Thy will be done.' "
(p. 87-8 BB)

God, I'm agitated and doubtful right now. Help me to stop and remember that I've made a decision to let You be my God. Give me the right thoughts and actions. God save me from fear, anger, worry, self-pity or foolish decisions that Your will not mine be done. AMEN
(see above)

(Prayer of St Francis of Assisi) "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."
(p. 99 12&12)

12th STEP

God, grant me the Serenity
to accept the things
I cannot change Courage to change the
things I can, and the
Wisdom to know the difference.
(p. 130 12&12)

Edit in full version continued -

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

Reinhold Niebuhr

Thank you for reposting these, Jane. I hope you don't mind my intrusion to amend for the Serenity Prayer as the Step 12 prayer. It appears in Twelves Steps & Twelve Traditions at the close of the chapter. God's blessings for you, Danielle x

-- Edited by Sobrietyspell on Thursday 16th of July 2009 11:22:05 AM

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Sobrietyspell


MIP Old Timer

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Posts: 3057
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These are fantastic, Jane. Thankyou for posting them. I haven't seen them put so succinctly before though I do recognise them from the Big Book along with the 12 & 12. Now that I have these & I will use them in my own life & to help any Newcomers come to understand the literature too. It's funny as you study this literature how you realise that it really is all a specific set of instructions on how to discipline our thinking & when we put the drink down it is our thinking we're left with to deal with. Alcohol is but a symptom. I am my problem & my Higher Power is the Solution.

It isn't easy to live & aspire to be in this constant state of loving attendance & humility as my ego will always want to win any argument, prove my points, change someone else, defend my honour, stature, faults & generally reign smugly supreme over others in quiet or vocal criticism but I know today that my will is not the way forward unless it is aligned with what I'm coming to learn as God's will for me. It's a subtle process & it's taken me just over two years to have a semblance of a fully functioning program in my life now but my life is now sp much better than it ever was before & I don't have to take a drink.

It is a miracle & one that I can't even comprehend the gratitude for some days but something, again, has shifted & I'm now readying, with these new tools, to begin to step forward into my potential. To learn & develop new skills I already thought I had but can now afford with a new maturity & understanding. It is this Program & these prayers that have been helping to raise me into my adulthood & possibly even into a life beyond my wildest dreams. I feel like I am shedding my old masks & hurts. My old motivations & embracing humilities I never thought I could afford.

I am grateful for the wisdoms that are continually shared with me through this fellowship, through these steps & here at MIP. They are making me who I am today & I'm not ashamed to say this now for before I was fearful I would lose myself in all these learnings but that isn't true. That was a fear in my disease. I am learning how to be free to be me & the difference is so subtle & so astounding all at the same time. I've been enjoying sharing in meetings this gratitude for this new phase of development in my life.

Members told me my life would get better, to keep coming back & to put my heart & soul into this program for at least the first two years whilst making no major decisions & staying out of relationships as best I can. I have done everything to the best of my ability which hasn't been perfect but I have done well & I am grateful to myself for trying as hard as I have to get here. It does work if you work it & the promises do come true. The promises are coming true for me. So, if there is anyone here who is in any doubt as to whether you're doing the right thing going to meetings, getting a sponsor & working the steps.. You are.

Recovery is a worldwide revolution & I'm proud to be a part of it. Thankyou for letting me share & for loving me until I can love myself. I love you all in return & abundance. Keep coming back, Danielle x

__________________
Progress not perfection.. & Practice makes Progress!
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