Category: 12 Steps
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Don’t wait until Monday
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. Have you taken your moral inventory yet? I have things rolling around in my head that I intend to write down whenever I do this, but I’m avoiding…
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Stepping in the ring
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. I’m listing two steps this week because I, for one, am not ready to move on to Step 5, and I do not think that I am alone.…
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Putting off that moral inventory
Step 4: Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. So how is your moral inventory going? Mine isn’t going very well primarily because I haven’t started it. Oh, I’ve started it in my head so many times, I’m telling myself I don’t need to do it because I already know what my…
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Addicted to isolation
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. “Hi, my name is John, and I’m not an alcoholic, but it’s very complicated. In some ways, I kind of wish I was, because then I would be among friends. But that’s not quite true either, because if I were among friends, I wouldn’t know…
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Living in the light
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life. (Psalm 139:23-24) Let us test and examine our ways. Let us turn…
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‘Hi John!’
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. This is a difficult step but there are a number of things that will make it a lot easier. One of those I want to talk about today is one of those things that makes the AA environment for change more suitable than your typical…
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Making a fearless moral inventory
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. Now we’re getting personal. This is where we get at the flaws in our character — our sins and our excuses, rationalizations and justifications for them. This is where we get all the negative stuff about ourselves out on the table and figure out what…
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The reason
Step 3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him. There is a key word in this step that I left until last, not because I knew what I was doing, but because I just noticed it. It’s extremely important because it indicates the…
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Giving up the whoopee blanket
Step 3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him. It’s all about control. So far I have been in control of my own life and I have already admitted that I have been doing a lousy job of it. It’s my own control…
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Turn it over
Step 3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him. My son, my son, why are you striving You can’t add one thing to what’s been done for you I did it all while I was dying Rest in your faith, my…
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Happy Birthday, Mark
Step 3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him. We are — all of us — living a life that involves a good deal of pain and struggle. Some of it we caused — some of it we didn’t — it doesn’t…
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Second Catch
Step 3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him. “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.” Matthew 26:39 So I had the Catch all ready to go out about four hours ago, but…
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Came To Believe…
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. There is an oral tradition in AA that is a play on the first three words of this step: “Came to believe.…” It turns it into a three-part unfolding. First, we came. We showed up. Let us not downplay the…
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Coming to believe
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. Believing is not an overnight thing. It’s something you come to, and it may take time. Some come to faith quickly; others struggle. It’s a deeply personal thing. You can’t force it on anyone. This step is unique in that…
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Step 1: Upstairs, downstairs people
1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable. Before moving on to Step 2, there is an important point to be made about Step 1. It has to do with the last entry on Friday when I created an imaginary church where the regular crowd was worshiping upstairs while the…
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He had a dream
If we ever needed to remember Martin Luther King, Jr., it is now. Racism is raising its ugly head all over the western world. The needs of immigrants and refugees are pressing the issue. The shape of the world is changing. It’s natural to fear change. The first step of AA is that we are…
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Step One: AA Meeting Downstairs
Step 1: We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable. I have an addictive personality. I am addicted to sin. I do not have to work at sinning. It comes pretty easily. I can do it without thinking. Certain ones seem to come up again and again, but fortunately they are quiet…
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Step one: Remember the Fire
Step 1: We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable. “When you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes, and other musical instruments, bow to the ground to worship King Nebuchadnezzar’s gold statue. Anyone who refuses to obey will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace.” (Daniel 3:5-6) This was…
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Step One: The Lordship of Anything
Step 1: We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable. Hear me out because now it gets gnarly. I wanted to get personal today. I wanted to come at this 12-step thing a little like: “Hi, my name is John and I’m a __________.” This is where I’m going to confess what…
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Step One: Pieces on the Ground
Step 1: We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable. Change begins with an admission of the fact that we are powerless to change ourselves. Nothing truly positive can happen in our lives until we admit our powerlessness to produce it. There is no solution in this step, just a reorienting of…