The Twelve Steps
and Biblical Verses to go with them
Step One
We admitted we were powerless over alcohol— that our lives had become unmanageable.
We can’t do it on our own.
Sin, the Oxford Group puts it bluntly, “is anything that keeps us from God or from one another.”
Scripture:
Romans 7:18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.
Romans 7 and 8: …I can’t stop sinning, I keep doing what I don’t want to do, who can rescue me from this body of sin and death? Thanks be to God, Jesus can!…
Step Two
Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
God can.
Philippians 2:13 “For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.”
2 Timothy 1:7 God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of POWER, LOVE, and a SOUND MIND,
1 Corinthians 2:16 But we have the mind of Christ and do hold the thoughts (feelings and purposes) of His heart
Phil 1:6 6 being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
1 John 4:19 We love him, because he first loved us.
Step Three
Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God.
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 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
(Page 63 Big Book of AA)
Psalm 52:8, 9: “But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God. I trust in God’s unfailing love forever and ever. I will praise You for what You have done. In Your Name I will hope For Your Name is good.”
Psalm 51:6: “Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; You teach me wisdom in the inmost place.”
Ephesians 4:15: “SPEAKING THE TRUTH IN LOVE. WE ARE TO GROW UP IN ALL ASPECTS INTO HIM, WHO IS THE HEAD, EVEN CHRIST.”
Matthew: Jesus replied: “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
Proverbs 3:5-6: Trust in the Lord with all your heart, don’t lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will guide your path.
Psalm 37:5 “Commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass”
2 Corinthians 3:16-18: Whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is – there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces – all reflect the Lord’s glory – are being transformed into His likeness with ever increasing glory which comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
Psalm 37:4-6: Take delight in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this:
He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn,
your vindication like the noonday sun.
Step Four
Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
Unforgiveness does not hurt the one who harmed you. It hurts only you and often hurts innocent people in your life. It binds you in prison of torment. It causes you to have bitterness, hatred, and anger. It blocks the fullness of God in your life. It is what keeps you in an addiction cycle.
4th Step Prayer
Please help me show those I resent the same Tolerance, Pity and Patience that I would cheerfully grant a sick friend. Help me to see that this is a sick man/woman. Father, please show me how I can be helpful to him/her and save me from being angry. Lord, help me to avoid retaliation or argument.
How To Organize An AA 4th Step
AA 4 Step Worksheets
Scripture:
Lamentations 3:40 “let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the LORD.”
Proverbs 11:25
2 When pride comes, then comes disgrace,
but with humility comes wisdom.
3 The integrity of the upright guides them,
but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity.
Matthew 7:1-5 7 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
Psalm 119:29 "Keep me from deceitful ways; be gracious to me and teach me your law".
Psalm 139:23-24
23 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
4:23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.
4:24 Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee.
4:25 Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.
4:26 Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.
4:27 Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.
6:3 For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.
6:4 But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.
6:5 For every man shall bear his own burden.
6:6 Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things.
6:7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
6:8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
Take a few moments to reflect on the following scriptures:
Matthew 6:14-15: For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also
forgive you. 15But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Matthew 18:21-35: This is the story of servant who would not forgive, after he was forgiven much. . .
The master tells him:“‘Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’
Luke 6:37: "Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned.
Forgive, and you will be forgiven.”
Extending forgiveness does the following wonderful things:
You get to step out of the way & let God have direct line to that person
It means you are relieved of the burden you have been carrying
It frees you from a prison of torment
It closes a door which allows the enemy to have access to you
It allows you to say:
“I choose to give grace”
“I choose to let this person go into God’s hands”
“I am not going to be their judge”
Forgiveness is a command from the Lord.
Because Jesus freely forgave us for all of our sins,
We must also freely forgive.
Forgiveness is a choice, not a feeling.
Step Five
Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being, the exact nature of our wrongs.
James 5:16a Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.
1 Corinthians 11:28
”Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup.“
1 John 1:8-10 NIV
”If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.“
Psalm 27:17 Iron sharpens iron…
Step Six
Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character
James 4:10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
Hebrews 12:1-3 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
Rom. 13:14 “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires”
Those in Christ have already put on the new self/man.
…put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator Col. 3:10
Step Seven
Humbly asked Him to remove all our shortcomings.
1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
James 4:10 “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.”
Matthew 7:7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you 8 For every one that asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it shall be opened.
Romans 12:2 “An do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
2 Corinthians 3:16-18 : “Whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is – there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces – all reflect the Lord’s glory – are being transformed into His likeness with ever increasing glory whichcomes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
Step Eight
Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.
Luke 6:31 “Do to others as you would have them do to you.”
2 Corinthians 5:18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
Ephesians 4:31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 hBe kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
Romans 12:18 as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone
Matthew 5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers…
Step Nine
Made direct amends to such people whenever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
Matthew 5:23-24 “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.
Step Ten
Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.
1 Corinthians 10:12 “So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall.”
Proverbs 16:18 Pride comes before the fall
Ephesians 4 all of it! (Click link)
Step Eleven
Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and power to carry that out.
Matthew 6:5-13: “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. “This, then, is how you should pray: “ ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’”
1 John 5:14-15: And this is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.
Romans 8:26-27: “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.”
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.
Matthew 5:16: "In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven." This verse emphasizes the importance of living a life that reflects one's beliefs and values, which is a key aspect of Step 12.
Galatians 6:2: Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ." This verse highlights the importance of supporting and helping others, which is a central theme in Step 12.
James 2:14-17: "What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, 'Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,' but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead." This passage underscores the importance of putting beliefs into action through service and helping others.
Matt 5:16: In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.