The Keys To The Kingdom

AA ‘Big Book’ – Quote

A.A. is not a plan for recovery that can be finished and done with. It is a way of life, and the challenge contained in its principles is great enough to keep any human being striving for as long as he lives. We do not, cannot, out-grow this plan. As arrested alcoholics, we must have a program for living that allows for limitless expansion. Keeping one foot in front of the other is essential for maintaining our arrestment. Others may idle in a retrogressive groove without too much danger, but retrogression can spell death for us. However, this isn’t as rough as it sounds, as we do become grateful for the necessity that makes us toe the line, for we find that we are more than compensated for a consistent effort by countless dividends we receive. –

Pg. 311 – 4th. Editon – The Keys To The Kingdom

Prayers Through the Steps From The Big Book

*Pg. 13  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.

*The Set Aside Prayer:pages 47 and 48(This prayer comes from the Chapter to the Agnostic, primarily)

"Dear God please help me to set aside everything I think I know about [people. place or thing] so I may have an open mind and a new experience.  Please help me to see the truth about [people. place or thing]. AMEN." 

*Pg. 53 “GOD IS EVERYTHING OR HE IS NOTHING.  GOD EITHER IS OR HE ISN’T.  WHAT WAS OUR CHOICE TO BE?”

*Pg. 59  We asked His protection and care with complete abandon.

*THIRD STEP

Pg. 63 - God, I offer myself to Thee - to build with me and 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!

*FOURTH STEP

PG 67 RESENTMENT  - We asked God to help us show them the same tolerance, pity, and patience that we would cheerfully grant a sick friend.  When a person offended we said to ourselves, “This is a sick man.  How can I be helpful to him?  God save me from being angry.  Thy will be done”.

Pg. 68 FEAR  - We ask Him to remove our fear and direct our attention to what He would have us be.

Pg. 69 SEX - We asked God to mold our ideals and help us live up to them.

Pg. 69 SEX - In meditation, we ask God what we do about each specific matter.

Pg. 70 - To sum up about sex: We pray for the right ideal, for guidance in each questionable situation, for sanity and for strength to do the right thing.

*FIFTH STEP

Pg. 75  We thank God from the bottom of our heart that we know Him better.

Pg. 75   we ask if we have omitted anything,

*SIXTH STEP

Pg. 76  If we still cling to something we will not let go, we ask God to help us be willing.

*SEVENTH STEP

Pg. 59  Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

Pg. 76  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

*EIGHTH STEP

Pg. 76  If we haven’t the will to do this, we ask until it comes.

*NINETH STEP

Pg. 79 LEGAL MATTERS - We ask that we be given strength and direction to do the right thing, no matter what the personal consequences might be.

Pg. 80 OTHERS AFFECTED - If we have obtained permission, have consulted with others, asked God to help...

Pg. 82 INFIDELITY - Each might pray about it, having the other one’s happiness uppermost in mind.

Pg. 83 FAMILY  - So we clean house with the family, asking each morning in meditation that our Creator show us the way of patience, tolerance, kindliness and love.

*TENTH STEP

Pg. 84  Continue to watch for selfishness, dishonesty, resentment and fear.  When these crop up, we ask God at once to remove them.

Pg. 85  Everyday is a day when we must carry the vision of God’s will into all our activities.  “How can I best serve Thee--Thy  will (not mine) be done”.

*ELEVENTH STEP

Pg. 59  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 our..

Pg. 86 NIGHT After mediation on the day just completed, “We ask God’s forgiveness and inquire what corrective measures should be taken”.

Pg. 86 MORNING  Before we begin our day, “we ask god to direct our thinking, especially asking that it be divorced from self-pity, dishonest or self-seeking motives”.

Pg. 86 MORNING  In thinking about our day, “Here we ask God for inspiration, an intuitive thought or a decision”.

Pg. 87 MORNING  We usually conclude the period of mediation with a prayer that we be shown all through the day what our next step is to be, that we be given whatever we need to take care of such problems.  We especially ask for freedom from self-will, and are careful to make no requests for ourselves only  We may ask for ourselves, however, if others will be helped.  We are careful never to pray for our own selfish ends.

Pg. 87 - 88  ALL DAY  As we go through the day we pause, when agitated or doubtful, and ask for the right thought or action. …humbly saying to ourselves many times each day “Thy will be done.”

*TWELFTH STEP

Pg. 164  Ask Him in your morning meditation what you can do each day for the man who is still sick.  The answers will come IF your own house is in order.

** Pg. 102 Your job now is to be at the place where you may be of maximum helpfulness to others,, so never hesitate to go anywhere if you can be helpful.  You should not hesitate to visit the most sordid spot on earth on such an errand.  Keep on the firing line of life with these motives and God will keep you unharmed. 

Whenever you fall

 There was once a very active boy who fell and broke his leg. He could run again in the spring, the doctors said, but only if he stayed in bed for an entire month and kept his leg still. At first the boy fought the rule, but he found that the more he thought about things he couldn't do, the more tired and angry he felt.

His parents put in a phone by his bed and friends called every day. He'd never much liked talking on the phone, but he felt better when they called. He wrote letters and got replies, and was surprised at what fun it was. Usually, he didn't have time to write letters.

He learned to play chess and began to enjoy reading. His days were slower and quieter than he'd been used to, but he learned a month really isn't a very long time. When spring came, he was running again, a little more joyfully than before.

When we can learn to accept our troubles, we find, like the boy, that they are just packages in which new growth and discoveries are wrapped.

If something unexpected slows me down today, what joys might I find at the slower pace?

A Spiritual Awakening

When a man or a woman has a spiritual awakening, the most important

meaning of it is that he has now become able to do, feel, and believe that  which he could not do before on his unaided strength and resources alone.

He has been granted a gift which amounts to a new state of consciousness and being.
He has been set on a path which tells him he is really going somewhere that life is not a dead end, not something to be endured or mastered.