“Step Eleven: We 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 out. “
---“Alcoholics Anonymous” page 59.
I was ordained as a United Methodist minister in 1976, but I didn’t get sober in AA until 1989. I was the pastor of a local church for seventeen years, before going to work full time in recovery settings for twenty-six more years. Step Eleven taught me a whole new meaning in prayer.
Most prayers, including most church prayers, are more magical than they are faithful. Here’s the difference: In magic, we try to say the magic words to get God to do what we want. In faith, we try to align ourselves to do what God wants. Faith is the opposite of magic.
Many of our “magical prayers” are innocent and have good intentions. I remember in church leading the pastoral prayer, and asking for the concerns of the people. People would pray for the sick. People would pray for those who were mourning a death. People would pray for those in the armed forces serving in dangerous lands. What all these prayers had in common was that we were asking God to do the right thing.
This kind of prayer is like a cosmic vending machine. No matter how innocent or righteous our prayers, they are like putting a coin in the slot, pressing the prayer button, and expecting God to do what we want.
Step Eleven suggests that we have prayer all wrong. Instead of asking or directing God to do the “right thing”, as we have discerned the right thing, we can ask God to show us the right thing that we should be doing. Here’s the difference:
In the congregational prayers, it is normal for people to pray for a church member who has cancer. It is normal to pray for God to heal them. That achieves nothing. Do we suppose that God is unwilling to help them until God gets enough votes from church people? Do we need a quorum?
Instead, if we took Step Eleven, and prayed for knowledge of God’s will for OUR lives on the topic of this person who has cancer, and the power to carry it out, we would become people of action, instead of people of sentiment. If we prayed to know what God wants us to do, we might find that God wants us to drive them to their chemo treatments or cook for them when they are sick from side effects. God might want us to do a “Go fund me” drive to help pay for expensive immunotherapy treatments. God might want us to organize people to support them through prayers or visits. God might want us to ask the cancer patient what would help them the most to feel the love and support of their community. Armed with that knowledge, God will help us do that.
I ruined my first marriage by being a selfish drunk. About 30 years later, I learned that my first wife was dangerously ill with cancer. She had lost her job and her home. She was living in a small camping trailer in New Jersey, one that would not withstand the cold of winter. My first thought was “I’ll say a prayer for her.” Then I remembered Step 11.
I asked God for knowledge of his will for MY life. I then contacted Kathy and visited with her. Then my wife Priscilla and I decided to give her enough money to move into an assisted living facility before it got too cold. We helped her financially for the next 18 months until she died. Step Eleven showed me how to do the right thing for Kathy.
In every situation, Step Eleven leads us to pray for knowledge of God’s will for our lives, and the power to carry it out. This is a vital step on the path to freedom.
