11. 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.
Prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact… practice and patience as we learn. Go gently into these new tools.
Sought:
Making deliberate choice and attention – this is our part.
Why? So, we can do what needs done, at the right time, the best way to know how to do it with His guidance, strength, and success from God as we humbly seek direction, be open minded.
Improve conscious contact:
To be aware of Him and His responses – growth, more God-conscious.
Prayer:
1st thing in am, all-day check-ins, at bedtime.
Mediation:
Be patient – mind will wander, get distracted – no self-judging – just bring mind back – think about what reading and how to apply.
Mediation: think about what thinking about – listen – pick an important truth to ponder, ruminate, examine. and “chew on” -> learning and growth.
Living life step!
His Will:
Only know if He reveals it – but He has given us His Word in Good Book, downloads to others throughout history that can be passed on and revealed in the lives of others.
God blesses, supports, and encourages our willingness, imperfect as it is.
The Power to carry it out:
And gives us the Grace-power to carry it out. What an awesome gift!
Not a text or email with instructions, then watching to see how we will do it – no. He gives us what we need to be able do it.
But when we want what God wants, ask Him to reveal it to us as only He knows how. His method of revelation is unique to each one of us.
Then the gift of the ability to do it.
Honest effort to live daily in accordance with the known will of God, as we practice this step our confidence in God’s responsiveness grows.
Learn, no prayer goes unanswered: yes, no, not now – His choice – therefore we grow in patience and perseverance – we learn obedience.
Good Father does respond.
Deliberate choice – ongoing in our day.
Learn to listen by listening.
Humility: we can’t – He can – I’ll let Him – fundamental to working the steps. We hate that we can’t be in charge, but then we come to learn the blessing of powerless – we can stop doing what we can’t do and fail at. The truth is the admission of all our qualities good and bad, denying pride.
Faith grows and trust.
I am who I am by the Grace of God
Simply said, we can’t do it His way without the grace-gift of His empowerment.
His will is only acceptable for us as we come to learn and experience His nature, His character.
With the revelation of the knowledge of His will comes the moment of choice, action choose to do as instructed with His enabling – not our own or anyone else’s.
Rebellion: I want to do His will my way!
To think on, to revolve in our mind, to contemplate truth, to search for truth.
Thinking in the presence of God is meditation.
Seeking truth about God, self, others, reality is mediation.
Ask: who, what, why, where, by what means, how, when.
Then quiet our mind and listen.
What is His will? 8 P actions to learn:
- Prayer
- Plan
- Path
- Power
- Pace
- Pauses
- Pit-stops
- comPletion
- Praise!
Pray, think, talk to wise people beware of our own biases, do the next indicated thing and see what we discover, practice, then make a decision and act but don’t second guess, will discover outcome afterwards, not before.
Step out to find out.
Do the next right thing.
Practice of developing the ability to experience and hearing from God.
Develop inner awareness of the His presence in our inner being, our spirit.
Leads to personal and profound changes.
Only in the present moment. Give time.
Verbal prayer ask, wait, listen. Learn to be open.
Divine reading. Meditate on specific verses, nature of God, what we are to do.
Use imagination: picture Him as the Good Shepherd.
Action-based prayer, talking to Him as we do what we believe are to do.
Flash prayers. A quick cry for help.
Centering prayer: quiet place, comfortable – pick a sacred word to focus on – bring mind back – avoid analysis – 10-20 minutes – allow a few minutes to come back – then journal discoveries.
“Stop worrying long enough to hear My voice. I speak softly to you, in the depths of your being. Your mind shuttles back and forth, hither, and yon, weaving webs of anxious confusion. As My thoughts rise up within you, they become entangled in those sticky webs of worry. Thus, My voice is muffled, and you hear only “white noise.”
Sarah Young
“Lord, help us to rein in all the distractions that bombarded us daily. Let us pay our full attention to you. Let us truly listen to your requests. Keep us from the shortsighted absurdity of bestowing our attention on the wrong things. Amen”
Henri Nouwen
And listen to what Joe Girard has to say… ”the elevator to success is out of order. You’ll have to use the stairs…one step at a time.” Just make sure that the stairway is of God’s choosing. Read the signage.
“A refreshed, revitalized mind is able to sort out what is important and what is not. In its natural condition, your mind easily gets stuck on trivial matters. Like the spinning wheels of a car trapped in mud, the clogs of your brain spin impotently when you focus on a trivial thing. As soon as you start communicating with Me about the matter, your thoughts gain traction, and you can move on to more important things. Communicate with Me continually, and I will put My thoughts into your mind.”
Living in Step 11! From Jesus Calling, by Sarah Young.
“To obey God is Freedom.”
Seneca the Younger (5 B. C. – A. D. 65)
To use or do is addiction bondage. Choices….
Remember the old saying: when life gives you lemons, make lemonade! We are being bombarded by lemons these days, so check in with your Higher Power and get a great recipe for lemonade.
Sarah Young reminds us that… ”Rehearsing your troubles results in experiencing them many times, whereas you are meant to go through them when they actually occur. Do not multiple your suffering this way!
Recovery is all about do-overs, 2nd chances, and opportunities that our God brings to us to use our mind to choose to give it a try!
Just because it is a good idea, doesn’t mean it is God’s idea. The good is the enemy of the best. Step 11 teaches us to use prayer and meditation to create a tight connection for his download. Pause and wait……
But, but I am afraid! Ok, then do it afraid! Courage is forward motion in the presence of fear. We don’t need courage until we are afraid.
Choose.
“Step out to find out.”
Joyce Meyer
God, I need a lot of courage to change the things I am supposed to change.
Courage is forward motion in the face of fear. Do it afraid.
And the wisdom to know the difference…
Between what is God’s to do, and what is mine to do.
Download wisdom God!
I began my exercises, not enthusiastically nor enjoying them, but just doing them ‘cause… Then I remembered our 11th Step and Philippians 2:13, that what He wants us to do He will help us do.
The Desire and the Doing! Double D…..
Made all the difference!
How about this 11-Step advice? “I find that doing the will of God leaves me no time for disputing about his plans.” George MacDonald. Just following instructions….
And our amazing 11-Step: “God gives us always strength enough, and sense enough, for everything he wants us to do.” John Ruskin. This truth existed before AA, back in 1819. Now we are the grateful beneficiaries of the principle.
If we seek in prayer and meditation. Got to have the contact for the download!
A good word from Al-Anon. “Say what you mean, mean what you say and don’t say it mean.” Might I add…. verbal or digital.
Step Eleven: what is my God’s plan for me today? Please download your will for me. Then I will step out to find out if I heard correctly because the power to carry it out will be there. If I made a mistake – there is always a do-over!
Horses and Carts:
I have been rereading the book of James and was thinking about all the instructions he gave about Faith and Works. I remembered that in the early days of AA, the “boys”, the early founders, used the book of James as their guide. This was before Bill wrote the Big Book.
Pondering, I understood why service became so very important to continuing sobriety. They had to put the work of helping others (12th Step) into action.
For me, Faith is the horse, the cart is the Works. Horses pull carts, not the other way around. When carts are not in use, they are not much good, except maybe for storage. They sit idle until a horse comes along. Carts can be used for a multitude of reasons…. some, not so good. What is called “the works of the flesh.”
Now, in my mind, horses are free to move about and look for a cart. Faith will choose the cart intended for God’s good pleasure. When connected, work in the service of others and within God’s plan will happen.
Faith is a gift from God, the author and finisher of faith. Faith is a fruit of the Spirit. We all have human faith — gravity, sunrise, fire is hot — this kind is not what James was instructing us on. He is taking about Godly Faith.
Faith is evidenced by Works. We experience Faith in action as Works. When Faith is not Working, there is no life.
So, how’s your horse today? Connected to a good cart? Wondering just what your cart is to contain? Work your 11th Step.
From the Good Book:
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks, finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.”
Luke 11:9-10
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.”
Colossians 3:16
“For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purposes.”
Philippians 2:13
“I will show my concern for you and keep my promises. I alone know the plans I have for you, plans to bring you prosperity and not disaster, plans to bring about the future you hope for.”
Jeremiah 29:10-11
“Walk and live habitually in the Holy Spirit, responsive to and controlled by and guided by the Spirit, then you will not gratify the cravings and desires of the flesh.”
Galatians 5:16
“Whether you turn to the right or the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it.’”
Isaiah 30:21.
“Consider it wholly joyful, my brethren, whenever you are enveloped in or encounter trails of any sort or fall into various temptations. Be assured and understand that the trail and proving of your faith bring out endurance and steadfastness and patience. But let endurance and steadfastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work, so that you may be perfectly and fully developed (with no defects), lacking nothing.”
James 1:2-4
“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.”
Matthew 6:6
“If any of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask of the giving God, and it will be given him.”
James 1:5
“Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind and do not rely on your own insight or understanding. In all your ways know, recognize, and acknowledge Him, and He will direct and make straight and plan your paths.”
Proverbs 3:5-6
“Be not wise in your eyes; reverently fear and worship the Lord and turn away from evil.”
Proverbs 3:5-7