Steps 3-7-11 Meeting Handouts

Sundays at 6PM

Step 3

The first requirement is that we be convinced that any life run on self-will can hardly be a success. (BB p. 60)

So our troubles, we think, are basically of our own making. They arise out of ourselves, and the alcoholic is an extreme example of self-will run riot, though he usually doesn’t think so. Above everything, we alcoholics must be rid of this selfishness. We must, or it will kill us! God makes that possible. And there often seems no way of entirely getting rid of self without His aid. Many of us had moral and philosophical convictions galore, but we could not live up to them even though we would have liked to. Neither could we reduce our self-centeredness much by wishing or trying on our own power. We had to have God’s help. (BB p. 62)

Many of us said to our Maker, as we understood Him: “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 always do Thy will always!” (BB p. 63)

Step 7

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

When ready, we say something like this: “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 defect of character which stands in the way of my usefulness to you and my fellow. Grant me strength, as I go out from here, to do your bidding. Amen.” (BB p. 76)

Step 11

Before we begin, we ask God to direct our thinking, especially asking that it be divorced of self-pity, dishonest or self-seeking motives. (BB p. 86)

Here we ask God for inspiration, an intuitive thought or a decision. We relax and take it easy. We don’t struggle. (BB p. 86)

St. Francis Prayer

Lord, make me a channel of Thy peace.

  • That where there is hatred, I may bring love.

  • That where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness.

  • That where there is discord, I may bring harmony.

  • That where there is error, I may bring truth.

  • That where there is doubt, I may bring faith.

  • That where there is despair, I may bring hope.

  • That where there are shadows, I may bring light.

  • That where there is sadness, I may bring joy.

Lord, grant that I may seek rather

  • to comfort than to be comforted.

  • to understand than to be understood

  • to love than to be loved.

For it is by self-forgetting that one finds. It is by forgiving that one is forgiven. It is by dying that one awakens to eternal life.

Amen. (12 & 12 p. 99)