Here’s a quick message for anyone starting their journey with AA, or for those who may have strong preconceptions about religion and the words “God” or “Lord.” If you prefer using “Higher Power” instead, that’s completely okay. However, a good friend at my home group recently shared an interesting thought: “God” and “Lord” are just one syllable, while “Higher Power” is four and a bit harder to say. The point is, don’t get hung up on the words. Let go of any preconceptions and make it a God or Lord of your understanding.
The Set Aside Prayer
God, today help me set aside everything I think I know about You,
everything I think I know about myself,
everything I think I know about others,
and everything I think I know about my own recovery,
so I may have an open mind and a new experience with all these things.
Please help me see the truth.
First Step Prayer
Dear Lord, Help me to see and admit that I am powerless over my alcoholism. Help me to understand how my alcoholism has led to unmanageability in my life. Help me this day to understand the true meaning of powerlessness. Remove from me all denial of my alcoholism, Amen.
Second Step Prayer
Heavenly Father, I am having trouble with personal relationships. I can’t control my emotional nature. I am prey to misery and depression. I can’t make a living. I feel useless. I am full of fear. I am unhappy. I can’t seem to be of real help to others. I know in my heart that only you can restore me to sanity if I am just willing to stop doubting your power. I humbly ask that you help me to understand that it is more powerful to believe than not to believe and that you are either everything or nothing, Amen.
Third Step Prayer
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! Amen
And an addition of my own
Grant me clarity in my purpose, that I may see the path you set before me. Let my heart be open to your guidance, and my hands ready to serve. Replace my fear with faith, and my doubt with unwavering trust. May I be a vessel of your peace, bringing hope and healing to those who seek it. May I do Thy will always! Amen.
A Fourth Step – Resentment Prayer
God, Please help me to be free of anger and to see that the world and its people have dominated me. Show me that the wrong-doing of others, fancied or real, has the power to actually kill me. Help me to master my resentments by understanding that the people who wrong me were perhaps spiritually sick. 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. Father, please show me how I can be helpful to him and save me from being angry. Lord, help me to avoid retaliation or argument. I know I can’t be helpful to all people, but at least show me how to take a kindly and tolerant view of each and every one. Thy will be done.
Dear God, I have a resentment towards a person that I want to be free of. So, I am asking you to give this person everything I want for myself. Help me to feel compassionate understanding and love for this person. I pray that they will receive everything they need. Thank you, God, for your help and strength with this resentment, Amen
Fear and Resentment Prayer
'If you have a resentment you want to be free of, if you will pray for the person or the thing that you resent, you will be free. If you will ask in prayer for everything you want for yourself to be given to them, you will be free...Even when you don't really want it for them, and your prayers are only words and you don't mean it, go ahead and do it anyway. Do it every day for two weeks and you will find you have come to mean it and to want it for them, and you will realize that where you used to feel bitterness and resentment and hatred, you now feel compassionate understanding and love.'
Fear Prayer
God, thank you for helping me be honest enough to see this truth about myself and now that you have shown me the truth about my fears, please remove these fears from me. Lord, please help me outgrow my fears and direct my attention to what you would have me be. Father, demonstrate through me and help me become that which you would have me be. Help me do thy will always, Amen.
Pre – Sex Inventory Prayer
God, please help me to be free of fear as I attempt to shine the spotlight of truth across my past sex relations. Lord, please show me where my behaviour has harmed others and help me to see the truth these relationships hold for me. Help me see where I have been at fault and what I should have done differently, Amen.
God, help me review my own conduct over the years past. Show me where I have been selfish, dishonest, or inconsiderate. Show me whom I have hurt and where I have unjustifiably aroused jealousy, suspicion or bitterness. Help me to see where I was at fault and what I should have done instead. Help me to be fearless and searching in my endeavour to write my sexual inventory, Amen.
A Sex Prayer
Father, please help me mould my sex ideals and help me to live up to them. Help me be willing to grow toward my ideals and help me be willing to make amends where I have done harm. Lord, please show me what to do in each specific matter and be the final judge in each situation. Help me avoid hysterical thinking or advice, Amen.
Father, please Grace me with guidance in each questionable situation, sanity, and strength to do the right thing. If sex becomes very troublesome, quiet my imperious urge, help me not to yield and keep me from heartache as I throw myself the harder into helping others. Help me think of their needs and help me work for them, Amen.
A Pre – Fifth Step Prayer
God, please help me to complete my housecleaning by admitting to another human being the exact nature of my wrongs. Please remove any fears I have about this step and show me how completion of it will remove my egotism and fear. Help me to see how this step builds my character through humility, fearlessness and honesty. Direct me to the right person who will keep my confidence and fully understand and approve what I am driving at. Then help me to pocket my pride and go to it, illuminating every twist of character, every dark cranny of the past so I may complete this step and begin to feel near to you, Amen.
Fifth Step Prayer
Higher Power, Thank you for helping me complete my housecleaning. I can now look the world in the eye. I can be alone at perfect peace and ease. My fears have fallen from me. I have begun to feel your nearness. I have begun to have a spiritual experience. I feel I am on the Broad Highway, walking hand in hand with the Spirit of the Universe, Amen.
A Quiet Hour Prayer
God, Thank You for giving me the strength, faith and courage I needed to get through my 5th Step. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for helping me to know you better, by showing me what has been blocking me from you. Father, please show me if I have omitted anything and help me to honestly see if my stones are properly in place or if I have skimped in any area of this work, Amen.
A Sixth Step Prayer
God, Thank you for removing my fear and for showing me the truth about myself. Father, I need your help to become willing to let go of the things in me which continue to block me off from you. Please grant me your Grace Lord and make me willing to have these objectionable characteristics, defects and shortcomings removed, Amen.
Sixth Step Prayer
Dear God, I am ready for Your help in removing from me the defects of character which I now realize are an obstacle to my recovery. Help me to continue being honest with myself & guide me toward spiritual & mental health, Amen
Seventh Step Prayer
My Creator, I am now willing that you should have all of me, good & bad. I pray that you now remove from me every single defect of character which stands in the way of my usefulness to you & my fellows. Grant me strength, as I go out from here to do Your bidding, Amen
A Pre – Eighth Step Prayer
God, Please remove my Fears and show me your truth. Show me all the harms I have caused with my behaviour and help me be willing to make amends to one and all. Help me to be willing to go to any lengths for victory over alcohol.
A Ninth Step Prayer
God, with regard to this amend, give me the strength, courage and direction to do the right thing, no matter what the personal consequences may be. Help me not to shrink from anything. Help me not to delay if it can be avoided. Help me to be sensible, tactful, considerate and humble without being servile or scraping, Amen
A Ninth Step prayer for the Spouse
God, please show me how to make amends to my Spouse. Father, Help me to keep my Spouse’s happiness Uppermost in my mind as I try, with your Grace, to make this relationship right, Amen.
A Ninth Step Prayer for the Family
God, please show me how to find the way of Patience, Tolerance, Kindness and Love in my heart, my Mind and my Soul. Lord, show me how to demonstrate these principles to my family and all those about me, Amen.
Tenth Step Prayer
My Higher Power, My daily prayer is to best serve you, I pray I may continue to grow in understanding & effectiveness. Help me to watch for selfishness, dishonesty, resentment and fear. Help me to be willing to have You remove them at once. I must be willing to discuss them with someone immediately.
I will make amends quickly if I have harmed anyone
and then I will turn my thoughts toward helping someone else. Please help me to remember to practice love and tolerance of others, Amen.
Tenth Step Amends Prayer
God, please forgive me for my failings today. I know that because of my failings, I was not able to be as effective as I could have been for you. Please forgive me and help me live thy will better today. I ask you now to show me how to correct the errors I have just outlined. Guide me and direct me. Please remove my arrogance and my fear. Show me how to make my relationships right and grant me the humility and strength to do thy will, Amen.
The Eleventh Step Prayers
My Step Eleven Prayer
My God, My higher power, as I pause in this moment, I seek to deepen my awareness of Your presence in my life, however I may understand You. Clear my mind of the noise of my own desires and fears, so that I may better hear the whispers of Your guidance. Grant me the wisdom to discern Your will for me today, and imbue me with the courage and strength to walk that path, even when it is difficult. May my actions and intentions align with Your purpose, bringing light and healing to myself and those around me. Amen.
A Prayer On Awakening
God, please direct my thinking and keep my thoughts divorced from self–pity, dishonest or self-seeking motives. Please keep my thought life clear from wrong motives and help me employ my mental faculties, that my thought-life might be placed on a higher plane, the plane of inspiration, Amen.
A Morning Prayer
God, should I find myself agitated, doubtful or indecisive today, please give me inspiration, help me to have an intuitive thought or a decision about this problem I face. Help me not to struggle, instead, help me to relax and take it easy. Help me know what I should do and keep me mindful, that you are running the show. Free me from my bondage of self. Thy will be done always, Amen.
A Morning Prayer
God, please show me all through this day, what my next step is to be and please grace me with whatever I need to take care of the problems in my life today. I ask especially that you free me from the bondage of self - will, Amen.
Eleventh Step – Nightly Review Prayer
God, help me to constructively review my day. Where was I resentful, selfish, dishonest or afraid? Do I owe an apology? Have I kept something to myself which should be discussed with another person at once? Was I kind and loving toward all? What could I have done better? Was I thinking of myself most of the time? Or was I thinking of what I could do for others, of what I could pack into the stream of life? Please forgive me for my harms and wrongs today and let me know corrective measures I should take, Amen.
Twelfth Step Prayer
Dear God, Having had a spiritual experience, I must now remember that "faith without works is dead." And PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE shows that nothing will so much insure immunity from drinking as intensive work with other alcoholics. So, God, please help me to carry this message to other alcoholics! Provide me with the guidance and wisdom to talk with another alcoholic because I can help when no one else can. Help me secure his confidence and remember he is ill, Amen.
Gratitude Prayer
Thank you, God, for another day,
And the chance to live in a decent way.
Thank for the joys of living,
and The happiness that comes from giving.
Thank you for friends that can understand,
and the peace that flows from your loving hand.
Help me wake to the morning sun,
with prayers today, thy will be done.
Amen
Serenity Prayer
GOD, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, and Wisdom to know the difference, Amen.
Living one day at a time; enjoying one moment at a time; accepting hardship as the pathway to peace. Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it. Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will; that I may be reasonably happy in this life, and supremely happy with Him forever in the next, Amen
The Lord’s Prayer
Our Farther, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever, Amen
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 discoid, 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
The Blessing
May the LORD bless you and keep you,
The LORD make his face shine on you,
and be gracious to you.
May the LORD turn his face toward you
and give you peace.
My Daily Prayer
My God, my higher power, I humbly pray,
To guide my steps along the way.
Help me to burn my light so bright,
Dispelling darkness, knowing wrong from right.
Grant me strength to face each day,
And help me find a better way.
To be a blessing, kind and true,
And live my life for others too.
May I be useful, help others to see,
The love and grace that flows from Thee.
Let me be a vessel, pure and clean,
To serve Your purpose, Your divine scene.
Amen.
Lara’s Prayer
Oh Great Spirit
Whose Voice I Hear in the wind.
Whose breath gives life to the world.
Hear me.
I come to you as one of your many children.
I am small and weak, I need your strength and wisdom;
May I walk in beauty.
Make my eyes behold the red and purple sunset;
Make my hands respect the things that you have made,
And my ears sharp to hear your voice.
Make me wise so that I may know the things
That you have taught your children;
The lessons that you have hidden in every leaf and rock.
Make me strong . . . not to be superior to my brothers
but to be able to fight my greatest enemy. . .myself.
Make me ever ready to come to you with straight eyes so that,
when life fades as the faded sunset,
My spirit will come to you without shame, Amen.
Humility Prayer
My God - My Higher Power,
I am far too much influenced by what people think of me;
Which means that I am always pretending to be either richer or smarter than I really am. Please prevent me from trying to attract attention.
Don’t let me gloat over praise on the one hand and be discouraged by
criticism on the other, nor let me waste time weaving the most imaginary situations in which the heroic, charming, witty person present is myself. Show me how to be humble of heart.
Amen
Just Do It
My God – My Higher Power,
My current passage through this world is fleeting.
Therefore, any kindness I can offer my fellow human beings,
let me offer it without thought or delay.
Help me to be of service,
With a grateful heart, and an open mind.
Amen
Thank You – My God
Silent listener, My God,
unseen presence, my higher power.
thank you, for being with me,
in every Step.
For the quiet knowing,
that my words reach you,
drifting to you like leaves in the breeze.
And then, the small graces,
the unexpected robin on the sill,
a song on the radio, perfectly timed,
a chance meeting, a knowing glance.
These little winks,
these gentle nods,
scattered like breadcrumbs
along the path
when I remember to look,
when I keep seeking.
Thank you
for the conversation
that unfolds
in the quiet moments.