THE LORD’S PRAYER AND 12 STEPS (Post 150)
THURSDAY, JULY 28
Post 150
Prayer is the rope that pulls God and man together.
But it doesn’t pull God down to us; it pulls us up to Him.
- Billy Graham
Lately, during my prayers of intercession for others, the Lord’s Prayer has been popping up. As I contemplated and prayed guidance for this month’s GRM Blog, Our Father stood out clearly. Then the Twelve Steps moved into my prayer space and it came to me: how to use The Lord’s Prayer as a recovery companion to a person’s 12 Step journey. Surely, I thought, this has been the topic of many articles and counseling techniques … what more can I bring to this? However, I decided to just write and not research. Readers, consider the following as your invitation to read more!
OUR FATHER
STEP 1: We admitted we were powerless over gambling that our lives had become unmanageable. (http://www.gamblersanonymous.org/ga/content/recovery-program)
No longer can I rely on my old behavior patterns. My life is out of control. I need to address my problems to someone besides myself.
IN HEAVEN HALLOWED BE YOUR NAME
STEP 2: Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to a normal way of thinking and living.
God has the power to help me achieve recovery. Not only that, this power of God (Whose name is holy) will reflect a holiness that my present, unmanageable life does not know but - I believe - has the ability to heal me.
YOUR KINGDOM COME, YOUR WILL BE DONE, ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN
STEP 3: Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of this power of our own understanding.
Recovery, therefore, is no longer dependent on my personal will – what I want to do – but on the will of God that rules in heaven. In other words, recovery will be like heaven on earth compared to my life of addiction.
GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD
STEP 4: Made a fearless moral and financial inventory of ourselves.
STEP 5: Admitted to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
STEP 6: Were entirely ready to have these defects of character removed.
In these Steps, I need sustenance and strength far beyond my own. It’s not easy to look at myself when I have been so driven by addiction and compulsion. Daily, I will need to be super strong to look squarely at myself (the good and the not so good) – and to admit the EXACT nature of my misgivings and selfishness. Then to actually be ready to NO LONGER be driven by such behavior, wants, and desires will take only power divinely granted. I ask for and depend on this “daily bread” to be ready for a journey of miracles to happen.
AND FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES AS WE FORGIVE THOSE WHO TRESPASS AGAINST US.
STEP 7: Humbly asked God (of our understanding) to remove our shortcomings.
STEP 8: Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.
STEP 9: Make direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
This is where, as the saying goes, the rubber meets the road. I now have to walk the talk of forgiveness. Asking God both to forgive AND remove my shortcomings puts me directly on the path … to go and make “direct” amends. Moreover, I need to be careful always to do no harm. If my making an amend would injure someone (even though I think it might make me feel better), I need – always – to care for the other’s personal welfare. Then too, as I ask for forgiveness from God, and I am divinely forgiven, I am called to forgive others. As with all of this, God will give me the strength, understanding, and peace to forgive others.
AND LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION BUT DELIVER US FROM EVEIL.
Step 10: Continued to take personal inventory, and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.
Step 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.
Once again, I am reminded that there truly is temptation and evil – and I am humanly not immune to such. However, I have asked and am now living in God’s will for me. I pray for daily sustenance and help and am using meditation and prayer TO KEEP divinely connected.
FOR THINE IS THE KINGDOM AND THE POWER FOREVER.
Step 12: Having made an effort to practice these principles in all our affairs, we tried to carry this message to other compulsive gamblers.
Repeat! Heaven on earth! These are the principles of recovery from addiction. They underscore how I can live a life – in its entirety - divinely guided and empowered. Then I can share such blessings with those whose lives are powerless and unmanageable.
AMEN
These principles of recovery can truly be trusted!
CLOSING QUOTE
My hope is that, when I am gone, my son will remember me not from battle, but in the home, repeating with him one simple prayer, “Our Father which art in heaven …”
- General Douglas MacArthur
Blessings,
Rev. Janet Jacobs, CCGSO
Founding Director
Gambling Recovery Ministries
855-926-0761
For more information on the IGCCB Clergy/Lay Minister Certification visit:
From IGCCB’s Resources for Coping with COVID 19:
https://personcenteredtech.com/tmh/clients (Online therapy preparation for clients)
https://gambling.easywebinar.live/replay (Jody Bechtold telehealth webinar)
https://youtu.be/dYUEjIFtT8E (Jody Bechtold telehealth webinar)
For more information on gambling disorder and recovery issues, go to:
www.indianaproblemgambling.org
www.masscompulsivegambling.org