DO YOU KNOW WHO YOUR HIGHER POWER REALLY IS?
Third Step Prayer short version
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 The way of life. May I do Thy will always!
TWELVE STEP PRAYERS
A DOOR KNOB IS NOT A POWER GREATER THAN YOURSELF THEREFORE IT IS NOT A “HIGHER POWER”
We want to choose a god deserving of our faith not an inanimate object that has less power than the man who installed it into the door. Why not seek God with our heart in prayer? Seek and we will find. Could it be our resentment, pain, and hurt is much too deep to even consider seeking a god whom we feel is the reason we have suffered? Or is our desire to control all things too strong in us to risk relinquishing control? Our pain and consequences of active addiction must be more intense than our fear of the unknown and giving up control.
In Narcotics Anonymous it has been said many times and is a popular belief that we may conjure up and name our own Higher Power. Also members have said, if we want to use a door knob as a HP we can. They say a door knob will work just as good as if we had one of the well-documented HP’s. Perhaps the “Door knob” is the official-unofficial HP of N.A. But again, a doorknob is not a power greater than any human.
Many people in N.A. have major prejudices against organized religion. It is understandable that if we expect any group of people to be spiritually perfect or to adhere to all that their religion teaches we will automatically consider them hypocrites and not worthy of our respect when they falter, sin, or make a mistake contrary to their perspective rules of thumb. These preconcieved type-sets that run deep in the neuron-pathways of our brain will have to be set aside or we won’t find a sponsor that we feel is fit to be our guide. All addicts have character flaws and do all religious people.
The first mention of “God” in the 12 steps of A.A. is in Step Two. “We came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity”. When I did step two I believed that my HP “could” restore me to sanity. However I wasn’t so sure that IT would restore me (if I had ever been sane).
My own HP is The Father that Jesus spoke of in the days of old. My other HP is Jesus Himself. If this pisses you off be sure to put your prejudice on your step four (I did). Your feelings of resentment are there for a valid reason no doubt. You were probably wronged by religious people. However the steps are about releasing the baggage that deep hurt and resentments cause in our heart and soul.
Anyway personally I also believe there are many other HP’s which could actually be used as a person’s main recovery HP. And that any of these god’s have the power available to them to keep a person sober when they learn to rely on them. Christian doctrine would call my beliefs sacrilegious but, oh well. I didn’t make-up my beliefs concerning Gods. I learned to seek God and meditated for many years. I believe that “The Most High God” and creator gave power to many other beings we can call gods. Gods such as The Moon Goddess, The God of The Sun, and many more to choose from.
In this article I explain how to really find YOUR higher power by seeking with your heart. There will be no doubts when God reveals itself to you. https://www.recoveryfarmhouse.com/vengeance-is-mine-sayeth-the-lord/