Step 6

Step 6 by Randolph Jason for Gospel News Network

6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

We have been publishing a series of videos by Steve Hilton where he covers each of the steps individually. We feel he has been a great job with the work he has done. While the Steps are simple they are anything but easy. Every monster that has ever been in your life is now front and center. They must be drawn upon in order to leave them at the foot of the Cross. We can not repent unless our “inventory” is complete and we clean our the entire closet of skeletons. No bone left behind.

This is where the uneasy part comes in. Looking at all this wreckage is where people drop out of the program. I hear it everyday when I am working with the men as part of the ministry in which I am working. Every excuse in the book is used. Never any good reason, just excuses.

Back to the work at hand. Up to this point we have published Steps 1 through 5 by Stephen Hilton, however, for some reason he has chosen to skip Step 6 as an individual video. It is not for us to understand or question. We are simply going to cover Step 6, individually ourselves. Just an FYI we, too, are going to do our own version of the 12 Steps, walking through them individually, beginning in May 2022. But for today let’s look at Step 6.

6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

What is a “defect of character”? Could it be the seven deadly sins? 1. Pride 2. Envy 3. Wrath 4. Gluttony 5. Lust 6. Sloth 7. Greed – Of course Pride is leading the parade and using that terminology is not an accident. Pride parades are, by design, an abomination against God. These sins are jumping off points – this is what causes us to turn our back – separate – from God. Then we go off and begin a whole other life that is filled with lots of situations that are against God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit – the pain we feel is the separation from God. The pain we are attempting to mask with whatever addictive, compulsive behavior that becomes our “stand-in” god.

We can’t do anything with Step 6 except pray. Our part, in conjunction with our “accountability partner”, “sponsor” or whatever you call the person who is walking you through the Steps, we pray. We pray before each of the Steps and we pray after each of the Steps. Prayer is what this particular Step is all about.

If you have been following our Daily Devotional then already know we are huge advocates of prayer, because this is what we have learned through our study of Jesus Christ in the Holy Bible. Prayer is how things happen in our lives. Prayer is where all things in our lives originate. Prayer is the “seeking” aspect of “seek, ask and knock” Prayer is not the only aspect of “seeking” but it is the point of origin in “seeking”. Without prayer nothing happens. And if we don’t pray the Holy Spirit will pray for us. That’s how important prayer is to our lives.

So. Step 6 is all about seeking God’s favor, having the Power of God change our lives, after repentance, and filling the “God sized hole” in our soul. God can not fill His space until it has been properly cleared, which is what Steps 4 and 5 are about – the cleansing, repentance. Step 6 ask God to remove the debris and fill us with new wine, which includes, but is not limited to the seven virtues being faith, hope, charity, justice, prudence, temperance, and fortitude. If we are focused on these aspect there is no time to separate from God as every moment of every day will be filled with servitude.