THE PROBLEM HAS BEEN REMOVED… STEP 10

THE PROBLEM HAS BEEN REMOVED… STEP 10 by Randolph Jason for Gospel News Network

As we get deeper and deeper in to the Steps our footing should become evermore solid with each passing day. This, of course, rest upon the idea that the person working the Steps has been following along, doing as their sponsor is guiding them and they are in fact doing the work that is necessary to change their life. This is a simple program, but parts are just not easy. Looking, honestly, at ourselves is serious business and the pain can be a lot for some.

If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. ~ James 2:15-17 NKJB

The book, Alcoholics Anonymous – the big book – spells out a number of promises that will be fulfilled as we continue to move through the Steps. ( Video and text continued below donations )

The Step 5 promise, which was a life changer for me, really sticks out as a Holy Spirit inspired writing. The beauty and eloquence of the words are stunning.

We pocket our pride and go to it, illuminating every twist of character, every dark cranny of the past. Once we have taken this step, withholding nothing, we are delighted. We can look the world in the eye. We can be alone at perfect peace and ease. Our fears fall from us. We begin to feel the nearness of our Creator. We may have had certain spiritual beliefs, but now we begin to have a spiritual experience. The feeling that the drink problem has disappeared will often come strongly. We feel we are on the Broad Highway, walking hand in hand with the Spirit of the Universe. ~ Page 75, Alcoholics Anonymous 4th Edition [Emphasis Added]

Seven promises fulfilled once we complete Step 5. It is mind-boggling what happens. Peace beyond understanding fills our being, that Peace has a name, His name is Jesus Christ.

Promises listed for Steps 6,7,8 and 9 are typically read before each AA meeting. These promises carry weight like people can’t imagine.

If we are painstaking about this phase of our development, we will be amazed before we are half way through. We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness. We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it. We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know peace. No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience can benefit others. That feeling of uselessness and self-pity will disappear. We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows. Self-seeking will slip away. Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change. Fear of people and of economic insecurity will leave us. We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us. We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves.

Are these extravagant promises? We think not. They are being fulfilled among us, sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly. They will always materialize if we work for them. ~ Pages 83-84, Alcoholics Anonymous 4th Edition

Step 10, which is where we have arrived are equally as transformative and powerful as the other promises spelled out in the book. Make no mistake, these promises don’t hold a candle to the promises received by following Jesus Christ. These are a great warn up for a life changed and a life exchanged for death.

And we have ceased fighting anything or anyone, even alcohol. For by this time sanity will have returned. We will seldom be interested in liquor. If tempted, we recoil from it as from a hot flame. We react sanely and normally, and we will find that this has happened automatically. We will see that our new attitude toward liquor has been given us without any thought or effort on our part. It just comes! That is the miracle of it. We are not fighting it, neither are we avoiding temptation. We feel as though we had been placed in a position of neutrality safe and protected. We have not even sworn off. Instead, the problem has been removed. It does not exist for us. We are neither cocky nor are we afraid. That is how we react so long as we keep in fit spiritual condition. ~ Pages 84-85, Alcoholics Anonymous 4th Edition

If one wants the goods, they only need do what is explained. If one wants a changed life, to hear from God about every situation in their life, just apply what the Holy Bible says and what Jesus Christ teaches – apply it to your life and watch what happens. The more you do it, the stronger you become, the stronger you become, the more open the channel between you and God becomes and the wider the channel is opened the more you will want of everything He, Immanuel, wants you to have.