Step 12 Prayer: A Prayer for Carrying the Message
There is no official Twelfth Step prayer. Most people pray for two things in this step: to be useful to someone who is still struggling, and to stay humble while they do it. The prayer below, in our own words, covers both, along with a short prayer to say before you meet with a newcomer.
Step 12, in the 1939 wording: “Having had a spiritual experience as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.” Later editions say “spiritual awakening.” Either way, the prayer for this step starts with gratitude for what God has already done.
A Twelfth Step prayer
Lord, I remember where I was. I remember what I couldn’t fix, and what You did. Thank You. I didn’t earn any of it.
Now make me useful. Put in my path the person who needs to hear what happened to me. Give me the words, and give me the sense to stop talking and listen.
Keep me from preaching. Keep me from pride. Don’t let me think I am anyone’s savior. You are.
Help me live these principles where it is hardest: at home, at work, with money, with the people who know me best. Let my life say what my words say.
And keep me working my own steps. Amen.
A short prayer before meeting a newcomer
God, this person is Yours. Help me be honest about my own story, gentle about theirs, and clear about where help is. Let them see You, not me. Amen.
Say it in the parking lot, or on the way to answer the phone.
What this prayer asks for
Gratitude first. Service that comes from gratitude stays sweet. Service that comes from wanting to be needed goes sour.
Usefulness. The Seventh Step prayer asked God to remove what stood in the way of your usefulness. This is that same request, grown up.
Humility. Galatians 6:1 says to watch yourself while restoring someone. People who help others can start feeling above them. The prayer asks God to keep you level.
All your affairs. The second half of Step 12 is easy to skip. Living the principles at a meeting is one thing. Living them at the dinner table is another.
A verse to pray before service
“As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace:”
Whatever gift God has given you, including the gift of your own story, you hold it as a steward. It was given to be passed on.
Ways to put the prayer into practice this week
- Make one phone call to someone newer than you.
- Arrive at your meeting early to set up.
- Tell a short version of your story to one person.
- Offer to help at church: greeting, cleaning, a meal for someone.
- Ask your spouse or family: “Where am I still hard to live with?” Then listen.
Before you work with someone in serious trouble, read Working With Others (Big Book pages 89 to 103, 4th edition) in your own copy. The full step is on the Step 12 page. If you are early in the journey, go back to the Seventh Step prayer or the 11th step prayer first.
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