Step 2 Prayer: For When You Want to Believe
A Step 2 prayer asks God for the willingness to believe that he can restore you, even if you don’t feel much faith yet. The book has no fixed prayer for this step, so the words below are ours. Use them, change them, or let them get you started on your own.
A prayer for Step 2
God, I’ve just admitted I can’t beat this on my own.
Now I need to know whether anyone can.
Part of me believes you can. Part of me isn’t sure you’re there.
I’m bringing you both parts.
I’ve seen other people get well who looked as lost as I am.
If you did that for them, I’m asking you to do it for me.
Clear my thinking. Where I’ve talked myself into the first drink again and again, give me back a sound mind.
I don’t have to understand everything about you today.
I’m willing to be shown.
Amen.
A prayer for the doubter
Some people come to Step 2 with nothing to hold on to but a question. That is a real place to start.
God, I don’t know if you exist. If you do, I’d like to know you. Show me in a way I can recognize. I’ll keep my eyes open. Amen.
The book’s chapter for doubters, We Agnostics (pp. 44–57 in the 4th edition), makes the point that willingness to believe is enough to begin. It doesn’t require you to pretend.
A prayer for when you’re angry at God
God, I’m angry with you. Things happened that I can’t make sense of, and I’ve blamed you for them. I’m telling you because I’d rather be honest with you than polite. If you can handle this, help me through it. Amen.
That may feel risky to pray. Scripture shows it isn’t. David asked God how long he would be forgotten and still ended the same psalm trusting him.
“How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?”
A short daily version
Lord, I can’t. You can. I’m willing to let you. Amen.
Say it in the morning, in the car, at the moment a craving hits. Short prayers are easier to remember when it counts.
Why pray before you feel it
Willingness shows up in what you do before it shows up in how you feel. Praying every morning for a week, even when it feels like talking to the ceiling, is a way of acting on Step 2. Philippians 2:13 says God is the one at work in you, both the wanting and the doing. You show up. He supplies the rest.
Something to do today
- Read pp. 44–57 in your own copy of the Big Book, preferably in one sitting.
- Write down three things about your old picture of God that you’re willing to let go of.
- Ask one person at a meeting or church how they came to believe.
The Step 2 page explains the whole step. The Step 2 Bible verses give you more to pray with, and the Step 3 prayer is where this leads next.
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