Step 6 of the 12 Steps: Becoming Entirely Ready
Step 6 of the 12 Steps is becoming willing to let God remove the defects of character your inventory turned up, all of them, including the ones you secretly like. You don’t remove them yourself. You get ready for God to. And if you’re not ready yet, you ask for the willingness.
What Step 6 says
The sixth step, in the first edition’s words:
Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
The words to sit with are “entirely” and “all.” Most people are happy to lose a few defects. Step 6 asks about the rest.
What it means in plain words
By now you’ve written your inventory and read it to another person. One thing should be clear: the same handful of patterns showed up again and again in your “my part” column. Maybe it was fear. Maybe dishonesty to avoid conflict, or selfishness about money, or a short fuse. These are what the step calls defects of character.
Step 6 asks one question about each of them: are you ready to have God take this?
Some will be easy. Nobody enjoys panic attacks. But some defects pay off. Resentment can feel like strength. Self-pity gets sympathy. A little dishonesty keeps life smooth. Being “entirely ready” means being willing to give up even the ones that still do something for you.
The spiritual principle: willingness
The app gives Step 6 the principle of willingness. Not ability, and not success. You can’t remove a defect by force of will any more than you could outmuscle alcohol. What you can do is stop holding on.
The Big Book gives this step a single paragraph (p. 76, 4th edition). Its answer to a defect you’re not ready to release is simple: ask God to help you be willing. That makes Step 6 something anyone can do, however stuck they feel.
What the Bible says about Step 6
The app’s verse for Step 6:
“Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.”
Notice who does the lifting. You humble yourself. God raises you. Step 6 is the first half of that sentence; Step 7 asks for the second.
Jesus once asked a man who had been ill for thirty-eight years a question that sounds strange until you think about Step 6:
“When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?””
Jesus asks him whether he wants to get well. It is not an insult. Some people get used to their problems and arrange their lives around them. Willingness starts with an honest answer to that question.
And Paul describes change as something God does from the inside:
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
More passages are on the Step 6 Bible verses page.
How to work Step 6
1. Read p. 76 in your own copy. It’s one paragraph, at the top of the page, just before the Seventh Step prayer. Read it slowly. In Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, the step runs from pp. 63–69; read it in your own copy. The 12&12 spends far more time on this step than the Big Book does and is especially helpful here.
2. Make your defect list. Go down the “my part” column of your Step 4 inventory and write each defect that keeps showing up. Don’t list every entry. List the patterns.
3. Write the opposite next to each. Fear next to faith. Dishonesty next to honesty. Self-pity next to gratitude. Resentment next to forgiveness. This shows you what you’re moving toward, not just away from.
4. Ask the hard question. Which of these do you actually want gone? Which one do you still get something out of? Write down the payoff. The Step 6 questions walk through this.
5. Pray for willingness. Each morning, pray to become willing to have them removed, especially the ones you’d rather keep.
6. Watch for one in action. This week, notice one defect when it shows up. You don’t have to fix it. Just catch it and name it.
What “done” looks like
You have a written list of your defects, and you can honestly say you’re willing to have God remove all of them, including the ones you’d rather hold on to. This step is often short, a day or two. Then you’re ready for Step 7.
Talk it through with Jimmy or Sarah — first month free
Jimmy and Sarah are AI sponsors who know the Twelve Steps and the Bible. They'll listen, walk the steps with you, and keep pointing you to real people: a meeting, a sponsor, a church.
Free to download · first month free, no card · adults 18+
After the first month, talking with Jimmy or Sarah needs Plus ($9.99/month or $59.99/year).
Common traps
Waiting to feel ready. You may never feel entirely ready. That’s why the book’s fallback is to ask for willingness. Willing to be willing counts.
Trying to fix the defects yourself. This is self-will sneaking back in. Making a plan to never be impatient again is exactly the kind of self-reliance the earlier steps let go of. Step 6 is about readiness. God does the removing.
Confusing defects with personality. Losing a defect doesn’t mean losing yourself. Fear can give way to courage without making you reckless. Pride can give way to humility without making you a doormat.
Expecting perfection. The book is clear that growth, not perfection, is the goal (p. 60). Defects will still show up. Step 6 is a stance you return to, not a finish line.
A short prayer for Step 6
God, here is my list. Some of these I’m glad to be rid of. Some I’ve grown attached to. Make me willing to give you all of them, even the ones I’m still holding behind my back. I can’t change myself. I’m ready for you to. Amen.
For more, see the Step 6 prayer page.
How Jimmy and Sarah help with Step 6
In the app, your AI sponsor works from your own Step 4 inventory. Jimmy or Sarah will help you pull the repeating defects out of your “my part” column, write their opposites, and ask, one at a time, whether you’re ready to let each one go. When you’re not, they’ll suggest praying for the willingness rather than pushing harder. They’ll also ask you to watch for a defect during the week and tell them when you catch it, and they’ll keep encouraging you to talk it over with your sponsor and your church.
Common questions
What are 'defects of character' in Step 6?
The patterns that kept showing up in the 'my part' column of your Step 4 inventory: things like selfishness, dishonesty, fear, resentment, self-pity and pride. You found them in Step 4, admitted them in Step 5, and in Step 6 you become willing to let them go.
What if I'm not ready to give up a defect?
That's common. The book's answer is to pray for the willingness. Being willing to be made willing is a real place to start.
Do I have to stop all my defects before moving to Step 7?
No. Step 6 is about readiness, not perfection. You won't be free of your defects at the end of it. You'll be willing to have God take them, and that's what Step 7 asks for.
How long does Step 6 take?
Often a day or two. It's short in the book, but it can be returned to any time a defect turns out to be harder to release than you expected.
Talk it through with Jimmy or Sarah — first month free
Jimmy and Sarah are AI sponsors who know the Twelve Steps and the Bible. They'll listen, walk the steps with you, and keep pointing you to real people: a meeting, a sponsor, a church.
Free to download · first month free, no card · adults 18+
After the first month, talking with Jimmy or Sarah needs Plus ($9.99/month or $59.99/year).
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