Step 6 Prayer: Asking to Be Made Willing
A Step 6 prayer asks God to make you willing to let go of your character defects, including the ones you’d prefer to keep. The book handles Step 6 in one short paragraph and points toward prayer whenever willingness runs out. It doesn’t print a set prayer for this step, so the words below are our own.
A prayer for Step 6
Father, I’ve looked hard at myself these past weeks.
I’ve written it down and I’ve said it out loud.
Now I can see the same things showing up again and again:
my fear, my pride, my temper, my need to be right, the small lies that make life easier.
Some of these I’m glad to give you.
Some I’ve leaned on for years, and I’m not sure who I’d be without them.
I’m asking you to make me willing to let go of all of them.
I can’t pull them out myself. I’ve tried.
I’m not asking to be perfect. I’m asking to be ready.
Amen.
For the defect you’d rather keep
Almost everyone has one. Resentment that feels like justice. Self-pity that brings comfort. Control that feels like safety. If you have a defect like that, try this:
God, I’m holding on to (name the defect).
Honestly, I still get something out of it.
I’m not willing to let it go yet. But I’m willing to become willing.
Change my heart about it, a little at a time.
Show me what it’s costing me and the people I love.
Amen.
That’s an honest prayer, and the book treats it as a good one. Asking for willingness is how Step 6 moves forward when you’re stuck.
“And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”
Paul trusts that what God starts, he finishes. You don’t have to be finished today.
A short morning version
Lord, make me ready today to let go of what’s in the way. Amen.
Say it each morning while you work this step. Then pay attention during the day. When a defect shows up, a flash of anger or a quick lie, just notice it and say a quiet “there it is.”
Why ask instead of just trying harder
Most people’s first instinct is to make a plan: no more impatience, starting Monday. That plan usually lasts until Tuesday. Step 6 recognizes that you can’t change your character by will alone, any more than you could drink like a normal person by will alone. The work is to become ready. The change is God’s.
James 4:10, the verse the app pairs with this step, says it plainly: you humble yourself, and he lifts you up.
Something to do today
- Pray the first prayer, then write your defect list from the “my part” column of your inventory.
- Next to each defect, write its opposite.
- Circle the one you most want to keep, and pray the second prayer over it.
The Step 6 page explains the step in full. When you’re ready, the Step 7 prayer is where you humbly ask God to remove them.
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