Step Eleven - Conscious Contact

I don’t know what you pray about but if I think about my own prayers then I think I pray about lots of things that are more about me and my agenda than about knowing God’s will for me and the power to carry that out in this day. How about you?

And yet the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous knew how important it was to do that and so it became Step Eleven:

Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry it out.

Now, I hope we also bring our needs, our hopes, our frustrations, our “anything” to God. But we’ll do well when we prioritize praying for God’s will for us and the power to carry it out. What is that?  We have to ask God to show it to us.

Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know. Jeremiah 33:3

If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. James 1:5 

Now it’s all well and good to know that plan and to even want to carry out the plan but we all know that far too often we fall short.  God’s generous offer to us today is not only knowledge of His will but also the power to live it. 

God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.  Philippians 2:13

So Heavenly Father, we are here today because we need to both know Your will for our lives today and to experience Your power at work in us so we can carry that out. 

We want to spend quiet time with You and pray and meditate so we get to know You better because we don’t “get” unfailing love all that well and if we did, we’d act more consistently with what You say.  Help us to get beyond simply knowing facts about You to the place where we get to know You intimately and trust You with all our hearts.

Once again today we want to turn our will and our life over to Your care, God.  As we do, we trust You to work in us to help us change.  Help us to live humbly before You and honour You in all our ways. Amen   

God will help us to hear His guidance and to correctly know how to put those directives into sound practice in the daily events in our lives. But, we need to ask Him.  Let’s seek that conscious contact with God today.