Step Twelve - Spiritual Awakening

Here we are on the last of the twelve steps and it sounds a bit familiar to the first where we see our need for God to fix our unmanageable lives. In Step 12 the focus is on a spiritual awakening. 

Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps we tried to carry this message to others and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

What is the spiritual awakening we come to experience as we walk with God in recovery? 

This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 1 John 4:10-11

So what is this spiritual awakening?  We come to know deeply and personally that God loves us.  God has always loved us.  God has a  beautiful life plan for us and He is willing to show us that plan one step, one day at a time. We need God at work in us today to give us a spiritual awakening so we can begin to know the unfailing love of our Heavenly Father for us.  When we truly awaken to this reality everything changes. 

Heavenly Father, we know that only this spiritual awakening brings us to that place where we believe, and enter into, this wonderful, living and intimate relationship with You.  We know that this is what gives us rest, gives us comfort, gives us peace.

For those who have not yet had this spiritual awakening we pray, Loving God, that they will, even in this moment, open their hearts to You and give You control of their lives.  It’s never easy to lay down our self-will and admit that we need something different from what we’ve been living. 

But I pray today that Your Holy Spirit will work in the hearts of all those who are willing so they make that admission and fully surrender themselves to You.  We know God that You will meet them in that place and take them forward one step at a time to a life that is infinitely more enriching than what they have today. Amen

And so we each need to ask ourselves today, have I had that spiritual awakening?  The evidence will be clear “in all our affairs” whether we have or not.  Let’s ask for an even deeper awakening to God’s amazing love for us today. It’s the only way to make this step work.