Step 6 – Willingness

This article is written by Brenda L. She has been in recovery over 6 years and is deeply connected to the recovery community. Brenda is a Co-Leader with Project HEAL, a Christ-centered recovery group in Sacramento, CA.

We’re entirely ready to have God remove all of these defects of Character. Humbly asked Him to remove our Shortcomings.

In Step 6 (Willingness), we become willing to have God remove all these defects of Character listed on our Step 4: Where did I just justifiably arouse jealousy, suspicion, bitterness? Where was I selfish, dishonest, and inconsiderate? Before we talk about Step 6, let’s just recap on Step 5: (Integrity) Admitted to God, Ourselves, and to another human Being the exact nature of our wrongs because Solitary Self Appraisal seldom works.

We think that we have done well enough discussing our defects with ourselves. But the truth is we are often light on ourselves and heavy on others where we are to blame and we only put our finger on the light items in our Inventory, and we leave out facts about ourselves and our life. In the past we turned to other easier methods when we left out the facts, like drinking and using. And we wonder why we fell? Only after we have completed Step 5 humility is experienced and self-respect is restored as a result of admitting to God and to another human being which puts us in a suitable condition to carry out any provisions for the next steps, Step 6 and Step 7.

We are approaching Step 6 as our real selves. Authentically, with a new peace. We release our tension, anxiety, misconceptions, defects of character in God’s hands. We are asking God to get rid of them and we trust that he will. We now mentally cooperate with God. We are humble and we seek and cry for God’s help. We get a Spiritual lift as we draw close to God. The nearness of our Creator comes from seeking God’s divine help. It’s our willingness to be free. Turning to God for comfort as we have now completed our Spiritual Housecleaning in our inventories in Step 5.

Because Self Reliance had failed us, Step 6 is What would God have me be? It’s about seeing yourself as God sees you and not how others see you. We did the work in the prior steps 4 and 5, and we trust that God knows our heart and that is all that matters. We are willing to receive His grace and forgiveness. We are in God’s image not a righteous image or an image of shame. We answer what would God have me be? God would have me be dependent on Him and not the perceptions of others. We forgive ourselves and others and become willing to allow God to take over. We desire the removal of my defects of character.

Our own will power just would not work. As an alcoholic/addict we go against our deepest instinct. God did not design us to destroy ourselves but he gave us the instincts to stay alive. Most of us are born with natural desires, but we must be willing to work toward making progress in building our character. So, in Step 6 “We’re entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character” Where do we Stand?

Here are some items listed in the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions known as the 12 X 12:

• Self-righteous Anger – we can take satisfaction on the people that annoy us as it brings a comfortable feeling of being superior.

• Gossip with Anger – is a polite form of Murder by Character Assassination, we get great satisfaction from. We are not trying to help those we criticize, we are trying to proclaim our own righteousness.

• Gluttony- disastrous and destructive to your health.

• Sloth – consider not using our talents for procrastination.

• Envy – spending great amount of time wishing for what we have not rather than working for it.

Now in Step 7, we stand before God as a Spiritually Sick person. We have no alibis, no defense and we are weak under our addiction. Openly, we can ask God openly for His Strength and help in arresting our addiction. We ask Him for forgiveness for our wrongs we have committed. We ask for protection from self-pity, from resentment, from all selfishness. We ask for His wisdom and his understanding. We ask for Spiritual Strength and acknowledge our mistakes and shortcomings. We thank God from the bottom of our heart that we know Him better.

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