Standard AA Prayers

The Serenity Prayer, Third Step Prayer, 7^th Step Prayer, 11^th Step prayer and Set Aside Prayer are standard AA prayers. Feel free to download a PDF version of the standard AA prayers here.

Serenity Prayer, p.41, Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions
“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference, thy will, not mine be done.”

The Third-Step Prayer, p.63, Alcoholics Anonymous (Big Book)
“God, I offer myself to Thee — to build with me and to do with me as Thou wilt. Relieve me of the bondage of self, that I may better do Thy will. Take away my difficulties, that victory over them may bear witness to those I would help of Thy Power, Thy Love, and Thy Way of life. May I do Thy will always!”

 The Seventh-Step Prayer, p. 76, Alcoholics Anonymous (Big Book)
“My Creator, I am now willing that you should have all of me, good & bad. I pray that you now remove from me every single defect of character which stands in the way of my usefulness to you & my fellows. Grant me strength, as I go out from here to do Your bidding. Amen”

 The Eleventh-Step Prayer, p. 99-101, Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions (Alcoholics Anonymous)
"Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace!
That where there is hatred, I may bring love.
That where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness.
That where there is discord, I may bring harmony.
That where there is error, I may bring truth.
That where there is doubt, I may bring faith.
That where there is despair, I may bring hope.
That where there are shadows, I may bring light.
That where there is sadness, I may bring joy.
Lord, grant that I may seek rather to comfort, than to be comforted.
To understand, than to be understood.
To love, than to be loved.
For it is by self-forgetting that one finds.
It is by forgiving that one is forgiven.
It is by dying that one awakens to eternal life. Amen."

“As beginners in meditation, we might now reread this prayer several times very slowly, savoring every word and trying to take in the deep meaning of each phrase and idea… We rest quietly with the thoughts of someone who knows, so that we may experience and learn….

Once more we read our prayer, and again try to see what its inner essence is…    “this much could be a fragment of what is called meditation, perhaps our very first attempt at a mood, a flier into the realm of spirit, if you like.  It ought to be followed by a good look at where we stand now, and a further look at what might happen in our lives were we able to move closer to the ideal we have been trying to glimpse."

Set-Aside Prayer

Dear God, please set aside anything I think I may know about myself, my disease, the Big Book, the 12 steps, the Program, the Fellowship, the people in it, all spiritual terms and especially you God;  So that I may have an open mind and a new experience with all these things.  Please help me to see Your Truth.  Amen.

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