SA, SAA, SLAA Prayers

3rd Step Prayer (p. 95 SA WB & p. 63 AA BB)

God, I offer myself to The 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!

SAA Prayers
Serenity Prayer

God, grant me serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Thy will, not mine, be done.

Third Step Prayer

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! Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 63

Third Step Prayer (Alternate Version)

God, I offer myself to you—to build with me and to do with me as you will. Relieve me of the bondage of self, that I may better do your will. Walk me through my difficulties, that victory over them may bear witness to those I would help of your power, your love, and your way of life. May I do your will always!

Seventh Step Prayer

My Creator, I am now willing that you should have all of me, good and bad. I pray that you now remove from me every single defect of character which stands in the way of my usefulness to you and my fellows. Grant me the strength, as I go out from here, to do your bidding. Amen. Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 76

Eleventh Step Prayer

Lord, make me a channel 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. Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, p. 99

Morning Prayer

God, today is a new day for me with you; it can be a day of freedom from sex addiction. With you I can handle anything. I ask for your protection now in case sometime during the day my desire to act out becomes stronger than my desire to stay sober. I know that I am powerless over addictive sexual behavior, and that without you, life itself is unmanageable. I am coming to believe that you can return me to sanity. I am making a decision to turn my will and my life over to the care of you. Please guide and sustain me through another day of sobriety so that I may better do your will, and help my fellow addict. God, I need you.

Prayer of Faith

I have faith that by putting you, God, first in my life, all will be taken care of. I have faith that with recovery first, all else will take its place.

Prayer of Surrender

God, I pray for the willingness to surrender to you all thoughts, actions and attitudes which create suffering in my life or the lives of others.

God, Help Me

God, help me to be real, to remember clearly the wreckage addiction has caused in my life. God, help me to be increasingly willing to defer my will to yours. I pray only for knowledge of your will for me and the power to carry that out.

Prayer of Sustenance

Higher power, the richness and bounty of this earth is truly evidence of your power and love. Thank you for providing so generously for my (our) sustenance with the gift of your creation.

Unity Prayer

I put my hand in yours and together we can do what we could never do alone. No longer is there a sense of hopelessness. No longer must we each depend upon our own unsteady willpower. We are all together now, reaching out our hands for a power and strength greater than ours; and as we join hands, we find love and understanding beyond our wild.

SLAA Prayers

Signs of Recovery
1. We seek to develop a daily relationship with a Higher Power, knowing that we are not alone in our efforts to heal ourselves from our addiction.
2. We are willing to be vulnerable because the capacity to trust has been restored to us by our faith in a Higher Power.
3. We surrender, one day at a time, our whole life strategy of, and our obsession with, the pursuit of romantic and sexual intrigue and emotional dependency.
4. We learn to avoid situations that may put us at risk physically, morally, psychologically or spiritually.
5. We learn to accept and love ourselves, to take responsibility for our own lives, and to take care of our own needs before involving ourselves with others.
6. We become willing to ask for help, allowing ourselves to be vulnerable and learning to trust and accept others.
7. We allow ourselves to work through the pain of our low self-esteem and our fears of abandonment and responsibility. We learn to feel comfortable in solitude.
8. We begin to accept our imperfections and mistakes as part of being human, healing our shame and perfectionism while working on our character defects.
9. We begin to substitute honest for self-destructive ways of expressing emotions and feelings.
10. We become honest in expressing who we are, developing true intimacy in our relationships with ourselves and others.
11. We learn to value sex as a by-product of sharing, commitment, trust and cooperation in a partnership.
12. We are restored to sanity, on a daily basis, by participating in the process of recovery.

The Promises

©1939 Alcoholics Anonymous pp. 83-84

If we are painstaking about this phase of our development, we will be amazed before we are half way through.
We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness.
We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it.
We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know peace.
No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience can benefit others.
That feeling of uselessness and self-pity will disappear.
We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows.
Self-seeking will slip away.
Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change.
Fear of people and of economic insecurity will leave us.
We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us.
We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves.
Are these extravagant promises?
We think not!
They are being fulfilled among us
Sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly.
They will always materialize
If we work for them

The Rewards

1.                  Hope instead of desperation.
2.                  Faith instead of despair.
3.                  Courage instead of fear.
4.                  Peace of mind instead of confusion.
5.                  Self respect instead of self contempt.
6.                  Self confidence instead of helplessness.
7.                  The respect of others instead of pity and contempt.
8.                  A clean conscience instead of a sense of guilt.\
9.                  Real friendship instead of loneliness.
10.             A clean pattern of life instead of a purposeless existence.
11.             The love and understanding of our families instead of their doubts and fears.
12.             The Freedom of a happy life instead of the bondage of a sexual obsession.

The Serenity Prayer

God, grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time,
enjoying one moment at a time,
accepting hardship as a pathway to peace;
taking, as God did, this sinful world as it is,
not as I would have it;
trusting that You will make all things right
if I surrender to Your will;
so that I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with You
forever in the next.
Amen.
-- Reinhold Niebuhr

The 3rd Step Prayer ©Alcoholics Anonymous p. 63

At Step Three, many of us said to our Maker, as we understood Him:
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!
We thought well before taking this Step, making sure we were ready. Then we could commence to abandon ourselves utterly to Him.

The 7th Step Prayer

©Alcoholics Anonymous pp. 75-76
This passage immediately follows after the steps 1 through 5 have been explained
Carefully reading the first five proposals we ask if we have omitted anything, for we are building an arch through which we shall walk a free man at last. Is our work solid so far? Are the stones properly in place? Have we skimped on the cement put into the foundation? Have we tried to make mortar without sand?
If we can answer to our satisfaction, we then look at Step Six. We have emphasized willingness as being indispensable. Are we now ready to let God remove from us all the things which we have admitted are objectionable? Can He now take them all - every one? If we still cling to something we will not let go, we ask God to help us be willing.
When ready, we say something like this:
My Creator,
I am willing that You should have all of me, good and bad.
I pray that You now remove from me every single defect of character which stands in the way of my usefulness to You and my fellows.
Grant me strength as I go out from here to do your bidding.
We have then completed Step Seven.

The 11th Step Prayer (Prayer of St. Francis)

©Alcoholics Anonymous Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions p. 99
Lord, make me a channel 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.
God, grant that I may seek rather than 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

Prayer of St. Francis (another version)

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
Where there is injury, pardon.
Where there is doubt, faith.
Where there is despair, hope.
Where there is darkness, light.
Where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console.
To be understood as to understand.
To be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive.
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned.
It is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and ignorant; they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexations to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble, it's a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism. Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantement, it is as perrenial as the grass. Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive him to be. And whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a be.

We hope you will find the SA/SAA/SLAA prayers on Recovery HQ useful to your recovery or spiritual practice.  Please feel free to contact us directly with any questions you may have.