12 Steps and Biblical Comparisons
1. We admit we are powerless over our addictions and compulsive behaviors, that our lives have become unmanageable.
And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t (Romans 7:18, NLT).
2. We come to believe that a power greater than ourselves can and will restore us to sanity.
And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you (1 Peter 5:10, ESV).
3. We make the decision to turn our lives and our wills over to the only Higher Power, Jesus Christ.
If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved (Romans 10:9, NLT).
4. We make a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
Let us examine our ways and test them and let us return to the LORD (Lamentations 3:40, NIV).
5. We confess our sins and shortcomings to God, to ourselves, and another human being as an act of repentance.
Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed (James 5:16, NLT).
6. We are entirely ready to have God remove our defects of character.
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me (Psalm 51:10 , ESV).
7. We humbly ask God to remove our character defects.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9, ESV).
8. We make a list of every person we have harmed and those who have harmed us and become willing to make amends and forgive them all.
If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all (Romans 12:18, ESV).
9. We make direct amends and offer forgiveness to such people whenever possible, except when to do so will cause harm to them or others.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God (Matthew 5:9, ESV).
10. We continue to take personal inventory. When we are wrong, we promptly admit it and make amends.
Cling to your faith in Christ and keep your conscience clear (1 Timothy 1:19, NLT).
11. We seek through prayer and meditation to develop an abiding relationship with Jesus, praying only for His will for us, and the power to carry that out.
I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing (John 15:5, ESV).
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, we carry this message of hope and healing to others and practice these principles in all our affairs.
Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you (Matthew 28:19-20, NLT).