Step Two

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About Step 2

"Few indeed are the practicing alcoholics who have any idea how irrational they are, or seeing their irrationality, can bear to face it. Some will be willing to term themselves "problem drinkers," but cannot endure the suggestion that they are in fact mentally ill. They are abetted in this blindness by a world which does not understand the difference between sane drinking and alcoholism. "Sanity" is defined as "soundness of mind." Yet no alcoholic, soberly analyzing his destructive behavior, whether the destruction of the dining-room furniture or his own moral fiber, can claim "soundness of mind" for himself."
[Anonymous, Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, AA World Services, 1953]

"For Christians in recovery, the absolute necessity of trusting God becomes painfully clear when we admit our powerlessness over addiction. Our innumerable attempts to restore ourselves to sanity have demonstrated conclusively that we are unable to save ourselves. Our only recourse is to trust the Higher Power to restore us to sanity. Steps One and Two acknowledge both our inability to save ourselves and our complete dependence on God to restore us. At Step Two our task is simply to trust God to heal us. In the next Step we act on that trust"
[Martin M. Davis, The Gospel and the Twelve Steps, RPI Publications, 1993]

"When I came to Step Two I realized that although I was a committed Christian and I really believed in God, my problem was that in some very important respects I was living a frantic, highly stressed existence as a Christian professional speaker and writer. I knew that something was not right: I was teaching about grace and freedom, on the one hand, and my life was anxious, stressful and overcommitted, on the other. But I was in denial and couldn't see how bizarre the contradiction was. People in this program have helped me to realize that anything I do or think that is destructive to me or to my relationships with other people or with God is a kind of insanity, expecially when I keep doing it month after month." .
[Keith Miller, A Hunger for Healing, Harper,1991]

Step 2: Related Biblical Themes

* Came to believe. To 'believe' is not just to affirm the truth of some abstract concept. To 'believe' in a biblical sense is to put trust in. In Step One we came to the end of trusting ourselves and in Step Two we make a first step to trust something or somebody other than ourselves. It is critically important to remember that God honors and responds to even the smallest first step of faith - even when it is mixed with uncertainty and disbelief. Remember Jesus' saying about the mustard seed? The mustard seed is one of the smallest of seeds, but Jesus said a mustard seed of faith could move mountains [Matt 17:20)! Most of us do not have a lot of faith or trust when we start working Step Two, only later do we realize that God can do a lot with the little we have.

"I do believe, help me overcome my unbelief!"
Mark 9:24



* A power greater than ourselves. This Step introduces the first and most fundamental spiritual truth: there is a God and it's not me. If in Step One we really came to the end of our own attempts to control the problem, then in Step Two we can begin to look outside of ourselves for assistance. The fact that God is 'not ourselves' is a foundational Christian conviction.

Remember Jesus' story about the Prodigal Son? The prodigal came to believe that he needed a Power greater than his own. Exactly what he expected this 'Power' to be like was very misguided. He expected his father to disown him and treat him like a servant! Even though he did not understand his father's love or his father's character, his faith was enough to get him on the road to recovery. This is exactly the kind of faith which is enough for Step Two. It need not be a theologically informed faith. It just needs to be enough to get us out of the 'pig pens' in the 'far county' and heading back to a Power greater than ourselves. There will be lots to learn later about the character and grace-full-ness of God.

Some Christians fault the language of this Step for not providing much information about the 'Power which is greater than ourselves.' Some replace this language with expressions like "came to believe that God through Jesus Christ could restore us to sanity." Adding Christological content to this Step may make it more easily understood by some Christians but it may also make it less understandable to people who are just beginning the spiritual journey. Such language may also communicate that we need to have more faith than we actually need at this Step. We do well to remember that the Twelve Steps are a spiritual kindergarten - a beginning. Step Two honors the smallest baby step of faith. Experience in the program suggests that God is prepared to honor such faith.

* Restore us.
This Step is sometimes called the "hope step" because it first introduces the possibility of restoration. Restoration is a powerful biblical metaphor for healing. It may be the last thing we expect God to do at this stage of things. It is much more common at this stage of recovery to expect God to be angry, rejecting, hostile, abusive, judgmental, or shaming. Fortunately the Bible is very clear about the character of God. God loves us and longs to set us free from the things which have kept us in bondage. The Psalmist said it well:

"They cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress. He brought them out of darkness and the deepest gloom and broke away their chains. Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men, for he breaks down gates of bronze and cuts through bars of iron."
Psalm 107:13-16



* to sanity.
Some people find it helpful to define insanity as "continuing do to the same thing but expecting a different result." If, however, when you hear the expression "restore to sanity" all you can think about is "I am mentally ill" and this is a hindrance to working this Step, try to see past the language here. The core of Step Two is coming to believe in the possibility of restoration. It is possible for things to be better, to be made right, to be whole again, to be healed. For most of us the real insanity of the addictive process only becomes fully clear after we have a little sobriety. Focus on the possibility of restoration - there is hope! You may not know right now how it will happen or what it will look like. It is enough now to recognize that you can't do it but that a Power greater than you could!
http://www.christianrecovery.com/tfr/dox/steptwo.htm

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Part 2

2 Corinthians 12:8-9 (NLT) Three different times, I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, My gracious favor is all you need. My power works best in your weakness. So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may work through me.

Step 2: We come to believe that God, a Power greater than ourselves, can restore us to sanity.

In Step1, we admit that we are powerless over our sinful natures and that our lives are unmanageable. Step 2 introduces us to the Power than can restore our broken and sinful lives to sanity. Sanity is defined by The American Heritage Dictionary as The quality or condition of being sane; soundness of mind. Soundness of judgment or reason. In other words a sane person makes good decisions. As Christians, we want to make decisions that honor God. A sane person does not hang around temptations that he cannot control. A sane person does not rationalize away all of his shortcomings. A sane person comes to believe in God and His Power.

If we don't have the Power that is greater than ourselves, how do we receive it? What is it? Who is it? Paul cries out in the following passage, asking this Power to save him from his unsound judgment or his insanity.

Romans 7:24-25 (NLT) Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind, I really want to obey God's law, but because of my sinful nature, I am a slave to sin.

Paul was struggling with his self-centered, sinful nature. He was miserable. For all of us that are frustrated and weary, we cry out I am sick and tired of being sick and tired! I believe this is what Paul is finally saying in his surrendering attitude toward God. We receive his power by accepting His son Christ as our Savior. It is a free gift for the asking.

Revelation 3:20 (NLT) Look! Here I stand at the door and knock. If you hear me calling and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal as friends.

The path of restoration and recovery is not an easy path. The road has dips, bumps, plateaus and high points, and it never ends. Paul finds the answer, just as we can, in Jesus. We have to come to believe that Christ can restore us. This restoration is a process that makes us right with God. Restoration is the process of making something old new. This rightness with God gives us the power, through his Holy Spirit, to be sane and have good judgment.

Romans 8:1-4 (NLT) So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. For the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you, through Christ Jesus, from the power of sin that leads to death. The law of Moses could not save us, because of our sinful nature. But God put into effect a different plan to save us. He sent his own Son in a human body like ours, except that ours are sinful. God destroyed sin's control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. He did this so that the requirement of the law would be fully accomplished for us who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.

Are you ready to take the second step? Are you ready to surrender to God by believing that you are not the center of the universe, you are not all-powerful, you are not all-knowing, you are not the answer, you are not the restoring power and you are not in control of your restoration and sanity? We are not capable of making sound judgments apart from the God that created us.

Lord, help us to move on along the path of recovery. Restore us and give us a new heart and mind to make sound judgments. Get us off this road of destruction. In the name of Christ, our Healer and Restorer, Amen.
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/wolfpakron/12Steps-2.html

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2. Came to believe that through Jesus Christ we could be restored to right relationship with God the Father, and subsequent sanity and stability in our lives.
Jesus answered " I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:16) For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life. (John 6:40) For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. (ROM 10:13)

Study: Isa 1:18-20; Rev 3:20; Rom 10:13; Rom 10:1-4; John 14:1-14; John 3:3-6; John 7:37-39; John 11:25-26; John 6: 40; John 5:37-40; 10:37-39; 2 Cor 4:13,14; Rom 8:11; John 20:29-31; John 17:15-26.
http://www.alcoholicsforchrist.com/sa.htm