AA Step Eleven: "Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out."
LDS Guide to Addiction Recovery Step Eleven: "Seek through prayer and meditation to know the Lord’s will and to have the power to carry it out."
LDS Guide to Addiction Recovery Key Principle for Step Eleven: Personal Revelation
King Benjamin Elaborates Step Eleven
Because this step gets expanded a bit in King Benjamin's speech, I'm taking a slightly different approach for this step. Like all Twelve Steps, this one is fully explained and expanded in Mosiah chapter 4. I want to look at each component of the step using the AA version as the pattern.
"Seek through prayer . . ." King Benjamin said, "Humble yourselves even in the depths of humility, calling on the name of the Lord daily" (Mosiah 4:11). This is a step we need to work on a daily basis making personal prayer an integral part of recovery.
"Improve our conscious contact with God" "And behold, I say unto you that if ye do this ye shall always rejoice, and be filled with the love of God, and always retain a remission of your sins; and ye shall grow in the knowledge of the glory of him that created you, or in the knowledge of that which is just and true" (Mosiah 4:12).
Our knowledge of God's glory and grace, and our entire relationship with Him will improve (or grow) as this step suggests. Our "conscious contact" with God comes through the Holy Ghost, and as the Apostle Paul explained, love, joy, and peace are fruits of the Spirit (see Galatians 5:22).
"As we understood Him" The LDS version of the step omits this phrase since we understand that our relationship is with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. AA uses the concept of a "Higher Power" out of respect for universal belief. However, I think there is a spiritual basis for this phrase. Our relationship with God is enhanced by our understanding of Him and His attributes. King Benjamin said, "I say unto you, if ye have come to a knowledge of the goodness of God, and his matchless power, and his wisdom, and his patience, and his long-suffering towards the children of men; and also, the atonement which has been prepared from the foundation of the world . . . (Mosiah 4:6). Benjamin lists the attributes of goodness, power, wisdom, patience, and long-suffering. These are important for us as addicts to understand. These are the attributes the Lord is eager to have us attain so we can become like Him.
When I first came into Twelve Step recovery, my concept of God had been severely damaged. I thought of a strict, vengeful God, ready to zap me for all my sins and transgressions. In the introduction to the LDS Guide it states, "We invite you with all our empathy and love to join us in a glorious life of freedom and safety, encircled in the arms of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer." It is comforting to know that because the Lord is good, wise, and patient, He is able and willing to help us through recovery, and that we can be "encircled" in His loving arms of safety.
"Praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out" President Gordon B. Hinckley has observed that many of us say our prayers like we're ordering groceries. We make a list of things we want and hang up. In true recovery we surrender our will and lives to God, according to Step Three. This leaves little room for self-interest. Instead we are seeking to know God's will for us and to have the power to carry it out. Thus, we are really only praying for two things--knowledge and power.
The scriptures contain many examples of this knowledge and power combination, but there are only a few places we can go to obtain this combination. In Mosiah 4 this combination is listed at least three times. Verse 6 begins, "If ye have come to a knowledge of the goodness of God, and his matchless power . . ." Verses 11 and 12 both have the phrase "knowledge of the glory of (God)."
This combination of knowledge and glory (or power) comes together in the vision of Moses, as he says, "But now mine own eyes have beheld God; but not my natural, but my spiritual eyes, for my natural eyes could not have beheld; for I should have withered and died in his presence; but his glory was upon me; and I beheld his face, for I was transfigured before him" (Moses 1:11). Moses was able to obtain knowledge otherwise not obtainable except that he is transfigured, or empowered before God to be able to stand in His presence. That's "conscious contact" perfected.
Joseph Smith went into a grove of trees seeking knowledge of which church to join (see Joseph Smith--History 1:10,12,18), but the Lord lets him know that the "power of godliness" is not to be found on the earth.
One of the things I appreciate about Alcoholics Anonymous is that it does not overstep its bounds. AA's singleness of purpose is to help the alcoholic who still suffers and to help its members achieve sobriety. AA does not promise to get you to heaven or to grant exaltation. Perfection of Step Eleven is beyond the scope of Alcoholics Anonymous and is vested in the ordinances of the Melchizedek Priesthood.
Look at these verses with the knowledge/power combination:
"And this greater priesthood administereth the gospel and holdeth the key of the mysteries of the kingdom, even the key of the knowledge of God.
"Therefore, in the ordinances thereof, the power of godliness is manifest.
"And without the ordinances thereof, and the authority of the priesthood, the power of godliness is not manifest unto men in the flesh;
"For without this no man can see the face of God, even the Father, and live" (Doctrine and Covenants 84:19-22).
In the House of the Lord I was given the personal revelation necessary to find my sweetheart. In the House of the Lord we were sealed together for time and all eternity. Through the ordinances of the House of the Lord, our children were born in the covenant allowing the Holy Spirit of Promise to seal or ratify those ordinances based on worthiness.
Yes, I can say Step Eleven has brought the best blessings into my life!
The temple takes "conscious contact with God" to a new level.
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