Step 7 · Humbly Asked
The Seventh Step Prayer
Step Seven is the ask: humbly asking Him to remove our shortcomings. Step Six got us ready; this is where we actually ask.
The Big Book gives these words right after the inventory and the Fifth Step. They ask for the defects to go, and for strength to go out and be useful.
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 strength, as I go out from here, to do your bidding. Amen.
THE SEVENTH STEP PRAYER · BIG BOOK, P. 76
How many of us use it
Humility here isn't humiliation. It's an honest look at what we can't fix by ourselves.
Many of us say it once with a sponsor when we take the step, then again whenever an old defect shows up — impatience in traffic, a lie we didn't need to tell.