Step 11 and the Sacred Name of Jesus Christ

 

Dear Reader,

I’d like to reflect on Alcoholics Anonymous Step 11—and how my understanding of a Higher Power has grown into a personal relationship with God, culminating in prayer offered “in the sacred name of Jesus Christ.”

When I first walked through the doors of the Laguna Beach Canyon Club, I had little understanding of God—let alone any idea who Jesus Christ was. Yet, as I heard others speak of prayer, meditation, and spiritual awakening, something stirred. I was told to find a Higher Power of my own understanding. That gave me enough room to start.

The eleventh step reads:
“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.”

This step invited me to listen more, reach inward, and allow healing to take root. One moment that stands out: while praying and saying, “God bless this person, and that person,” I unexpectedly added, “God bless Mother.” I hadn’t planned to say it. But in that moment, something opened. A burden I didn’t know I carried was lifted. That simple phrase unearthed hidden sorrow and left peace in its place. Such is the quiet, transformative power of prayer.

As time passed, my spiritual path deepened. I became a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And now, I’m learning what it means to pray “in the sacred name of Jesus Christ.”

At first, I found this difficult. I suspect many recovering people do. After all, AA encourages openness to any concept of a Higher Power. Naming Jesus Christ felt like I was narrowing something I had just begun to understand.

But it wasn’t a narrowing—it was a deepening.

Scripture began to speak more clearly to me. In John 1:1 I read, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” And in John 1:14, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.”

Jesus Christ is that Word—God made flesh. The divine love I had come to know in recovery now had a name, a face, a life lived in service and sacrifice. The Higher Power I first prayed to is not different from the God who sent His Son. My faith is not being replaced. It’s being fulfilled.

Now, when I close my prayers with, “in the sacred name of Jesus Christ,” I do so with reverence and gratitude. It still feels new at times—but it also feels right. It connects the healing power of recovery with the living source of that power: the Savior Himself.

For anyone struggling with the spiritual language of AA or unsure how faith fits into recovery, I say this: be patient. Step 11 is not about changing your beliefs overnight. It’s about growing your conscious contact with God—whoever you understand God to be. In my case, that path led me to Jesus Christ.

And I am grateful.