Principle 1: Realize I’m not God. I admit that I am powerless to control my tendency to do the wrong thing and that my life is unmanageable.
Happy are those who know they are spiritually poor. -Matthew 5:3
Step 1: We admitted we were powerless over our addictions and compulsive behaviors, that our lives had become unmanageable.
I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. -Romans 7:18
Perfect control over anything is impossible in our current state of being. To believe the contrary is to be deceived. Only one man has walked this earth and perfectly controlled His sinful urges, and that was Jesus Christ. No man before Him and no man after Him has been able to live a blameless and spotless life. Some of us might be able to maintain more control over things in our life than others, but we are all powerless in some shape or form.
Admitting that we are powerless over most of our life might seem hopeless at first, but it is actually one of the most hope-filled steps we can take. Instead of relying on our own imperfect strength, we can rely one something much better- Jesus. He walked this earth for 33 years and lived a blameless life- why wouldn’t we turn to Him as we awkwardly attempt to do the same?
When my heart was embittered and I was pierced within, then I was senseless and ignorant; I was like a beast before You. Nevertheless I am continually with You; You have taken hold of my right hand. With Your counsel You will guide me, and afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For, behold, those who are far from You will perish; You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to You. But as for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all Your works. -Psalm 73:21-28 (NASB)