“Continue to watch for selfishness, dishonesty, resentment, and fear. When these crop up, we ask God at once to remove them.” (Page 84, Big Book)
Whenever I’m asking God to do something, I’m simultaneously having delegated back to me my part in the resolution. Step Three entails Step Four. Step entails Steps Eight through Twelve. Yes, God’s doing things, but He asks me to do things, too.
“As we go through the day we pause, when agitated or doubtful, and ask for the right thought or action.” (Page 87, Big Book)
I do not ask God to render me a vegetable, shutting down my brain and relieving me of any responsibility whatsoever.
“But there is One who has all power—that One is God.” (Page 59)
I’ve heard people infer that this means we have no power. We do, or we would not be able to make and share the inference itself. If the person is still breathing, walking around, doing things, they have power. Drunks who are still drinking clearly have power. They do things. God is the origin of all power, but that power is distributed by way of delegation to everything in the universe.
What power do I have to exercise in Step Ten?
Having asked God to remove the problems, I do my part:
With selfishness: practice the opposite attitude or action.
With dishonesty: tell the truth; act straightforwardly.
With resentment: say, ‘Everything is exactly the way it is meant to be, and this is a child of God,’ then get on with my own tasks.
With fear: say, ‘God is looking after me, everything is OK,’ then get on with my own tasks.