Lesson 9—Inventory

Romans 14:10-12

Principle 4: Openly examine and confess my faults to myself, to God, and to someone I trust.

Matthew 5:8a (TEV), "Happy are the purer in heart."

Step 4: We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

Lamentations 3:4 (NIV), "Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord."

The Person, The Cause, The Effect, The Damage…and My Part.

Step 4 is about taking a fearless and moral inventory, getting rid of the not-so-good, for the good.

This lesson is intended to provide instruction on how to use the worksheet.

As a reminder, resentments and fear fuel our addictions, which keep us from grieving the damage. This keeps us from feeling the effect and keeps us from forgiving the cause.

The Person

The Cause

The Effect

The Damage

My Part

Who is/was the object of my resentment or fear?

What specific action did that person take that hurt me?

What effect did that have on my life?

What damage did that action do to my basic social, security and/or sexual instincts?

What part of the resentment am I responsible for?

Names

Institutions

Places

Step #8 (List of persons)

Events

Incidences

Feelings

Emotions

Belief System

Shame

Guilt

Inadequacies

Losses

Broken Relationships

Financial

Fear of Intimacy

Distrust

Character Defects

Choices

Additions

Behaviors

Compulsions

Attitudes

*Childhood abuses:

"None or Not guilty"

Step 5/6/7 (Admit, Entirely Ready, Humbly Ask to Remove)

1) The first column - "The Person."

a) Identify the people and related circumstances that have impacted us in the past.

i) Use the self-analysis questions in lessons 10 and 11 in Participant's Guide 2.

ii) Here you are looking for people:

(1) Who have hurt you

(2) Who were indifferent to you

(3) Who tried to minimize you

(4) Who scared or intimidated you

(5) Who manipulated you

(6) Who disappointed you

(7) And so on

iii) You are also looking for circumstances that existed at that time these people impacted you.

(1) For example:

(a) Maybe you failed at something

(b) Maybe it got blown out of proportion

(c) You didn't meet somebody's expectations

(d) You didn't meet your own expectations

(e) You were involved in an embarrassing situation

(f) There was a crisis

(g) You are working for an unfair boss

(h) You had abusive parents

(i) You had a poor teacher

(j) You were unjustly accused of something

(k) And so on

b) Record this information in column number one.

i) Record one event at time.

ii) Finish it before moving to the next event.

iii) Ask God to give you clarity by praying through Psalm 139:23-24.

"Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life." Psalm 139:23-24

2) The second column – "The Cause".

a) Record what the person identified in Column 1 did to you.

i) Use the self-analysis questions in lessons 10 and 11 in Participant's Guide 2.

ii) Here you are looking for people who:

(1) Abused you – physically, emotionally or psychologically

(2) Tried to control or dominate you

(3) Humiliated you – a teacher, a boss or a friend

(4) Lied about you

(5) Lied to you

(6) Was insensitive to you

(7) Rejected you

(8) And so on

iii) It's important to understand what happened to you.

iv) Once again pray through Psalm 139:24-24 as you do this.

b) Review what you discover with your sponsor.

3) The third column – "The Effect".

a) Record how the events in the first two columns affected you AT THE TIME they happened.

i) Use the self-analysis questions in lessons 10 and 11 in Participant's Guide 2.

ii) Here is what you are looking for.

(1) Did you feel shame?

(2) Did you feel rejected?

(3) Did you feel stupid?

(4) Did you feel weak and powerless?

(5) Did you feel overwhelmed?

iii) Did you think there was something wrong with you?

iv) Did you avoid certain people?

v) Did you become fearful?

vi) Did you become tentative about life?

vii) Did you develop phobias?

b) Review what you discover with your sponsor.

1. Do it progressively.

2. Don't let it pile up.

3. Listen to what your sponsor says.

4) The fourth column – "the Damage".

a) In this column you will record how each past event (identified in the first three columns) is AFFECTING YOU TODAY.

(1) Once again refer to your answers to the self-analysis questions in lessons 10 and 11.

(2) Here's some AREAS TO CONSIDER.

(a) When I think of the past event, do I feel pain today?

(b) Do I have any bad habits that can be traced to that event?

(i) Examples are swearing, laziness, lack of direction, anger, over eating, giving up easily and on and on.

(c) Do I have any hang ups that can be traced to the event?

(d) Am I afraid of life as a result of the event?

(e) Do I have fears as a result of the event?

(f) Do I avoid certain kinds of people?

(g) Am I afraid to take on certain kinds of tasks?

(h) Do I avoid certain kinds of circumstances?

(i) And so on.

(3) Here's some more AREAS TO CONSIDER.

(a) Am I preoccupied with adversity and impending disaster?

(b) Am I concerned that I will not be able to meet life's challenges?

(c) Am I worried about rejection – humiliation – failure?

(d) Do these concerns impact my ability to be intimate?

(e) Do they impact how I feel about myself – my self-worth?

(f) Am I stuck with the idea that I'm no good?

(g) Do I think people don't like me?

(h) Do I use unhealthy ways of dealing with my pain?

b) Here is a good approach to filling out column 4.

i) Step 1 - Review the information you collected in the first three columns. Do this one event at a time.

ii) Step 2 - Review the "AREAS TO CONSIDER" in point "A" above.

iii) Step 3 - Ask the Lord to show you any damage.

iv) Step 4 - Discuss what you discover with your sponsor.

v) Step 5 - Record your conclusions in column 4.

5) The fifth column – "My Part".

a) Identify how we MAY have contributed to our problems.

i) Honesty is essential.

ii) We have to resist our natural tendency to blame others.

(1) In this column we focus only on ourselves.

(2) We want to know what we did to contribute to our problem.

(3) Record the results in column 5.

(4) There will be times when are blameless. (Child Abuse)

(a) In that case we write, "No Part".

6) As we progress through our inventory it's important to identify positive events as well as negative events.

a) We don't have to add another column to our form to do this.

(1) Start your inventory by identifying the first negative issue and filling in the appropriate information in all the columns.

(2) After that identify a positive event and fill out all the columns.

(3) And then repeat the process - alternating positive and negative events until you are completed.

b) To help you identify positive events focus on what the Scriptures say about our value.

i) For example Ephesians 1:3-14 describes how valuable we are to God.

ii) We can use this in our inventory forms.

iii) There are many other passages in the Scriptures that can be used in the same way.

Isaiah 1:18 "Come now, and let us reason together, Says the LORD, though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.