Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.

We can't disappoint these suffering people who are coming to us for help. We must get the plank out of our eye so we can see clearly how to get the speck out of theirs. How are we going to do that? Grieve, mourn and wail.

This is the second aspect of Step Four. In the process of grieving, mourning, and wailing for the needs of others, we have to see how much we can do damage to those we are praying for. Whether we are starting a small group for accountability, a church, a Bible study, a rehabilitation program, or benevolence program; if we have hidden sins in our life, we are going to have to repent with great sorrow.

It is amazing how many of us sail right through Step Two and never see these sins. It isn't until we really start thinking about helping others that we realize that hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy in our hearts are sins too. As a matter of fact the Bible tells us that those who live like this will not inherit the Kingdom of God. Now I know that we are in process of growing spiritually. As long as we are doggedly pursuing the righteousness of God, God isn't going to be telling us that we aren't going to inherit His Kingdom. If we find through Step Four that we still are falling short in any of these areas, let's go back to Step Two and get them taken care of. Then we can come back here and pick up where we left off.