Becoming ready for God to change you means getting honest about the habits and attitudes you’re still holding onto and choosing, day by day, to let his Spirit lead. AA’s sixth step says we “were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.” Removing character defects isn’t a matter of trying harder. It’s a matter of surrender, as you stop defending your old ways and invite God to grow something new.
You’re a New Creation Still Learning to Live Like One
If you’ve trusted Jesus, something real has already happened inside you. You haven’t just been cleaned up a little. The Bible says you’ve been made new.
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
So why do old habits still pull at you? Theologians sometimes describe the Christian life as “already and not yet.” In God’s eyes you’re already forgiven and fully his, because Jesus’ death has cleansed you. But here on earth, the transformation is still unfolding. Trusting Christ doesn’t erase your old nature overnight. It gives you a new one, and now you face a fork in the road every single day.
That’s why this step matters. Taking inventory and confessing helped you name what you’ve done. Now you’re looking deeper at the patterns and character traits that keep producing those actions, the things that simply don’t fit your new life.
The Daily Battle Between Flesh and Spirit
The apostle Paul describes this inner conflict with real honesty. He calls your old nature “the flesh” and contrasts it with the Holy Spirit, who lives in every believer.
Galatians 5:16-17 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.
You’re not a robot. Even as a Christian, you can still choose the wrong path. The question each day, sometimes each minute, is which nature you’re going to feed. An old story describes two wolves fighting inside a person, and the one that wins is the one you feed. Walking by the Spirit isn’t automatic, but it is possible, because God has given you his power to choose differently.
Part of the battle is spotting what recovery groups call “stinking thinking.” These are the excuses that make the old way seem reasonable: everybody does it, it helps me relax, at least it’s not as bad as something else. Jesus cut right through that kind of thinking when he taught that sin starts in the heart long before it shows up in your actions.
Naming Your Character Defects
Paul gives a revealing list of what the flesh produces. It isn’t meant to be complete, but it reads a lot like a description of life in addiction.
Galatians 5:19-21 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
The word translated “witchcraft” is pharmakeia, the root of our word pharmacy, and in Paul’s day it was tied to drug use in pagan rituals. Idolatry is anything that takes God’s place, which is exactly what an addiction does. Then come the relational defects like rage, jealousy and selfish ambition that leave broken relationships behind. Anger deserves special attention, since it often flares when you’re trying to control what you can’t, and that’s when the urge to cope the old way gets strongest.
If you don’t deal with these deeper defects, you may simply trade one addiction for another, swapping drugs for an obsession with work, the gym or a hobby. Being ready means letting God deal with the root, not just the symptom. When frustration starts to rise, the Serenity Prayer is a great place to turn.
Becoming Ready for God to Start Removing Character Defects
The good news is that God doesn’t just take things away. He grows something new in their place. Paul shifts from the “acts” of the flesh to the “fruit” of the Spirit, and the difference matters, because fruit isn’t manufactured. It grows.
Galatians 5:22-25 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
There’s a balance here. You get serious about the old patterns, treating them as something crucified rather than something to manage. At the same time, you lean into the Spirit through spiritual disciplines like prayer, Scripture and honest community, knowing that fruit takes time. Picture a dying tree with rotten fruit becoming a healthy tree with strong branches that nourish everyone around it. That’s what God wants to do in you, and winning the war within happens one surrendered choice at a time.
The Takeaway
Becoming ready for God to change you starts with seeing your character defects honestly and refusing to defend them. Removing character defects is God’s work, but your part is willingness. Choose each day to walk by the Spirit, and trust him to grow new fruit where old habits used to rule.
