Submitting to God in Prayer

 "In all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight." (Proverbs 3:6)

When I think of this verse where it says to submit "all our ways to Him." It got me thinking of the manner in which we are to submit. Prayer. That is the way. The proverb says that when we do this, God will make our paths straight. How many of us would want our paths to be straightened? If so, God can do it. We do it by communing with Him in prayer. If only we would make it a priority.  Here is a long but powerful passage from the book, Words to Winners of Souls by Horatius Bonar, a Scottish Presbyterian Minister born in the early 1800's. His counsel is to Christians, ministers, and gospel workers. The title of the passage is "Time for Everything But Prayer." 

"Why is there so little anxiety to get time to pray? Why is there so little forethought in laying out of time and employments so as to secure in a large portion of each day for prayer? Why is there so much speaking, yet so little prayer? Why is there so much running to and fro, yet so little prayer? Why so much bustle and business, yet so little prayer? Why so many meetings with our fellow-men, yet so few meetings with God? Why so little being alone, so little thirsting of the soul for the calm, sweet hours of unbroken solitude, when God and His child hold fellowship together as if they could never part? It is the want of these solitary hours that not only injures our own growth in grace but makes us such unprofitable members of the church of Christ and renders our lives useless. In order to grow in grace, we must be much alone. It is not in society-even in Christian society- that the soul grows most rapidly and vigorously. In one single quiet hour of prayer it will often make more progress than in days of company with others. It is in the desert that the dew falls freshest and the air is purest. So with the soul. It is when none but God is nigh; when His presence alone, like the desert air in which there is mingled no noxious breath of man, surrounds and pervades the soul; it is when that the eye gets the clearest, simplest view of eternal certainties; it is when that the soul gathers in wondrous refreshment and power and energy. 

    And so it is also in this way that we become truly useful to others. It is when coming out fresh from communion with God that we go forth to do His work successfully. It is in the closet that we get our vessels so filled with blessing, that, when we come forth, we can not contain it to ourselves but must, as by a blessed necessity, pour it out whither-soever we go. We cannot say, as did Isaiah: "My Lord, I stand continually upon the watchtower in the daytime, and I am set in my ward whole nights." (Isa.21:8). Our life has not been lying-in-wait for the voice of God. "Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth" (1Sam 3:9), has not been the attitude of our souls, the guiding principle of our lives. Nearness to God, fellowship with God, waiting upon God, resting in God, have been too little characteristic either of our private or ministerial walk. Hence our example has been powerless, our labors so unsuccessful, our sermons so meager, our whole ministry so fruitless and feeble.  

It is not a secret why there is little power in our lives and in the church. It is due to a lack of prayer as described above. After reading this, it makes me want to fall on my knees and commune with God. I hope for the same effect to whoever reads it.  

I'm thankful that I can submit all my ways to God, when I take the time to pray. In prayer, His presence is with me and I am satisfied. I thank God that He is available to me and that he will direct my paths as I wait and listen for Him. Submission happens in prayer. In doing such, He straightens my path.