This morning my devotional reading spoke of the effect that prayer has on our hearts and, through our hearts, and it dealt with our fervent nature that seeks God. E.M. Bounds wrote that "Prayer in times of trouble tends to bring the spirit into perfect submission to the will of God, and delivers from everything like a rebellious heart or a critical spirit.... Prayer so prepares the heart that it softens under the disciplining hand of God." The Lord uses trouble in our lives as a tool to discipline and instruct us, but prayer is the catalyst that brings us into submission and knowledge.