Submission to God is a vital aspect of the Christian journey, akin to the transformation an immigrant undergoes when fully embracing a new homeland. Just as an immigrant must turn from old ways to adopt the values and lifestyle of their new country, so must we turn from our former lives to align with God's way. This process of conversion, as illustrated in Matthew 18:3, requires a complete turnaround, a shift from selfish ambition to humble submission. Jesus Christ teaches that unless we are converted and become as little children—marked by humility, trust, and deference to Him—we cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven. This conversion is not self-initiated but is a passive act, orchestrated by God's grace, for only He has the power to save us from destruction and set us on the right path. This turning to God involves a dual process of changing both mind and conduct. As seen in Acts 3:19, we must repent, altering our internal perspective, and be converted, transforming our external way of life. Submission to God means yielding to His will, trusting in His guidance, and allowing Him to direct our steps. It is through this submission that our sins are blotted out, and we experience times of refreshing—seasons of rest and joy in His presence. Ultimately, submission to God is about a lifelong commitment to His way, continually turning back to Him whenever we stray, and relying on His strength to sustain us on the path to His Kingdom.

Submission to God is essential in our relationship with Him, requiring a humble acknowledgment of His sovereign authority and loving wisdom. Prayer is not about forcing or cajoling Him to align with our narrow and shortsighted ideas, but about harmonizing with His will, as He forms us into His image. It involves worshipfully coming to Him, committing our way to Him, and patiently allowing Him to deal with our requests as it seems best to Him. True prayer reflects an attitude of dependency and need, expressing not our will, but His, as seen in the plea, "not my will, but Yours, be done." Humility plays a major role in producing obedience and fostering a good relationship with God, manifesting itself in ready submission to His will and an expression of dependence upon Him. This quality is essential for growth, witnessing for God, glorifying Him, receiving honor from Him, and achieving salvation. The order of these things is clear: humility leads to submission, which leads to obedience and ultimately honor. Honoring, praising, and requesting of Him are conscious acknowledgments of our dependency, destroying pride and vanity while encouraging the growth of humility, which in turn produces more intense submission. When we pray, we must set aside our own will and accept God's, asking only for what aligns with His purpose and what Christ Himself would ask. Real prayer is communion with God, necessitating common thoughts between His mind and ours, where His desires become ours flowing back to Him in prayer. God intensely desires that His thoughts become ours, reflecting His image, and much of this communication happens through prayer. Even when His answers differ from our expectations, if we have truly left it with Him, we can trust it is indeed His response, fitting His greater purpose for us.

Submission to God emerges as the indispensable human response within the larger process of atonement, the means by which the breach caused by sin is healed and oneness with God is restored. Peter's call in Acts 3:19 to "repent and be converted" establishes that restoration, refreshing, and even the return of Jesus Christ are consequences that flow from this human action of turning the mind toward God. Repentance, understood as allowing one's mind to change, is the starting point without which reconciliation cannot occur, since God Himself declares through Isaiah that it is not His hand that is shortened but human iniquity that has produced separation. The people addressed in Isaiah 1 and 59 illustrate this vividly: they maintained religious ritual while living in hypocrisy, business dishonesty, and oppression, and God treated them as deaf and unresponsive idols until they would "cease to do evil, learn to do good" and cleanse themselves. This demonstrates that submission cannot be reduced to ceremonial observance; it must express itself in practical righteousness and love toward others. Romans 5 clarifies that while Adam's sin passed to mankind through God's judgment, Christ's righteousness does not transfer automatically; it requires belief, repentance, and voluntary submission. John 6:29 identifies the "work of God" as simply believing in the One He sent, showing that submission begins with faith, the refusal of which—exemplified by Adam and Eve—is the root of all sin and separation. Once belief and repentance occur, justification and reconciliation follow, but this is only the beginning of an ongoing process of sanctification in which a person's entire perspective is transformed, as Paul describes in II Corinthians 5, no longer regarding others "according to the flesh" but as a "new creation." Fasting is presented as a tangible exercise of this submission, an object lesson in humility that mirrors Christ's own obedience "even unto death" as described in Philippians 2:5. Isaiah 66 affirms that God is drawn not to grand religious structures but to the one who is "poor and of a contrite spirit" and who "trembles at" His word—humility being a deliberate choice to submit rather than a mere feeling. This submission to God is inseparable from submission expressed toward others: since love is defined as action and obedience rather than emotion, loving God necessarily involves loving one's brother, as John affirms. The entire trajectory—from repentance, through justification by faith, to ongoing sanctification—depends on this willing submission, for only by humbling oneself before God can the perspective shift occur that allows a person to live as Christ lived, laying down life for others just as Christ, while humanity was still His enemy, laid down His.

Submission to God is the core issue in whether a Christian may kill in self-defense. The question is not about national government but about who governs us: either we govern ourselves by deciding when killing is permissible, or we submit to God's benevolent authority and His definition of morality. We do not determine right and wrong, because God has already done so; our only decision is whether we will act in accordance with His law. Every case of setting aside a commandment for self-preservation, whether idolatry, Sabbath-breaking, lying, or intentionally killing, pits the self against God and shows what we worship. Romans 8:7 describes the struggle: the carnal mind is enmity against God and will not be subject to His law. Human nature insists on a self clause, honoring God's law only until it conflicts with perceived self-interest. Taking a life also presumes authority God has not given, since we are told to judge by His standard but not to pass or carry out sentence. Submission means trusting God to protect us according to His will, even when He withholds protection to accomplish His purpose, and conducting ourselves by His law when threatened. A living faith shows that God is real and sovereign in our lives, and that He can bring us into His Kingdom.