Is Asking Jesus into Your Heart in the Bible?

Theology
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Is Asking Jesus into Your Heart in the Bible?

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Many Christians have heard or used the phrase “Ask Jesus into your heart” when explaining salvation, but is this phrase actually found in Scripture? While the Bible clearly teaches about faith in Christ for salvation (Romans 10:9, Ephesians 2:8-9), the wording of “asking Jesus into your heart” is not explicitly stated. Some believe it’s a simple way to explain salvation to children or new believers, while others argue that it might oversimplify or misrepresent the biblical call to repentance and faith.

How do you view this phrase? Is it a helpful way to explain salvation, or does it risk misunderstanding the gospel?

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Ouch. This might sting a little…

The phrase “ask Jesus into your heart” is not in the Bible. And, unlike some concepts (like the doctrine of the Trinity we don’t find passages that indirectly point to it, either.

If you can’t trust Jesus, who can you trust? To say that this idea of asking Jesus into your heart isn’t in the Bible, while the Trinity is (because of indirect pointing???) Well, that kind of dismisses what Jesus said directly. I honestly can’t believe the author missed this, in the scriptural references they ‘pointed toward.’

“I am not praying only on their behalf, but also on behalf of those who believe in me through their testimony, that they will all be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. I pray that they will be in us, so that the world will believe that you sent me. The glory you gave to me I have given to them, that they may be one just as we are one— I in them and you in me—that they may be completely one,so that the world will know that you sent me, and you have loved them just as you have loved me. (John 17)

She missed “the point.”

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The Bible mentions that in a certain sense, Jesus lives in our hearts. For example, the Apostle Paul prayed that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith (Ephesians 3:17). However, these words are addressed to believers who have accepted Christ. In the parallel prayer in verse 16, Paul asks God to strengthen them with His Spirit in the inner man.

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Hi,
The phrase “into your heart” is not found in Scripture.
However the term has been adopted, more than likely, because of the Bible referring to the church as, “the bride of Christ.”

Ephesians 5:22-23 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.
For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. (KJV)

The wives are referenced in here, " as unto the Lord," and, Jesus as the “Savior of the body.”
The wedding vows, asked by the pastor, usually include a question.
Will you love your bride forsaking all others, and in various negative situations such as sickness, or becoming poor?
So “with all your heart” more than likely comes from this type of reference,; a bride’s love.

Other Scripture to support this:

John 3:29:
2 Corinthians 11:2:
Revelation 19:7-9:

Blessings

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belief and following the teachings of Christ are the requirements. We see the “Jesus in your heart” ideology developing fully during the Great awakenings.

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We cannot ask or invite jesus into our hearts any more than you can invite a dead man into your home. Without faith, we are spiritually dead. Faith is created by the Holy Spirit through the gospel. The creation of faith is entirely the work of God.

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Fritzpw
The phrase you are putting forth has sounded a bit too colloquial to me. It always puts me in the mind of a scenario where, for instance, let’s say you come home after work one day, and you find me standing in the front door of your house. As you approach, I invite you into my house. Good natured, as you are, you probably don’t try to correct my misunderstanding, but accept my invitation, pour yourself a cup of tea, and make yourself at-home.

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Right?

Yes, come Lord Jesus… I invite you in.

Whoa, whoa, whoa… don’t go rearranging the furniture now… don’t touch that, don’t throw that out…!

People invite him in, but don’t want him to change anything. They want a friend in Jesus, not a Lord. We should remember when he came in he kicked over tables and chased the others who were in there away with a whip.

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I’ve not found this concept in the Bible. I’ve only found proof that God must open our hearts -

Acts 16:14 One of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message.

Makes sense and goes right along with the fact that we’re hostile to God and can’t do a single thing or make a decision to turn ourselves towards God -

Rom 3:9 What shall we conclude them? Are we any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. 10 As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; 11 there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. 12 All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”

Jn 6:65 He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to Me unless the Father has enabled him.”

Jn 1:12 Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God – 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

Jn 6:43 “Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Jesus answered. 44 “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.

Jn 15:16 “You did not choose me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask of the Father in My name, He may give to you.”

Eph 1:11 In Him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will, 12 in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of His glory.

Acts 5:31 God exalted Him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that He might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel.

Eph 2: 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

It’s pretty clear we don’t seek God. God seeks, calls, chooses, enables, and opens our hearts to repent and accept His word. If someone is told they can achieve salvation by asking Jesus into their heart, they’re being deceived.

I would argue that’s the job of the gospel message, which is what God commanded to be preached, not ‘ask Jesus into your heart’. Why change, condense, or simplify when God has already provided the necessary information?

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Citizen

I appreciate your strong dedication to a precise application of God’s truth. I personally suffer in the same vein. I do understand the intention of the oft-quoted evangelistic expression “asking Jesus into ones heart”, although, like yourself, I find it unprecise, as it bears the potential of not actually communicating the truth. I am trying to learn the way of God, who considers the intents of one’s heart above the “outward appearance”. I try, but I do not posses all the advantages He has to do that with accuracy.

This is my light-hearted allegory for the statement we are discussing: Let’s say my neighbor comes into my house, unannounced. He makes himself at home; he eats freely from my refrigerator, he changes the thermostat to his liking, he puts the cat outside, and he sleeps in my bed. He stays for an extended period of time, completely ignoring me, but utilizing everything on my property as if it is, and always has been, his. Then one day he notices me. I don’t speak, but being the good fellow he is, he invites me inside, pours me a cup of coffee, and tells me to make myself at home. What if I simply smiled and thanked him for his hospitality. What if, at some point, I simply went into my office, opened my file cabinet, took out the title deed to my property, and simply set it on the kitchen table for him to read, when he got around to it. What if, out of sincere love for my neighbor, I patiently endured the situation as it was, knowing at a future time my neighbor would come to realize his actual place in the “grand scheme” of things.

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That’s Jesus!

Your neighbor whom you invited in, is Jesus— and his “actual place in the grand scheme of things” is no longer neighbor, or visitor, or squatter. He is master, owner and Lord of what used to be ‘your’ house. If you claim him, he claims you.

And of course, in this allegory of yours-- you, are the house, the jar, the tent, the temple of the Living God and in that temple, Jesus is the high priest.

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Ha ha, MeE. You are living up to your screen name.
You surely can see things from a unique perspective.
In my alegory, any Christian is the neighbor, and God is the rightful owner of everything. We are living in HIS world, which HE made. It is our insolence that thinks we am inviting him into what is alredy rightfully and patently His.

(I realize in my alegory, I used the first-person pronoun “I” for the owner of the house, and as such I might have been playing god. Sorry if it was confusing)

I appreciate your twist however.

KP

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Noooo!!! :weary_cat:

Here’s a real world example of just how deceptive it is. As a teen I attended a YFC type retreat. We were told lots of happy motivational stuff, and then we could go to the front, make a decision, invite Jesus in, and were proclaimed saved.

Afterwards I asked a counselor if I was saved because I really didn’t understand the whole thing. Her response: “If you believe you’re saved then you are.”.

So that was the message - have faith in your personal faith [whatever that is] because you ‘made a decision’ and invited Jesus in. It’s dangerous beyond belief because for many years I really believed that was all I needed to be saved. I seriously had no clue and was as lost as ever.

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I like to think of it as an “untwisting” of your allegory. (John 14)

You will know at that time that I am in my Father and you are in me and I am in you.

Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and take up residence with him.

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You say Potato - I say Tomato

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Vastly different.

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Citizen.
I hear you. Your personal testimony relating to this method of evangelism is powerful and poignant. I get why you are concerned, and you are right to call it out. And yet, here you are, no longer a teen, and walking with The Lord and in His Spirit to such a degree that you are trying to straighten that which you find crooked. I am confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ; (Philippians 1:6). That is, for you, even starting out as you did, Our Father brought you to where you are today (maybe even against all visible odds) That’s all Him; that’s all grace; that’s all love; that’s all His Glory!

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Thanks so much for your reasoned response! Yes, God overcame and I absolutely praise Him for that. But for all of those who preach falsely, God is dead serious about the consequences for the teachers as well as the danger of deception for the recipients -

Gal 1:6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel – 7 which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! 9 As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!

Rom 16:17 I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. 18 For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naïve people.

As God says, many will be lost through deception, and to me that is deeply scary stuff. It makes me very anxious for those hearing a wildly incorrect and inaccurate ‘gospel’ message.

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No, but neither is the Roman Road followed by the “sinner’s prayer”