by Asking Jesus into your heart is condemned by some who say there is no place in the Bible where we are told to do this. When I was challenged with this last month, I agreed that salvation is by faith and repentance (Acts 20:21), which biblically opens the door that Jesus is knocking at (Revelation 3:20). When someone knocks on a door they want to enter in, so the question is, where does Jesus want to enter when we invite Him in?
Paul teaches that our “body is the temple of the Holy Ghost” (1 Corinthians 6:19). The temple was the Old Testament place where God dwelt with man. Specifically, the innermost part of the temple called the holy of holies. This place was controlled by the will of man in obedience to God’s Word. Today, this place has different names: temple (1 Corinthians 6:29), heart (Ephesians 3:17), inward man (Romans 7:22), stone for building God’s habitation (Ephesians 2:20-22), etc. Saying we received Jesus into this place or asking Him into our hearts is a simple phrase about trusting Jesus as our Savior. Our heart, or our temple, or our inward man or our stone becomes the earthly home of Jesus Christ. Unlike the Old Testament temple, when Jesus enters, He seals himself within us (Ephesians 1:13) and promised, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Hebrews 13:5).
This process is explained in Romans 10:6-21 where the preached Word of God enters man’s heart, and then man confesses with his mouth and believes with his heart. A key to this is the word is not only “heart” but “asked.” This word is used to answer why people do not believe the Word of God that already entered the heart in 10:16, reminding us in 10:17 that they are without excuse because of that preached Word. Paul illustrates by using Isaiah, and answers specifically in 10:20 that they “asked not.” This links “asked” directly to the “heart” of man, so why would any believer condemn asking Jesus into their heart if we have biblically walked them through the Gospel as in Romans 10?
Romans 10:13 says, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” In the context of Romans 10, this verse is man asking the Living Word to enter through our heart’s door that He is knocking on. The question is, have you let Jesus into your heart, by faith and repentance (Acts 20:21)?
