Where in the Bible does God tell us to pray a prayer to ask Jesus into our heart?
I don’t find it either…
You would think that something so vital to the gospel that the church preaches would be there, apparent for all to see. What are we “advertising” to a world of people? What are all the revival rallies and evangelism efforts seeking to get people to “buy”? If the problem is that humanity is separated from God by our sin and will therefore be separated from God for eternity, what must we do to be saved?
Before my fellow Christians start throwing things, let’s go to 3 passages that get us the closest I have seen to “praying a prayer to ask Jesus in our hearts” and then consider a proposal as I briefly share some of my experience.
Acts 2.37-39 “Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.””
This comes after a powerful sermon preached by Peter. People are convicted, they want to respond and Peter tells them to repent & be baptized for the forgiveness of their sins, and the Holy Spirit will be given to them.
Acts 16.29-34
“And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas. 30 Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” 32 And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. 33 And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family. 34 Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God.”
This time we see a jailer who is about to loose his career when he thinks all the prisoners have escaped, so he is ready to kill himself on his sword. Paul and Silas assure him that all the prisoners are there and he is so relieved that his life is spared he asks how to respond. He is told to “faith in the Lord Jesus”. I love it that later that night they are all sitting around the dinner table rejoicing that the jailer believed in God…why, because he was ALIVE, he didn’t kill himself and his family was joyful.
Romans 10.9-11,
“because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” …13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” “
Here we have a command to say with our mouth, and faith in our heart that the resurrection of Jesus happened. Then it ends with a statement assuring that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
Now, as I said, these are the 3 that, in my opinion, get us the closest to what we hear so often of “pray to receive Christ” or “pray to ask Jesus into your heart”. My point is not so much about whether we should encourage/lead someone in a prayer to receive Jesus, but I do have concern about what that person has been told or thinks he/she is doing?
Ok…I’m going to push the “pause” button here for today. My recent posts have been lengthy and some weighty, but more importantly, before I further develop what I am thinking, I would love to hear from the readers on what I have said thus far. Tomorrow, I will publish my developing thoughts and experience.
Two parting questions -
Where else does the Bible instruct us on praying a prayer to be saved?
How is the presentation of the message of the church heard concerning how someone must be saved?
(Disclaimer: I am starting this response at 4:00am and will most likely have to set it aside for a while for other responsibilities. I apologize in advance if in it i repeat or restate someone else’s thoughts.)
I am so glad to see someone asking this question also. This has been a burr in my saddle for over 20 years now. My response risks being dry an lengthy, so in the spirit of brevity, please bear with me as i try to condense my thoughts (which may appear to jump around a bit) and watch your toes, since tact may suffer as well.
The passage that most people bring up when asked this question is from Revelation where Christ is saying “Behold, i stand at the door and knock. Any man who opens the door, I will come in and sup with him.” Couple this imagery with the verses Brian mentions here and other places, and you seem to have an image that shows Christ entering our hearts. The number one problem is that the verse in Rev. is to a church that already had a relationship with Him and had “shut him out” of their lives. He is simply saying, “Hey, I want back in.”
That being said, in the previous blogs here, i believe Brian may be getting at what is the core of what the church had defined as being saved. The definition of salvation is part of the problem, but i believe the deeper core of the issue and the heart of this problem goes to the church leadership’s desire to have bodies in the pews due to a misconception that large numbers of attendees equates to “We must be doing something right”. Don’t mean to be so harsh, but living in the deep south, where churches out number pigeons, it becomes obvious that most of the leaders feel a competition for parishioners. This has lead to a watering down of the Gospel into a message of Easy Believism. When the Church takes the core of the Gospel out and reduces it into a simple question of “Would you rather spend eternity in Heaven, or burn forever in the fires of Hell?” what craziness would ever say “No thank you, i prefer to be where it is warm.”
Now i want to pause here and make an emphatic statement that must not be overlooked, otherwise this discussion will take a sharp turn down an unneeded rabbit trail. It is my deeply held conviction and philosophical belief that there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING in this megaverse that you or i could do say or offer up that would be deserving of redemption. That Christ’s sacrifice is the only way for any man, woman, or child to be brought into a right and proper relationship with God. I feel a need to state this because what i believe does appear to teeter on the brink of a “Lordship Salvation”, but since there is no prerequisite to Christ’s sacrifice, such a term is impossible in my view.
Brian has touched on the nerve of the problem in previous posts, and the “truth” topic has taken this discussion dangerously close to this issue. I believe that the core of the problem with young adults loosing their faith can be traced back to the hearts of man, but not just the hearts of the ones leaving. Rather, it can be seen in the hearts of the church leadership as well as the congregation.
I have watched churches diminish and grow old. I have heard the leaders ask ” What do we need to do to get new, young people in our church [read: building]?” or “How can we revitalize our congregation?” While these seem like great questions, i feel that a key ingredient is missing. Where do they see the role of the Spirit working in the church, and are they trying to contrive His presence? Most of the organized religions i have studied can be reduced down to man trying to control other men by forcing their particular understanding of truth upon each other. The congregation does not “feed itself” and becomes wholly reliant upon the leadership for guidance and education. This empowers some people in the church and they start to assert their personal prejudices upon the congregation under the guise of Biblical Doctrine. These become dogma that cannot be questioned, and anyone brave enough to seek truth is either brought back into line or asked to leave (sometimes even killed outright). Need i bring up Christ’s own rebuke of the Pharisees, or the horrors of the Roman Catholic church of the Middle Ages?
Many denominations today fall into this grey area as well, and while they don’t excommunicate or kill dissenters, they do a graver disservice to anyone bold enough to question dogma. First, some churches say it is the devil casting doubt in your life if you begin to question your faith, and many are told to dismiss any such thoughts. Second, when someone continues to question and then begins to seek answers, they are lead to believe that the church they grew up in has all the right answers, and that other churches are misled and therefore wrong in their particular brand of “truth”, so they must be serving a “false” God (this is never done by word, but by deed and philosophy). My example here would be Southern Baptist vs Methodist or the Word Faith movement vs the Keswick Convention. (Do we see why TRUTH is such a key component to Brian’s blog?) With this deeply ingrained dichotomy, most people leave God when they leave the church, because they see no other option. They cannot see that God can be defined any other way but by the terms laid out by one church or another. I have deep respect for a man to say “If that is what God is all about, i simply cannot serve Him.” At least he is being honest and not just filling space waiting for the free ride to arrive.
In my lifetime i have watched many people “turn from God”, only to listen carefully and hear them really say they “cannot serve that kind of god” (as defined by that particular group of people). Given time and some insight many of them “return to God” when they realize that He cannot be fully defined by finite man.
Ok, let’s see if i can tie this back together. So, if we have an under-defined God, coupled with a rigidity that won’t allow exploration, lack of “self-feeding”, and a gospel message that plays no part in daily life, why would young adults stay in church when their lives are so busy already?
“Truth in advertising”: The truth is, that the Gospel is supposed to be about being brought back into a proper relationship with our Creator. We were created for relationship with Him. We fell out of relationship with Him. We were already in “hell” without Him, we just didn’t always realize it. Christ payed the price. We recognize that absence from Him is truly “hell” on earth, and we ask to be brought back into that relationship where day by day our spirit communes with His Spirit. This leads us to seek out like minded people who simply want to encourage one another and bask in corporate praise to the One who loves us more than life.
Just that simple, only fallen men as we are, we tend to muck it up.
We form committees, organize the heck out of life, pass judgement on anyone believing slightly different than ourselves, and begin to ask “what’s in it for me?”
Many church shoppers make the same revealing statement each time they visit a new church. They either say “I really didn’t get anything from that message”, or they say “Wow, i feel challenged and motivated by that sermon.” I never hear a church shopper ever say “I wonder if this is where God could use my gifts most to have the greatest impact to build these people up in Christ.”
Again, it is hard to follow my thoughts in this little response box, and i didn’t have time to outline my bullet points. The 17 hour break for “other responsibilities” may not have helped either. But here it is.
(side note: For an amazingly insightful description of how eternal separation from God’s presence is truly “hell”, look into Randy Alcorn’s book “Deadline”)
Great form Brian…I used to pride a ministry trip on whether people got “saved” or not. But then I realized that what they are doing is simply making a Profession of Faith in following Jesus. If they follow Jesus then it will be because of obedience and love for Him.
God knows whether they are truly believing and I simply encourage folks to be believing…at retreats, emotions are great but perhaps they are best served in the context of obedience. I have often said, “We will see in 10 years what kind of retreat this really was…”
I don’t have a problem with the verbage as much as with the lack of discipleship. I have met many a folk who prayed and asked Jesus in their heart whose character wasn’t polished but over time and because of regular attachments and connections with God through His word their characters are refined and that is because the Holy Spirit is indeed alive in them (of course I have met folks who have prayed a prayer and they are nowhere to be found).