Introduction

Introduction.
"Let Jesus come into your heart." This has probably become one of the most commonly used phrases in Christianity. It is used quite often when inviting people to trust Christ as their Savior, yet the termin-ology is not found in the Bible. When I was in Bible college, I was talking to a young boy about Christ. I told him he could know he was going to Heaven if he would only invite Jesus to come into his heart. He looked at me for a few seconds, then asked me, "How do I invite Him to come in?" No one had asked me that question before and, quite frankly, I was stunned. I repeated what I had just told him, that all you have to do is invite Him into your heart.

He then asked me, "How do I know if He came in or not?" My answer was, "Because He said He would." As the conversation went on the boy asked me to show him where Jesus said He would come into his heart. At this point I was praying desperately, "Lord, where is that Scripture that says you will come into his heart?" Scriptures that state "with the heart man believes" were coming into mind, such as Romans 10:10, "For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."

Also, Acts 8:37, "And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart..." As hard as I tried, I could not think of a single verse to show him that said "Let Jesus come into your heart."

I finally explained to him that what I meant was, if he would believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross and rose from the dead to pay for his sins, he would never perish but have everlasting life. This he understood and received Christ by faith.

I remember I was anxious to dig into my Bible and find that verse that states, "Ask Jesus to come into your heart." I was convinced it was there and that I had read it many times. I was disappointed in myself that I could not remember where it was found. As I checked the approximately 717 times the word "heart" was used in the Old Testament and about 105 times it is used in the New Testament, I could not find one place where it said, "Let Jesus come into my heart."

I believe this was the first time I realized how confusing this had been to the boy. Here I had found myself using traditional terminology that I had learned, instead of the simple Word of God. Even though my motives were right and I was sincere, my terminology was wrong and confusing.

We will examine a little later the Verses that state, "You believe with the heart." Using the phraseology, "Let Jesus come into your heart," presents many questions and difficulties which we will look into shortly.

Before we proceed into these two areas, it is imperative to understand what the Bible is referring to when speaking of the soul, spirit, and heart. Let us briefly examine each one of these. As we shall see, the soul is the seat of one's emotions and desires. The spirit is the seat of one's intelligence, and the heart is the seat of man's conscience.