Asking Jesus into one's heart is a description of personal conversion used in evangelicalism. It is often regarded as a component of the

sinner's prayer The Sinner's prayer (also called the Consecration prayer and Salvation prayer) is an evangelical Christian term referring to any prayer of repentance, prayed by individuals who feel convinced of the presence of sin in their lives and have the ...

. Paul Chitwood notes that the concept "does not occur readily before the turn of the twentieth century," but had "become the common way of expressing conversion by the mid-part of the twentieth century." The phrase does not occur in the Bible, and it has frequently been criticized. R. Larry Moyer lists "If you want to be saved, just invite Jesus into your heart" as one of the things that God never said. Moyer suggests that Revelation 3:20 ("Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me",

KJV The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and published in 1611, by sponsorship of K ...

) is the only verse that could be considered to support the concept, but notes that the verse is addressed to Christians rather than non-Christians. Moyer argues that the phrase "often conveys the idea that one is saved by saying a prayer instead of trusting Christ." In his book ''Stop Asking Jesus Into Your Heart: How to Know for Sure You Are Saved'', J. D. Greear argues that asking Jesus into one's heart is not the same as believing

the gospel The gospel or good news is a theological concept in several religions. In the historical Roman imperial cult and today in Christianity, the gospel is a message about salvation by a divine figure, a savior, who has brought peace or other benefit ...

. Greear relates how he asked Jesus into his heart several thousand times "until he came to put his faith in the truth of the gospel instead." Writing from a

Calvinist Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...

perspective, Michael Horton regards asking Jesus into one's heart as a "popular misconception of the gospel", on the basis that "it is the objective work of Christ outside of us" that "makes the gospel truly Good News". Horton goes on to argue that "salvation by asking Jesus into your heart typically assumes that the Good News is merely something that God offers, but the hearer is then commanded to do something - however small - in order to actually make this salvation effective."

References

{{reflist Christian terminology Evangelical ecclesiology Conversion to Christianity Protestantism-related controversies Christian prayer