“Ask Jesus into Your Heart” – But Is It Biblical? | Breaking Down Christianese

Ask Jesus into Your Heart

Nothing matters more than getting the gospel right. We can be confused about many things in the Christian life and still recover from them. But confusion about how somebody can have peace with God is different. The consequences are eternal.

So, if we are going to examine the language Christians use, this is the obvious place to begin. What do we actually say when asking somebody to respond to the gospel?

Despite how it is sometimes presented, if there is one thing the Christian faith is not, it is a self-improvement programme. Nor can Christianity be reduced to a moment in time when someone made a decision, prayed a prayer and was told, “You’re now a Christian.”

Nowhere in Scripture are we told to give Jesus a try or add a little of Him to our lives in the hope that He will improve our circumstances.

The call of the gospel is clear: repent and believe.

Yet somewhere along the way, as some churches have tried to become more seeker-sensitive, the language around the gospel has changed. Sin becomes “messing up” or “making mistakes”. Repentance becomes “giving God a try”. And the call to repent and believe is often replaced with “Would you like to ask Jesus into your heart?”

You have probably heard this kind of language before. Maybe it was at the end of a church service, during an evangelistic event or simply in a conversation about salvation. Perhaps you have heard a preacher ask anyone wanting to become a Christian to raise their hand and repeat a prayer, asking Jesus to come into their heart.

But is this what the Bible says?

To be clear before we continue, God can save somebody despite the imperfect language we sometimes use. Someone can genuinely repent and believe even when the invitation itself is poorly worded. My concern is what happens on the other side of that invitation. How many people have followed those instructions and then been told they are Christians simply because they repeated a prayer?

That is a serious problem.

This is not a case of nitpicking over words. What we have just described can give someone a false assurance of salvation. A person may believe that he belongs to Christ when, in truth, all he has done is repeat a prayer. The act of repeating a prayer in itself does not save.

Of course, a prayer can be the genuine expression of a repentant and believing heart, but the words themselves have no saving power. Salvation is the work of our gracious and merciful God, and He Himself has revealed in His Word how we are to respond to the gospel. Nowhere does Scripture command us to ask Jesus into our hearts in order to be saved.

So we must ask: How does somebody become saved?

What Is the Gospel?

The gospel is not advice about how to live a better life. It is the good news of what God has done to save sinners.

We have all sinned against God and need His forgiveness. Jesus Christ came into the world, lived the perfect life we have failed to live and died in the place of sinners, taking the punishment our sin deserves. He was buried and rose from the dead.

God calls us to turn from our sin and trust in Christ.

Repent and Believe

When Jesus began His public ministry, He did not tell people to ask Him into their hearts. He proclaimed:

“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15).

The apostles proclaimed the same message. Peter called his hearers to repent (Acts 2:38). When the Philippian jailer asked Paul and Silas, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” they replied:

“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your house” (Acts 16:30–31).

To repent is not simply to feel sorry for our sin, regret its consequences or promise to do better. It means recognising our sin for what it is and turning from it to God.

Faith means trusting in Jesus Christ. It is more than simply believing certain facts about Him. We stop trusting in ourselves and what we have done and place our trust in what Christ has done for us.

The language of Scripture is “repent and believe”, not “asking Jesus into our hearts”.

The Danger of False Assurance

One of the dangers of leading someone through a prayer is that we are giving them the words to say. They may repeat words that express genuine repentance and faith without those words reflecting what is actually taking place in their heart. We should never tell someone they are saved simply because they have repeated a prayer we gave them.

The only thing we can possibly confirm with confidence is that their ears work and they can speak.

It is far better to explain the gospel clearly and encourage that person to come to the Lord in prayer using their own words.

The same applies to altar calls. Walking to the front is not repentance. Raising a hand is not faith. Signing a card is not conversion. These things may provide an opportunity for further conversation, but they must never be treated as proof that someone has been saved.

Worse still, the problem is often compounded when that person is then told, “Whenever you doubt whether you are a Christian, remember the prayer you prayed today.”

But that assurance rests upon the wrong foundation.

Our assurance should not rest upon a prayer we once prayed, a hand we raised or a decision we made. It should rest upon Jesus Christ and what He has done for us.

What About Children?

It goes without saying that we long for the children in our lives to know the Lord. We should passionately teach them about Christ and invite them to trust in Him. The gospel is not reserved for adults, and genuine childhood faith should never be dismissed.

But we need to be especially careful here. Children naturally want to please their parents, and because we desperately want them to be saved, it can be all too easy to lead them towards the response we are hoping for. Just as with adults, we should never tell a child that they are a Christian simply because they repeated a prayer, even one carefully adapted for them.

We should answer their questions patiently rather than pressuring them to produce an immediate response.

If a child professes faith, we can encourage them while continuing to teach, pray and look for the fruit that accompanies new life.

I say this from experience. While evangelising on the streets, I have met many people who were told as children that they were Christians. Years later, they have no interest in Christ and openly reject the Saviour they once sang about at school, yet still hold on to the comforting idea that somehow they are right with a God they do not even believe exists.

So come to Christ.

Acknowledge your guilt and your inability to save yourself. Trust the One who died and rose again. Call upon Him for mercy.

We do not need to improve the gospel invitation by replacing its language with a formula of our own.

The call of the gospel is clear: Repent and believe.

Reflection Questions

1. What does Scripture command people to do in response to the gospel?
2. How are repentance and faith connected?
3. Why can the phrase “ask Jesus into your heart” become unhelpful when explaining conversion?
4. What is the difference between being saved while praying and being saved by a prayer?
5. How can we invite adults and children to come to Christ without giving them false assurance?