Into My Heart

As a boy attending a Lutheran church in North Dakota, one song I learned in Sunday school had these lyrics…

Into my heart/Into my heart

Come into my heart, Lord Jesus

Come in today/Come in to stay

Come into my heart, Lord Jesus


Sorry to say, that song didn’t mean anything to me then. None of my Sunday school teachers or my Lutheran pastors taught I must be born again. It wasn’t until years later when I understood why one should have Jesus in their heart.


Some Christians oppose using the phrase “ask Jesus into your heart” claiming it’s unscriptural. One nationally known pastor went so far as to label the phrase “superstitious”, “dangerous”, and “damning.” I beg to differ. Jesus Himself said in John 7:38, “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” (Other translations use the terms “belly” and “innermost being” instead of “heart.”)


Even the Old Testament talked about a time when man could receive a supernatural change of heart…


“And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.” - Deuteronomy 30:6


“But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” - Jeremiah 31:33


“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” - Ezekiel 36:26


Unfortunately, a few other Christians (including people I know) have embraced the false doctrine of Universal Reconciliation. A Facebook friend once posted this claim: “Jesus lives in every single human being RIGHT NOW!” That’s not true. Jesus said in John 14:23, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.” That was in response to a question Judas (not Iscariot) asked in the verse before, “Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?”Jesus also said in John 14:17, “the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.”


Jesus wants to live in every human being, but He will not enter uninvited. Each of us is an innkeeper who decides if there is room for Him in our hearts. Have you welcomed the Lord into yours yet?


“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.” - Revelation 3:20


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