Ephesians 3:16–17
“I pray that from His glorious, unlimited resources He will empower you with inner strength through His Spirit. Then Christ will make His home in your hearts as you trust in Him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong.”
“I was saved by asking Jesus into my heart.” In many churches and evangelical circles, “Invite (or ask) Jesus into your heart” is an often-used evangelical phrase but can be rather confusing to those who are seeking God. In truth, those who utter those words may not have actually been saved if they are not expressing a true faith in Jesus. Others—like me—were saved despite asking Jesus into their heart, because they believed in Who Jesus is and trusted Him to save them.
The account of the two thieves dying on either side of Jesus reminds us that each one asked to be saved but only one was saved. One of them said, “If you are the Christ, save me,” an indication of his unbelief. The other said, “Lord, remember me when you come into Your kingdom;” he addressed Him as Lord, believing He was the Messiah. No matter who we are and what our salvation story is, not one of us was saved any differently than the dying thief who simply trusted Christ as his Savior. It’s not in the asking, it’s in the believing and the trusting.
Our verse for today states that “Christ will make His home in your hearts as you trust in Him.” So, what does it mean for Christ to make His home in our hearts? Again, it’s not in the asking, for we are not asking Him to come into our heart home like a guest. He is in fact, the rightful owner and, in trusting Him, we are moving out of the way for Him to take possession of all that is rightfully His, that He purchased with His blood.
The first part of relinquishing ownership is to prepare our hearts for Him to be at home. We can do this by focusing on three spiritual essentials: prayer, faith, and power through the Holy Spirit:
• Prayer: come before Him with confidence as a child of God, adopted into His family; come with reverence as He is our Heavenly Father, the One with authority over our lives; come with a heart of submission to His will, acknowledging that He has a plan and purpose for our lives.
• Faith: Our walk of faith is always linked with obedience. To begin a life of obedience, we must trust that His Word is true. Jesus spoke directly of this connection between our obedience and His being at home in our hearts 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 abode with him.” In other words, “If you love Me, you will obey Me.” Period. He just won’t be as apt to curl up on the comfy chair in your heart home if you are disobedient and keep a “dirty” house—more on that tomorrow.
• Power: at the moment we were born again, His Holy Spirit entered our hearts and gave us the power to live a new life; His Spirit empowers us to overcome the sins of the past and to resist the evil one. We need His power for strength to deal with suffering, challenges, and discouragement.
The scriptures remind us that the Pharisees were more concerned with looking holy on the outside, until Jesus revealed their hypocrisy—their insides were full of uncleanness and lawlessness. Genuine Christianity is not a moral self-improvement program. No, God doesn’t want just improvement, but rather a total transformation, changing our hearts from the inside out. And to make that happen, we need prayer, faith, and the power of the Holy Spirit to transform our hearts where Jesus would make His home.
In the meantime, let’s be clear on this: if you are a Christian, do not ever doubt that Jesus lives in your heart! You were chosen by Him and are dear to Him and your heart is where He wants to be.
Dear Father in Heaven, thank You for saving me and promising to make a home in my heart as I trust in You. It’s humbling to know that You sought me with a desire for me to be part of Your family and to set up residence in my heart. May my heart home be pleasing to You, Lord, and may it always be a sanctuary for You. In Your name I pray. Amen.
