9. Finally, this presentation robs God of sovereignty.
A prayer to accept Jesus into your heart presents God as a beggar hoping the child will let him into a busy life. The Bible doesn’t present God this way. In the Scriptures, our God not only waits and watches, but he actively saves (Ephesians 2; John 14). We can trust God to work in the hearts of his children to bring them to himself through faith, in his time and in his ways. Our responsibility is to faithfully share the gospel with them and leave the results to the Lord (John 1:12-13). We can trust that the Holy Spirit will assure those who are truly changed (Romans 8:16). Conversion is God’s work in the believer. It isn’t simply a decision on the believer’s part.
Resources: Title and opening story adapted from Todd Friel’s “Ten Reasons to Not Ask Jesus Into Your Heart” (April 15, 2005), GalatiansC4V16 Blog; Graeme Goldsworthy, Gospel-Centered Hermeneutics, (IVP, 2006), 176-77; The Albert Mohler Radio Program (August 8, 2007); Octavius Winslow, Soul-Depths and Soul-Heights, (Banner of Truth Trust, 2006), 4; G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation, The New International Greek Testament Commentary, (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1999), 304, 308; Graeme Goldsworthy, Gospel-Centered Hermeneutics, (IVP, 2006), 177.
