Can we invite Jesus in our "HEART" ?

So you are saying that our "hearts" have nothing to do with salvation?

Jesus's words:

Blessed are the pure in heart, because they will see God.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.

But what comes out of the mouth comes from the heart, and this defiles a man.

"Why are you discussing that you do not have any bread? Do you not yet understand or comprehend? Is your heart hardened?

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So, you are saying that when Jesus said, "heart," he meant "phallus?

I think he was saying that your heart is your essential being, not a blood pump, a ymbol of who you are and what you are about., an essential aspect in determining how you will live and Who you will love.

The brain is but one organ in a whole organism. Your brain might tell you onw thing, and your heart another.

Metaphorically speaking, your heart is the totality of your being. Jesus was saying that the totality of your essential being is what gets you to acknowledge and accept God, or reject Him.

Your heart is very important in your salvation. You have to have a good heart, ready to accept the word of the Lord on order for the teachings of Christ to have any effect on you, in order that you may be to cut to heart in the realization that you are a sinner and in need of repentance. Your heart is an extremely important part of your salvation - however I believe that the point that aforchrist33 was trying to make is that you can't just pray for God to come into your heart and then you've received salvation.
There's more to it than that, the Bible says so.

When you read Acts 2:38, in fact the entire passage that deals with Peter talking to the Jews, we are told that there is more than just prayer that is necessary for us to receive the gift of salvation - we are to repent and be baptized in the name of Christ Jesus for the remission of our sins. There are things that we must do to be saved, we must be obedient, even though it is not this obedience but the grace of God which saves us. For it is written:

"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.
Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.' "

-- Matthew 7:21-23

It is very evident from this passage that we must follow the will of God inorder to enter the kingdom of heaven. While faith is a very important part of our salvation - in fact you can't have salvation without your faith - there are other things that you can't have salvation without - one of these things is obedience to the will of God. 

From the Scriptures already cited, it is clear that the Bible and Jesus often use the word 'heart' metaphorically, indicating the seat of our emotions and of our responsiveness to God (and others). Thus, again, in the O.T. Jehovah spoke of 'taking away the heart of stone and replacing it with a heart of flesh' (Ezek. 11:19) - clearly not refering to a literal (physical) heart transplant - cf Pharoah's 'hardened heart' (Ex 10) - and again to 'writing my laws on their hearts' (Jer 31:33) and (bizarrely) to 'circumcising the foreskin of your heart' (Deut 10:16). A similar idiom is found in the expression 'I desire truth in the inward parts' (Ps 51:6) - not talking about having honest intestines (!), but about having an essential inward commitment to truth - a 'gut reaction' of integrity and righteousness, which motivates one's whole lifestyle.

 
When we speak of the heart in this way, we are speaking of far more than just thought processes (which can be theoretical, detatched and coldly uncommitted), but about a wholehearted emotional commitment; not just mentally working out what is right and proper, but being decisively personally and emphatically behind a course of action - as in the expression 'thinking with your heart not your head'; we instinctively know what is right for us, without consciously working it out or understanding.  Thus we are commanded to 'Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength' (Mark 12:30).

Thus when we speak of 'inviting Jesus into our hearts' we are speaking figuratively, about making Jesus Lord of our whole lives - allowing Him free access to our innermost thoughts, feelings and decisions. The nearest Biblical parallel would be Jesus own reference to 'abiding in us' (John 15 - see also Jn 14:16,17).


Anthony

Using 1Thess.5:23 & Heb.4:12, A case could be made that the heart is a combination of the soul and spirit.

T7

Originally posted by aforchrist33
I firmly believe that after having proven that the "Heart" is phisical and incapeable of emotion (Proverbs 14:30)..

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Proven?

... and giving 16 scriptures that define the "Heart" as refering to the "Mind" it would be useless to use other scriptures to cancel the ones given.

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And I thought it was supposed to be a physical organ!So you can 'prove' that heart means two different things, but no-one else can use Scripture to suggest another meaning still???

If 'heart' only ever means 'mind', why would the Bible urge us to love God with both heart and mind?   And elsewhere the prayer that both our hearts and minds be kept in the knowledge and love of Christ?   Do you not think it is worth giving some consideration to the various Scriptures cited by myself and others to see if there is ground for another level of meaning - allowing 'scripture to throw light on scripture' - rather than simply excluding them because they appear not to fit your current understanding? (Even if you end up rejecting our interpretation.)

Anthony

Really. There are many places where the Bible talks about heart and mind in the same sentence. Heart has to mean something other than just mind.