You Don't Need To Pray To Be Saved Because God Sees Your Heart

1st Samuel 16:7, “But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.”

There is a popular heresy being propagated by the NIFB (New Independent Fundamental Baptist) movement today, which errantly preaches that you cannot get to Heaven without prayer a Sinner's Prayer. This is 100% unscriptural. My daughter today read one of my posts on Facebook, where some NIFB followers are attacking me for exposing their heresy that you must pray to be saved. She said something excellent, that God sees our heart, so there's no need to pray to be saved. I decided to write an article to share this truth.

I remember something that my ministry friend, Michael P. Bowen wrote in his helpful book in defense of a free grace Gospel titled, “I Never Knew You”...

When you look at John 3:16, the very words of Christ to Nicodemus who asked Him how he could be born again, notice where Christ said “whosoever believeth in Him...” and ask yourself why would Christ leave out “and repent of your sins” or “make it public” or any other combination of good works you can imagine. Did Christ lie to Nicodemus? Is Christ lying to us, today, through this verse? Of course not. When Christ said to someone that he or she had to “believe” in Him, He was always referring to the fact that He was the one who would pay for the sins of the world through His death on the cross, that He would be buried for three days, and that He would rise from the dead. The Greek word for “believe” is “pisteuo” which means “to trust.” When we “trust” that Christ paid for our sins by His death, burial and resurrection from the dead, He saves us. How? Because He knows all of our thoughts. He knows every single thing you are thinking at this very moment. He even knows the content of your dreams as you sleep. He knows every star and planet in the universe by name. He knows every process of every molecule and atom in His creation. He knows every single thing about “every single thing.” God knows the “instant” that you trust in His Son, Jesus Christ, to save you, and when you do, He saves you. He “knows” whether or not you have trusted Jesus as your savior. [emphasis added]

SOURCE: Michael P. Bowen, “I Never Knew You,” pp. 28-29; © 2009 by Barbour Books

I love that. Brother Bowen is right, God knows the instant that you trust His Son, Jesus Christ, to save you, because God knows all of our thoughts. King David echoed this very truth...

Psalms 139:1-5, “O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.”

God knows everything about everything. He knows the number of hairs ion your head (Matthew 10:30). He knows your intentions (Proverbs 24:12). The inspired Holy Bible says that “all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do” (Hebrews 4:13b). NOTHING is hid from the eyes of Almighty God!!!

Yet, the NIFB would have us to believe that God is incapable or unwilling to save a sinner who doesn't ask to be saved, or pray some form of Sinner's Prayer to seal the deal. Dear reader, in view of these Scripture passages I have shown you, it should be painfully obvious that you don't have to ask or pray to be saved. God is already offering everyone His free gift of eternal life.

I heard Pastor Bob Gray Sr. make a beautiful statement. He said that, “Jesus doesn't forgive sin.” When I first read that, I thought Dr. Gray had gone off the reservation...lol. But then he beautifully explained that Jesus has already paid for everyone's sins with His blood, so that we don't have to “ask” for a gift that God is already offering to us. What saith the Scripture? John 6:47, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.”

Repeatedly in the inspired Word of God we are taught to simply BELIEVE on Jesus Christ to have our sins forgiven. Acts 10:43, “To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.” Carefully notice that “all” the prophets gave this witness, that salvation comes through faith in Christ alone. Isaiah 45:22, “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.” Do you see any requirement to ask or pray, or to call? No, the Scripture simply invites all mankind to “LOOK UNTO ME,” unto the Lord. It's not what you're doing that gets you to Heaven, it's where you're looking!

God sees your every thought dear reader. The Lord knows more about you than you do! He knew you before you were conceived in the womb, just like He did the prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:5). Nothing can be hidden from the sight of Almighty God, and He has promised to judge all men individually for their good and evil (Ecclesiastes 12:14).

I have a video recording of a thief stealing my Amazon.com package on May 10, 2024 from my front porch. The inept local Sheriff's office in Pensacola said they cannot do anything, unless Amazon prosecutes the thief. I kindly made mention that Amazon replaced the $30 stolen clothing rack. The cops said that since Amazon replaced the item, I am not the victim, Amazon is. So, only Amazon can prosecute the ungodly criminal. A multi-billion dollar corporation like Amazon won't prosecute a petty thief, so I am victimized without recourse, even though I have a video recording clearly identifying the dirty thief. You couldn't make this stuff up! Only in America! Only in America can a pizza delivery order arrive at your house faster than the cops! Don't get me started...lol. Thankfully, God sees everything and He will punish that dirty thief for stealing what he didn't labor to earn, but stole from someone who did (Isaiah 13:11).

Nothing escapes the sight of God. The Lord doesn't need a secretary to help Him. Nothing ever occurs to God. He never needs to remember anything. God doesn't need to schedule things. There are no courtroom juries in Heaven, God already knows all the facts and who's guilty.

I really like Roku. I bought a Roku Box at Walmart for $35, which gives me free access to 1,000 television channels. On the Roku channel itself, I watched an episode of 'Unexplained Mysteries' yesterday. The police found a woman's head, but the detectives don't know who she is, or who murdered her, or how her head ended up placed alongside a road. Thankfully, our omnipotent faithful Creator knows every detail of what happened, and the case will be dealt with and judged properly in eternity. There will be justice! Pastor Jack Hyles (1926-2001) in his Bible study series on 'Justice' says: “Everyone deserves justice, whether 3-years-old or 90-years-old, everyone deserves justice!” Amen to that! And God will give them all justice!!!

Dear reader, I will say it again and again, you DON'T have to pray or ask God to save you to get to Heaven. You simply need to BELIEVE ON JESUS. Jesus said this Himself in John 6:28-29, “Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.”  Do you see any requirement to pray, call or ask? No, you don't, and neither do I; Jesus simply invites all humanity (as individuals) to BELIEVE ON HIM to receive the gift of eternal life. And it is a gift, a FREE GIFT (Romans 5:15-18). You simply TAKE a gift. Salvation is a TAKE proposition, not a GIVE proposition.

Let's say for the sake of argument that I buy you birthday gift and I hand it to you. I say, “Happy Birthday! I bought you this gift, please take it!” Would you say, “Can I please have that gift?” If you did that would be really weird...lol. Now, you could ask me for the gift if you wanted, and I would still give it to you because it is a gift, but you'd be wasting your breath to ask for what is already being freely offered to you. Likewise, God is freely offering His gift of eternal life to all humanity, and all you need to do is by faith (trust, reliance) receive it. John 1:12, “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:” Again and again the inspired Scripture simply invites us to BELIEVE ON JESUS to be saved, nothing more.

So, please don't allow anybody to deceive you with a corrupt Gospel, mandating that you ask or pray to be saved. It is a big deal, because if you MUST pray, then faith is not enough to be saved, and that is another Gospel (Galatians 1:6-9). Faith is the only righteous thing that I can do. Thank you for reading my blog. God bless.