In times past, tent meetings usually lasted an entire week and were filled both with Christians seeking inspiration and unsaved folks who were simply curious. Amid flapping canvasses, fervent preaching, and uplifting hymns, lives were changed.

Such was the setting in Mountain Lake Park, Maryland, in 1898. After an especially moving sermon by the famous evangelist L. H. Baker, many people responded, some timidly and some quickly, by repenting and receiving Christ. Among them was a refined, upper-class woman. Kneeling at the altar, she tried to pray but was obviously struggling inwardly. Accepting Christ by simple faith was foreign to her. She wanted to do something more to merit salvation. Mrs. Leila Morris, one of the Christian women praying with those at the altar, saw the lady’s inner turmoil. Quietly she slipped an arm over the woman’s shoulder and prayed for her.

“Just now your doubting give o’er,” Mrs. Morris gently encouraged her.

Dr. H. L. Gilmour, the camp meeting song leader, also seeing and hearing the lady’s conflict, softly urged the woman, “Just now reject Him no more!”

The evangelist Mr. Baker, drawn to the spiritual battle, earnestly pressed the woman, “Just now throw open the door!”

“Let Jesus come into your heart,” Mrs. Morris implored.

Persuaded by their urgent pleas, the woman’s heart found freedom! Repenting of her sin, offering nothing but herself, she found Christ and His salvation!

The words of the pleading Christians stayed within Mrs. Morris’ heart and mind. By the end of the camp meeting, Mrs. Morris had written the words to the hymn “Let Jesus Come into Your Heart.” Notice in the hymn lines how Mrs. Morris incorporated the persuasive words of the three who came alongside the struggling woman to bring her to Christ:

If there’s a tempest your voice cannot still,
Let Jesus come into your heart;
If there’s a void this world never can fill,
Let Jesus come into your heart.

Just now, your doubtings give o’er;
Just now, reject Him no more;
Just now, throw open the door;
Let Jesus come into your heart.

The well-to-do lady was reluctant to accept Christ by faith alone. She thought she must do something else to be saved. Yet, with simple, persuading phrases, the three Christians helped her overcome her mental roadblock and accept Christ’s salvation!

Do you help others find the truth, guiding them around their hesitations and misconceptions? Choose to use your words to help others, persuading them to trust in Christ as Savior and follow His ways!