Paul’s admonition in Ephesians 3:17, “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith,” is the heart of this appealing hymn of invitation. It was written in 1958 while the author, Ralph Carmichael (1927- ; see Biographies) was minister of music at the Temple Baptist Church, Los Angeles. It was used by Pastor J. Lester Harnish as a part of his call for surrender to Christ. The pair were conducting an ongoing evangelistic series, during which a ladies trio sang this appeal song every night. Carmichael says that in the 1960s the song was taken by Bob Pierce to the Orient, where it was used in choir and solo arrangement in his evangelistic meetings. From there it spread all over the world, and now is in many standard hymnbooks.