Re: What Does It Take? I agree wholeheartedly until you reach the last point, where you say we have to ask for salvation to receive it. Although I personally have asked Jesus through a sinner’s prayer, I do not consider it to have any impact on my salvation. What really made me born-again was my response in faith to the atoning power of the Lord’s blood and so on. The prayer was simply an expression of that faith.
Why would Jesus say, “Ask and it will be given to you” (Matt. 7:7) if asking wasn’t necessary? Why would Joel (Joel 2:32) Peter (Acts 2:21) and Paul (Romans 10:13) all say, “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” if it doesn’t take some action on our part to receive what the Lord has made available to the whole world? Obviously we won’t ask if we don’t believe, but someone once said, “If what you believe doesn’t result in action, it’s doubtful you really believe it.” Asking is the action that confirms our belief.