You just asserted that you can't believe before the Spirit changes your heart. Then, how can you pray to Jesus before you believe?
Are you saying the HS just "snaeaks up" on you and zapps you with a magic wand and then you start praying to Jesus tp lret the Spirit in. It sounds like some hypnitized, brainwashed robot, FK, who was turned into a believer without knowing it or wanting it.
Christ’s Robot Slaves.
Has a nice ring to it. And it absolutely absolves any of the participants of any responsibility for absolutely anything in their lives.
And who said that the Reformers didn’t change anything.
John 6:44 "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him..."
John 10:26-29 "But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to Me,..."
Acts 13:48 Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.
Rom. 9:15-16 For he says to Moses,I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion. So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.
Phlp 2:13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
Clearly GOD changes us before we even realize what's happening. The joy is when we begin to realize how truly blessed we are because we were so undeserving.
First, I want to completely agree with WM's excellent reply to your post. Now, it is possible to pray to Jesus before formal surrender because the Holy Spirit does not instantaneously ZAP belief into us, in the vast majority of cases. It is a gradual process, the time of which varies among new believer to new believer. In my case, at one point, I really truly DID say a prayer along the following lines: "God, I don't know if you're up there, but if you are and if this "thing" is real, then could you just help me out a little bit". I PRAYED that before I accepted Christ. (In case anyone is wondering, my testimony is that God answered my prayer favorably. :)
Anyway, I remember the unknowing seed that was in my heart at that time like it was yesterday. I had NO CLUE what was happening or was going to happen. Yes, it's anecdotal, but it was very real to me, and I don't think I'm the only guy with a story like this. God was growing me to faith, and as is true for all of the elect, it worked.
Are you saying the HS just "sneaks up" on you and zapps you with a magic wand and then you start praying to Jesus to let the Spirit in. It sounds like some hypnotized, brainwashed robot, FK, who was turned into a believer without knowing it or wanting it.
Well, the one thing I can say for sure is that I wanted it when I prayed for Jesus to be the Lord of my life. I didn't experience any brainwashing, as I said the prayer alone in my room during high school, and no one was pushing me into it. The Holy Spirit DOES claim those who are of His elect. But if God just stays out of it, and watches from the sidelines, then I wonder what the experience is like for Apostolics. Or, does this even apply? Do Apostolics even ever formally invite Jesus into their lives in terms of a commitment that did not exist a minute ago, but after the prayer it did? I honestly don't know.