Stephen was a Christian before he prayed that. He also prayed for Jesus to receive His spirit. It does not say he 'prayed to receive Christ.'
Christ dwells in our hearts through faith. The Bible does not say that this happens by praying a prayer that Jesus come into our heart. There is no evidence in the Bible of anyone praying such a prayer. Teaching that saying such a prayer is required for salvation is very unbiblical, since it adds a requirement for salvation which is not found in scripture. It would implicitly damn the apostles and the first generation of Christians. Were all Christians damned before Billy Graham started doing the sinner's prayer thing? The generation before him used decision cards, praying through, or shaking the preachers hand to signify a decision. We are talking about recent American methodologies here. Since it is just a little over a generation old, that's old enough for some people not to know its new.
Paul said, "....confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus." Once could do so in the form of a prayer, but if one makes a confession of his faith without it being in a prayer, it is still a confession. The Ethiopian eunuch (according to some manuscripts) said, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." If that were a bad confession because he did not say, "God, I believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God", why would it have been included?
You can say a confession of faith has to be done in the form of a prayer to be valid. I could say you have to make a confession of faith while tap dancing and balancing 50 plates on your head. Both would be adding doctrine not taught in scripture.
What about the new believers in Acts 2? Peter told them to repent and be baptized. They responded. Peter calls the salvation that occurs through baptism 'the answer of a good conscience toward God.' Were they not saved because they did not repeat a prayer? We have no reason to think that Peter or Paul told the crowds of converts that they preached to 'Repeat this prayer after me.' If such a prayer is required to be saved, why isn't there even an example of it in the Bible? And why do you have to use verses, like the ones above, that don't mention confessing faith in the form of a prayer to be saved.
This is one of the things that bothers me about some of the trends in modern evangelicalism. Your posts exemplify the problem. Preachers develop methods that are supposed to be in line with the Bible. But there are individuals who treat the methods as saving while losing sight of the actual Biblical doctrine.
It helps to actually read the whole chapter, or at least the verses under discussion.
Revelation 3
14 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;
15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
Who were these words directed to? Look at verse 14 'the church of the Laodicians'. That is the context in which he says verse 20.
But if you argue that 'any man' means anyone-- or only unbelievers excluding the actual church he is addressing-- then the verse does not say that the way you do so is that you must pray a prayer to ask Jesus into your heart. Why wouldn't it be by believing the Gospel, confessing Christ as Lord, being baptized-- the stuff actually found in the Bible.
One can confess Jesus as Lord in a prayer, but one can do so outside of a prayer. The prayer part is superfluous to the Biblical teaching on confessing Jesus as Lord, though Christians should pray of course.
And now there are armies of preachers going around having people pray things along the lines of asking Jesus into their hearts, into their lives, etc. without telling the audience Who Jesus is or that He rose from the dead. Some leave out the crucifixion and declare people saved for repeating the prayer, as if repeating a prayer saved them.
It's exalting pragmatic methodologies above Biblical doctrine and the actual gospel.
