How does God apply salvation to our hearts?

The application of salvation is a critical process whereby God transforms the heart of the sinner through the Holy Spirit. The Lord sovereignly quickens the spiritually dead, enabling them to believe and repent. Ephesians 2:1 declares that we were dead in our trespasses, yet God, in His mercy, has made us alive in Christ. This means that the act of believing and repenting is not a condition for salvation but rather the evidence of its existence, as it is God who initiates this heartfelt transformation within us, ensuring that salvation is indeed of the Lord.