Define what the question means?
The term you used is one which I am familiar with as I grew up in a religious environment which used such language to refer to how a person "gets saved", based on the popular American Evangelical doctrine of Decisionism.
I asked for a definition because I want to make sure that is what you are referring to. Because I think it is, at least hypothetically, possible to use the same terminology other ways. That's why I asked, because I want a clear understanding of what is being asked so that I can give a likewise clear answer.
To provide a conditional answer (conditional on the assumption that "accept Jesus as personal Savior" is in reference to the Decisionist doctrine) here is what I would say: We don't. More specifically, we do not make Jesus our personal Lord and Savior as a decision of our will which results in our being saved. That is an unbiblical view of salvation, and a doctrinal stance that did not exist until very recently in history, with its roots in several theological traditions which emerged in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
As a member of one of the churches of the Reformation, I hold firm and fast to what is put forward in the confessions of the Evangelical (i.e. Lutheran) Christian faith; that we are justified by grace alone through faith alone. Our regeneration, therefore, is entirely the work, power, and gift of God. The human will has no active role in our justification, because the human will is fallen and in bondage to sin because of the original sin of our first parents, Adam and Eve. All human beings receive and inherit the fallen, sinful, broken nature of Adam; being wholly sinful and unable to, in any way, attain any righteousness before God. As St. Paul says, the unregenerate man is dead in his trespasses and held in bondage to the lusts of the flesh and the devil (Ephesians 2:1-3). For this reason the Apostle also quotes the Psalmist, writing, "There is no one righteous, not even one, there is no one who understands, there is none who seeks God" (Romans 3:10-11).
Therefore to expect the unregenerate sinner to act with his unregenerate, sinful, and bondaged will to come to God is like thinking that a rock can will itself to roll up a hill; or that a corpse by its own power can get out of its sarcophagus and walk. As the Lord Himself says, "With man this is impossible" (Matthew 19:26).
It is only by the grace of God who coming down to meet sinners can change the heart of stone into a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 26:36) by giving to us what we do not have, namely faith; that through faith we should receive and trust in Christ. This God does freely through the means He has given, provided, and so works, His precious word. As the Apostle says, "How can they believe on Him whom they have not heard? How can they hear unless one is sent to preach? ... So that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ" (Romans 10:14-17). So that whenever and wherever the word of God is--that is to say, the promises of God, His Gospel--there God works to give, create, and strengthen faith.
So as Paul gives us the example of our father Abraham who "had faith and it was reckoned to him as righteousness" (Romans 4:3), for it is God "who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist" (Romans 4:17). For God making His promise to Abraham gives Abraham faith, and Abraham believes and this, before God, is counted as righteousness. It is not that Abraham was righteous and so believed; Abraham believed and was so declared righteous.
All, therefore, whom God gives faith are freely justified by His grace, as the same Apostle Paul says, "we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through Him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand" (Romans 5:1-2)
This righteousness that is by faith is not our own righteousness, it cannot be; for as we can see clearly from the Scriptures we have no righteousness by which to boast of before God. This righteousness is a gift, it is indeed the righteousness of God's own Son, "Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one righteous act leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one Man's obedience the many will be made righteous." (Romans 5:18-19) We have, therefore, the righteousness of Christ, imputed to us as a free gift of God.
And here is where we can, biblically, talk about accepting Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior, not as it pertains to our justification, but rather our sanctification. For Christ has commanded, "if anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever would keep his life shall lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake shall find it." ( Matthew 16:24-25).
Therefore, having now been regenerated by the grace of God, freely giving us faith, on account of the perfect work of Christ who lived, suffered, died, and rose again--now ascended and seated at the right hand of the Father from whence He will come again--we must reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive to God (Romans 6:11) taking up the cross of discipleship and follow the Lord, knowing that where He is we shall be also (John 14:3). Having been set free from sin and the devil ("Whomever the Son sets free is free indeed" John 8:36, "Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom" 2 Corinthians 3:17, etc) we are therefore now free to follow Christ and live according to His way and commandment. Telling us and commanding us, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength; and love your neighbor as yourself." (Mark 12:30-31), to "love one another even as I have loved you" (John 13:34) and indeed to live in this new obedience as a new creation made in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17), and in this we "work out [our] salvation with fear and trembling" (Philippians 2:12), putting to death the works of the flesh (Romans 8:13, Colossians 3:5), in this way knowing what St. James says is true, "faith without works is dead" (James 2:17) for one is not justified by having the right beliefs, but by faith in the promises of God (this is why the devils, though believing and even knowing God is real, remain under the condemnation of God, James 2:19); for we work not that we should be justified before God; but that our "light shine before others, that they might see your good works and glorify your Father that is in heaven" (Matthew 5:16).
Therefore, to accept Lord as our personal Lord is to die daily in repentance and live toward good works "which were prepared beforehand by God that you might walk in them" (Ephesians 2:10) and in this way mortify the flesh, walking in the Spirit, and live holy lives as disciples of Jesus Christ.
It isn't how we are made right with God, but how God's rightness might shine forth through us before the world, "and everyone might know you are My disciples" (John 13:34).
Therefore put to death the old Adam by a life of penitential fear, having faith in the merciful and loving God who has saved us in Christ, having made us both kings and priests and accomplished all good for us. And having accomplished such good, is now working still in us, to complete that good work which He began (Philippians 1:6). Therefore every day accept Him, take up your cross and follow. Die. Die in repentance, die in your good works, mortify the flesh, trust the Lord and resist the devil. Boldly confess your sins and come before the throne of grace, fight the good fight, run the race, set your gaze upon Christ who alone is our Finish Line; for He is the Author and Finisher of our faith. And in Him alone we live, by Him alone we have been made righteous, and in Him alone shall we pass through judgment to life everlasting, the resurrection of the dead, and the eternal good which God has purposed from the beginning.
-CryptoLutheran
