We confess from the heart that Jesus is Lord. But how do we come to this inner conviction and outer confession?  Only by the Spirit.  Paul says, “…no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor. 12.3).  Apart from the Spirit, we are under other lords and not free at all to respond to Jesus as Lord in any way. Only the Spirit can set us free to see who Jesus really is and confess him as Lord from the heart.  As the Spirit opens the eyes of our hearts we believe in the utterly astonishing truth that this person, who is one of us, is Lord of heaven and earth.  The Spirit is himself  Lord setting us free to confess Jesus as Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 

As those who confess Jesus as Lord, we are called to live under him as Lord so that we no longer serve the lords we once lived under, but only by the Spirit and not mere self-effort. There is absolutely nothing we can do to earn or receive the Spirit; there is nothing at all we can do to attain the divine indwelling (e.g., Romans 8:10, Galatians 3:1–5). Instead, we are to simply draw from this deep well within us, and then we will no longer serve sin and any other Lord, but only the one true Lord, Jesus. The divine indwelling is never earned by any behaviour whatsoever or any ritual, but only as a gift recognised and realised as personal presence trusted and treasured.