I was in a Church service recently, where the minister said that the main portion of his message was going to be on three words that are difficult to say. As he went on with his prelude, he kept us guessing what those three words would be. I ran through my thoughts and concluded it was going to be either “I Am Sorry” or “I Love You”. I was way way off the mark.
He finally came out with the three words: “Jesus Is Lord”. I didn’t get it because I believed you could even teach a smart parrot how to say those words. How difficult could that be? The verse of scripture in focus was the second part of 1 Corinthians 12:3:
“…and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.”
To speak those words from the lips alone is as easy as easy can be. However to say them from the heart is very very far from easy and it can only be by the help of the Holy Spirit. It means handing over all controls – ALL – to Jesus. Withholding nothing; letting Him lead the way in EVERY decision; pleasing Him as a lifestyle, not only when it is convenient.
Most times, we say this and think we mean it. When in truth, we actually don’t. We only get to know that we didn’t really mean it all the while when our LORD tries to touch some no go areas of our lives. We call Him Lord, but somehow, we still manage to set limits for Him, which implies that He is not really in charge. If Jesus is Lord indeed, He should be in charge, with no limits.
The fact is that it’s not easy to realize that we have not made Him Lord indeed. That’s why we need the help of the Holy Spirit to say these three words. Like King David prayed, we need God to try our hearts and point out to us, the areas that we have reserved for ourselves. With this, we can hand over everything to Him and make Him Lord indeed.
“Put me on trial, Lord, and cross-examine me. Test my motives and my heart.” Psalms 26:2 (NLT)
“Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.” Psalms 139: 23 – 24 (NLT)
Chidi Ukandu's Blog 
Thanks for the Lord aspirations in your life
Great piece. I just enjoyed reciting ‘Jesus is Lord’ three times. I am grateful to God that I grew up knowing Him. It’s second nature to me. I acknowledge that some people have had it rougher or even not at all.