Today we continue our series entitled “Living the Grace Life,” where we will learn to embrace and walk in God’s unmerited, unearned, and often undeserved favor throughout 2025.
As part of this series, I am teaching you how to pray from a position of God’s grace.
Key scriptures for this year:
2 Corinthians? ?9?:?8? ?TPT??
“Yes, God is more than ready to overwhelm you with every form of grace, so that you will have more than enough of everything—every moment and in every way. He will make you overflow with abundance in every good thing you do.”
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??Galatians? ?5?:?4? ?TPT??
“If you want to be made right with God by fulfilling the obligations of the law, you have cut off more than your flesh—you have cut yourselves off from Christ and have fallen away from the revelation of grace!”
Romans? ?6?:?14? ?ERV??
“Sin will not be your master, because you are not under law. You now live under God’s grace.”
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1 Corinthians? ?15?:?10? ?NIV??
“But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.”
Additional scriptures for today:
Hebrews 10:10, 14 NIV
“And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all… For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.”
Colossians 2:13-14 NIV
“When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.”
John 19:30 NIV
“When he had received the drink, Jesus said, ‘It is finished.’ With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”
Setting the Stage:
In our previous messages, we’ve established the foundation of praying from a position of grace and contrasted it with praying from need. Today, we’ll explore how Jesus’ finished work on the cross transforms our prayer life completely. Three of the most powerful words in the Bible were uttered by Jesus on the cross: “It is finished.” In the original Greek, this was actually just one word: “Tetelestai.” This word was used in the marketplace when a debt was fully paid. When Jesus declared “It is finished,” He was announcing that the debt of sin had been PAID IN FULL!
But Jesus didn’t just finish the work of salvation; He finished everything we would ever need. Your healing was finished. Your provision was finished. Your peace was finished. Your victory over sin, Satan, and the world system was finished. Your righteousness was finished. Your access to the Father was finished.
So, what does this mean to you today? A few things.
1. Jesus’ Finished Work is the Foundation of All Grace-Based Prayer.
Prayer that isn’t rooted in the finished work of Jesus will inevitably drift back into performance-based, need-centered prayers. To pray from a position of grace, you must continually remind yourself of what Jesus has already accomplished on your behalf and that what you are praying for is ultimately NOT about you.
How this applies to you:
— Your prayers should be anchored in the truth that Jesus said, “It is finished,” not “I’m working on it” or “I’ll get to it someday.”
— In Hebrews 10:10, 14, the Bible says that “we have been made holy” (past tense) and that “he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.” This means that positionally, in Christ, your holiness is already complete, even as you’re being progressively transformed by the renewing of your mind.
— When you come to God in prayer, you are not approaching Him to get something started; you are approaching Him to receive the manifestation of something that’s already finished.
— Your prayers should reflect the reality that the work is complete. For example, instead of praying, “God, please heal me,” you can pray, “Father, I thank You that Jesus bore my sicknesses and carried my diseases. By His stripes, I was healed. I receive that healing now, by faith.” There is a revelation of a difference!
— The finished work of Jesus means you don’t need to earn God’s favor through your prayers; you simply receive what Jesus has already earned on your behalf. This is why I keep telling you that you are blessed because YOU ARE, not because of what you DO! But because of what Jesus did.
— Every promise of God finds its “Yes” in Christ (2 Corinthians 1:20). That means Jesus’ finished work has secured every blessing promised in God’s Word. God is looking for the agreement, for the “Amen,” from you.
— The finished work isn’t just about forgiveness—it’s about every aspect of life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). Everything you need for life and godliness has already been provided through your knowledge of Him.
2. The Cross Has Changed Your Legal Standing Before God.
The work of Jesus didn’t just forgive your sins; it changed your very identity and legal position before God. Understanding this legal change is essential to praying from a position of grace.
How this applies to you:
— Colossians 2:13-14 says that God “canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness.” This means that when you approach God in prayer, there are no outstanding charges against you. Your record is completely clean.
— You are no longer a sinner begging for mercy; you are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:21). This radically changes how you approach God in prayer.
— Your access to God isn’t based on your performance; it’s based on Jesus’ perfect performance. The writer of Hebrews urged believers to “come boldly to the throne of grace” (Hebrews 4:16), not because of their own merit but because of what Jesus has done.
— The legal change means you have the right to stand in God’s presence without guilt, shame, or condemnation, even on the Day of Judgment. 1 John 4:16 and 17 tell us that we can stand boldly and confidently on the Day of Judgment, not because of who we are, but because of who Jesus is. As Jesus is, so are we, in this world. I don’t know about you, but when I was religious, I was afraid of the Day of Judgment. Now, John tells us be confident. Not because of us, but because of Jesus! This confidence transforms your prayer life from one of fear to one of faith.
— You need to fully embrace the truth that “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).
— When the devil tries to convince you that you don’t deserve to receive from God, you can agree with him! I do. It’s true—you don’t deserve it. But that’s the beauty of grace. Jesus deserved it, and as a joint-heir with Christ, you receive it by faith in Him, not based on your own deserving.
— The legal documents that were against you—that said you were guilty and deserving of punishment—have been nailed to the cross. They no longer exist in God’s records. So when you pray, you’re not coming as a defendant to a judge, but as a child to a loving Father.
3. The Ongoing Application of the Finished Work in Prayer.
While the work is finished, we still need to apply and appropriate that finished work in our daily lives through faith and prayer. The question is, how do we make the finished work of Jesus practical in our prayer lives?
How this applies to you:
— Prayer becomes the means by which you appropriate what Jesus has already provided. It’s like cashing a check that’s already been written to you. The money is already in the account; you just need to make the withdrawal.
— This is why faith is so crucial in prayer. Hebrews 11:1 says that “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Faith gives substance to your hope when God reveals to you what is already yours. He then expects you to pray in agreement with it and conduct the corresponding actions required to receive it. This is how what you see in the unseen realm is manifested in the seen realm.
— Your prayers should align with what God has already declared to be true in His Word. For example, if God says you’re healed (1 Peter 2:24), your prayers should agree with that reality, even if your physical body hasn’t caught up yet.
— The finished work of Jesus means that you can pray with authority. You’re not hoping God might do something; you’re declaring what He has already done and commanding your circumstances to align with that spiritual reality.
— This doesn’t mean you never ask for anything. Jesus taught us to ask, seek, and knock (Matthew 7:7-8). But you’re asking from a position of legal right and inheritance, and you are asking for things you believe God has revealed to you to be part of His will for your life. In essence, you are praying back to God, the prayers He already prayed over you, and you are doing so without any guilt, shame, or condemnation.
— The finished work means that your prayers are based on God’s faithfulness to His Word and His promises to you, not on your ability to convince Him to be good to you.
4. Praying from Rest, Not Human Effort.
One of the most significant implications of Jesus’ finished work is that we can now pray from a position of rest rather than human effort. This rest is not laziness; it’s a confident trust that the work is already complete.
How this applies to you:
— When you pray, you must remember that He is your Abba, Father. You’re not trying to make the Father do something; you’re simply receiving what a good Father has already provided.
— Striving in prayer often reveals that you don’t really believe the work is finished. What I mean by this is that many Christians pray and worry while they are praying. The worry or doubt in their hearts is actually canceling out what their lips are saying. Words that don’t come from a believing heart are empty words. God wants you to believe and receive when you pray. A major part of believing what you are praying for is RESTING in what God said.
— Praying from rest means you trust in God’s character and in what Jesus has accomplished, not in your ability to pray long enough, loud enough, or smart enough (using the right words).
— Jesus criticized the religious leaders who thought they would be heard “because of their many words” (Matthew 6:7). Grace-based prayer isn’t about the quantity of your words but about the quality of your faith in the finished work.
— Resting in the finished work means you can pray with peace, knowing that the outcome doesn’t depend on your performance but on Jesus’ perfect work.
— This rest is active, not passive. It’s an active trust in what Jesus has done, which leads to bold, confident prayers that expect results.
— Resting in the finished work means you can enjoy God’s presence in prayer without the pressure of trying to earn His approval or convince Him to act on your behalf.
That’s enough for today.
Declaration of Faith:
Father, I thank You for the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross.
I declare that I no longer pray from a position of need or lack, but from the revelation that Jesus has already provided everything I need.
My legal standing before You is secure—the charges against me have been canceled and nailed to the cross.
I approach prayer with confidence, knowing that I’m not trying to get something started. I’m receiving the manifestation of what’s already finished.
I pray from a position of rest, not human effort. I rest in what I believe You have called me to do, and I rest in everything You promised me. Praying this way, my prayers are not tainted by fear or any uncertainty about Your willingness to bless me. You want to bless me because You are good, not because I am. My life is ALL ABOUT YOU and Your plans for me!
I am living THE GRACE LIFE in 2025, and GREATER IS COMING FOR ME!
I declare this by faith, in Jesus’ name. Amen!
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and prosper!
