Jesus was deeply dependent upon prayer, and it is a consistently important part of His relationship with the Father. The Bible records thirty-three different instances in which Jesus takes time to pray. Prayer was the key to His life. 

A careful examination of the life and ministry of Jesus reveals His deep commitment to Scripture. Jesus believed the Scriptures, studied the Scriptures, quoted the Scriptures, taught the Scriptures and lived in obedience to the Scriptures. If Jesus believed in the authority of Scripture, then so should we.

The first key to intimacy with God is being Spirit-led. Jesus modeled what this looks like for us. Which begs the question: If Jesus was Spirit led how much more do we need to be Spirit led? 

Intimacy with the Father means walking with the Son. Walking in intimacy with Jesus is the ultimate goal of a disciple's life. Many believers want to "follow" Jesus but they neglect "abiding" in Him. 

The term intimacy refers to the depth of your relationship with the Father through Christ. Your intimate relationship with Christ brings nourishment to your spiritual roots and makes your identity in Christ alive, vibrant and joyful.

One of the most important things to remember is that God sees you through His Son. God doesn't see your shame and failures once they are forgiven. When the Father evaluates us, He doesn't look at us alone. God always sees us in union with Christ and only sees Christ's righteousness applied to us through grace. Theologians call this the "imputation" of righteousness, but in laymen's terms, it is simply called amazing grace.

Once you reclaim your identity from the identity thief you need to know that Satan will not give up. He will continue to try to distract and confuse you. The enemy hopes you will forget who you are in Christ, causing your commitment to waver, and keeping your new identity from becoming firmly rooted in Christ.

Jesus doesn't save you to make you a better person, He saves you to make you a new person. He doesn't save you that you might live a better life, He saves you so that you will have life. Until you understand the complete change that Christ brings to you in the power of His indwelling Spirit, you will never be able to live in daily victory.

There is a defining difference between image and identity. Image was given to you by God when He created you to look like Him and for a relationship with Him. But identity, because of the thievery that takes place in Genesis 3, is something that you are born searching for.

Too often, disciples jump straight into what they need or want to "do" in their walk with Christ. Cultivate Disciplemaking starts with disciples learning and remembering who they need to "be" first. Every person is created in the image of God and every disciple needs to find their identity in Christ.