Wildwood Assembly

We prayer wimps fear mis-praying. What’s the expected etiquette and dress code of prayer? What if we kneel instead of stand?  Jesus’ answer is in  Matthew 18:3 when he says, “Become as little children.”  Carefree.  Joy filled. Playful. Trusting.  Curious. Trust more—strut less.

God prefers this greeting:  “God, you are my Daddy, and I am your child!” It’s hard to show off and call God “Daddy” at the same time.  Impossible, in fact. Remember, prayer doesn’t depend on how you pray.  The power of prayer depends on the One who hears the prayer.

Here’s my challenge for you! Every day for 4 weeks, pray four minutes. Then get ready to connect with God like never before.

Read more Before Amen: The Power of a Simple Prayer

For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

Dannah Gresh unpacks the good and the bad aspects of the purity culture movement, speaking against legalism and shame without abandoning God’s design for sexuality. She shares about her experiences healing from sexual sin and equips women to live with sexual integrity.

Receive a copy of And the Bride Wore White and an audio download of "The Good, Bad, and the Holy of Purity Culture" for your donation of any amount! Plus, receive member-exclusive benefits when you make a recurring gift today. Your monthly support helps families thrive.

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If you enjoyed listening to Focus on the Family with Jim Daly, please give us your feedback.

I’m a card-carrying member of the PWA.  “Prayer Wimps Anonymous.” Can you relate?  We pray.  We pray to stay sober, centered, and solvent. We pray when the lump is deemed malignant, when the money runs out before the month does.

We all pray some but wouldn’t we like to pray more?  Like the disciples, when they ask Jesus, “Teach us to pray.” Teach us to find strength in prayer, to banish fear in prayer.  Prayer is simply a heartfelt conversation between God and you.  A prayer as simple as this one: “Father you are good.  I need help, heal me and forgive me. They need help. Thank you in Jesus name.”

Every day for four weeks. Pray four minutes and then get ready to connect with God like never before.

Read more Before Amen: The Power of a Simple Prayer

For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

The Death of Moses: A View from the Mountain

God tells Moses to climb Mount Nebo and look. From the summit he can see everything—Gilead to Dan, Naphtali, Ephraim, Manasseh, Judah stretching to the Mediterranean, the Negev, the Jordan Valley with Jericho, the city of palms. It is the entire promised land spread before him like a map, and God says: ‘I have allowed you to see it with your own eyes, but you will not enter.’ The cruelty of the sentence is softened by its tenderness—God Himself shows Moses what lies ahead, as a father might show a child the house being built for him. Before he dies, Moses blesses each tribe, and the poetry is magnificent. Judah is defended, Levi teaches the law, Benjamin lives in safety, Joseph receives the bounty of heaven and earth, Dan is a lion’s cub, Naphtali is rich in favor, Asher bathes his feet in olive oil. And crowning them all: ‘There is no one like the God of Israel. He rides across the heavens to help you. The eternal God is your refuge, and his everlasting arms are under you.’ Everlasting arms—the image of a God who catches what falls. Then Moses dies. He is 120 years old, his eyesight clear, his strength undiminished. The Lord buries him in an unmarked grave in the valley near Beth-peor, and to this day no one knows where it is. The anonymity of the grave is deliberate—Moses will not become a shrine. Joshua takes up the mantle, and the people obey him as they obeyed Moses. But the final sentence of Deuteronomy is an epitaph that doubles as an unresolved question: ‘There has never been another prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face.’ The book of Beginnings ends with an ending that is also a waiting—for the prophet like Moses who was promised, for the one who would know God face to face and lead His people not to the edge of the land but all the way home.

00:00 God Tells Moses to Climb Mount Nebo
01:00 Moses Blesses the Tribes
02:00 Levi: Teachers of the Law
03:00 Joseph: Bounty of Heaven and Earth
04:00 Dan, Naphtali, and Asher
05:00 ‘The Eternal God Is Your Refuge’
06:00 Moses Views the Promised Land
07:00 The Death and Burial of Moses
07:00 ‘Never Another Prophet Like Moses’

Buy Immerse Beginnings today!

4 Questions to get your conversations started:
1.    What stood out to you this week?
2.    Was there anything confusing or troubling?
3.    Did anything make you think differently about God?
4.    How might this change the way we live?

QUICK START GUIDE
3 ways to get the most out of your experience

1.    Use Immerse: Beginnings instead of your regular chapter and verse Bible. This special reader’s edition restores the Bible to its natural simplicity and beauty by removing chapter and verse numbers and other historical additions. Letters look like letters, songs look like songs, and the original literary structures are visible in each book.

2.    Commit to making this a community experience. Immerse is designed for groups to encounter large portions of the Bible together for 8 weeks–more like a book club, less like a Bible study. By meeting every week in small groups and discussing what you read in open, honest conversations, you and your community can come together to be transformed through an authentic experience with the Scriptures.

3.    Aim to understand the big story. Read through “The Stories and the Story” (p. 329) to see how the books of the Bible work together to tell God’s story of his creation’s restoration. As you read through Immerse: Beginnings, rather than ask, “How do I fit God into my busy life?” begin asking, “How

Imagine life if you were 100% in tune with God all the time! Sadly, things get in the way—squabbles with our loved ones, difficult circumstances, disappointments. John Burke reminds us that God is the source of life and of our contentment and joy. He gives us a clear picture of what it looks like to do life with God and how you can trust Him with your strongest and deepest desires! Just like branches connected to the Vine, with John’s 60-60 experiment (connecting with God every 60 minutes for 60 days), you can cling to God’s peace and love, allowing that to overflow to your relationships and everything you do.

Receive the book Soul Revolution for your donation of any amount! and an audio download of "Staying Connected to God: A 60-Day Challenge" for your donation of any amount!

Get More Episode Resources 

If you enjoyed listening to Focus on the Family with Jim Daly, please give us your feedback.

This much is sure:  God will teach you to pray. Don’t think for a minute that he’s glaring at you from a distance with crossed arms and a scowl, waiting for you to get your prayer life together.  Just the opposite! In Revelation 3:20 Jesus says, “Here I am!  I stand at the door and knock.  If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in and eat with you, and you will eat with Me.”

Jesus waits on the porch.  He taps…and calls. He waits for you to open the door. To pray is the hand of faith on the door handle of your heart. The happy welcome to Jesus: “Come in, O King.  Come in. The kitchen is messy, but come in. I’m not much of a conversationalist, but come in.”

Before amen—comes the power of a simple prayer! God changes His people through such moments.

Read more Before Amen: The Power of a Simple Prayer

For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

The Song of Moses: Rock of Ages

Moses stands before the entire assembly and sings. It is not a hymn of triumph but a lawsuit—heaven and earth called as witnesses while God brings His case against His people. The song opens with beauty: ‘Let my teaching fall on you like rain, let my speech settle like dew.’ Then it declares God’s character: ‘He is the Rock. His deeds are perfect. Everything he does is just and fair.’ The word ‘Rock’ echoes through the song like a drumbeat—stable, immovable, eternal. Against this Rock, Israel’s fickleness is measured. God found them in a howling wasteland and cared for them like an eagle hovering over her young, carrying them on His pinions. He fed them honey from the rock, olive oil from stony ground, yogurt and milk and the finest wheat and wine. And then the devastating turn: ‘But Israel grew fat and kicked.’ Prosperity bred forgetfulness. They sacrificed to demons, to gods they had never known, to novelties their ancestors would have scorned. ‘You neglected the Rock who fathered you. You forgot the God who gave you birth.’ God’s response is not indifference but grief turned to judgment: famine, plague, wild beasts, sword. He would have annihilated them entirely, except that their enemies would misunderstand and claim credit for the victory. And then the song pivots to promise: God will vindicate His people. He will see their strength is gone and have compassion. ‘Look now, I myself am he. There is no other God but me. I am the one who kills and gives life, who wounds and heals.’ The song ends with a call to rejoice—not because judgment has been avoided but because the God who judges is also the God who cleanses. Moses finishes and gives his last instruction: ‘These are not empty words. They are your life.’

00:00 The Song of Moses Begins
01:00 He Is the Rock
02:00 God Found Them in a Wasteland
03:00 Israel Grew Fat and Kicked
04:00 Sacrifices to Demons
05:00 God’s Judgment: Famine, Plague, Sword
06:00 ‘I Myself Am He’
07:00 ‘These Words Are Your Life’

Buy Immerse Beginnings today!

4 Questions to get your conversations started:
1.    What stood out to you this week?
2.    Was there anything confusing or troubling?
3.    Did anything make you think differently about God?
4.    How might this change the way we live?

QUICK START GUIDE
3 ways to get the most out of your experience

1.    Use Immerse: Beginnings instead of your regular chapter and verse Bible. This special reader’s edition restores the Bible to its natural simplicity and beauty by removing chapter and verse numbers and other historical additions. Letters look like letters, songs look like songs, and the original literary structures are visible in each book.

2.    Commit to making this a community experience. Immerse is designed for groups to encounter large portions of the Bible together for 8 weeks–more like a book club, less like a Bible study. By meeting every week in small groups and discussing what you read in open, honest conversations, you and your community can come together to be transformed through an authentic experience with the Scriptures.

3.    Aim to understand the big story. Read through “The Stories and the Story” (p. 329) to see how the books of the Bible work together to tell God’s story of his creation’s restoration. As you read through Immerse: Beginnings, rather than ask, “How do I fit God into my busy life?” begin asking, “How can I join in God’s great plan by living out my part in his story?”

And for more great Bible podcasts for Christians and small groups, check out

Imagine life if you were 100% in tune with God all the time! Sadly, things get in the way—squabbles with our loved ones, difficult circumstances, disappointments. John Burke reminds us that God is the source of life and of our contentment and joy. He gives us a clear picture of what it looks like to do life with God and how you can trust Him with your strongest and deepest desires! Just like branches connected to the Vine, with John’s 60-60 experiment (connecting with God every 60 minutes for 60 days), you can cling to God’s peace and love, allowing that to overflow to your relationships and everything you do.

Receive the book Soul Revolution for your donation of any amount! and an audio download of "Staying Connected to God: A 60-Day Challenge" for your donation of any amount!

Get More Episode Resources 

If you enjoyed listening to Focus on the Family with Jim Daly, please give us your feedback.

Before amen—comes the power of a simple prayer!  Jesus set a compelling prayer example. He prayed before He ate.  He prayed for children.  He prayed for the sick.  He prayed with thanks.  With tears. He had made the planets and shaped the stars, yet He prayed.

Here’s a prayer for us today! “Father, you’ve made me your child through your Spirit. In your kindness you have adopted me and delivered me from sin and death. Remind me today what it means to be your child.  It’s so easy for me to live every day on my own terms. Help me live it in light of your grace.  Thank you for accepting me as I am but not leaving me the same.  In Jesus’ name, amen.”

Here’s my challenge for you! Every day for 4 weeks, pray four minutes. Then get ready to connect with God like never before!

Read more Before Amen: The Power of a Simple Prayer

For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

Choose Life: The Covenant Renewed on the Plains of Moab

Moses renews the covenant one final time—not at Sinai but on the plains of Moab, within sight of the promised land. He reminds them of the basics: your clothes did not wear out, your sandals did not fail, you ate no bread and drank no wine, yet God provided. The wilderness was not abandonment; it was proof. Then he draws the circle of the covenant as wide as it will go: not just the leaders, not just the men, but the women, the children, the foreigners who chop wood and carry water, and—remarkably—‘the future generations who are not standing here today.’ The covenant reaches across time. It binds people who have not yet been born. Moses warns against the person who hears these curses and thinks, ‘I am safe. I can follow my own stubborn heart.’ That self-congratulation, he says, will lead to utter ruin. And future generations will look at the devastated land and ask, ‘Why did the Lord do this?’ The answer will be plain: they abandoned the covenant. Then, in one of Scripture’s most luminous passages, Moses promises restoration after exile. ‘The Lord your God will change your heart and the hearts of your descendants so that you will love him with all your heart and soul.’ The law that seemed impossible to keep will one day be written on the heart itself. And then the great declaration: ‘This command is not too difficult for you. It is not in heaven or beyond the sea. The message is very close at hand—it is on your lips and in your heart.’ Moses calls heaven and earth as witnesses and gives Israel the starkest choice in Scripture: ‘I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life.’ Then Moses, 120 years old, commissions Joshua, writes the law in a book, and places it beside the ark. He knows what is coming—God has told him plainly that the people will turn away. But he writes the song anyway, and he gives the book anyway, because faithfulness does not require optimism.

00:00 The Covenant Renewed in Moab
01:00 Everyone Stands Before the Lord
02:00 Warning Against Secret Rebellion
03:00 Future Generations Will Ask Why
04:00 The Secret Things Belong to God
05:00 Restoration After Exile
06:00 God Will Change Your Heart
07:00 The Command Is Not Too Difficult
08:00 Choose Life
09:00 Moses at 120: Final Charge
10:00 The Law Read Every Seventh Year
11:00 God Commissions Joshua
12:00 Moses Writes the Song
13:00 The Book Placed Beside the Ark

Buy Immerse Beginnings today!

4 Questions to get your conversations started:
1.    What stood out to you this week?
2.    Was there anything confusing or troubling?
3.    Did anything make you think differently about God?
4.    How might this change the way we live?

QUICK START GUIDE
3 ways to get the most out of your experience

1.    Use Immerse: Beginnings instead of your regular chapter and verse Bible. This special reader’s edition restores the Bible to its natural simplicity and beauty by removing chapter and verse numbers and other historical additions. Letters look like letters, songs look like songs, and the original literary structures are visible in each book.

2.    Commit to making this a community experience. Immerse is designed for groups to encounter large portions of the Bible together for 8 weeks–more like a book club, less like a Bible study. By meeting every week in small groups and discussing what you read in open, honest conversations, you and your community can come together to be transformed through an authentic experience with the Scriptures.

3.    Aim to understand the