All Is Grace!
January 1, 2022
Dear Friends,
One of my heroes, Brennan Manning, titled his autobiography, All Is Grace. His book tells us that Brennan has lived it, experienced it, and grasps the extraordinary power of God’s great gift. At the beginning of my journey with God, I did not understand this gift as well as I do now. I also have found that many of the people I have dealt with in this journey do not understand and fully appreciate living under God’s grace. Part of the danger of not being able to grasp what an extraordinary gift we have available to us is that we believe the lies that our enemy has successfully spread among us.
Two of these lies are: First, God does not love you as you are. Second, God’s grace is based on your works. These two lies continue to have a profound impact on how we live in our walk with God. I want to speak to these lies. First, God loves you as you are, not as you should be. And God’s grace is vast, unmeasured, boundless, and free.
I was in conversation with a friend recently and in the course of our sharing with each other I said, “I am so incredibly blessed I can hardly grasp it.” When I said this I thought about the journey God has had me on this 40 plus years. The miracles I’ve seen, the places I’ve been, and the people I’ve met were all possible because of God’s grace. In addition, I have lived under His protection, provision, guidance, and teaching.
But I can safely say that for much of this journey I did not fully understand the extraordinary power of God’s grace. Fortunately, I believe that is no longer true. Yes, there is still much to learn and understand about His grace, but now I am aware of and appreciate His grace as never before.
What about you? When you think about your journey with God are you able to grasp the extraordinary power of His grace? It is so easy for us to live under these lies I wrote about earlier. We are a people who put a lot of emphasis on work and can easily judge others by what they do, what they produce. For example, when we first meet someone, after we ask for their name, we then ask, “What do you do?” We want to know where they are in the pecking order, which may determine how we treat them, or even whether or not we want to be their friend. Where is the grace of God in this? Our love without God’s grace is not boundless, and free.
Part of the reason I am writing about this topic is that I had to step back and think about my journey with God and try to grasp how His extraordinary grace has empowered and protected me. My challenge to you is this: stop for a moment and think about your journey and appreciate how God’s grace has been instrumental in your life up to this point. He has been there through the good times and the rough times for He says in His Word, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Joshua 1:5, Hebrews 13:5).
It is both reassuring and exciting to look to the future in our own personal journey and know that God’s grace is always there.
If YOU ARE LOOKING FOR A GIFT FOR A FRIEND, CONSIDER ONE OF MY BOOKS
Before You Get Here, Subtitled, Baggage To Drop On Your Way To Heaven, is a guide to assist in discovering freedom from the invisible burdens that oppress and defeat many Christians today.
Chapters include: The Importance of Forgiveness, The Traps of Unforgiveness, A Look in the Mirror, I Will Never, Harmful Words and Harmful Connections, Let Yourself Be Loved By God, The Recovery of Intimacy, and more. Available here on our website and at Amazon.com.
For a copy of my book Before You Get Here go to our Wholeness Ministries Catalog.
This has been both a blessed and challenging year for us at Wholeness Ministries. Thank you for your continued gifts and prayers over this last year and in the year to come. We are indeed a blessed people.
God bless,
Mike
BOOK AN IN-PERSON MINISTRY SESSION
We have found these ministry sessions with people to be invaluable in healing them from wounds from their past. In some cases after two or three sessions, they experience freedom! If you need deep-level healing prayer or know someone who could benefit from this, here is how to start the process. Send an email to mevans@wholeness.org or call 661-833-2920 to schedule an appointment. On our website, simply follow the instructions under Personal Ministry.
What if God Wants to be Your Friend?
December 1, 2021
Dear Friends,
If you have not read my book yet you are missing out on one of the best books that will help you understand, “The irreplaceable importance of holy loitering with God,” Brennan Manning.
Are you tired of striving and seeking approval from others? Do you long to experience the intimacy, joy, and freedom that comes from being deeply connected, soul and spirit with your Father God? What if ‘relationship with God’ was as simple as ‘wasting time’ with Him? What if, just by sitting quietly with your Father God, you could be confident that you are significant, accepted, and loved?
“This book frames spiritual growth with God’s heart, given in his Son and validated by His Spirit. This book demolishes our excuses and defenses against divine intimacy. This book is for those willing to have a fresh self-encounter and a fresh God-encounter,” Dr. Don Williams
When I first began this discipline of ‘hanging out with God’, little did I realize the profound impact it would have on my life. Since I first entered full-time ministry in 1976 I have sat under the teaching of men and women like Dr. John Lavender, John Wimber, Elsie Reed, Judith MacNutt, Randy Clark, Bill Johnson, and others that aided and guided me while on this journey. I have attended numerous conferences and workshops on the ministry of healing. I graduated from Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary and have read hundreds of books to help me as I traveled along this road that God placed me on. Lastly, Francis MacNutt, a man whom I considered a spiritual giant and one of those men who exemplified what I thought Jesus was like, mentored me for over 20 years.
BUT NOTHING I HAVE EXPERIENCED HAS IMPACTED MY LIFE AS PROFOUNDLY AS THIS SIMPLE EXERCISE OF SPENDING TIME WITH GOD DOING NOTHING BUT SITTING QUIETLY IN HIS PRESENCE. All the conferences and workshops I’ve attended, the teachers I’ve sat under, and the books I’ve read pale in comparison to what this simple exercise of just “hanging out” with God has done for me.
At one point God said to me, “Michael, I’m going to teach you how to be a friend, and friends just hang out.” But what started out years ago has become an integral part of my day and has a significant impact on what I say and do. Perhaps during this Christmas season you know some who could benefit from reading this. For a copy of my book Why Not Waste Time With God go to our Wholeness Ministries Catalog.
Another book you might consider giving as a gift is Before You Get Here. For a copy of my book Before You Get Here: Baggage to drop on your way to heaven go to our Wholeness Ministries Catalog.
Thank you for your prayers and donations that help keep this ministry going. You are much appreciated as we continue to spread the message of His healing and restoration to a hurting and lost world. As we wrap up the year 2021 and head into 2022 keep us in your prayers. We pray that this Christmas season will be a blessed and meaningful time for you and your families.
God bless,
Mike
BOOK AN IN-PERSON MINISTRY SESSION
We have found these ministry sessions with people to be invaluable in healing them from wounds from their past. In some cases after two or three sessions, they experience freedom! If you need deep-level healing prayer or know someone who could benefit from this, here is how to start the process. Send an email to mevans@wholeness.org or call 661-833-2920 to schedule an appointment. On our website, simply follow the instructions under Personal Ministry.
In The Fire Or In The Lions Den?
November 1, 2021
Dear Friends,
I have been studying the Old Testament book of Daniel and am fascinated by how this young man Daniel and his three friends; Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, who were captives of King Nebuchadnezzar, became trusted advisors to the King. Over the years that they served under the king, there were many times when he called on them for counsel or to interpret dreams for him that his trusted advisors could not do.
As a result, these other advisors became jealous and planned devious schemes to discredit them and even kill them. The first was when King Nebuchadnezzar had a golden statue fashioned and ordered that all should bow to this new golden God made in his image. Of course, these three young Jews would not do that and his chief astrologer reported it to the king. He became very angry and had the furnace heated seven times its normal temperature and ordered them caste into the furnace.
Their response was astounding! Abed-Nego stepped forward and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar if you sentence us to death by the furnace, our God whom we serve can deliver us from the flame. But even if He does not, know that we will stand firm and never serve your Gods. Nor will we worship your golden image now or any other day.”
What an astounding statement! What would you have done if faced with this same choice? Is your faith and trust in God strong enough that you could be this fearless? Think about what a horrible and painful way this would be to die. I would like to think that my faith and trust in God is strong and deep enough to respond as they did, but we won’t really know until we are faced with something like that.
Next is what happened with Daniel who as a very young Jewish captive, probably still in his teenage years, was elevated to a high position in the Babylonian kingdom because he was able to tell King Nebuchadnezzar what his dream was and the interpretation of that dream. Again because of envy and jealousy by the counselors and astrologers to the king they convinced him to issue an edict that for thirty days no one would be allowed to pray to or petition anyone but the king.
Daniel violated this edict by praying to his God three times a day. He was quickly arrested and thrown into the lion’s den. Although the king loved Daniel and did not want to do it, he was placed in a position where he had no choice. Daniel went into the lion’s den confident that his God would deliver him from any harm. We know the story of his deliverance without a scratch on him.
So the question would be for us; how would you respond to being faced with something like this? Again we would like to think that we would be brave and confident that God would protect us, but we would never know for certain until we faced this kind of test.
BEFORE YOU GET HERE
Why wait until heaven to be freed of the invisible burdens that oppress and defeat you? God wants you to face those burdens now, on this planet, and through the power of specific prayer be freed from them. My newest book, subtitled Baggage To Drop On Your Way To Heaven, is a guide to assist in discovering freedom from the invisible burdens that oppress and defeat you. Purchase at our online store at Before You Get Here or call us at (661) 833-2920.
God bless,
Mike
BOOK AN IN-PERSON MINISTRY SESSION
We have found these ministry sessions with people to be invaluable in healing them from wounds from their past. In some cases after two or three sessions, they experience freedom! If you need deep-level healing prayer or know someone who could benefit from this, here is how to start the process. Send an email to mevans@wholeness.org or call 661-833-2920 to schedule an appointment. On our website, simply follow the instructions under Personal Ministry.
I Want To Experience That Healing Power!
October 1, 2021
Dear Friends,
Recently, a gentleman whom I have long admired came up to me after an evening meeting and said, “I want to experience God’s healing power.” He had this excited, intense expression on his face that surprised me but what I heard him saying is, “The power of prayer that I see in operation when you pray for healing, I want to experience that kind of power!”
For a little background, he has been around for a number of years in meetings where he has seen the power of God moving, bringing healing to the sick. Immediately I sensed he was not just casually asking but seriously wanted to experience the kind of healing power he had seen manifested. Two things immediately came to me. I said, “First, you have to spend significant time just hanging out with God. Second, you have to be willing to take a risk and step out and begin praying for healing expecting it to happen.”
Those of you who know me understand this response. These two themes I believe are key to watching God move through us to bring healing to a broken world full of sick, downtrodden people. People that are desperate for a healing touch from God.
I went on to explain some more about what I meant. I shared about what I’ve come to understand as key to walking in the healing power that God has made available to us through the Holy Spirit. I often joke about “Having Coffee with God,” which in reality is me spending time first thing in the morning sitting with God doing nothing but sitting with God while I have my morning coffee. These last six weeks I have had the privilege of sharing weekly with a group of men in the discipleship-training program at the Bakersfield Mission. When I spoke on this topic I shared with them how difficult this was in the beginning and how powerfully I have watched it come to life when I am praying for healing for someone.
As they grasped what I was trying to live out daily I could see in them the excitement to try this. I shared how in the beginning it was difficult for me to sit still and quiet because I was not used to doing that but was more comfortable doing things for God. I shared why this was such a hard discipline when I first started and could see the recognition on their faces and the excitement they demonstrated in wanting to try and do this. But I also told them how much Satan would oppose them when they first begin because it freaks him out. Satan knows that the closer you become to God, the more dangerous you become.
Then I shared with this gentleman the second thing he needed to do was take a risk, step out and pray for people, expecting God to heal them. I told about the journey God has had me on and over the years how He brought me around to not only expecting healing but being surprised when healing doesn’t happen.
Jesus Didn’t Hand Out Crutches! In the Gospels, we are commanded to heal the sick. The disabled jump to their feet, the deaf hear, the blind see, the dead show up for dinner. The strong message is that we are to bring in the Kingdom of God by doing exactly what Jesus did. I have found that when you show people the power of the Holy Spirit and they see or experience His healing both physically and emotionally, they want to be involved. So let’s don’t hand out crutches, let’s be bold and take the risk and do what we’re told to do; Go Heal The Sick!
God bless,
Mike
BOOK AN IN-PERSON MINISTRY SESSION
We have found these ministry sessions with people to be invaluable in healing them from wounds from their past. In some cases after two or three sessions, they experience freedom! If you need deep-level healing prayer or know someone who could benefit from this, here is how to start the process. Send an email to mevans@wholeness.org or call 661-833-2920 to schedule an appointment. On our website, simply follow the instructions under Personal Ministry.
Demonstrate Your Trust In Me
September 1, 2021
Dear Friends,
What I am quoting below I read the other day in a book called Jesus Calling and found it encouraging and stimulating.
“Demonstrate your trust in Me by sitting quietly in My presence. Put aside all that is waiting to be done, and refuse to worry about anything. This sacred time together strengthens you and prepares you to face whatever the day will bring. By waiting with Me before you begin the day’s activities, you proclaim the reality of My living presence. This act of faith-waiting before working- is noted in the spirit world, where your demonstration of trust weakens principalities and powers of darkness. As you look to me for guidance, I enable you to do less but accomplish more.”
This says many significant things. First, your trust in God is demonstrated by sitting quietly in His presence. Doing nothing, just sitting in His presence, quietly listening to Him. Why? Because this strengthens you and prepares you to face whatever the day brings. Second, this act of faith puts the powers of darkness on notice and weakens them.
How does that happen? They understand when you sit in the presence of God your spirit is renewed and strengthened. This sitting quietly brings about a better understanding of who you are and what is available to you simply because you are His child. That weakens their ability to harass and influence you and strengthens your belief and trust in God. There is a passage in James 2:19 that says: “You believe in God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder! This says to me, to believe in God is just the beginning. Even demons believe in God. Your belief requires some action and that action should begin by sitting quietly in His presence doing nothing.
It took me many years before I came to the place of understanding the profound importance of this discipline. For me, this practice began when God said to me, “Michael, I’m going to teach you how to be a friend, and friends just like to hang out.” That was a novel concept to me as most of my life I had been working to please God by my works.
Growing up I had been taught that my faith was demonstrated by my works. In our society today we often judge people by what they do. So my thinking was that the more I do for God the more He will be pleased with me. But what God was now revealing to me was that works are important, but of paramount importance is for you to come and sit quietly with Me. I heard Him say, “Let’s just hang out and learn to be friends!” When I started this discipline the change that began to take place within me was profound. Not only did I began to listen more carefully to God, I felt that He began to draw me closer to Him and tell me how much He loved me and how valuable I was to Him.
It’s About Relationship!
God wants to hang out with you. We so often feel as if we must be doing something even when we are with God that it’s difficult for us to grasp that He wants to be our friend. In order for deep friendship to develop there are times when we must spend time together doing absolutely nothing but being together. When I say this to people they will look at me as if I am a few marbles short of a full load. That’s because we don’t fully understand who we are and how passionately and irrationally the Father loves us.
This book will help you understand that, but only if you apply it will it help you live it. Everything in this world fights against time alone with God. Everything in God longs for time alone with us. Why would you possibly choose to be influenced by the former? Order from our Online Store or contact us at 661-833-2920 or mevans@wholeness.org.
We are in a good season and feel so blessed and it’s in part because of what you do in supporting the work of Wholeness Ministries. I have been following this path for over 26 years and God has brought faithful people around to meet the needs of this ministry every month. Thank you for your continued faithfulness without which we could not do this work.
God bless,
Mike
BOOK AN IN-PERSON MINISTRY SESSION
We have found these ministry sessions with people to be invaluable in healing them from wounds from their past. In some cases after two or three sessions, they experience freedom! If you need deep-level healing prayer or know someone who could benefit from this, here is how to start the process. Send an email to mevans@wholeness.org or call 661-833-2920 to schedule an appointment. On our website, simply follow the instructions under Personal Ministry.