Dear Friends,

It’s hard to believe that this year is almost gone and we are heading into 2025! A lot has happened in the last year for which we are very thankful. In addition to all the many miraculous healings we observed we celebrated this ministry’s 31st Year Anniversary!

To think all of this started with my attending a healing conference in 1984. I was on staff at First Baptist Church in Bakersfield, CA. My boss and Senior Pastor Dr. John Lavender insisted that we go to a healing conference conducted by John Wimber at the Vineyard in Anaheim, CA. Initially I did not want to go to this conference because of my exposure to the healing ministry as a young man. It was not a good experience. With some urging from Dr. John I went with him.

What I observed at that healing conference and the encounter with God that I had, radically changed my life and ministry.

I came back to First Baptist Church and began forming prayer teams to pray for the sick on a regular basis. Over the next ten years I went to every training event, and healing conference that John Wimber conducted. I read every book I could get my hands on that had to do with healing. This led to writing my first book, Learning To Do What Jesus Did.

God has opened many doors for us in various denominations, ministry streams and other countries both inside and outside the United States. There have been trips to Qatar, Kuwait, Canada, Puerto Rico, Serbia and India to name a few. Plus we have been to numerous churches around the United States.

God has been faithful in providing for all the needs of our family. Not once have we wanted for anything that we needed. Admittedly, I didn’t know how God was going to provide, but He always did. In addition, along the way He surprised us with gifts that went far beyond our needs. Much like a loving father would do for his children.

The Fire of God In You!

From January 7th to February 25th I will be teaching here in Bakersfield at Summit Bible College from my book Why Not Waste Time With God. This is a class you can take for credit or simply audit. If you have not read my book this is a good opportunity to read it and discuss how to apply it in you life. This class is always challenging and fun. To learn more or enroll call Summit at 661-328-1151. The class will be held each Tuesday from 7:30-9:00pm.

It has been an exciting journey and I cannot express how grateful that He chose me to walk this journey with Him. Indeed I want to give God all the glory and I look forward to many more years in this exciting journey. Thank you for your prayers and support which have sustained Wholeness Ministries all these years. We look forward to many years yet. To come and God’s direction and provision.

God bless,

Mike

If YOU ARE LOOKING FOR A GIFT FOR A FRIEND CONSIDER ONE OF MY BOOKS

BEFORE YOU GET HERE

Deal With The Garbage That Oppresses You Now!

BEFORE YOU GET HERE: BAGGAGE TO DROP ON YOUR WAY TO HEAVEN

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.

You can order directly from our store at THIS LINK – Before You Get Here

If you have a copy don’t forget that they make great gifts. Consider giving one to a friend.

Check out our whole catalog at THIS LINK.

WHY NOT WASTE TIME WITH GOD

It’s About Relationship!

WHY NOT WASTE TIME WITH GOD: MOVING BEYOND A SUPERFICIAL RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD TO LIVE IN INTIMACY WITH HIM

“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

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.

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?

You can order directly from our store at THIS LINK – Why Not Waste Time With God

Dear Friends,

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit;” Romans 15:13

The Lord has provided a number of opportunities in recent weeks for times of prayer ministry. Recently I was invited to a Saturday event at Summit Bible. It was a day of prophetic teaching and a time to honor the staff and teachers. Included in the day was a time set aside to pray for healing for anyone who was in need of healing. It seems that most everyone that came for prayer was healed. Problems with the back, hips and knees seemed to be healed immediately. The power of God was powerfully demonstrated during this time.

There is a ministry located in downtown Bakersfield called “Manna.” The Founder of this ministry, Greg Devahl has provided a place of prayer for people to drop in and pray and to have assigned times of prayer and intercession. I had an opportunity to teach there recently from my book, “Learning To Do What Jesus Did.” I taught four Saturdays and did a significant amount of modeling on how to pray for people then had them break up into teams of two and do what they had just been taught. The results were amazing as people shared the healing they were experiencing and the teams shared what they were learning as they prayed for people.

Pastors Victor & Sonia Lopez have a Spanish speaking church here in Bakersfield. She translated my book “Learning To Do What Jesus Did” in Spanish and uses that book to train and equip their prayer teams to minister to the people in their church. After she has trained a new group of people she invites me in to prayer for the teams a prayer of impartation for gifts of healing. This is always an exciting time as we watch God empower these teams for ministry.

As we wrap up this current year and begin a new one we pray that you and your loved ones have a wonderful and meaningful Christmas season and a new year of experiencing God’s love and grace in your life.

God bless, Mike & Jane

“Learning To Do What Jesus Did” is available on YouTube.

In addition to the 9 DVD series being available through Wholeness Ministries you can now watch the entire series on YouTube. The book, an excellent training manual, has been taught around the world and is available in English and Spanish. You can buy the Book, CD’s or DVD’s at the Wholeness Shop.

Learning To Do What Jesus Did (9 parts)
Available on Youtube

Dear Friends,

“We have to realize that we cannot earn or win anything from God through our efforts. We must either receive it as a gift or do without it. The greatest spiritual blessing we receive is when we come to the knowledge that we are destitute.” Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest

I have been involved in a local Journey group going on five years. We have been studying the various characteristics of God. Although I have read over many times scriptures about God’s willingness to be involved in our lives this time seems to be a little different for me. Some verses like Mt. 21:22 “If you believe you will receive whatsoever you ask for in prayer.” Mt. 6:14 “If you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly father will also forgive you.” Though these seem to be far removed from each other they both speak about God’s willingness to be involved in our lives both to provide for us and to remove through his forgiveness anything that could block the relationship he wants to have with us.

You may be asking; “Why would God be willing to involve Himself with my life?” The problem with this question is that we cannot understand it. Instead we must simply accept it and grow in our appreciation of it. Grace is unexplainable, and the sacrifice of Jesus is unfathomable. His willingness in one way is demonstrated to us with what he provides to meet our needs. In essence He says to us, “Here is what I know you need.” Though it may not be exactly what we are asking for, it will be exactly what we need.

Earlier this week I was reading in Joshua how God dealt with Israel. Here is an example of God being willing to become intimately involved with people who were stubborn and rebellious. When Caleb, whom God had called, first wanted them to go in and occupy the Promised Land (Numbers 13:30) the Israelites rebelled. The people even wanted to stone Caleb and Joshua (Numbers 14:10) the two men God had called to lead them into the Promised Land. So God sends them back into the wilderness for 40 years for another period of training and trust. After this a new generation arose with a childlike trust in the Lord that was now ready to go in and conquer the land God had promised to them.

During this campaign when Joshua leading the people of Israel crossed the Jordan river on dry ground (Joshua 3:1-17) into Palestine, A memorial was erected (Joshua 4:19-24) males born during the wilderness experience were circumcised (Joshua 5:2-19) the Passover was celebrated (Joshua 5:10-12) and a crushing blow was leveled against the fortress city of Jericho (Joshua 6:1-27). Through all of this God was willing to help them do whatever was needed to take possession of the Promised Land.

But as you read a little further in Scripture there was disbelief and rebellion, even idol worship and yet God was willing to forgive them and do whatever was needed to bring them back into relationship with Him.

If you go back to the quote at the very beginning of this newsletter there is nothing you can do to earn anything from God. Embracing and living with the attitude that we are destitute without God will bring the greatest spiritual blessing such that you could not contain it!

Thank you for your continued support of our work. We look forward with anticipation and excitement for the future.

God bless,

Mike

“Learning To Do What Jesus Did” is available on YouTube.

In addition to the 9 DVD series being available through Wholeness Ministries you can now watch the entire series on YouTube. The book, an excellent training manual, has been taught around the world and is available in English and Spanish. You can buy the Book, CD’s or DVD’s at the Wholeness Shop.

Learning To Do What Jesus Did (9 parts)
Available on Youtube

Dear Friends,

This verse from Ephesians 2:10 says that: “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us do!” The implications for us are that when God created us, we are the “Crown of His Creation.” Of everything He created only we are created in His image. Only we are able to come into His presence and fellowship with Him. Only we are created with a will and the ability to accept, or reject His invitation for intimate relationship with Him.

In addition to all of this it also says that: “…we are created to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Before we were even born He had laid out the “good works” that we were to do.

Keeping this in mind, who would try to stop us in our pursuit of what God has planned in advance for us to do? Our enemy Satan! Remember he hates us because of who we are and the position we have with our Father God.

This past weekend I taught on Shame/Rejection and Abandonment. During the preparation of this presentation I thought about the times in my life when Satan tried to discourage me or stop me from experiencing those good works God had prepared for me long before I was even born.

The earliest one I remember was the death of my Father. I was 18 years old when my father was killed as a result of being beaten to death by a group of four men who were never brought to account for what they did. I had a good relationship with my father so this trauma left me feeling angry and abandoned. This could have easily turned me away from the path God had me on. Fortunately when I was in my early thirties God helped me deal with this and the shame, anger and abandonment I felt were completely healed.

Shame may come as a result of things done to us but also things that we do to ourselves. “One story I remember was when a young man came up to us on Friday for prayer for his right ear. He had injured it swimming and could barely hear. When we prayed Friday night there was some improvement. He came back Saturday afternoon and we prayed once more and again on Saturday evening. Each time there was a little improvement. At first we were just praying for the physical healing but during the last session the Lord revealed to us that part of the problem had to do with an inner healing issue.

I asked him about this and he said that he liked to jog early in the morning. On one of his runs he was hot and sweaty so he jumped into an icy cold river to cool off. When he got out of the river he noticed that he was nearly deaf in his right ear. He said that he felt ashamed and embarrassed and that he was to blame and he had a hard time forgiving himself. As I prayed with him he was able to forgive himself and immediately God healed his ear.

When he came back Sunday morning he had this radiant smile on his face and told me this story. “Each Sunday when I walk to church I wear my iPod cranked all the way up so I can hear it. This morning as I was walking to church, I had to turn it way down because it was hurting my ears. I can hear perfectly now!” That’s how he knew he was healed.

When we allow God access to those areas of pain the shame and rejection begins to erode and be healed in our lives. This is the work of the Holy Spirit; God comes to us and shows us unconditional love. He transforms us and shows us our worth in Him. He will show you the truth that you are a very valuable part of the body of Christ.

Remember, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us do!” Ephesians 2:10

God bless,

Mike

RIDING SHOTGUN WITH GOD!

I’ve received some very encouraging feedback on my new book. It is filled with over 150 testimonies of miraculous healings I have personally witnessed. Give it a read. You will be encouraged to see how God is still moving powerfully today.

You can order directly from our store at THIS LINK – Riding Shotgun With God

“Learning To Do What Jesus Did” is available on YouTube.

In addition to the 9 DVD series being available through Wholeness Ministries you can now watch the entire series on YouTube. The book, an excellent training manual, has been taught around the world and is available in English and Spanish. You can buy the Book, CD’s or DVD’s at the Wholeness Shop.

Learning To Do What Jesus Did (9 parts)
Available on Youtube