Michael Joe Harvell

COOL HOPE!

We talked a little bit yesterday about W.W.J.D? (What Would Jesus Do?)  We discovered three things that Jesus did:  He was busy teaching in the churches, preaching the “Good News!” and healing the sick!

We then ask ourselves another important question:  WWW.DO? (What Will We DO?)  If we follow the example of Jesus, then there are three things that we must do.

The first thing that we must do is “Learn and Teach!  We need to put ourselves in a place of learning about God and His will for our lives.  As we begin to learn about who He is and about who we are in and through Him, we become qualified to help others to learn from our learning!

Second – We Need To Live And Preach! When you are presented with God’s Word, it should challenge and change you!  We should always walk away from an encounter with God’s Word as a different and better person.  A good question to ask God and ourselves is:   “God what do you want to change today?” God’s message is Good News!  The sermon that we preach is not with words, but with the actions and reactions of our lives.  We need Good News and our world need Good News!  And you get to be a part of receiving, being changed by and sharing the Good News!

Open your heart and mind to God and His Word today! Listen for what He is saying to you about who He has created you to be and what He has created you to do!  Live in victory!

Grace & Hope!

Do you remember when it was all the rage to wear one of those “W.W.J.D?” bracelets? It seemed like everyone had one!  You were supposed to wear it as a reminder to ask yourself:  “What Would Jesus Do?” As you answered the question, you were to then find the motivation to do the right thing!  The problem was and is – A lot of people ask the question, but they fail to let the answer make any difference in their life!

In Matthew 4:23-25 we read about what Jesus did! He taught in the churches, preached the good news and healed the sick!  Thinking about what Jesus did and does has got me to thinking!  Maybe we need a new initial set! How about WWW.DO? = What Will We Do? Because of what Jesus has done and is doing – what will we do?

I would like to suggest three places to start!  We will take one place a day for the next few days!

First – We Need To Learn And Teach! Discipleship has got to be more that just a fancy church word in our vocabulary!  We need to put ourselves in a place where we can learn from God through His Word!  We need to learn, so that we can teach!  We like to think that we know it all, but when we are honest with ourselves – we know that we don’t!

The truth is:  You are coming out of a battle, in the midst of a battle or heading into a battle! The best way to be prepared for battle is by learning from God about who you are, what you were created for and how God plans to use your life for His glory!  We should always be preparing for the next battle!  What is it in your life that God needs to deal with, so that you can help others to deal with it in their lives?  As God teaches you to deal with your stuff – you get to help others deal with their stuff!

Here is another look at the difference between saying you are a Christian and actually following Christ!  Hope you enjoy and think!

Hope, Buddy & Mr. David!

You are not an accident and your life should not be lived by accident! You were created on purpose and for a purpose!  And Jesus came, walked upon this earth, died on the cross, was resurrected from the grave and is seated in Heaven for a purpose!

Life is about so much more than just going through the motions. Jesus steps into your life and invites you to step into His life, so that He might take you somewhere!  The goal of Jesus is to help you BECOME!  Jesus wants to help you become all that God created you to become.

When Jesus invites you to get into relationship and follow Him, it is with the intention to “make” you into the something that God created you to be.  You follow and Jesus will make!  That really takes the pressure off!  I don’t have to make myself into anything.  I just simply have to follow Jesus!  Step by step, day by day and life situation to situation.  As I follow Him – He will make me into something special!

What are you going to be? As you live you life, day in and day out – what are you becoming?  When we really start to follow – God will use us to help others to follow.  As we allow Him to make a difference in our lives – He will us our lives to make a difference in others!  We get to participate in the supernatural!

Are you accomplishing the supernatural? You could be!  You should be!  You just have to take the time to follow Him and He will make you into what you need to be and help you to do whatever it is that you have been created to do!  You are important and you do matter.  God has an amazing plan for your life!  Don’t miss it!

Gracie Loves To Swim!

Every person matters to Jesus! He wants everyone to come into a life changing relationship with Him.  Jesus wants everyone to come and be a part.  This is why He invites us.  Jesus says “Follow Me!”  He will not force Himself into a relationship with us – the choice is ours to make!  He offers the invitation to follow and we decide if we will.

Life with Jesus is much simpler than most make it! He leads and we follow!  Here’s the good news:  You don’t have to figure out the way!  Just follow! It is in the process of following that Jesus makes us into the something that God created each one of us to be.

There is one thing that is very important for you to understand:  Following Jesus is not cheap! It is going to cost you something.  When Jesus called the Disciples to follow Him, the Scripture teaches that each one left what they were doing to follow!  You will have to let something go, leave something behind, so that you can follow!

You’ve been thinking about following for a long time. You love Jesus and you even say that you are a Christian, but are you following Him?  You know that there has to be more than what you are experiencing, but keep asking yourself:  ”How do I get there?”  You will have to leave something behind!  What is it that is holding you back and keeping you down?  What is it that you need to let go of and walk away from so that you can walk after Jesus?  Let’s all get honest and get free!

Hope At Awards Day!

God is interested in You! I’ve been reading and studying my way through the book of Matthew, specifically focusing on the life of Jesus and I can’t help but notice that Jesus was and is really into people!  He walked into their lives and He talked into their lives and He made a difference in their lives!

God is interested in the ordinary! Another thing that I noticed is that Jesus is interested in the ordinary!  Most of the time we see Him investing most of His time and energy with ordinary people!  Jesus will use the ordinary in extraordinary ways to bring glory to the Father!  We don’t have to be flashy to have the attention of God, just faithful!

God wants you to be fulfilled! I know – it may be hard for you to believe, but God really is interested in you and your life.  He wants you to succeed, be happy and experience fulfillment.  We tend to get in the way of His plans to bless us with our own manipulated and messed up schemes!  Just get out of His way and let Him work on, in and through your life!

You matter to God! God cares about what is going on in your life!  I want to encourage you to take a little time today and all through out this week to talk and listen to Him!  Really seek to discover the truth and experience the reality of how much He cares for you!

I am sure that you have all seen the Apple commercials talking about the difference between a PC and MAC!  This video and the ones to follow take a look at the difference between a Christian and Follower Of Christ!  I hope they make you think and I hope you will enjoy!

Do you love God? I mean really – Do you love God?  Because 1 John 5 says that if we love God, then we will follow His commands!

1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well.  2 This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands.  3 This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome,  4 for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.  5 Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

Loving God means living according to His will! I love God and I want to follow His commands and I want to live according to His will, but I must confess that I sometimes mess this thing up!  And when I mess it up, I don’t feel like I love Him.  I know that deep down in my heart that I do love Him, but sometimes I let my love for myself get in the way of my love for Him!  But I am not going to give up, because while I am not perfect, I am forgiven!

I do love God and while I sometimes allow the flesh to get in the way of my Spirit, I am not going to give up or give in! And you don’t have to give up or give in either!  If you really love God, it does not mean that you will not ever make a mistake or commit a sin.  If you really love God it means that when you do make a mistake or commit a sin – that you realize it, are sorry for it and are willing to do whatever you need to do – to make things right.

God loves you and you love God!  Live your life today for Him and His glory by taking the small steps of obedience that take you away from the selfishness of the flesh and into the freedom of the Spirit!

Repentance has become known as one of those big church words that scare most people away, before we even take the time to give it any real consideration.  Just hearing the word repentance – causes our mind to shut down and engages our mouth to start making excuses, while our feet are looking for the nearest and quickest get-a-way!

It really does not matter what we call it.  The reality of life is this:  We all need to repent –  u-turn, change direction, do a 180!  Not a single one of us living on this planet is perfect!  We all make mistakes and even though we hate to admit it, we fail to do some of the things that we know we should and end up doing some things that we know we should not!  The Bible calls this – not doing what we should and doing what we shouldn’t – sin!  You can call it whatever you want to call it!

The fact is this:  If you and I are honest with ourselves, we must admit that we mess up and miss the mark!  If we mess up and miss the mark, then we must need to u-turn, change direction, do a 180 – in other words – repent!  To repent is not a bad thing – it is simply an acknowledgement that our life was headed in the wrong direction and a change is now being made to head it in the right direction!  Change so that your life is headed in the right direction is a good thing!

When we repent, u-turn, change direction, do a 180 – God is able to do some amazing things in our lives:  He is able to bring refreshing, which we needed and didn’t even realize we needed!  He is able to bring about restoration and bring us back to a better place than we could ever get ourselves!  And He gives us revival to light our fire from the inside-out, so that we might burn bright for His glory and the blessing of everyone!