All posts by mjharvell

Welcome, friend—I’m glad you’ve pulled up a chair on the front porch of my little corner of the internet. My name is Michael Joe Harvell, and I live my life with one simple mission: to glorify God, encourage people, and leave this world a little better than I found it. I’m a husband, father, pastor, writer, Jeep enthusiast, and front-porch thinker who believes that life is best lived on purpose. I serve as pastor of Eureka Baptist Church in Anderson, South Carolina, where I get the joy of preaching, teaching, and walking with people through the ups and downs of everyday life. Over the years, I’ve discovered that faith isn’t just about Sunday mornings—it’s about living every single day in the presence and power of God. I’m also an author. My books—including The Grace Exchange: How Forgiven People Forgive People and The Word Works—grow out of the sermons, stories, and lessons I’ve learned on this journey. I write in a style that’s conversational, a little front-porch-rocking-chair, and full of stories, quotes, and Scripture that point us back to the goodness of God’s Word. When I’m not writing or preaching, you might find me sitting outside with my Bible and journal, cruising the backroads in my Jeep Gladiator, or sharing a meal and some laughs with the good folks God has put in my life. I love helping people find peace in their spirit, strength in their body, and encouragement in their soul. This blog is simply an extension of that mission. Here you’ll find devotions, encouragement, reflections, and practical insights for living a life of purpose, peace, and joy. So grab a cup of coffee, pull up a rocking chair, and stay awhile—I’d be honored to walk this road of faith with you.
affirmation, appreciation, bible, change, faith, God, grace, Gratitude, Growing, journey, Lessons, life, personal growth, scripture, self improvement, Suffering

It’s All Good!

Many years ago, one of my best friends tuned his back on me, stabbed me in the back multiple times and began the unraveling of a life that I had spent all of my life trying to build and grow. The confusion, heartache and stress that it brought into my life, ultimately brought me to a place of just wanting to die. I asked him multiple times what was going on, what had I done in an attempt to find out how I might could fix what was obviously very broken. I never found out the answers to any of the thousands of questions that I had and eventually that became okay, because at the end of the day – that’s life.

As I sit here this morning, thinking about how grateful I am for the blessings that God has poured out upon my life, I can’t help but think back to those very dark times when I really didn’t care if I made it though another day or not. While I did not want to live, because the frustration, heartache and pain was just too much, God never left me. His presence was always with me, holding me and keeping me safe from myself. God used a lot of different things and people to help put the broken pieces of my life back together again. I am sure that to others I appeared broken, confused, lost and probably best just forgotten, but to God this “ole boy” was a different story.

Only a small handful of people really know the struggle between light and darkness that I was engaged in and of those that would say that they did, most of those people did nothing to help me, instead they looked down their noses in judgement and speculated in their gossip. It’s sometimes seems that others get their good feelings for themselves in the misery of others, which makes absolutely no sense to me, but I am sure that I have been guilty of the same.

At some point, the God, Who never left me, helped me to find my way out of the darkness and into His marvelous light. All of my life, I have witnessed God doing amazing and beautiful things through ordinary people. I now have a better understanding of how God uses the broken to bring blessing and it has changed the way I live by changing the way I see life, others, myself and God.

While I was lost in the darkness, wandering around trying to make sense out of the senseless and discover the purpose which I had lost somewhere along the way, God was preparing me to receive a gift, a new and improved outlook which reminds me that “God Gives Beauty For Ashes!”

To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes,the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD,that he might be glorified. -Isaiah 61:3

My point is this: Whatever is going on in your life at this particular time – EMBRACE IT! In my ole country boy way of putting things, I would just have to say: “It’s All Good!” It is true that God uses even the bad for our good as we love and trust Him. Life is probably not going to work out the way you think it should, no matter how good your thoughts and plan might be. Things will happen. Some days the sun will shine on you and some days the rain will fall, but remember this: There is a God, Who loves you and who has a plan to bless you. According to that plan, He will use even the bad for your good as you love and trust Him…

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The Main Thing!

It is easy to lose focus and before we know it, we forget what is really important. We get distracted and tend to miss out on what really matters. We can seem to figure out why our life is not working the way we know it could and should.

The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing! Sounds simple enough, but the truth is that this ends up being one of the biggest battles of our earthly existence. Just a couple of weeks ago, most of us were celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We know that it’s a big deal, because Jesus died on the cross for our sins, so that we could be forgiven and restored to a right relationship with God our Creator. Jesus was buried in a grave, but Jesus did not stay dead. Through the resurrection power of God, Jesus was raised from the dead, defeating sin and death. The same resurrection power that bought our salvation, restoration, redemption. Is the same power that enables us to live a victorious life here and now.

Resurrection Is Life! We were created for blessing and victory. The battle is putting the old self to death and the only way that ordinary you and me can accomplish that extraordinary task is by allowing the resurrection power of God that flows through Jesus to flow into and through our life and living, so that we can put to death the flesh and come alive to the Spirit.

It’s a classic FLESH VS. SPIRIT battle! God does not just save us, so that we can miss hell and go to Heaven. God saves us, so that we can immediately begin to live in a relationship of love, power and victory with Him. A relationship that makes the impossible, possible. A relationship that allows ordinary you and me to do extraordinary things to be a blessing to others and give glory to God.

Stop letting life distract you and keep the main thing the main thing by focusing on and growing your relationship with God through Jesus and the filling of the Holy Spirit…

    1. The next step is getting out of the way of the new self!