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.
Blogroll, Growing, Healing, love, Personal, responsibility, Uncategorized

You Are Your Responsibility!

You are responsible for you! If you do not take responsibility and make effort for your own blessing and growth, then who will? You are a magnificent creation of the most high God and if you truly believe that, then you are going to take the ”stuff” of God that you are and work with it to become all that you have been created to be.

Look in the mirror and what do you see? You should see an amazing, beautiful, creative force for blessing staring back at you. You are love created by love, in love and for love. You are made in the Trinity image of God as a whole being of body, mind and spirit. You are worthy of blessing, favor and honor. In the mind of your Creator, you always have been and always will be worthy, which makes you a supernatural vessel for blessing. Embrace and celebrate your whole self each time you see your reflection, because this is who you are and so much more.

”Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone,without comparing themselves to someone else, for each one should carry their own load.” -Galatians 6:4-5

The biggest part of taking responsibility for yourself, begins in acknowledging who you are in all your created magnificence of becoming. This enables you to let go of and give up the destructive patterns of behavior that ego has manifested in your flesh, so that you can reconnect with the universe and open yourself to the miraculous.

What do you need to work on? What do you need to let go of, so you can grab hold of the blessings you were created for. Ask and answer this question and you are on your way to experiencing a fulfillment that most people only dream of. Your life is a book written and how it is to be read is up to you. Take responsibility for your choices, decisions, actions and reactions. Watch your destiny take shape and love, miracles and blessings become a part of your everyday reality… Love & Light!

Blogroll, Gratitude, Growing, mindfulness, present, Uncategorized

The Present Is Your Present!

Today is a gift and that it why it is called ”the present”. Past is yesterday, it gone, over and there is no need to dwell there. Tomorrow is the future and not here yet, so no need to get distracted by it. Today is what we have and if we live it wisely, it has the potential to be absolutely magical.

You are an eternal spiritual being. You are an eternal spiritual being, who gets to live in a body of flesh and experience a human existence. This is not your total life, but it is your present life and the great tragedy is that so many of us are missing it, because we are stuck in the past or distracted by the future.

If we’re not careful, we end up living life in the wring direction. We tend to move out of the present and into the past or future, because we get caught up in living life from an attitude of desperation, rather than appreciation. We allow frustration to fill the void of unrealized dreams and broken promises. Gratitude is the key that opens up our life ability to overcoming it all, so that we might fulfill our created purpose.

”But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed. For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies.” -I Corinthians 15:51-53

In this present moment, we live in our connection with eternity. Who you are, right now, in this present moment is who you are in reality. You are love, because you were created by love, in love and for love. You are a miracle who produces miracles and as you learn from your past and live the present in fulness, the future opens up and offers you expanded opportunity to live, learn and grow.

Don’t miss this present moment. Everything you are looking and longing for, can be found from this place. Live in the joy of this incredible moment and watch dreams become reality, miracles become common place and blessings become the natural by product of living.