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, Family, Gratitude, Growing, love, mindfulness, Personal, Uncategorized

Never Alone!

Your Creator did not create you to drop you off and leave you to fend for yourself. God is with you, has been with you and will be with you, every step of the way. There is nowhere you can go that God is not already there.

King David, the great Israelite King shared his understanding of this amazing truth, which can be found in the Old Testament book of Psalms, where he says:

”Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night, ” -Psalm 139:7-12 ESV

God is the ”STUFF” of His creation and because of that, He is everywhere. Wherever I go, He is there. He is inside of me and outside of me. He knows every part of me. The hairs on my head are numbered, my thoughts belong to him before they roll off of my tongue and there is nowhere I can go, mthatbHe is not there. He lives in my heart, speaks to my mind and blesses me with ongoing conversation.

Whatever I do, He knows. Wherever I go, He’s there. There is nothing that can ever separate me, because He has made a way, where there was no way and therefore I am never alone and I never will be. And neither are you or will you every be alone.

You will never have a problem that God cannot solve. In fact, you will never face a problem that God has not already solved. His Spirit speaks to you, guides you, directs you in your thoughts, actions and reactions to a place of discovery where you can choose His way and wisdom.

No matter what fear you are facing or what darkness you might find yourself going through, you do not have to be anxious, because God is your love and light, chasing away the fear and illuminating the darkness. You are never alone! You are loved and you matter more that your limited human mind can understand. This is what you need to get, believe in and never ever let go of: YOU ARE NEVER ALONE!

Blogroll, Creativity, Family, Friendship, Gratitude, Growing, love, mindfulness, Personal, Uncategorized

Love And Light!

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. -John 1:5

Light illuminates and chases away the darkness. Darkness cannot exist in the presence of light, because light will always overcome darkness. As we talked about in an earlier blog: “Overcoming Fear With Love” The opposite of love is not hate, it is fear. Whenever there is an absence of love, then fear manifests and raises it’s ugly head, but the very moment that love enters the field, fear is chased away.

When love is present, fear disappears and when light is present, darkness has to disappear. The fear and darkness in our lives is represented by our disappointments, depressions dysfunctions and diseases, which we tend to elevate as very real things, but the truth is that they are not so much things as they are a representation of the absence of things. Negatives reveal that something is missing and what we often see as a problem that needs to be solved, is really an answer that needs to be discovered.

The answer we are looking for is going to be found by bringing love and light into our lives. When we bring love and light into our lives, the fear and darkness have to disappear. Today is the day that you discover your supernatural power to win out over worry, overcome oppression and claim what has been taken away from you.

Decide to get rid of fear by embracing and empowering love. Decide to take on and take out darkness by shining bright the light that flows out of the love that your Creator has for you and that you share with others in every way you can dream or imagine. Challenge your thoughts of fear and darkness with love and light and you will be amazed at how your mind is freed up and emptied out of the negative, to make room for the positive that actually begins to move you forward spiritually mentally and physically.

Submit to love and light and you will discover the supernatural that enables you to overcome, chase away and move on from all the things that have held you back for so long. The big question is: How do I submit to love and light? Here are a few steps to help us head in the right direction:

1. Open Your Self To Receive Love!

2. Share Love With Everyone In Everyway You Can!

3. Let Light Flow From Your Love And Illuminate All Other Sources!

4. Work To Illuminate The Lives Of Others!

5. Live Love And Light!

Blogroll, Creativity, Excuses, forgiveness, Friendship, Gratitude, Growing, mindfulness, Personal, Suffering, Uncategorized

Forgiveness Is Freedom!

I woke up and fond myself in a prison of my own making. It’s bars were comprised of the memories which I had woven together with my unwillingness to let go and forgive those who had wronged me. I eventually discovered that I was my own judge and jury and that to be free, all I had to do was forgive, let go and the bars that held me in and kept me from moving forward would melt away and offer me sweet freedom to live, really live the life I was created for.

Forgiveness is not for the other person, it is for you and me. When we forgive, it offers us the opportunity to obtain our very own peace of mind. When I seek to get even with someone else and attack them because I feel they have done me wrong I am really attacking myself, for in the spirit, we are all connected. Getting them back does not fix my thoughts and so I’m still stuck with a very serious problem.

This is why our thoughts are so powerful, because what I am thinking about you is really an expression of what I am thinking about myself, because through our Creator we are all connected and the same. God is love and we were created by love, in love and for love. Love unites us, joins us together and makes us one.

This love has the power to set us free to live an amazing and blessed life or we can abuse it and totally miss what we were created for. Real love does not just love self, it also loves others. And real love leads and empowers us toward forgiveness, for forgiveness is freedom. I don’t have to live a life addicted to pain, love sets me free, if I will just claim and enjoy my freedom.

One of the greatest powers we have been granted is the power of choice. We choose to give power to what someone did to us and empower their wrong, so that “the wrong” is calling the shots in our life and living or we choose love which leads to forgiveness and live in the power of our created purpose and enjoy the freedom that allows blessings to continue to flow into and through our life.

It really is all a matter of where you decide to invest your faith. What do you really believe in? Do you believe in the love you were created for, by and in? If you really believe, then you have all the power you need to overlook and overcome any sin committed against you. Face your feelings, feel them, work through them and then choose love which leads to forgiveness, which always ultimately sets you free to live the miracle.

Love is the way, forgiveness is the challenge and freedom is the reward…