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.
“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” 2 Corinthians 5:17New Relationship!
If we are in a relationship with God through Christ Jesus, then we are a new creation. The old sinful person we used to be has gone and is no more. The words “new creation” indicate that we have been changed into something new, different and special. Being renewed in Christ is to be made into something better.
It is sometimes a struggle to remove the old sinful self and totally enjoy the renovation of our new and better lives. In fact, you may find that it is still a struggle today, but know this: if you will stay faithful in your relationship with God, He will stay faithful to work in and through your life to renew you and rid you of the sins that seek to keep you from the better life that you were created for.
Colossians 3:1-3 says: “Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of Heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Think about the things of Heaven, not the things of earth. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.”
Colossians 3:10 says: “Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like Him.”
There is a better life for each of us to live. We cannot live it in our own limited power, but we can live it to the fullest in the strength of our Creator, Who loves us and has an amazing plan for our lives. Take some time on this first day of the New Year to think about how you can enjoy living as His new and improved creation. God bless and lived blessed!
I believe that there are universal principles that have the ability to make a big difference in each of our lives, if we will work to put the principles into practice. Reading the principles is a start, but only a start. Knowing the principles are good, but not good enough. Talking about the principles is heading in the right direction, but there has to be more than talk. We need action, because the principles will work, if we will work the principles.
Jim Rohn once said: “You can’t hire someone else to do your push ups!” Each of us have hard work that we need to do physically, mentally and spiritually, if we are going to experience the fulfillment of success and victory that we were created for.
Each of us have been blessed with the opportunity to live extraordinary lives, that our Creator allows us to share with one another. It’s only an idea, until you put it into practice. Ideas thought in our heads produce possibilities, while principles practices in our living produce growth.
Here is the very simple truth: Work the principles and the principles will work for you! Learn the principles and then put them into practice and watch as amazing things begin to manifest in your life. The Bible is full of instruction and direction for living the fulfilled life, but the instruction and direction has to be about more than facts and knowledge that we have put inside our heads. It has to be truth that we believe in our hearts that motivates us to live a different kind of life, day after day, after day.
During the next year, we are going to go on a journey to try to learn the principles and while we are learning them, also put them into practice in a consistent and persistent way. I want to invite you to join me at Grace Place each Sunday morning at 11 AM to learn about the principles and be challenged and encouraged to put them into practice.
I really believe that this New Year is all about a New You – the YOU that your Creator created you to be. So let me encourage you right here and now to do three things in getting ready to take this journey:
1.) Think about and decide that you want the better life that you were created for.
2.) Believe that God desires for you to have it and because of what He has done for you, you deserve it! (That’s what GRACE is all about!)
3.) Get ready to put the principles into practice in the new year, so you can grow into the new you!
You can do this and the amazing and fun part is that we get to do this together! Live blessed, it’s a great way to give your Creator glory…
When one thinks of sharing grace, they think of happiness and fulfillment, and rightly so, because there is much happiness that comes from the sharing and receiving of grace. Grace in its most purest form is God giving to us what we could never earn and what we certainly cannot deserve. It is a beautiful gift that keeps on giving in so many different ways.
When we started the Grace Place Ministry a couple of years ago, it was in response to the leading and teaching of the Spirit. Grace had so touched and impacted our lives and we simply wanted to in some way do something more than just talk about it. We wanted to not just receive it, but share it with others, with anyone and everyone that we can.
In the two years of sharing grace, I have learned a great many things. Here are just a few that I hope will encourage you and help you to know how to pray for us:
1.) To really share grace, you must continue to receive grace. You can’t share what you don’t have. And you don’t have what you won’t receive. We all need grace and when we realize this and open our lives up to it, then it is amazing what begins to happen in so many different ways. Our Creator provides us with grace everyday for that day. Receive it, so you can share it and share it so others can receive it.
2.) To really share grace, you must be willing to get out of your comfort zone. Sharing grace will take you to places that you would never take yourself. You will have to do things differently than you had planned, because once you start sharing grace and people start receiving the grace that you are sharing, then a whole new movement of miracles begins to take place. You cannot share grace and stay where you are, because grace moves you and this is really a beautiful and magical thing.
3.) To really share grace, you must be willing to deal with a little mess. One of the things that I catch myself saying a lot, now a days, is that “Sharing Grace Is Messy!” If you like a clean and tidy schedule, then you probably don’t want to start sharing grace. If you want to stay and enjoy the comfort of a padded pew, then you probably don’t want to start sharing grace. If you want to sit behind a desk and feel like you control the world, then you probably don’t want to start sharing grace.
Sharing grace will bring people and things into your life and many of these people and things are wonderful blessings right from the very start. Sharing grace will also bring people and things into your life and many of these people and things will break your heart and challenge your spirit. But to really share grace, you don’t get to pick and choose – you just simply share and let grace do it’s thing.
I would not trade the journey that I began two years ago for anything. I have learned so much and I am still learning today. The biggest thing that I have learned is that there is still a whole lot that I have to learn. As my Creator gives me the grace, I will learn and use my learning to share His grace in even more amazing ways.
May God bless you on your journey, as you receive and share the amazing gift of His grace…
Michael Joe Harvell 