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.

Sometimes You Just Need To Sing!

Sing And Love It!

One of the big challenges of life is figuring out how to clean out your head and heart!  Our head gets filled with all kinds of stuff, some of it is good and some of it is bad!  Some of the stuff that comes thorough our head flows into our heart and it is not always good, uplifting and positive.  This stuff can do more harm than good, if left unattended.  This why we need to regularly step aside from the hustle and bustle of life and do a little cleaning in our head and heart!

What thoughts have you allowed to come into your head that rob God of glory, drain your of energy and push down others?  These thought have to be taken on and taken out, or they will send negativity and discouragement into your heart and then you are in serous trouble.  It’s easier to deal with and get rid of a head problem, than a heart problem.  Take the negative of the world out of your head and replace it with the positive of the Spirit!

If it happens that your heart has become polluted by this junk of the world, then you will need to spend some time with the Master.  Only your Creator can help you remove the stuff that does not belong in your heart.  Identify what the areas of challenge are and start to find Scripture that speaks to those areas.  Claim the promises of God’s Word and use this new power to chase away the stuff that does not belong.

Now, with a right heart and ready mind – sing for God’s Glory:

See and seize the opportunity God has given you!  Your life is filled with missed opportunities, don’t focus on what you have missed, look for and focus on what is in front of you.  You have a opportnity that is waiting to be taken for a ride!

Inspect your life, find what God has given you and how you can best use it for His glory and man’s blessing!  You have been gifted with all kinds of talents and abilities.  All of these can be used to make life better for others, while gaining glory for God!

Never stop expecting, appreciating and utilizing God’s blessing!  God created you and He created you for blessing.  God’s goal is that His blessing will flow into and through your life, when this happens He gets glory!  Look for, be thankful and use what God has given you to share His greatness!

Guard the glory!  The glory of God is exactly what the Devil wants to stop, so you know this will be the place of battle.  God has given you all that you need and what God has given you is just the right size, so wear it well and you will be glad you did!

Show It Off For God’s Glory!

Get In To Win!

What do you do when you get that perfect gift for Christmas?  You just can’t wait to show it off and share it with others.  God has given you the perfect gift in His Son.  And with the perfect gift of His Son, God has also given your life purpose, meaning and destiny.  Don’t keep this to yourself, share it, show it off for God’s glory!

Dress your best, look your best, feel your best!  Be you and be the best you anyone ever could be!  God gave the Wise Men a star and they were not ashamed!  They were blessed to be on the journey and shared with anyone and everyone that they crossed paths with.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 says:  9“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

You are not perfect and you will make mistakes.  The truth that we hate to admit is that we all make mistakes,  Admit your mistakes, seek forgiveness, work for restoration and move forward in the journey God has mapped out for you.

Don’t let a religious judgmental spirit keep you from giving God glory!  We are surrounded by judgmental people!  Most of the time when someone is judging, they are judging because they don’t want to look at or deal with something in their own life.  Don’t let this get you down.  Don’t let this get you out of the will of Your Creator.  Don’t let this get you off the track that the Master has you on.  Follow the star He has given you and discover a place where you can give Him greater glory!

Watch out for the “messed up mind” mentality!  God created you for greatness and glory! Anything less is living way below were you were created to live.  You were created by God.  You were created on purpose and for a purpose.  God’s grace is sufficient, so lean on it and allow it to flow into and through your life!

One of the things you will have to continually work on is your Spirit!  Watch, protect and keep your Spirit pure!  This is constant work and it demands that you spend time with God in His Word.  This time in His Word will guard and grow your heart.  It will challenge and change you.  The Word and prayer are two of your most important tools – use them wisely and you will be glad you did!

Look What The Lord Has Done!

Look What The Lord Has Done!

You don’t have to feel guilty about the blessing of God!  Blessing is what God does!  I have started to notice that a lot of people in this world will try to make you feel guilty about God’s blessing in your life.  When you start to live a faithful walk that takes you away from what people want you to be and into what God wants you to be, it makes people uncomfortable, because every time you experience success, they have to think about what they are not doing that they should be doing for God’s glory.  Rather than allowing the conviction to move them to obedience, they will often let it move them to justification or excuse making, which almost always ends up causing them to want to point the finger at you.

I know this, because I have observed it in my own life.  For a long time, I was doing good things, but not necessarily the right things.  When I would see someone else accomplish the supernatural, I would judge and make excuses.  The Spirit showed me, that this was really just an attempt on my part to cover up my unwillingness to step out on faith and obey.  God wants to bless everybody.  If God is blessing you, don’t feel ashamed or embarrassed, because anyone who judges you, has the same opportunity as you.  If they are not being blessed, it is usually because they have chosen to keep listening to the same self-defeating, self-justification self talk that has been holding them back from God’s will for years!

David said in Psalm 8:4-5  4 What is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?  5 You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor.  God has chosen to create you and God has chosen to bless you.  Blessing is the plan and work of God.  God crowns you with glory and honor, so that you can give glory and honor back to Him with your life and the way you live it!

God wants us to be an example of His goodness!  God does not bless because you deserve it.  God blesses because He is good and when we learn to live in His goodness, blessing is a natural part of what flows into and through our lives.  When God does bless us it paints a clear picture for the rest of the world:  If God can use me – He can use anybody!  The fact that God would use me and bless me, should not discourage, but encourage everyone around!

Another word about blessing:  When God blesses you – it is just the right size!  You don’t have to worry or wonder!  God knows you better than you know yourself and God is willing to do great things in and through your life, if you are willing to let Him.  God will not give you more than you can handle and God will not expect more out of you than you can give.

God works in every life that is willing!  You are the only excuse that matters!  If you can learn to deal with the excuse of you, then you will find that God’s blesses flow into and through your life and your life becomes powerful for giving God glory!  Figure this out, align your life and you will be glad you did!