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.
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What Are You Living For?

Fruit Of The Spirit?

 

“If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.”  Galatians 5:25

The verses right before this verse tell us that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance!  We toil almost everyday to earn money and position, so that we might purchase these things.  We buy things every week, only to discover that what they do bring is only temporary.

The qualities mentioned above cannot be purchased, but they can be received into our lives, as we learn to live in, listen to and love our Creator!  When we seek to live a life yielded to the Spirit, the natural by-product is a life that is filled by the Spirit and a life that is filled by the Spirit experiences love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance!

We don’t live to produce these qualities, we produce these qualities as we live in a trusting love relationship with the Spirit!  Love and trust today and watch the fruit come into season tomorrow!

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Greater Strength!

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Be Strong!

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.”  Ephesians 6:10

The only way to make it through another day is by finding strength to depend on, a strength that is greater than your own personal strength!  It does not matter how strong we are, we are still weak under the pressures and challenges of this world that we live in.

The good news is that we are not dependent upon our strength alone to make it through this day.  We have the strength of the Lord waiting to assist us as we face the worst that life has to throw at us.

We have His mighty power that is ready to come flooding in and wash away the frustrations and challenges of life.  Remember today:  You are not in this battle alone.  Your Creator is with you and He has just what you need to make it through to the blessing that He has waiting for you!  G3!

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A Little Praise!

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“The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.”  Isaiah 40:8

I am nothing!  He is everything!  We get so full of ourselves and so self-impressed with our made up, manipulated and self designed pedigrees, but it does not change the reality:  Without Jesus – I am nothing!

Anything good that I am – He has made me and allowed me to become!  I can take no credit.  Some would say:  “But you had to yield!”  I could not even make the choice to yield without His grace, power and goodness!

I love God and I love His Word and I am so thankful that when all else fails and I have nothing that I can count on, that His Word endures and lives powerfully forever!  G3! = Give God Glory!