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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Three Things You Can’t Do!

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“Since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.  And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God!”  Romans 5:1-2

There are three things that you cannot do, no matter how hard you try!  You can pretend to do these things and many people do, but to what advantage?

You Cannot Save Yourself! Scripture tells us that we are “justified through faith!”  Our being justified (made right) comes through faith, but not just any ole faith will do.  We must have faith in someone or something that matters or it is all for nothing.  We are made right with God through our faith in Jesus Christ!  It does not matter how smart or slick you think you are.  You will never be smart or slick enough to save yourself.  Jesus came and died on the cross – to do for you and me – what we could not do for ourselves!

You Cannot Manufacture Peace! Because we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.  I am not talking about a moment of no worries.  I am talking about an inner certainty that everything is going to be okay as we trust, yield and follow God.  The very best that we can do in our everyday living is to put a band aid on the situations and circumstances that are bringing us down.  When you are made right with God through faith in Jesus, then you know that whatever is going on in your life is being used for God’s glory and man’s blessing as we trust and surrender to God and His magnificent will!

You Cannot Waste Grace! Faith in Jesus allows us to stand and walk in grace!  I think a lot of people now a days are living with a “fake grace!”  We like to say that we have received this beautiful gift from God, but the truth is this: If you have the gift of grace – it will change your life and the way that you live it! I see a lot of people now a days wasting grace, but it’s not God’s grace.  It is a grace that man has made up to justify his doing whatever he wants, whenever he wants and that is not grace at all!  It’s real or it’s fake and the way to tell is by how you are living your life!

Where Do You Stand?

You can’t save yourself, but you can be saved!  Just put your trust in the only One that really matters and let Him take care of the justification.

You can have peace, but you have to get rid of that pretend stuff that you have made up to open up your life to the real stuff that flows out of a growing and meaningful relationship with Jesus!

You got grace just waiting for you to allow yourself to really experience freedom.  Not freedom to do whatever you want, but freedom to do the right things that guide your life into and through blessing!

Realize what you can’t do and get out of God’s way and let Him work!  As God works on, in and through you, make sure that you are living the life that is giving Him the glory and you can’t help but experience the blessing!

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Healing Feeling!

Floating Grace!
Floating Grace!

W.W.J.D?  (What Would Jesus Do?) That’s a good question! But the question W.W.J.D? really gets it’s power when it changes the way we answer W.W.W.DO?  (What Will We Do?)  When what Jesus does – changes what we do, then there are three things that we must do!

Learn And Teach! What are you learning as you walk through this life with God?  What are you teaching to help others to grow for God’s glory?  Everyday we should try to learn something from God and everyday we should try to share something that we are learning with others!

Live And Preach! Are you allowing God’s Word to change the way you live your life?  Is your life being lived as a positive message for others to see, hear and be influenced by?  Everyday you get to preach a message to the world with your life and the way that it is lived – so what are you preaching about?

Love And Heal! What is hurting you today?  Do you know that God wants to take that hurt and use it to heal you and make you better?  But before God can take the hurt and make you better, you must make sure that you have gotten from that hurt whatever it is that you need to get from it.  What is hurting you and taking away from your life?  Why is it here in your life right now and at this moment?  What can you learn from it and how will you let it make your life better?  (Take just a moment to walk back through those questions and really think about your answers!)

God wants to help you and heal you, but you must also be willing to help yourself, so that your life can be opened up to His healing.  When you begin to do your part – God will come in and do some amazing things to make you whole, so that you might share that wholeness with others.  Love God because God loves you and has blessed you with the capacity to love!  Love yourself because you are a special, gifted and talented creation of God!  Love others because it brings great glory to God when His love is shared and grown!

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What Is Your Life Message?

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COOL HOPE!
COOL HOPE!

We talked a little bit yesterday about W.W.J.D? (What Would Jesus Do?)  We discovered three things that Jesus did:  He was busy teaching in the churches, preaching the “Good News!” and healing the sick!

We then ask ourselves another important question:  WWW.DO? (What Will We DO?)  If we follow the example of Jesus, then there are three things that we must do.

The first thing that we must do is “Learn and Teach!  We need to put ourselves in a place of learning about God and His will for our lives.  As we begin to learn about who He is and about who we are in and through Him, we become qualified to help others to learn from our learning!

Second – We Need To Live And Preach! When you are presented with God’s Word, it should challenge and change you!  We should always walk away from an encounter with God’s Word as a different and better person.  A good question to ask God and ourselves is:   “God what do you want to change today?” God’s message is Good News!  The sermon that we preach is not with words, but with the actions and reactions of our lives.  We need Good News and our world need Good News!  And you get to be a part of receiving, being changed by and sharing the Good News!

Open your heart and mind to God and His Word today! Listen for what He is saying to you about who He has created you to be and what He has created you to do!  Live in victory!