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.

Something To Focus On!

If it is true that you can’t focus on everything and clearly this is true!  What do I need to focus on?  This is most likely different for every person, depending on where you are and what time of life you find yourself in.  I do think that there are some things worthy of our focus, no matter where we are or what time of life we happen to be living in.  We need to focus on finances, family and friends and faith!

Finances are important because the world we live in is driven by money.  This should not be the case, but it is and I see very little that will change that.  The truth is:  We will either fix our finances or our finances will fix us!  Much of the turmoil and frustration of life comes from a lack of finances.  You can’t live for very long on what you don’t have!  So, we must learn and discipline ourselves to live on what we do have!  I believe that it is God’s desire to bless each one of us and allow each one of us to live a life that blesses others!  Focus on your finances by knowing what is coming in and controlling what is going out!

Family And Friends!  The truth is:  “You can’t live with them and you can’t live without them!”  We all need to spend more time thinking about who we are and what we need to do to be a better family member and friend and less time thinking about what someone else needs to do.  Focus on yourself and the role that you need to fulfill and it might just amaze you at how much better your relationships will be.  Remember:  God has given us each other for a reason!

Faith!  Everything is built upon what you believe!  Belief is so much more important than most of us are willing to give it credit for!  What do you believe and what difference is your belief making in the way that you are living your life?   If we will take some time to focus on God and His will for our lives, we will experience some miracles that cannot be explained!

Fix your focus this week and enjoy God’s work!

You Can’t Focus On Everything!

You Can’t Focus On Everything!  If you stop and think about it for just a minute – it is not even possible, so why do we try?  Trying to focus on everything only causes us to get distracted.  And when we are distracted we tend to miss the main thing, the important thing, the thing that really matters!  The main thing is where our blessings flow, so we must be extra careful to make sure that we don’t miss out!  There are a lot of good things, but good is not good enough, when you are desiring God’s best!

You can’t focus on everything because you will fizzle out!  There is almost nothing that I can think of that I hate worse than a dead, without carbonation, stale soft drink.  God did not create us to focus on everything and when we try, we get out of His created purpose and mess ourselves up.  God gives each one of us gifts for focus.  We all have different gifts, so that when I use mine, it blesses me and you and when you use yours, it blesses you and me, and we get to take care of, minister to and grow each other!  When we each do our part – it all comes together to work for His glory and our blessing!  Remember a fractured focus leads to a fizzled and frustrated life!

You can’t focus on everything because you will miss opportunity!  God gives us beautiful and amazing opportunities to experience Him everyday.  It is these experiences that allow us the opportunity to join Him in doing the supernatural.  We tend to miss God, not because He isn’t working, but because we are not paying attention!  Focus please!

Get It Right!

I have been in church all of my life!  I have been fortunate because most of my church experiences have been positive and for the ones that were not, the Lord allowed me to see things as I really need to see them, so that I would not get to frustrated and quit.  I love the church!  Not the buildings that we see peppered all across our country.  I love the church – God’s idea and concept!  What many of us call a church today is not really a church – not according to God and His plan!  The church is the body of Christ and this means that it is made up of men, women, boys and girls that have received Him into their heart as Savior and Lord.  The people that make up the church are not perfect, but we are forgiven and because we are forgiven, we are working, living and learning to become what God has created us to be.

Because I am forgiven – I am motivated to forgive and not judge others!  When one of us becomes perfect, then we can think about being a judge.  But when one of us become perfect, it won’t be because of what we’ve done, but because of what God has done in and through us.  So even when I get across the perfection life – I still want be qualified to judge.  I guess I’ll just keep living my life, not worrying about others, what they are doing and what they are thinking.  I’ll live my life and enjoy the forgiveness that God has given me and be thankful that He keeps giving me chances to get it right!