In this episode:

How did Tina get into counseling?

What lies has she seen that women and others believe?

What are the truths that we need to believe to combat these truths?

How are women beautiful warriors?

How did Tina’s experience lead to the book?

Where can people find the book?

Links:

Tina’s website is https://tinayeager.com
Flourish-Meant is accessible from https://tinayeager.com/flourish-meantpodcast/
Beautiful Warrior is available on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Beautiful-Warrior-Finding-Victory-Against/dp/1563092301/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1R1437M4M886Y&keywords=beautiful+warrior+tina+yeager&qid=1562526246&s=books&sprefix=tina+yeager+b%2Caps%2C139&sr=1-1
The publisher’s site has my book listed on this page: https://www.newhopepublishers.com/shop/beautiful-warrior/

Listeners can follow me on 
Facebook via my author/speaker page https://www.facebook.com/tyeagerwriting/  or the Beautiful Warrior page https://www.facebook.com/beautifulwarriorbytinayeager/Twitter at https://twitter.com/tyeagerwritesInstagram at https://www.instagram.com/tina.yeager.9/ Linked In at https://www.linkedin.com/in/tinayeager/Pinterest at https://www.pinterest.com/tyeagerwrites/

In this episode:

How did Pastor George get involved in ministry?

What happened when George got overwhelmed and burnt out?

How did God call George back into ministry?

How did God lead George into a new calling once he “retired”?

How did George get his first book published?

Links:

https://followingthebook.net/

In this episode:

Background on Kwabena and his heart for the children in Africa.

What is Oak Manna Charity?

How will Oak Manna empower the youth of Ghana?

What is the vision of Oak Manna?

What is the future of Oak Manna?

How is Oak Manna Kingdom-minded?

How can people learn more about Oak Manna?

Links:

https://oakmanna.com/

Listen here:

Links:

https://www.unityworshipchurch.org/

http://www.phoenixatl.org/

Listen to the episode here:

In this episode:

How Matt got into missions.

His time in New Orleans.

What brought him to the Czech Republic.

The unity of the church in Eastern Europe.

The spiritual darkness in Eastern Europe and the spiritual warfare that goes on in a largely “secular” society.

Ways to contact Matt and English Connection.

Links:

It’s Time to Connect

It may disappoint you that I’m not going to take a position here on the travel ban or the executive order on refugees or the Trump administration. I’ve made it clear I didn’t vote for Trump, but the reality is this: Trump is rolling back to the same number of refugees that Obama allowed for the first six years of his administration, and the travel bans are not new for Democrats or Republicans to do from time to time. It is legal, however right or wrong it may be.

The question I will be answering today is this: if I feel a deep conviction and passion from God about the morality of helping refugees, what should I do? Or what should we do? I’m going to give one option that hasn’t been discussed very often but is more biblical and Christ-like than much of the current conversation.

A couple thoughts before I give my suggestion.

It is interesting how many liberal/progressives become interested in doing what the Bible says when they can use it to beat conservatives over the head with it. So much of it is out of context and hyper selective, that it is almost impossible to take seriously. For example, I saw a post from someone on the liberal side where they quoted from Leviticus about taking care of the foreigner, etc. Setting aside the contextual problems, should we do all that Leviticus now says about how we treat people? I would suspect that person would not support such a broad stroke when it comes to other laws and rules in Leviticus.

Perhaps some people respond well to being called names, lectured and beat about the head with the Bible, marginalized and demonized for genuinely held beliefs, but it doesn’t seem to be working from my perspective. Since I’ve heard how many people dislike the “judgment” and “Bible-thumping” that they claim comes from one side, I find it fascinating how quickly it is resorted to in arguments from the same people. One should not be surprised when that approach doesn’t work.

It is possible I’m giving some liberal/progressives more credit than they deserve. It may not be designed to work, to bring people to spiritual truth, to unify under principles of the Kingdom of God, to follow the truths of the Bible. For some it may simply be another weapon to attack a human enemy with and further divide, a way to express anger and vitriol, which is not the purpose of the Bible, in any debate.

For many, I know they genuinely believe in the Kingdom. They believe in following the principles of the Bible. They believe that Jesus is Lord and desire to follow him with all of their heart. And from that place, their hearts of compassion cry out to help the least of these, those who are hurting and alone, and they apply that heart to refugees. I know they exist. Many of them.

If you are one of those I just described, the following suggestion is for you. It is radical and will only make sense to those of that ilk. The rest can stop reading and dismiss.

What if we really were like Christ? What if we truly took the ideas of the Good Samaritan, and the Gospel of the Kingdom, and we applied them to this situation?

In our cultural and political context, what could we do that would unify and be an amazing testimony to others in our country, and even the world, about the power of the Spirit of God and the Church? What if we were to “be like Jesus”?

America is still taking in 50,000 refugees. We are talking about another 20,000, although this solution could even accept more than that.

Address this letter to President Trump, at the White House. Here is the address: 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC 20500.

You would copy, paste, and fill in the blanks with your own information.

President Trump,

My name is _____________. I am writing to you because I am very passionate about the Christian obligation to help those in need, those that desperately need our help. I appreciate that our country is still helping 50,000 refugees, but I feel that we could do more. So much more. I believe we can give hope and redemption to many if we would simply reach out. 

I disagree with your recent actions on this issue and your reasons for it, and I pray that you will find wisdom and a change of heart. 

Because of my convictions that this is a dire need and an international crisis, I ask that you allow those of us who are willing to take personal responsibility for refugees to come into our country. I ask that you allow each as individuals the freedom to be compassionate with our personal lives and finances to help those in such desperate circumstances. I am willing to make the personal sacrifices to fulfill my own convictions.

I will agree to be legally and financially responsible for the following:

1. Food, clothing, and shelter for up to ________ refugees.
2. Education, health care, and job training where applicable.
3. If the refugees under my care commit any crimes, I will pay their fines or serve their punishment.

I am willing to sign legal papers documenting these commitments. 

Mr. President, I believe you – and the world – will see the power of compassion and the heart of God as these families find hope and transformation.

My contact information (phone, email, and address): ____________________.

Thank you and God bless you,

_____________________________

Now, some of you just said “that’s ridiculous” or “that’s impossible.”

“With man this is impossible; with God, all things are possible.” – Jesus.

As a conservative estimate, there are 300,000 churches in America. 300,000. We would only need 20,000 churches to take legal and financial responsibility for one refugee to get back to Obama’s numbers including the Syrian people, less if a church takes a family. That’s, at most, 7% of the churches in America taking responsibility as an organization or supporting an individual or family in their congregation with this conviction.

Some more numbers – at least 1,200 churches in America are “megachurches” with more than 2,000 people attending every week. They could each take a family of four and cover more than a fourth of the number of refugees needed.

Of course, I’m being stingy with some numbers. Why would only 7% of the churches in America take on the responsibility of a refugee? Surely more than half support more care to the foreigner and the refugee. That’s 150k churches.

Can you imagine the story if the White House got 20k letters from people willing to do this radical thing? How about 50k? How about 150K? Could we really take care of 150k more refugees in America?

If the Church would decide to be the Church, then yes, we could. We would be Jesus’ hands and feet in a more real and relational way that would truly transform people.

Even if Trump did nothing, what a story and testimony it would make. I can only imagine how heaven would sing.

Or we could continue to sue one another and beat each other over the head with the Bible. Maybe that will work one day.

Peace.

Daniel records these visions and puts them in context, giving us empire and king as a reference for when this happened, and additionally, if we knew the time in which he wrote it, a further understanding of its importance.

As the Persians and Medes conquer Babylon, and in the first year of Darius I, Daniel begins to fast and pray to God for the Jews after reading the writings of the prophet Jeremiah.

Jeremiah had written about how Jerusalem would lie “desolate” for 70 years but God would bring the Jews back. The time was coming soon, and now the empire was under new management. Would this be fulfilled soon?

I want to note that Daniel was reading the modern prophets, the people who heard from God in his day. He was a student of the scripture and open to seeing what God was doing today, here, now, through those scriptures. I hope we do the same. We can.

Now, Daniel’s response could have easily been to just wait it out and see. Why not? He had a good position in the empire, he was taken care of, safe. God had protected him time and again. Just wait and see. God will do what he’s going to do.

But that’s not Daniel’s response. After seeing God’s promise through Jeremiah that there would be a Jewish return to Jerusalem, Daniel enters into prayer and fasting, calling on God to do what is in His heart. He uses this time to align his desires with the will of God.

He humbles himself by wearing sackcloth and putting ashes on his body, cultural signs that he was in mourning and humble. And he prays to God.

Daniel’s prayer is fascinating, but the most important part for us to understand is that he identifies with the people of God that had been in exile for their sin. Even though the scripture never says that Daniel sinned, in fact uses him as this righteous model time and again, and even though Daniel held a prominent position in the new Persian empire, Daniel chooses to lump himself in with the sinful people that need forgiveness and deliverance.

As Christians and people in the Kingdom of God, is this our response? When we see the redemption God has planned for us and the people of God, do we humble ourselves? Do we fast and pray for God’s redemption, plead with him desperately, knowing that only God can accomplish his will? Do we identify with those that sin, those that need redemption, even though we have been redeemed? Do we cry out on their behalf?

Or do we look at those that sin and think they deserve their misery or blindness? Do we have pride as if we deserve our redemption? Do we criticize God and his plan (“how can a God of love exile his people for 70 years”)? Or do we simply go about our own lives and become immersed in the cares of life that perish with the using?

God desires a people like the former, a people like Daniel.  That’s what God is looking for, a people who understand the power of the Kingdom and the heart of God for redemption, a people who are willing to be and live humble, a people willing to sacrifice time and effort in prayer and fasting, a people willing to align themselves with the heart of God rather than a political or social agenda.

As we move forward in chapter 10, Daniel continues to war in prayer, to the point that the angel says Daniel’s prayers helped Gabriel overcome the Prince of Persia.

Daniel didn’t quit, either.

In conclusion, let’s remember that it was under the Persian kings that Ezra and Nehemiah went back to Jerusalem and took Jews with them to rebuild the worship in the Temple and the walls around the city. Daniel’s prayers had impact. Let’s remember Daniel as we seek to move more people in our nation and culture to redemption and the wonderful realm of the Kingdom of God.

Peace.

Getting back to the chronology in the story of Daniel, after Belshazzar messed up and lost the empire of Babylon, Persia came in and took over. We pick up with Darius, an important historical figure, and how he organized his empire into 120 provinces and placed governors over them. Daniel was one of those governors.

Important to note that Daniel was a leader in the Babylon Empire and then transfers over to the Persians. Was his prophecy over Belshazzar famous enough that Darius trusted him? Some may have seen it as political maneuvering – Persia was growing and gaining power during the end of the Babylonian rule. This is speculation, but Daniel had enough integrity and wisdom to be a leader among a conquered people (Jews), a conquering Empire (Babylon), and the Empire that conquered Babylon (Persia).

Daniel proved himself among the other governors as an excellent leader, to the point that Darius was thinking of putting him over the whole Empire, like a Joseph in Egypt situation.

The other governors wouldn’t have it, obviously. Why would this Jew get to take over the top spot? The problem was this – they couldn’t find anything wrong with him. Nothing. The only way they could get him was through his faithfulness to his God.

Jealousy and pride blind people, especially if their heart is rebellious to the truth. A reasonable and intelligent person would look at the evidence – a man who was full of integrity and wisdom, to the point that he was going to be given the top position in the Empire, and did nothing wrong, and radically faithful to his god – and maybe put those together. Possibly, there was a benefit to being radically faithful to Jehovah, even through difficult times. Maybe we should follow this God, as well?

Nah. Let’s take him out. Obviously the solution.

So they go to Darius and manipulate him into signing a law that made prayer to any other god punishable by death. Not realizing their intent to destroy Daniel, Darius signs it.

A quick point about Persian law – it could not be undone. Once a law was signed, it had to be acted upon. Even the King could not undo it. This was the issue in Esther with Artaxerxes and what became the Jewish celebration of Purim.

As an aside, the Old Testament points this out several times, and it is significant in our understanding of why Jesus had to die on the cross and rise again. God gave a law in the Garden that those who ate of the tree would die, and we are all still under that consequence and law. As the New Testament and Paul point out, a change of covenant and law had to take place in order for us to have eternal life. As in Esther, a new law had to be written and established to counteract the previous law. We had to die to sin and be reborn alive in Christ. The Old Law has its effect but the New Law and covenant overwhelms it. The death and resurrection of Christ, therefore, was a legal exchange unto a new eternal realm. There’s lots more to say about that … but I’ll leave it there …

In Daniel’s case, we have to realize that the attack upon those faithful to God still exists. It is a spiritual thing but plays out in political and social situations. Because people are rebellious against the true God, they act out their rebellion in violence and persecution of those faithful to Him. Christians are the #1 persecuted group in the world (not America, but the world … although the roots of that persecution have been laid here, as well). More Christians were martyred in the last century than all the centuries combined. The kingdoms of this world are violently opposed to the Heavenly One that is over them all and take it out on the Heavenly ambassadors.

Jesus spoke clearly about how sharing truth with the “dogs” (the spiritually unclean) is dangerous because they will react violently and attack you personally.

Often, when people reject us and choose to lie and think the worst of us, it has nothing to do with anything we’ve done but more to do with the evil in the hearts of others.

Please don’t take my statements to mean that Christians are perfect. If we have wronged anyone, we should take responsibility and ask forgiveness and take the consequences. But that doesn’t discount the truth of what I’m getting at.

There are consequences for following hard after God. There are benefits, to be sure, eternal and immediate all at once. But one of the consequences is a world that will hate us.

Modern Christians are uncomfortable with this. Jesus also said clearly that the world will hate you because it hated him. This idea that the people of the world should love us and think well of us because we’re so nice is unbiblical. Some will see our love as love and respect us and listen to the truth. But if someone reacts violently and is offended, it doesn’t naturally mean we did anything wrong. In fact, we may have done something very right.

And what we should not do is to stop speaking truth and declaring the love of the Father because people may be offended. I’m telling you THEY WILL BE. It’s a promise. Seek God alone for how we should speak and act and the wisdom in how and where, but don’t allow the world to manipulate us to cease spreading the gospel with their overactive ideas of offense. God knows better how to love than they do.

Daniel didn’t stop praying. He read the law. He knew the consequences. He prayed and remained faithful anyway.

He didn’t fight for his rights. He didn’t seek revenge on those that were against him. He didn’t try to change the law. He took the consequences.

Because he knew he reported to a greater King.

Too often we try to combat the worldly with worldly means. We belong to a more powerful Kingdom than any on earth. We don’t need the laws of this world to protect us or allow us to declare the awesomeness of God. We don’t need to shut people up when they attack us. God is capable of doing that, and he will see that they reap what they sow. Daniel knew this.

Don’t you think that Daniel, who had the King’s ear, had enough influence to fight back with politics and manipulation and the power of the Empire?

“We don’t wrestle with flesh and blood but principalities and powers in the spiritual realm.”

Daniel fought back by remaining faithful, by refusing to stop his radical faithfulness to God, by resting in the truth of the Kingdom of Heaven God had revealed to him. He knew the rest would work out in his favor, one way or the other. He had evidence of it from his three friends and a fiery furnace years before and in his own life. He saw how others, the kings of Israel and Judah and kings of Babylon, sinned and fell into judgment. He knew people reap what they sow.

He trusted all of that instead of responding in kind.

And when he was thrown to the lions, God shut their mouths. And in the morning, Darius was happy to see Daniel alive. And the King threw those attackers and liars and cowards to the lions.

They were torn to pieces before they hit the ground.

Peace.

We should.

Daniel was the greatest figure in Jewish leadership until the birth of Christ; there were others, of course, like Ezra and Nehemiah and different prophets like Ezekiel. Daniel spoke clearly about a coming Kingdom and what that would mean not only to Jews, but to the world.

First of all, Daniel revealed the reality that God’s people did not need to be physically in charge for the Kingdom to be in complete control. Neither did the people of God need to be perfect. The Jews were under judgment from God and subjected to political oppression, and yet the whole of Daniel declares that it doesn’t matter. God is real. There is a Kingdom. And God doesn’t need one of his people to be on the throne for him to redeem and influence the world.

In other words, the fact that they were currently under an oppressive rule and in a foreign land did not make the Kingdom of God less real.

This was an important lesson for the Jews, and they did not fully learn it. When Jesus begins to preach the Kingdom, the Jews were adept at political maneuvering and the experts were experts at looking for a physical throne and a Messiah to take that earthly kingdom back to its height. Jesus had a different calling, a higher one, that didn’t include placing the world under one earthly throne but each individual nation under a heavenly one.

Their rejection of Jesus was not because he wasn’t big enough but because God’s plan was too big for them.

Second, Daniel clearly describes the time frame of when this Kingdom would come. Other prophets, like Isaiah, detail the Messiah himself and connect him to that final Kingdom. Through the dream of the statue given to Nebuchadnezzar and other prophetic numbers, the time of Christ wast the time for this new Kingdom.

And the fact that Jesus’ proclamation was “repent, for the Kingdom of God is here,” would have placed Daniel at the forefront in their minds. They knew history and the stories of the exile – were reminded of their failures daily by their low status in the most powerful Empire in the world at the time, the Romans. Daniel was not too far from their thinking.

While prophetic numbers can be manipulated and confusing from the Bible, combined with Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, Jesus wasn’t the only Messianic figure walking around during that time.

He was simply the only one that died and rose again.

Third, the Wise Men. “Wise Men from the East.” Daniel was educated to be a leader in the Babylonian Empire and served as such. With Nebuchadnezzar and his son, Belshazzar, we get continued references to the “wise men” of the Empire that could not interpret or understand these visions and dreams while Daniel could. Three of Daniel’s friends, also educated as he was, refused to bow to a big golden statue. These four were counted among the “wise men” of Babylon and then Persia.

This was no small thing. These were vast Empires with treasures of knowledge available to them. Babylon and especially Persia were well known for their high culture and education. Daniel was a leader and governor of both great Empires.

How would these men from the East have such detailed information on the Messiah and astrology? Perhaps because Daniel, as a governor in Persia, would have had such a huge influence? Seems more than plausible.

Wise Men traveled from the East – symbolizing these two Gentile Empires and Daniel and his friends – and bowed down to a baby.

Bowing was a big thing. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego wouldn’t bow to a statue under threat of death. When angels show up in the scripture and people bow to them, the angels say, “Whoa. Get up. I’m not the one you bow to.”

The fact that they bowed to baby Jesus was a huge statement. He was not a normal man. He was God.

Those are the main points, but there’s a lot there. Read through Daniel again and think about the Christmas story, about the declaration of the angels of the King being born and the world being blessed, about the Wise Men from the East and their unashamed worship of this little baby, about how Daniel had nothing to fear from any other kingdom on earth because of the Kingdom of God. It’s fascinating and encouraging.

Merry Christmas.

Peace.

We pass things on to our children, whether we mean to or not. While we think of earthly possessions as things we pass down, we also pass down things like character and moral failings.

The religious term for this is family sin, which is debatable under the New Covenant, by the way – Christ breaks all chains. But it doesn’t take a spiritual mystic to see the reality of how sons seek to be like their fathers. As people, we take our cues from the models in our lives, for good or ill, and sons seek to emulate their fathers in a number of ways. This can be conscious or not.

Our family relationships are foundations that we must understand as we grow. We are responsible for our own choices, but the influence can be overwhelming. To be clear, there is healing in the power of Christ and the love of the Father in heaven to set us free from those earthly expectations and reconnect us to the heavenly design.

Belshazzar received Babylon, but he also seems to have mimicked his fathers penchant for pride and boasting.

The new king decides to have a feast. Nothing wrong with a party, but he invites a thousand of the lords of Babylon. A thousand lords … which we can assume included their own retinues, as well, wives and families and servants and such, not to mention his own wives and concubines. A feast for three to five thousand wealthy people? What a party.

Belshazzar gets a little drunk on wine. It’s a party, after all. And then he makes his mistake. He gets people to bring in the vessels of gold and silver from the Temple in Jerusalem. Why? So the wealthy rulers of Babylon can drink wine from them.

Now, it may not seem like a big deal to us today, but God had instructed the Israelites to keep those things clean and holy, for his use alone. Part of the reason Israel was given over to a foreign nation was that they didn’t keep up proper worship and showed off the riches of the Temple to Babylon in the first place (by King Hezekiah).

Therefore, this was a huge insult, and it was intended to be one. Showing Babylon’s superiority over those pesky Jews.

God was not amused.

We should realize that the Jews were not perfect. Far from it. They had done horrible and detestable things. God had sent prophet after prophet that they had either ignored or persecuted or even killed. All to get them to turn and repent, and they had not.

But they were still his people. And as we see in Esther and Ezra and Nehemiah, he takes care of his people even while they were under oppression and punishment.

If you don’t know the rest of the story, God interrupts the feast and writes a message on the wall that scares the crap out of everyone, especially since they don’t know what the message means. Belshazzar offers untold riches to any of his “wise men” that could interpret the message, but they couldn’t. The Queen remembers this guy, Daniel, who was like a god with his wisdom, and so Daniel – after refusing money and wealth – shows up and gives the interpretation of the message:

“Your father had to be taught to humble himself before God. But you didn’t learn the lesson. And you should have learned.

“Your days are numbered, as are the days of Babylon.” In other words, you really messed up.

The king died that night. Darius and the Syrian Empire took over from there.

Christians aren’t perfect. We are far from it. But we are his children, even moreso than Israel was, born of God in the Spirit. We are his Bride. And no matter how imperfect we are and under conviction from God in what we should be doing, God still takes care of us and protects us.

Two things to take from this. First, it is dangerous for individuals or authorities or governments to mock, insult, or oppress Christians. I’m not defending every action by anyone who claims to be a Christian, but as the Apostle Paul says, we have to remember they are not our servants but God’s. And God is able to deal with his people one way or another. If a government wants to survive, it must give freedom to those with convictions from God, whether they agree with them or not.

I’m not suggesting some sort of “Christian” government or a theocracy. That already exists in the Kingdom of God. And I’m not saying that Christians shouldn’t be held accountable to the law. However, a government invites danger and judgment when it instead marginalizes or oppresses the convictions of those born of God, even when it makes it “law.”

Not to mention, the people of God tend to grow closer to Him and stronger when forced to resist unjust law and oppression of the Gospel of God. No nation has been able to kill the Bible or Christianity in two thousand years. Seems prideful to think one can now.

Second, Christians do not have to defend themselves. God is big enough to defend us. Period. Daniel didn’t have to organize a radical protest in the streets with signs or burn down shops and cars to make the point this was a horrible thing to God. He didn’t have to make snarky memes and put them on FB.

God took care of it. The Kingdom is strong enough.

Daniel, however, did speak truth and address the king of Babylon and the judgment that God declared.

Of course we should get involved in the public sphere to use our influence for better communities as much as is possible. But that’s not our primary mission.

Our mission is to declare the Gospel. To the world, that is offensive enough. And the power of God is behind that mission. He may not fight for us to keep more or less of our taxes or get the president we want, but he will always show up for those willing to give their life for the Gospel. Always.

And if God is for us, no one can be against us.

Peace.