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Articles
Barbara Wentroble is gifted as a strong apostolic leader with a powerful
prophetic anointing. Her pioneering spirit is evident through her
apostolic prophetic teaching and impartation that releases God’s purposes.
Nations are significantly impacted as Barbara ministers to leaders and churches.
She travels extensively conducting leadership conferences with an emphasis on
releasing the prophetic and apostolic anointings in cities and regions.
With former pastoral experience alongside her husband Dale, Barbara has clarity
and understanding of the authority and functioning of the local church.
Barbara is the author of Prophetic Intercession (Renew Books), A
People of Destiny (Wagner Publications), You Are Anointed (Renew
Books) and a contributing author of Women’s Destiny Bible (Thomas
Nelson). Her book, God’s Purpose for Your Life (Renew Books) was
released in March 2002. Her books may be purchased from her websites
at www.wentroble.org and
www.internationalbreakthroughministries.org
Barbara is President and Founder of Wentroble Christian Ministries. She
is also the Founder of International Breakthrough Ministries (IBM), an apostolic
network of ministers and churches. Barbara is a member of the Apostolic
Council of Prophetic Elders and the International Coalition of Apostles.
Dr. Peter C. Wagner is the presiding apostle of these organizations. She
serves on the boards of several ministries including the Federation of
Ministries and Churches, an international, apostolic network for churches and
leaders. She and Dale serve as apostolic leaders of Glory of Zion Outreach
in Denton, Texas, where they are members.
Barbara is a registered nurse, has a BA from Christian Life School of Theology
and a Doctor of Practical Ministry from Wagner Leadership Institute.
Barbara and Dale have three adult children and 3 grandchildren
WAKING FREE IN THE KINGDOM
If we’re going to walk free and be a part of what the Lord is doing,
each one of us needs an understanding in the area of submission.
Right after 9/11 we took a team into Afghanistan. Up to that point,
frankly, I really didn’t have a burden for women. For people, yes, but a
burden for women, I really didn’t have. In fact, I did very few women’s
meetings because I didn’t want to be known as a women’s speaker.
Sometimes when you’re a woman, people think you are “called” to women’s
ministry. Because I didn’t feel called to women’s ministry but to the
whole body of Christ, I really didn’t spend a lot of time dialoguing
about women’s issues.
As we flew into Pakistan before going into Afghanistan, Daniel Pearl had
just been killed. Some of us just live out on the edge. People asked
Dale, “Dale, what do you think about Barbara going to Afghanistan?” Dale
said, “Here am I, Lord; send Barbara!” Nevertheless, we went. As soon as
we got into Afghanistan, the understanding, if you will, or revelation
of how much the devil hates women was so apparent to me! When we got
into that nation and saw all those women under those blue burkas with
the small mesh coverings over their eyes, we discovered a land
devastated from 25 years of civil war where nothing had been repaired!
The sidewalks were broken, and the streets hardly had a level place on
which to drive a car. It was a horrible, horrible situation. People were
living in buildings without walls and hanging blankets to make walls.
Some of the things that had happened to these women became evident
because under that religious system -- the Taliban – these women became
captives in their own homes. They were not allowed to walk down the
street unless they had a male escort. They were told the very clicking
of their heels on the sidewalk was a seductive sound, and they were
responsible for the lusts in men. We met women who were educated and
beautiful. Many were attorneys, university professors or doctors, yet
under that religious system, they were required to quit their jobs and
stay home.
These women were not allowed to educate their little girls. As we began
to see some things simply put in our face, we began to understand the
deep hatred the devil has for women and the hatred religion has for
women. What we're talking about is not Christianity but about religion.
These women were prisoners in their own homes. They always had to be
under the authority of male leadership and husbands in the home.
We took medical teams – doctors, trauma counselors, dentists—because
trauma has come to everyone in Afghanistan. As the dentists worked on
the women’s teeth, the head of their husbands were right in their face!
That is the depth of control. Religion will always put women in inferior
and servile positions.
According to Matthew 22:35-40, some laws are laws of the kingdom. We’re
in this kingdom, not the kingdom of this world, for we live in a
different kingdom – the kingdom of God. Every kingdom has laws to live
by, and Jesus gives us His laws if we are part of His kingdom.
For example, “a lawyer asked Him a question, testing Him, ‘Teacher,
which is the greatest commandment in the law?’ He said, You shall love
the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all
your mind. This is the first and great commandment. The second is like
it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments
hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
Jesus is saying if you’re going to be part of the kingdom of God, you
need to live by the laws of that kingdom. He said if you just live by
these two laws, you will live in perfect harmony in the kingdom of God.
When we look at the Greek words, the conclusion is that we are to love
the Lord God with our entire moral and mental activity in both the
rational and emotional areas of our lives. That’s totality, isn’t it?
That’s a complete love of God. The second law tells us to love others as
we love ourselves. Many people do not love others because they do not
love themselves. Until they come to the place where they love themselves
the way God intended, they really cannot love others the way God wants.
The psychological field has a term called "narcissism.” Some of you have
heard this word before. It comes from a Greek myth about a young boy
named Narcissus who looked at his own reflection in the water and fell
so in love with what he saw – himself-- his own image! Because he became
so infatuated with himself, he fell into the water and drowned!
“Narcissism” comes from this story. Most people have not emerged out of
that stage of self- love. How many of you know that is not the right
kind of self love?
This inordinate love for self contains within it a view of life
completely self-centered. It’s all about me--what I want, what I like
and don’t like. The root of narcissism is all about building "self" up,
making "self" look good. If we are going to live in the kingdom of God
and obey the laws of the kingdom, we must be set free from narcissism.
If we’re going to love other people as we love ourselves we must love
them with a different kind of love. However, we’re not talking about
self-love because we live in a different kingdom. The laws of God’s
kingdom are supposed to operate in the home, church and in the world.
His laws are not to operate only when we’re inside a church building or
when we are in a cell group, a Bible study, or when we’re preaching from
the pulpit. His laws are to operate at all times and in all places
because we are not in and out of the kingdom. Because we live in God’s
kingdom, therefore, these two laws from the book of Matthew are the most
important laws Jesus gave us. If we live by them, we will automatically
fulfill all the others.
The Biblical teaching on submission comes from a motivation of love. The
best description of that love is the royal law of the kingdom.
Everything we do comes out of that law. Love is not something syrupy,
sweet and wonderful, weak and wimpy – that’s not it. Sometimes love is a
tough love. Sometimes love says, “I love you too much to let you get
away with that.”
When we look at this word submission, Ephesians 5:21 says, “submitting
yourselves one to another in the fear of God.” How many times have we
read that Scripture? Do we see it in the context of the home? Oh, my! It
doesn’t just mean in church or board meetings, or something like that!
Remember, these laws are to operate no matter where we are.
When Paul was speaking of submission, he used the verb hupotasso. Look
up these words in Strong’s, Vines, or other reference books. The problem
is they don’t usually come with a CD so we can learn the pronunciation
of the words. Years ago while speaking in Canada and teaching on some
Greek and Hebrew words, this man came up afterwards and said, “Barbara,
I just want to introduce myself to you. I’m a Hebrew scholar from the
university here.” I said, “Oh, no! Here I’ve been trying to pronounce
these words!” He just laughed and said, “You know, Barbara, they don’t
really know the exact pronunciation. You have the spirit of it; just go
for it!” That set me free! With great confidence, I say hupotasso. Paul
used this word, speaking of submission according to the translators.
When the word is broken down, the tasso means, “I arrange.” God is
arranging some things and hupo means next, after or under. If you put
both of these words together, it means, “I arrange next or after,” or “I
arrange under.” The word translated “submission” was originally a
military term describing the submission of subordinates or soldiers who
line up row after row behind their leader.
Whether we are speaking of our relationships in marriage, in the church
or in other arenas of life, the concept of submission is important. As
members of the Kingdom of God and also members of the army of God, we
should be willing to line up behind one another from a heart of love.
Voluntary submission operates in agreement with the laws of the Kingdom.
Peter Wagner is always coining new words or new terms because we’re
moving into such a fresh new move of God that we sometimes don’t have a
word of explanation. Peter comes along and tells us, “This is what
you’re doing.” That’s the way Paul was in his time. Here was a new
kingdom that was going to require new laws to live by and new ways of
relating to people. Paul then tells those in this new kingdom the way
they’re going to have to live.
This word hupotasso in its active form means, “to put in subjection, or
to arrange after.” Scripturally, this word is used only in terms of the
believer’s relationship to God and Jesus and has nothing to do with
one’s relationship to another individual. God and Jesus alone can demand
your submission. Only the Lord Himself can demand blind obedience from
you.
A number of years ago while ministering in a new area of the United
States during a move of God there, the women had been told, “You are
required to submit to your husband.” It didn’t matter whether the
husbands were born again or not. Many of the husbands were not born
again, yet their wives were told that whatever he tells you to do, do
it. Because he is your authority, therefore, you must do it. They got
into some very weird things in the name of the Lord: wife swapping,
alcohol, sex parties, you name it, all because the husbands told their
wives to do such.
The Bible says to sin not! The Bible does not say sin if your husband
tells you to sin! Paul used the middle voice in this word hupotasso,
which means “to submit our control or to yield” when he talked about
submission. This meaning is the opposite of self-assertion and is not
aggressiveness or some forced thing people are to do. It should be our
desire to get along with others whether in the family, church, or the
marketplace.
The word “submission” is used thirty-four times in Scripture. Only four
of those times is it used to deal with marital relationships. This word
never means to obey, for the word obedience in never used for the
husband-and-wife role. We must know the truth that sets us free.
Hupotasso is a Christian virtue void of delegated subjugation where
someone is forced to submit to something or someone. Submissiveness is a
willingness, an act of free will and should never be forced, compulsory
or demanded.
Many times, broken–hearted women have come asking for counseling because
they have received counsel from a pastor, telling them to go back home
into an abusive situation and submit to their husbands, and their
marriage will straighten up. Well, things may straighten up because she
may be dead. We’ve given pat answers on women and marriage, requiring
them to do things in the name of the Lord when very often they are
living in abuse. Women are told it’s their fault things are not working
out. If they would just be a good Christian wife, things would be
wonderful in their home.
This teaching is tradition, religion, or a doctrine of demons and not
what the Word of God teaches. The Bible does not say to submit to a
demon in anyone. Why would one want to serve a God who says to submit to
abuse, possibly having her teeth knocked out and bones broken, and
children terrorized by some religious doctrine?
The Word teaches that submission is never forced, demanded or compulsory
but is always voluntary and motivated by agape love, the love of God.
Submission includes all believers, not just females. Ephesians 5:21 says
be in subjection one to another in the fear of Christ. Mutual submission
releases the power of the Spirit when the Body of Christ is gathered.
When we come together, we submit to where the anointing is. It has
nothing to do with title or gender but with what God wants to do. Who
does God want to speak through? This purpose should be so in every arena
of life. It has to do with who has the word of the Lord. In home
situations as husband and wife, we need to submit one to another.
For years, we were told, “Your husband will always hear what God is
saying.” When he hears the word of the Lord, he will tell you; and to
that word, you submit. Frankly, no individual has perfect hearing by the
Spirit. All of us, including prophets, miss it sometimes. If there was
an absolutely perfect prophet who never missed it, we would start
worshiping the prophet instead of God! God lets prophets miss it from
time to time to keep us humble and to keep us knowing only He is
perfect. Jesus was the only perfect prophet and heard perfectly clear
all the time. Although we’re growing in it, none of us are there yet. If
we’re going to flow together in a corporate setting of mutual submission
as the Word of God teaches, then, and only then, can we tap into the
power of the Spirit. Being filled with the Spirit burns away all desire
to have our own way, and our concern is that God have His way. No
reputable lexicon suggests that hupotasso conveys the thought of servile
submission.
Jesus gave instructions on how we are to relate to one another.
Referring to two of His disciples, Jesus called them to Himself saying,
“You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those
who are great exercise authority over them. Yet, it shall not be so
among you.” Matthew 20:25-26a. We are not to be like the Gentiles--a
people who always lord their authority over others. The sad thing is we
see this dominion exercised so much in today’s society, even in the
church.
The Spirit of God wants to come and cause us to understand how we are to
live in the kingdom of God. How do we live according to the laws of the
kingdom? What we do is submit where no principles are involved, and you
don’t have to compromise your value system or conscience. This violation
happened to the women spoken of earlier who compromised their conscience
because many loved God with their whole heart.
True submission comes from the heart of a servant. Jesus gave us that
example in Matthew 20:28: “The Son of man did not come to be served, but
to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.” Jesus is always our
pattern and model. If anyone in the whole world should have been served,
it was the King of Glory. Yet, what did He do? He came and gave us His
example. In fact, He said that as I am in the world so are you. He came
to model for us how we are to live in this new kingdom.
He was instituting how to live out the laws of the kingdom. He said, “I
only do what I see My Father doing, and I only speak His words.” When
Jesus came, He put a face on God because the world had no way to know
what God was like. Most of us growing up in religion saw this great big
God sitting on a throne in heaven with a long white beard and a great
big stick, and he's waiting for us to make a mistake. Then, He can hit
us over the head with a smile! We think that’s what God looks like.
Then, Jesus came and forgave the sinner, healed the sick, and told the
woman caught in adultery to go and sin no more. He came to put a face on
God, and bring good news to you! God has a people arising that have come
to put a face on Jesus. Wherever we walk and wherever we go, people can
look at us. Rather than seeing some false image of this Jesus we love by
listening to some of the junk on media, especially in the movies that
show a perverted Jesus, we can put a face on Jesus. We can say, “He
looks like and operates in this way.”
We are moving into a new season on this earth, and we’re learning to
live by the laws of the kingdom and not by the laws of religion,
tradition, or man-made laws that have nothing to do with what this man
Jesus is all about. Had He been one who was served, He could have
demanded servants who would bow to any wish. Rather, He came not to be
served, but to serve and give His life a ransom for many.
While we’re talking about this servant, the Greek word – diakonos--
connotes a slave who gives his life for others. In the Greek culture,
this type of service was very shameful, and not something for which one
would grasp. The first duty of a Greek citizen was to look out for
number one and to achieve his full potential for excellence. Remember,
we talked about narcissism and self–love which found its fullness in the
Greek culture. Jesus spoke against that type of spirit in Mark 10:42,
which depicts a grasping for authority and position not from
servanthood. Greatness is not a goal to be sought. Rather, it is a
by-product of service to others. If we are to be great in His kingdom,
it’s not by demanding authority over other people but by becoming a
servant motivated from a heart of love.
If you have a call of God on your life and a ministry, that call must
always be from the heart of a deacon—diakonos--a servant. If you lose
the heart of a servant you may as well shut down your ministry. It
doesn’t mean you do the same thing all the time, but it does mean that
all that you do is always from the heart of a servant. Remember the
difference between submitting and obedience.
The Greek word peitharcheo means to obey in absolute sway or authority.
However, this word hupotasso is a partnership, a voluntary yielding up
of one’s own preferences in circumstances where no principles are
involved. You don’t have to violate your conscience or go against the
Word of God. Christians, then, should give way to one another to avoid
collisions in their lives together.
An example: A few years ago, Dale and I were vacationing in Canada, and
we got on one of those huge ferries to go across to Vancouver Island. If
you’ve lived or visited in that area, you know these ferries are like
huge ships. You drive your car down onto the lower level and then go up
onto one of the upper decks. From there, we noticed the land came close
together with just a small passageway for these ferries to go through.
As the ferry approached this narrow opening, smaller boats started
moving aside so the ferry could go through.
The Spirit of the Lord said, “Barbara, pay attention. I’m going to teach
you about submission.” What He began to show me was that these small
fishing boats were not insignificant but very important in that it
became a necessity for some to yield. The small boats could have stayed
in their places and could have said to the ferry, “Who do you think you
are? I was here before you. I came first! Therefore, I have a right to
this place.” How many of you know a collision could have taken place?
However, the small boats made a decision to move aside and make room for
the ferry. It had nothing to do with value or importance, but all to do
with a situation where someone needed to yield to avoid a collision. In
marriage, church or community, someone has to yield and be willing to
give up his rights where no principles are involved.
God has a people in this hour that will understand those two
commandments the Lord Jesus gave, for they fulfill all the laws of the
kingdom. We’re going to be a people who submit to one another. It has
nothing to do with gender, titles, position or importance, but yielding
to one another. The result is we’re going to avoid some collisions in
life.
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