Quotes from Carolyn Custis James

we are God's eyes and ears, his hands and feet, his voice in this world. He didn't just level the playing field between men and women; he raised the bar sky high for both sexes, for he wants his image bearers to aspire, to push ourselves, and to reach toward the high calling he has entrusted to us.

The God of justice, goodness, righteousness, and beauty created a world that is perfectly designed to reflect who he is.

with a keen eye to take in every detail, we are to focus on who he [God] is, see the world through his eyes, love what he loves, grieve what he hates, and join his cause.

there's a deep desire among Christian women to serve God, heart and soul, with their Christian brothers. Yet, in the church--even in some of the best situations--male/female realtionships are the source of some of our biggest hurts, conflicts, misunderstandings, and tensions on both sides.

The Bible's message for women doesn't depend on ideal circumstances, but applies fully to those who live in the brutal outskirts of society where poverty engulfs, education is nonexistent, women's bodies are ravaged, and lives are in constant peril simply because they are female.

no life is ever beyond the reach of the gospel's restorative powers, no matter how a woman's story plays out.

Men and women working together actually predates men working with men and women working with women. It would be one thing if God confined this male/female team to home and family and then mapped out the remaining territory into separate spheres for men and for women. But he didn't do that. Their mission--together--is to rule and subdue the whole earth on his behalf. Men and women together.

The widow becomes God's Exhibit A to teach the world (and his people in particular) how far we have to go before our thoughts and actions line up with his.

our brothers cannot be the men God created them to be or do the job God is calling them to do without their sisters. Together, we are God's preferred method of getting things done in the world.

When men are called to full-fledged kingdom living but the other half of the church is asked to sit on the sidelines, there is no Blessed Alliance, the bride of Christ limps, and we misrepresent God's oneness.

God's image bearers were divided, and the battle of the sexes commenced. Instead of ruling and subduing the earth, they turned against one another and sought to rule and subdue each other.

We need a global conversation because the Bible itself is global. God's Word has never been the exclusive property of the elite. God's Word is for the world. If anything, the Bible gives priority to the weak, the oppressed, and the poor and is tougher on privileged people who hold the reins of wealth and power but refuse to wield their advantages for the good of others.

Sometimes walking with God means learning truth requires means rethinking your entire life.

God's tactics are counterintuitive to our male-centered world, but therein lies the surprise for the Enemy, for the world, and for us. For when men and women are allied together, richer discussions result in better decisions, the elimination of blind spots, and a greater kingdom force in the world. If you don't believe me, just compare Esther, Mordecai, Mary, and Joseph each operating solo with what they accomplished by working together.

No matter what the challenge or adversity, my ironclad conviction is that God is always good, is always on his throne, is always working, always knows what he is doing, and that his love for me never stops.

From what I can see, women and girls are a rich and largely untapped goldmine--a powerhouse of blessing and gifts for the church, of strength and wisdom for our brothers, and of enormous good for the world. After all, women do hold up half the sky.

Rich, collaborative, interdependent relationships between God's sons and daughters are vital to both genders and make the body of Christ stronger. The Blessed Alliance fuels the kingdom of God and must not be displaced by an atmosphere of tension, fear, and mistrust.

When God looks at the earth--as though peering in a mirror--he wants to see himself reflected back. And the place he wants to see the clearest reflection is in his image bearers--both as individuals, but more importantly, in our relationships.

This debate has repercussions on how we live for God, how we relate to our neighbors both near and far, and how we connect with our Christian brothers. It affects the valuing of women, the quality of our marriages, and the teachings and behavioral patterns we pass on to our children. It shapes our ideas of what it means to be part of the body of Christ, how we develop and use our gifts, and what Jesus asks of us in fulfilling his mission for the world.

In Genesis God is multiplying the mystery of the Trinity in his image bearers by creating another individual who stands on level ground with the man and is completely different from, yet one with him. The oxygen hasn't grown thin after all. God is still vision casting--this time for male/female relationships.

The book of Ruth proves the point. "It is not good for the man to be alone" (Gen 2:18). The point being that men actually need their sisters to step up and answer God's call on their lives.

Focus on the wife as her husband's helper has led to the belief that God gave primary roles and responsibilities to men, and secondary, supporting roles to women. It has led to practices that communicate that women are second class citizens at home and in the church. None of this is true. There is nothing second class about God's vision for his daughters, and the ezer holds the clues.

We represent him [God] in this world--speaking and acting on his behalf. He is counting on his daughters along with his sons to be guardians of the whole earth and to rule it as he himself would.

Jesus firmly and consistently reinforced human equality by spending a lot of time in the margins of society, most notably in relationships with women. He didn't simply bring relief and comfort to the down and out. He engaged, recruited, and mobilized for his kingdom people who didn't count for anything in the eyes of society or of religious leaders. His interactions with women violated patriarchal propriety and repeatedly shocked his disciples.