Quotes about Empowerment

In God's eyes, women are not pawns for trading, brides for consuming, bodies to traffic, or passive spectators. They are his image bearers. They are his ezers. That Jesus was willing to die for his daughters tell us how much he truly values us.

By making us 'a little lower' than himself, God affixed the highest possible value on his daughters and his sons.

God's vision for us doesn't just reassure us that we matter and that our lives do count for something. God's vision compels us to look beyond ourselves, to ponder a picture of how things were meant to be that leaves us aching for his will to be done on earth as it is in heaven, and to look for ways to participate in moving the world toward that goal. One of the biggest issues confronting us today is the battle cry of Amy Carmichael and the burning challenge of Half the Sky.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.