Quotes from Carolyn Custis James

We view men's gifts as vital to the church. In contrast, we caution women to exercise their gifts discreetly to avoid causing problems or trespassing some invisible line — which changes location from church to church, sometimes even within the same denomination.

The noble calling to rule and subdue the earth in God's name was perverted, as male and female tried to rule and subdue each other.

God has never given up on his original dream. No matter how bad things get or how broken and hopeless the world seems to be, God's vision is still the game plan.

God has delegated to us--to all of us--a profound responsibility for what is happening all around us and for the care and wise stewardship of all creation.

No tactic of the Enemy and no entrenched blindness on our part have the power to deter God from seeing his vision for us to completion. God's secret plan has now been revealed to us; it is a plan centered on Christ, designed long ago according to his good pleasure. 'And this is his plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ--everyting in heaven and on earth' (Ephesians 1:10)--including his sons and daughters.

Our oneness...leaves DNA evidence that Jesus has been here.

Submission is not an occasional event. It is a lifestyle. It isn't a negative obligation on women, but the natural outworking of the gospel in every Christian's life. Submission is an attribute of Jesus, so it ought to show up in all of his followers.

Never talk about submission without talking about Jesus, and in particular of the cross. Jesus' version of submission is thoughtful, strong, purposeful, and sacrificial. It involves the full and determined embrace of his Father's will (which governs everything Jesus does)3 and the voluntary pouring out of his life to rescue a lost world.4 Submission is both. It is redemptive. It is the gospel. It is a way of showing Jesus to the world.

God calls women to run—to trust him and invest ourselves in the race he has marked out—to participate, contribute and fight for what is right.

Even the idyllic garden of Eden was a war zone. The command to rule and subdue put God's image bearers on high alert that fierce resistance lay ahead.

God created his daughters to be ezer-warriors with our brothers. He deploys the ezer to break the man's aloneness by soldiering with him wholeheartedly and at full strength for God's gracious kingdom. The man needs everything she brings to their global mission.

The ezer is a warrior. Like the man, she is also God's creative masterpiece--a work of genius and a marvel to behold--for she is fearfully and wonderfully made. The ezer never sheds her image-bearer identity. Not here. Not ever. God defines who she is and how she is to live in his world. That never changes.