Sometimes we ask What is God’s will for my life? when we should really be asking Who should I be? The Bible has an answer: Be like the very image of God. By exploring ten characteristics of who God is—holy, loving, just, good, merciful, gracious, faithful, patient, truthful, and wise—this book helps us understand who God intends for us to be. Through Christ, the perfect reflection of the image of God, we will discover how God’s own attributes impact how we live, leading to freedom and purpose as we follow his will and are conformed to his image.

Take comfort in knowing that God hears you. The story of Hannah in 1 Samuel tells of one woman’s personal heartache and trust in the One who could fulfill her desires. She poured her heart out to God, and He heard her. The Our Daily Bread devotions selected for this collection reassure you that God is with you, God is for you, and God hears you. The personal stories and Scripture passages lift you up and remind you that God is bigger than the trials you face.

Kevin Giles has been writing on women in the Bible for over forty years. In this book, What the Bible Actually Teaches on Women, he gives the most comprehensive account to date of the competing conclusions to this question and the issues surrounding it. To understand the bitter and divisive debate among evangelicals over the status and ministry of women, it needs to be understood that those who since 1990 have called themselves "complementarians" argue that in creation before the fall God set the man over the woman. Thus, the leadership of the man and the subordination of the woman in the home, the church, and wherever possible in the world (the whole creation) is the God-given ideal that is pleasing to God. It is this "theology" that Kevin Giles deconstructs and shows to be without a biblical foundation. Giles shows that he is fully conversant with the complementarian position and yet is unpersuaded by it. He sees it as an appeal to the Bible to preserve male privilege, similar to the appeals to the Bible to validate slavery and Apartheid; appeals to the Bible made by some of the best Reformed and evangelical biblical scholars, and now seen to be special pleading. Carefully studying the limited number of texts on which complementarians predicate their theology of the sexes, Giles finds not one of them actually teaches what complementarians claim. Furthermore, complementarians too often ignore the texts that are very difficult for them. In this book the ordination of women gets only passing mention. The constant focus is on whether or not the Bible subordinates women to men as an abiding theological principle.

Equipping a New Generation to Live Out God’s Design This thorough study of the Bible’s teaching on men and women aims to help a new generation of Christians live for Christ in today’s world. Moving beyond other treatments that primarily focus on select passages, this winsome volume traces Scripture’s overarching pattern related to male-female relationships in both the Old and New Testaments. Those interested in careful discussion rather than caustic debate will discover that God’s design is not confining or discriminatory but beautiful, wise, liberating, and good.

Popular speaker, teacher, and author Sharon Jaynes (more than 235,000 copies sold) reveals the stories of women in the Bible who had meaningful encounters with Jesus. With her trademark biblical perspective, Sharon spends time with Jesus' mother, Mary, the woman at the well, Mary Magdalene, and others, and brings to life their experiences with the forgiveness, healing, and love of Jesus. As Sharon explores how God interacted with women of the Bible, she uncovers some surprises and is excited to share the news with readers today--God has great dreams for them and continues to transform women from insignificant to highly esteemed disgraced to full of grace guilty to forgiven Readers will discover God's heart and hope for them as He lovingly exchanges their heartache, hopelessness, or shame for the beauty of wholeness.

A fresh, creative look at the underlying meaning of the Gospels that stresses the many dimensions of God's relationship to humanity.

Pentecostal and charismatic churches should be at the vanguard of raising female leaders. They share a history grounded in the pioneering ministry of Spirit filled women. They have formal structures of ordination based in giftedness rather than gender. And they develop their theology out of a shared spiritual experience that overcomes the barriers of class, race and sex. Despite these potential forces for equality, women in many churches still experience sexism, and find it much harder than men to rise to senior positions of leadership. This book responds to this situation. It is driven by a passion to reclaim the tradition of empowering women. It seeks to provide the next generation with theological and practical tools that will help them follow the leadership of the Spirit in pursuit of their goals and dreams. Raising Women Leaders brings together the expertise of authors from various scholarly disciplines, exegetes, theologians, historians and philosophers, along with leadership theorists and practitioners, all from diverse denominational backgrounds. Together, they share the belief that the gospel facilitates liberation from oppression and encourages all people, women and men alike, to flourish in life and ministry.