This summer I'm sharing a series of podcasts called "The Truth about Women." Throughout the summer I'll be interviewing various women leaders who are way smarter than me. Together we're going to tackle the subject of biblical womanhood--and how we live like the women God created us to be in our world today.

Join me on the Prayer Clinic Podcast to journey through the "Truth about Women" with me. 

Today's blog post is from the manuscript I used to teach "The Truth about Women" at Thompson Station Church on Mother's Day. You can listen to the message here. I will share the "rest of the story" in next week's blog post.was overwhelmed by the response of the people. One high school senior came to me in tears thanking me for teaching truth. Her words were, "We need this so much! Thank you for telling me what I didn't know." 

Sharing that message prompted me to create this summer series on my Prayer Clinic Podcast. Subscribe to the Prayer Clinic Podcast and don't miss a single episode this summer.

 Women were created by God

Let’s look back at Genesis 1:26-27

“Then God said, ‘Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us…so God created human beings in his own image. (to rule over…) In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”

Women were created by God to be Image Bearers.

All of us, male and female were created to be image bearers of God to rule over the rest of creation.

An image bears the imprint of something else. Your children look like you, they have expressions like yours. They might even say things that sound just like you.

Sam could be called the spittin’ image of his Dad. He’s an image bearer.

We are image bearers of God.

Women were created by God to be in community with others.

Note in verse 26, God said, “Let us make human beings in our image to be like us.”  

Who is “us?” –God, the Spirit of God (Genesis 1:1 Spirit of God hovered), and God the Son (John 1 reminds us that "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.") The trinitarian God that we worship is a mystery for sure, but this we know He is 3 in 1. And the unity He has with Himself was broken only once and that was when Jesus hung on the cross paying the penalty for our sins. God’s oneness with His Son was broken so that we could be restored into one-ness with Him.

Why am I making a point of this? Because it’s significant to understanding the truth about women. When God made all of us in His image, He made us communal in nature. We were created to commune with God and with each other.

Because we are communal in nature, like God…

• We have strong desire for intimacy
• We have longing for companionship
• We are made to be good friends

Now let’s look at the specific creation of women in Genesis 2:18.

 “Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.”

 Women were made to be “Ezer Kenegdo”

 In the phrase, “Helper who is just right for him” the Hebrew word for “helper” is Ezer Kenegdo.

• Ezer Kenegdo has two meanings in Hebrew depending on the pronunciation, one is to rescue/to save and the other is to be strong.
• Ezer Kenegdo is used 21 times in the OT; twice referring to woman here in Genesis 2:18 and again in 2:20, 3 times the word is used for nations to whom Israel appealed to for help (Isaiah 30:5, Ezekiel 12:14 and Daniel 11:34, and then get this, the same word; Ezer Kenegdo is used 16 times for God as Israel’s helper 

We can surmise from this understanding of the Hebrew word Ezer Kenegdo translated into “helper” that the age-old interpretation of woman being created as a helpmate that was taken as an assistant of sorts destined to play the support role in the drama of a man’s life is not the truth. This is what I call a ruse—something that is maybe 90% true and 10% false, near to the truth but not quite there. The devil loves to pull the wool over our eyes using these kinds of things.

Much of the confusion and wickedness in the world today are rooted in mis-representation of God and misinterpretation of His Word. Consider how many women have been mistreated, diminished, squelched, and even abused because of a misinterpretation of God’s original design for women.

In all biblical integrity, the role of woman designed by God is as a...

warrior equal to, complementing, and a perfect counterpart for man.

Here is my definition of woman: 

 Every woman is a person of worth created in the image of God

to relate and to live.

She is a warrior equal to, complimenting and the perfect counterpart for man.

That my friends is who we are...but we can't stop here because there's a whole lot more to the story. Next week I'll tell you where it all went wrong.