Revelation

Last night when I went to see one of my friends she casually slipped a CD into my hand. The CD contained a sermon with the message, "Fasting For Your Mate." (I guess at this point my friend figures that I need all the help that I can get, LOL. Just kidding. =) ). I graciously took the CD and after returning home later that night I took the time to listen to it.

It was great. The pastor used the story of Issac and Rebecca to relay his message about the importance of including God in the process of finding your mate. I listened to the sermon and took notes but after I did so I still felt like I was missing something... I was already familiar with the story of how Issac and Rebecca came to be together and I am well aware of the importance of including God in the process of finding my mate. It was nice to be reminded of these things and the pastor was quite an eloquent speaker but after everything was said and done I still yearned for a more. I felt like I needed a more specific Word, a Word just for me that was relevant to my current situation, because after the listening to the sermon I was still left with the question in my mind, "God, what are you trying to tell me?" So I prayed and I asked God just that and He answered me. Now by sharing with you my own actions I am going to provide you a list of things not to do when requesting revelation from God. (Yall please don't be like me, LOL.)

God took me in my Bible to 1 Timothy 3. Now I've read this particular passage a million times so before I even turned there I remembered that it was about overseers and deacons. So my first reaction was, Jesus, I'm sitting here asking you about a man and you're taking me to a scripture about some deacons?

#1-Don't ask God to show you something then start asking questions and tripping before He even has the opportunity to reveal whatever He's trying to reveal to you. He's God. He knows what He's doing. Just trust Him.

It didn't make sense to me at first but I knew God had led me specifically to that scripture so I prepared to start reading. Now you can look at my Bible and tell if I've read a particular passage or not because if I have then the words are all underlined and circled with notes all in the margins. So because I've read this scripture so much the entire page is marked up and underlined. I started reading but as soon as I got to verse 2 and it started mentioning an overseer I started just skimming over the words so that I could quickly get to the point which I was sure was farther down in the chapter.

#2- Don't rush when God is trying to show you something. Take your time so that you can get the full understanding of what He is trying to tell/show you.

He admonished me to stop acting like Speedy Gonzales and to start over and I did. 1 Timothy 3:1 (NIV) states,

"Here is a trustworthy saying: If anyone sets his heart on being an overseer, he desires a noble task."

Aight, so I read that verse and processed that for a second but then I asked myself the question, What exactly is an overseer? I knew that in the church an overseer is usually like the pastor, bishop, or some leader in the church but I decided to dictionary.com it just to make sure I wasn't missing anything. So I went to the website and popped in the word overseer and this is what came up:

–noun

a person who oversees; supervisor; manager:

—Synonyms 

chief, head, boss, director.

That's when it clicked for me. It was like a lightbulb or an alarm clock or something went off in my head. It was like Ding! Ding! Ding! An overseer is the head and the man is the head of the woman so these positions are one and the same. When a man is looking for a woman he is looking for a helper but at the same time the woman is looking for an overseer or head. All of a sudden I was really excited because I kind of felt like as a woman I didn't have a lot to do with the whole selecting a mate process (besides fasting and praying and living right and stuff) because I wasn't a man so it wasn't my responsibility to be out looking for anybody. But Jesus broke it down and showed me that it's just like when you're searching for a job. The company is looking for somebody to fill a position because they need help but at the same time you should be looking for the right boss, supervisor, or head, cause nothing is worse than having a bad boss. When you take the time to think about it this man will be the spiritual/ physical head of your household so you would want to make sure that you choose wisely. 

So now we can take it back to the scripture and verse 1 can be read like this, "If anyone sets his heart on being a head or husband, then he desires a noble task." Next you see all of the qualifications for an overseer starting in verse 2. There are a total of 15 qualifications listed in the next several verses and since we're looking at this as somewhat of a job description you need to let men know IF YOU DO NOT MEET THE QUALIFICATIONS FOR THE JOB YOU NEED NOT APPLY!!! Don't be trying to let a dude make it because he fine or because he has a 6-7 figure salary. You and I both know it doesn't matter if your boss is fine if he sucks at being a boss (but if he is fine that is always a plus, LOL.) 

Now here are the qualifications:

1) above reproach- not deserving of blame or criticism

2) husband of but 1 wife- no "playas" allowed (if you know he is not a 1 woman man let him go)

3) temperate- moderate, self-restrained, not extreme

4) self-controlled

5) respectable

6) hospitable

7) able to teach

8) not given to drunkenness 

9) not violent but gentle

10) not quarrelsome

11) not a lover of money

12) manages his own family well

13) sees that his children obey & respect him (these should be his values)

14) not a new Christian

15) good reputation with outsiders

Now if he is living a Godly, holy, Christian life then these qualifications shouldn't be too hard to meet, but if he's not then you should be on to the next one. So many times I hear of women who have a list for the qualities of what they think their man should have but here is one that God has provided for us. So if you're looking for a list to pray about this is it. (Don't trip either, because I'm not saying that appearance and attraction aren't important... I'm strictly looking at this from an overseer standpoint.)

 In all, I'm grateful because God continues to show me and help me recognize that finding the man for me is much bigger than the superficial things I used to focus on in the past. My #1 fan and I always joke about dudes "putting in applications" to get with us but if we really think about it that's exactly what they're doing, LOL. Anyways, I thank God for His revelation and I would encourage you to seek Him, like earnestly seek Him to give you the answers for the questions in your life. Pray for wisdom, pray for understanding, pray for revelation because I am a witness that He will answer your prayers. God bless. =)