Father to the Fatherless

During that time I felt the Lord say to me, “I want you to be a father to the fatherless.” Since I work in youth ministry, there was a clear connection.

by Chris Meckley

On Friday, during the spiritual gifts impartation prayers, I felt called forward to receive prayers for the gifts of faith, knowledge, and wisdom. After the prayers I sat down and began to pray for the armor of God over me. During that time I felt the Lord say to me, “I want you to be a father to the fatherless.” Since I work in youth ministry, there was a clear connection.

Bishop Thad got up and prayed for people to receive the spiritual gift of shepherding. I thought, “Well, that's an area I already have a strong gifting in, so I’ll pass on that one.” Then he explained further, “I call this the parenting gift.” I was like, okay! God, I guess I'll come up for prayer prayer to receive that gift as well!

On the last night, and to my surprise, Fr. Chris prayed over me to be a “Father to the fatherless”. We sat there in the Holy Spirit for a minute, and then he started praying the armor of God over me, just like I'd been praying the day before. It was an amazing confirmation to see how God repeated these themes through different people over the course of two days. It was fabulous!