World Day of Prayer for the Animals – St Francis Day – October 4th, 2015

Tomorrow is World Day of Prayer for the Animals.  We bring you this prayer, and ask that in as much as is possible that we all hold up the animal kingdom, the churches celebrating with animal blessings, the messages that are being presented all over the globe wherever they are taking place about animals and the need for Godly stewardship – that we would hold them up in prayer.

Blessed be the World Day of Prayer for the Animals!!

Prayer for Animal Blessings

Almighty God, we come together to thank you for the beauty and glory of your creation; to praise you for your holiness and grace; to acknowledge our responsibility to all animals and for our use of the created world.  You have given us the gracious lordship of your creation with all its beauty. But we have misused our power, turned away from our responsibility and marred your image in us.  We ask that you would help us through Animal Blessing events, through this special day of prayer, to regain an understanding of the proper use of our power; to instill and renew in us a sense of obligation, to grasp the importance of our duties for the earth and animal kingdom; restore in us the reflection of your Image.

Lord, we ask of you at this time as we recognize your creation on this special day, please protect the animal blessings events as they are happening worldwide.  Satan, we rebuke you and dethrone you from affecting these events, from affecting the people who attend, from affecting the animals they bring and beyond – from affecting our governments, schools, communities, from the consumers who blindly partake in their abuse though they know not what they partake in; we do this upon the authority of scripture which tells us that if we resist you that you must flee; and we ask Father God for a hedge of protection around these events, around the people, our governments, communities, consumers, industries.

We ask for eyes and hearts to be opened to the seriousness of animal blessing events, that they would not be viewed as simply another fun event for the children; as important as that is, adults and children alike need to learn the seriousness of caring for animals, especially those beyond our pets.  Please forgive us for we have not cared for the world of life you put into our hands, we have not taken care of them and put their needs above our own, but instead we use and abuse them for our own selfish purposes.  We step into the gap and ask for forgiveness. 

We ask that we would turn Lord and not fear, but trust in you and make our treasure the things that are eternal, not being so concerned about ourselves in this life.  We ask that our hearts would be moved to turn from our own selfish ways – Holy Spirit we call on you to move in the hearts of your people, we ask for an animal welfare revival of an epic kind; we ask that your people would begin to look and act like Jesus toward the animal kingdom and shine into this dark world, that in doing so we would adopt lifestyles of kindness and mercy and love which would be a witness to you Jesus, attracting the lost as well as those who have rejected you because we have not shown them your love for the earth and the animal kingdom as we ought.

We lift up our governments, churches, schools, communities, industries to you, asking for a worldview EVERYWHERE that includes animals and right relatedness to them; please help people identify with the fear and dread we cause them (Genesis 9), that instead, we would bring them comfort and that they could trust us; we ask for all those in attendance at animal blessings, that they and the messages will be protected and fall on teachable, reachable hearts.

And we praise you, Lord God, for all the living creatures you have made. We thank you for your love for us and for all living things.  We know not one of your creatures is lost without your knowing (Matthew 10:29). They glorify you, each in their own way, and speak to us of your beauty and love (Job 12:7-10). May we learn to respect them and cherish them for they are your gift to us. Through them may we come to know you better.

Thank you for our lives Lord, thank you that you hear our prayer.  For your names sake, your characters sake, through Christ our Lord ~ AMEN.

 “Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing:
‘To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honour and glory and power, for ever and ever!’” (Revelation 5 v 13)

Thank you for reading and following our blog.  We pray you are blessed by it.  Your comments always welcome!  For more on Animal Blessings, see our special resource page here, thank you.  ~ Kathy