The Importance of Prayer and Fasting

So much in scripture is said about prayer.  One can determine from how often and in how many different ways God’s Word talks about prayer that it is pretty important.

In this post, we are referencing a couple past blog posts about prayer for the reader to review along with providing SAGC’s Prayer List (also found on this blog on the menu under “Prayer”):

1. The Importance of Prayer
2. The Importance of Prayer, Part Two
3. Prayer List

Also, this entire week, Laticia McDonald, a friend and a follower of SAGC as well as member of the SAGC Prayer Group, are hosting a prayer event.  Please join us for this event!  It is for anyone – it is for our families, our communities, our world affairs, our churches, the animal kingdom and the earth – however the Lord leads you to pray!  Corporate prayer is powerful.  Let’s come together and “… in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”  (Philippians 4:6)

Fasting is another important activity for Jesus followers to partake in.  SAGC has a page dedicated to fasting, it can be found here.  We encourage the reader to review the Fasting Outline and partake in fasting with us this week as well.

Sharing this prayer by May Tripp, founder of Animal Christian Concern (ACC), a Christian animal welfare organization, whose tireless campaigning and dedication was to awakening the Christian Church to it’s duty of care toward fellow creatures in the animal kingdom.  ACC is located in the United Kingdom, England, Leeds, and Roslyne Smith, fellow blogger on Shepherding All God’s Creatures and my friend, is now the hostess of ACC’s Facebook page.

ACC (Animal Christian Concern) “Alpha and Omega” Prayer

Christ Jesus,
You are the beginning and the end.
In you all things were created
And in you all things are redeemed.

Christ Jesus,
You are Lord of Creation.
It was for all that you gave your life
On the Cross, a perfect sacrifice.
Take now, to your open arms,
Our grief for your creation:
For your wildlife, struggling against extinction;
For the hunted and the trapped;
For the abandoned and the homeless;
For your food animals, unnaturally imprisoned,
Transported and slaughtered in terror;
For your animals cruelly used as laboratory tools.

Christ Jesus,
In us you live as Risen Lord.
Our hearts plead with you now to carry the
Pain of your suffering creatures,
Even to the least of these.

The darkness of the world binds them
As it binds us, O Lord,
And only your love can free us to live
In your light.

Christ Jesus, come.
Redeem your world.
Amen.

By May Tripp

You can purchase a copy of Roslyne Smith’s book, Animal Welfare Through the Cross: A Collection of Animal Christian Concern Articles, here.  All proceeds go to further the cause for animal welfare.  This prayer is located in Article 2 of the book.

Thank you for following and reading our blog, we hope you are blessed by it and will share it widely.  ~Kathy