Should We Pray For Animals?

Proverbs 12:10, “A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast: but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.”

Someone recently asked me a good question. They wanted to know what the Bible says, if anything, about praying for animals, particularly for our beloved pets.

Sometime people go wacky, like PETA ('People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals,' or as I like to call it, 'People Eating Tasty Animals' ...lol), elevating animals to the same level as humans. I heard Paul McCartney's former wife, Linda, share on TV the reason why she is a vegetarian, which I thought was a good answer. She said instead of eating dead animals that are fed grain, she just eats the grain directly. That is definitely healthier. But I disagree with Paul McCartney, who said that he won't eat animals because they have as much of a right to live as we do. I ate a Carne Asada steak the other night at the Mexican restaurant down the street from me. I need my dead cow...lol.

I've been seeing TV commercials here in Pensacola for everything from prescription drugs for dogs, to gourmet dog food delivered fresh right to your front door...lol. That is ridiculous! Only in America. The funny thing is that the TV commercials advertising drugs for dogs, show a smiling dog while giving the same warnings that drug companies give for humans... everything from diarrhea, blindness to paralysis...lol. Not my dog! I don't even have a dog. This country is getting weirder every day.

The Bible teaches for us to pray about “every thing” in Philippians 4:6, “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” God gave us common sense. I think praying for a dangerous condition, whatever it is, is foolish when there is something that can be done to correct the safety risk. I feel different about pets though, because I do know the love that people often have for their pets. I've seen men jump into freezing lakes, risking their life to save their mangy mutt. For many people, their pet is like a child to them. So I think it would only be natural for someone to pray to God for their pet. I believe our great God is more human than we can possibly imagine. I mean, after all, God created each and every human being in His own image (Genesis 1:27).

So if a pet means the world to us, I think God understands, just so long as we keep in mind that animals are not the same as people (1st Corinthians 15:39). Humans have a spirit, dogs don't. Animals have a soul (i.e., a mind to think, a heart to feel and a will to decide). But animals cannot compose a song, cannot feel moral conviction, they cannot get saved, et cetera). In my understanding, animals don't have a spirit. Man is a spirit in a body. Sting from “The Police” gets it right in his song, “Spirits In The Material World.”

Most people speak of a human as: “body, soul and spirit.” However, the Bible mentions the spirit first in 1st Thessalonians 5:23, “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” So Sting is correct, we are “spirits in a material world.” Man is not a body with a spirit, but a spirit with a body. When the body is damaged and worn and can no longer house the spirit, “the spirit shall return unto God who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12:7).

Ecclesiastes 3:21, “Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?” The Hebrew word "spirit" (ruach) here means "breath, or life." Here is some exegesis of the Hebrew word ruach.

So "spirit" seems to refer in a broad sense to life. The life of an animal goes down into the earth (ends), but the life of a human goes up (continues). We know that there are horses in Heaven, because Jesus comes back riding a horse. I have often been asked if there will be animals and pets in Heaven. I cannot prove it with the Bible, but I do think so. Romans 8:32 says that if God was willing to sacrifice His only begotten Son, how much more shall He give "all things" to them that love Him (every believer - 1st Peter 2:7). Surely our great and omnipotent God has the power to reunite us with our furry friends. 1st Corinthians 2:16 says we have the mind of Christ. I think our precious Savior would do anything to make us happy, as long as it is right and within His will. I think it is proper to pray for a sick pet, since that is something beyond our control. An animal is life, and all life is sacred to God. In Deuteronomy we find a remarkable passage of Scripture:

Deuteronomy 22:6-7, “If a bird's nest chance to be before thee in the way in any tree, or on the ground, whether they be young ones, or eggs, and the dam sitting upon the young, or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the dam with the young: But thou shalt in any wise let the dam go, and take the young to thee; that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days.”

I had to put on my thinking cap for this one, because I couldn't find any helpful Bible commentary on it. I believe that the Lord showed me the answer. This passage is talking about conservation. God didn't want the dam (female bird) taken because she can still bear more young. God allowed them to take the young, but not the mother. I think God cares about His creation. After all, when God rested on the seventh day, He saw that all the things He made were "very good." Just as we wouldn't want to see someone destroy our work, neither does God want to see men destroy His creation. I find Scriptural support for this in Revelation:

Revelation 11:18, “And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.”

So we see that it displeases God when companies dump toxic chemicals into the rivers, destroy entire regions and deforest entire landscapes, pollute the oceans, contaminate the sea with oil, and all the horrible manmade eco disasters. God is the ultimate environmentalist. In India they hold all life sacred, but they take it to insane extremes. If you ever want to see something bizarre, go look up the Hindu religion online. They literally smear cow dung all over the living room and doorway, thinking that it will bring the blessing of the gods. They mix cow urine, spit and dung with food and consume it, thinking it is honoring their gods. Hindus have over 3,000,000 gods.

In America we take it to the opposite extreme, we don't respect life as being sacred at all. We murder our children in the womb, kill animals for sport, legalize euthanasia in several states, devour massive natural resources worldwide and don't replenish it. I am 100% all for environmentalism, just so long as it doesn't raise animal life to the same level as humans, and doesn't become a political agenda used just to grab power. I saw this great picture this week...

I thought that was great. I cannot back up my opinion that praying for animals is okay. The Bible says in 1st Peter 5:7 to cast “all your cares upon Him, for He careth for you.” Certainly caring for a sick pet is something that we care about. I think it is proper to pray about anything and everything that is important to us. In the case of praying for the tree, it bothered me, because there was something that could be done to correct the problem, and praying about it to me seemed foolish.

I do think though that we need to use wisdom. I think it would be improper to place the same importance in a prayer meeting for someone's sick cat, as placed upon someone's sick child. So I think that our prayers should always be guided by common sense and wisdom. I could be wrong in my understanding here, but I think it is acceptable to the Lord to pray about anything that is grieving our heart. I know that God doesn't want us to worry (Philippians 4:6-7).

All life is sacred to God. We have all killed insects that annoy us, or rodents. But I also think that to just kill ants, stepping on them because we can, is a bad thing to do. I think children especially need to be taught to respect life. On Guam, some children abuse cats and dogs, torturing them. Adults too. Someone shot our family cat on Guam with a .22 caliber gun. I took our wounded cat to the veterinarian and was told that it was a .22 bullet. It cost me over $400 to have the bullet removed. I called the police and they said to keep our cat inside the house. In hindsight, there's really nothing they could have done, because I didn't know who did it. The Chuukese sometimes eat stray dogs on Guam. It's a cultural thing. In China they eat dogs and cats often. That is biblically acceptable. ANY animal may be killed for food (Acts 10:13).

I wrote this article years ago about animal abuse. Animals are precious creatures. God obviously made cats and dogs to be our buddies, to comfort us and bring us happiness in life. Certainly our great and loving God doesn't mind when we pray for those pets. But we must also keep in mind that they are animals, not humans. Anybody who says that people are animals is deluded. 

A heathen teacher one time taught her classroom of students that people are animals because they evolved together. The witty student replied with a question: “Does that mean people can have sex with animals?” The teacher had nothing to comment. Do you see how stupid and foolish the blatant fraud of evolution really is? People are people. Animals are animals. It is not a sin to hurt and kill animals for food or clothing. I do believe that it is a sin to merely kill for sport, if the meat and carcass will be wasted. Proverbs 12:27, “The slothful man roasteth not that which he took in hunting: but the substance of a diligent man is precious.” God gave us animals to provide food, clothing and other essential needs.

Please understand that I could be wrong in my theology. I have shared with you what I believe based upon my understanding of the Bible. If someone's pet cat is sick, that would grieve their heart. The Bible tells us to pray about “every thing” in Philippians 4:6. I cannot find one place in the Bible where anyone prayed for an animal, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't. I also don't find anywhere in the Bible where anyone prayed for a job. But certainly God wants us to come to Him with our every need, burden and concern (Matthew 6:7-8).