Date: 02-03-25
Preacher: Pastor Choe Humphrey
Title: Pray without ceasing

Pray without ceasing

Ps Humphrey’s lead-in for this morning’s message made a reference to what ordinary Christians liked. Most liked fellowship, praise and worship and overseas missions. However, many showed little interest in prayer meeting. He then went on to share a humorous story of a preacher who was invited to speak for three nights at a village. The first night he asked the congregation whether they knew what he was going to preach and they replied they didn’t. The preacher then left citing the reason that since they did not know, there was no need for him to preach. The next night, the same question was asked and the congregation replied they knew but the preacher also left citing since they had already known. Hence on the third night the congregation divided themselves into 2 groups and to pre-empt the question being asked again; one group would reply they knew and the other would reply they did not. The preacher indeed asked the same question and they gave the preempted reply. Still he left after telling those who knew to brief those who didn’t. The point Ps Humphrey was making, despite the humour is that we should know our stand as believers.

Before he went on to elaborate on this morning’s message, he made the point that when a person did not feel like praying, that’s when he/her needed to pray the most. The biblical reference for this morning’s message is based on 1 Thessalonians 5:16 – 18. Ps Humphrey then expanded on the topic of the day with the following and for each one he gave a relevant anecdote to illustrate.

1. Why do you pray?

   1. To express one’s spirituality

      However there is no guarantee this will please God.

   2. To prove the God one believes in is real. Ps Humphrey quoted Elijah’s prayer as an example.

   3. To pray for one’s own needs Here he quoted a mischievous boy in church who was carried out of church for disrupting a church meeting. On his way out, he shouted to the congregation to pray for him.

2. Who do you pray to? (The following are self-explanatory)

   1. To your father who is in a sacred place

   2. To our father who is in Heaven

   3. In the name of the Lord

3. Do you believe in prayer?
   He shared four real life stories and personal encounters to answer the question above. The first was on how a village community prayed that the building which housed a bar be burnt as they were concerned with the bad influence it might bring. Indeed on a rainy night when lightning struck the building, it was burnt. The interesting part was that the owner then sued the church for its prayer. Unfortunately at the end of the court case, the church denied that such a prayer was made. The next story was how in a certain place it had not rained for a long time and the church soon got together to pray for rain. Half way through the prayer, the pastor stopped the praying and questioned the congregation why nobody had brought umbrella to prepare for rain except for a little boy. The story reminded us that it is not just enough to pray but we must also be prepared to receive answered prayers. The next two anecdotes were on how God answered prayers to prolong the lives of 2 persons on the verge of death and whom Ps Humphrey and some others had prayed for.

As a conclusion, he shared how a father whose son had just acquired his driving licence requested him to sit next to him while he drove to his destination. When the father came home, his wife noticed his pale look and wondered why. Although he said ‘nothing’, he confessed that he had prayed the moment he sat in the car to the moment they returned home safely.

In line with answered prayers, Ps Humphrey shared that a missionary once said as believers we could expect a miracle a day from God.