Tim Timberlake - Just Like Us (01/02/2026)
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Summary:
In this message centered on James 5:17, the preacher reminds the congregation that Elijah was «a man just like us» who saw extraordinary results through earnest prayer, encouraging everyone during their season of fasting to develop a powerful prayer life. The key thought is that effective prayer requires humility, specificity, persistence, and expectation—qualities that unlock God’s mind and ways rather than just His hand. He concludes by urging believers to move beyond wishes into mature, intimate prayer that aligns with God’s heart, expecting Him to do great things in and through them.
Opening on Fasting and Prayer
So we have been in a season of fasting and prayer. We are fasting and praying because we have an expectation that God desires to do something. If you don’t know what a fast is, we encourage you to stop by our information desk or find one of our leaders to ask them what a fast is. A quick version of it is that it is what we set aside to give God priority.
Some of us set aside food; others of us set aside technology. Some people have set aside different things, but I encourage you to make a sufficient sacrifice in this season so that you can see, feel, and hear God in ways that you never thought were possible. Prayer is the vehicle that gives us access to God, but fasting is the field that expedites it. I am a firm believer that as you fast and pray, things supernaturally activate on your behalf. Can I get a good amen on that?
I am encouraging everybody who is a part of the family of Celebration—if you’ve been here for 20 years or if you’ve been here for one day, I consider you family. I want you to participate in the fast because we are believing God for some things corporately, and I know that you are believing God for some things individually. I want you to see God’s best in your year, and in order to do that, there are certain things that only come through fasting and prayer.
Scripture: James 5:17
My assignment today is for us to land in James 5:17 right now. James 5:17 says, «Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.» I like that scripture because it details that Elijah was human, just like us.
Today, I want to talk to you from the subject «Just Like Us.» If you’re watching online, go ahead and put that in the chat: «Just Like Us.» If you want to make it personal, say «Just Like Me.» Elijah was a man just like us. If you’re a woman, there’s still some type of man in there; he was human just like us. In order for us to see the things that Elijah saw, we have to pray like Elijah prayed. I love the scripture in Matthew 6:5-6, where Jesus says, «And when you pray.» It doesn’t say «if you pray.» You cannot have a believer’s walk; you cannot have a relationship with God without praying. Jesus says, «And when you pray, don’t pray like the hypocrites, praying loud in public, doing all these things to be seen, and have no private prayer life.»
The Necessity of Prayer
I am a firm believer that if you can pray corporately and believe God, you should also have a private prayer life to believe God. I often hear people say, «Well, I am not an intercessor; I don’t have the gift of intercessory prayer.» I have read the Bible a few times, and I have not seen where it says that there are a select group of people that have this special gift of intercessory prayer. No, when you are a believer in Christ, you are a prayer warrior, amen?
I find it very interesting that oftentimes people want to be used by God but don’t want God to use them through prayer. People want to see the hand of God move through them and their platform, but they don’t want to move to the Lord in prayer. Let me help you with this: it is impossible to be used mightily by God without an effective prayer life. We make God something that He is not, and that is an answer machine to answer what it is that we desire, to get what it is that we want, and to see what it is that we want to see. In fact, prayer is not about us; prayer is for us. I’ll say it again: prayer is not about us; prayer is for us.
When we pray, we should pray understanding that Jesus desires to do something in and through us. If the prayer stops with us, that is not prayer; that’s a wish. I may step on a few toes today, but it’s okay; you have a few more days left in the fast to allow them to heal. If the prayer stops with you, that is not prayer; that is a wish. We should be mature enough as believers to be out of our wish phase and to get into our prayer mode. Amen? So let’s pray:
Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you, God, that you are good and you are with us. So we give you the honor, we give you the glory, and we give you the praise in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Understanding God’s Mind
I love to understand God. I love to look at His word and search out what it is that God has done, what it is that God is doing, and what it is that God desires to do. In order for me to do that, I have to study and look at the mind of God. In your walk as a believer, your walk should progress in maturity. Maturity has nothing to do with age but everything to do with insight. You can have a young person who is a believer and be mature in their faith walk, and you can have an old person who is a believer and be immature in their faith, based upon their insight.
You can always tell how a person believes by what a person says. This is why your life will always flow in the direction of your conversations. If your conversations are with God and your prayer life is with God, then your conversations in your life will flow in that direction. If your conversations lean more toward what it is that you desire, what it is that you want to do, and what it is that you want to see, that’s an indicator that your prayer life is not as strong as God would have it to be. You have to go back to the throne in prayer.
As we read in the Old Testament scripture talking about Elijah, it says that Elijah was human just like us. This is what you have to understand: Elijah knew what it took to get to the mind of God. Oftentimes as believers, we want to get to the hand of God but not the mind of God. We want to see what’s in His hand instead of seeing what He has on His mind. The hand of God represents the acts of God; the mind of God represents the ways of God. If you get what’s in His hand but you don’t understand why you got it, you will still fall short of living the life that He desires for you to live.
If you understand the mind of God, the ways of God, and you begin to dig deep into the mysteries of God, you will start to understand that God operates in seasons and in patterns. The only way that we can understand the mind of God is through relationship; it’s through intimacy. I love the scripture in Jeremiah 33:3; go ahead and write that down. The scripture says, «Call to me and I will answer you and will tell you great and unsearchable things that you do not know.» Call to me and I will answer you and will tell you unsearchable things that you do not know. Oftentimes, we settle for reading the word of God instead of hearing God’s word. God is the word, and in order for us to understand what we read, we have to spend time praying so that God can unfold, unpack, manifest, and reveal to us what it is that He has spoken.
It’s one thing to read about the author; it’s another thing to talk to the author. God has given us the opportunity to talk directly to Him. It is important that we set aside time to not only read what God says but to also hear what God says. The Bible says that Elijah was a man just like us, and he prayed earnestly. If you’re going to see the hand of God move, you will have to pray earnestly.
Why We Don’t Pray
Do you know why people don’t pray? Because people don’t see results as fast as they want to. I’ve come to learn that we stop doing things that we don’t find value in. Some of us have made prayer about us, and if we don’t feel a certain way, we won’t do it. If it’s not our time to pray, we don’t pray. If we don’t get what we want, we stop seeking and searching the way that He desires for us to seek and search.
We’ve made our relationship with God about us—my purpose, my assignment, my call, my plan, my wants, my will—and nowhere in there is it what God desires to do in you. It’s not until you get before the Lord in prayer that He strips you of the identity you gave yourself and applies who He’s made you to be so that you could see who you actually are instead of who people call you. It’s only through prayer that you step out of the dream people have created for you and step into the dream God made you for. If you don’t develop a prayer life, you will settle for a dream that God never intended for you to have. You will settle for the approval of men and women when, in fact, God has called you to do something that many would disapprove of. But you won’t know what many disapprove of if you’re always searching for the approval of men and women.
Oftentimes, when we don’t develop a prayer life, we seek the applause of men and women because we’re not hearing it from God. We’re not hearing it from God because we’re not in proximity to His voice. We’re not in proximity to His voice because we have not gotten down on our knees and asked God, «Who am I?» because we really don’t know how to pray. We’ve been taught by society and culture that if it doesn’t happen in this timeframe, it’s not going to happen. The Bible is full of instances that took people 99, 100, or 150 years to get what they were praying for. Oftentimes God tests your faith in time, and if you’re not mature enough to continue to pray and persevere, you will prematurely tap out before you possess what it is that God desires for you to have.
As we tap into the mind of God, there’s an intimacy that we have to understand. When we understand how God works, we can come boldly to the throne of grace.
Elijah’s Persistent Prayer
I want us to turn our attention to 1 Kings 18:42. It says, «Elijah climbed to the top of Mount Carmel, bent down to the ground, and put his face between his knees.» «Go and look towards the sea,» he told his servant, and he went up and looked. «There’s nothing there,» he said. Elijah said, «Go seven times.»
So you mean to tell me that although I have a prayer life, my prayer life must be consistent and unwavering? And the answer is yes, because you won’t get what you’re praying for on the first try. Why is it that when God asks us to pray, we don’t see what it is that we pray for? He knows what we need before we open our mouths because He’s developing long-suffering, faithfulness, and fruit on the inside of us. Sometimes my son will ask me to do something, and I will have him ask me again just to develop maturity in him. It’s not that I don’t want to do it; it’s not that I’m not equipped to do it; it’s not that I’m not going to do it; it’s that I want him to grow through the process of asking. If you ask the right thing the wrong way, you still won’t get what you’re asking for.
It says Elijah told his servant, «Go back again and look seven times.» Verse 44: «The seventh time the servant reported, 'There is a cloud as small as a man’s hand that is rising from the sea.'»
Qualities of Effective Prayer
There are four qualities of effective prayer. The first one is this: effective prayers are humble prayers. As I mentioned before, we often stop doing things that we don’t see value in, that we don’t get results from, or that we don’t have some type of benefit in. But when you consistently pray from a posture of humility, it is impossible not to see the hand of God move on your behalf. Elijah bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees—this is the posture of humility. Prayer is an admission that there is someone higher than me; prayer is an admission that I cannot accomplish what I need to do by myself. Prayer is an admission that if it were up to me, I would ruin me.
But it’s up to You, so God, do what only you can do. Prayer is an admission that you don’t have the answers, but you serve a God that does. Prayer is an admission that you are not in control of your life, but you know who is. Prayer is an admission that you cannot make a way for yourself, but you serve a Waymaker. Prayer is an admission that your life is riddled with sin, but He exchanges your sin for His grace. Prayer is an admission that you don’t have the answers. The only way you can have an effective prayer life is to pray from a posture of humility.
The average Christian, so-called Christian, prays on average 17 minutes a week. You text longer than that. You work longer than that. You eat longer than that. You think about crazy stuff longer than that. We often make excuses as to why we don’t pray. God says, «It is my desire that my house be a house of prayer.» I think it’s pretty ridiculous that we have pushed prayer off on a select group of people, and most of the time that select group of people are the seniors of the church who feel like if I don’t do it, no one else will. It’s time for the church, Big C, to take their rightful place and understand that we have an assignment on our post in prayer, and we cannot come off the wall until God tells us to switch our stance. Let me let you in on a little secret: God is not going to tell you that because He desires prayer.
The first way to have an effective prayer life is through the posture of humility. It says Elijah got down on his knees; he bowed his face to the ground. This shows God, «God, I will not stand tall before you because you stand tall before my circumstance and my situation.» So I, in faith, can lower myself and admit that I am the lower one of us, and you are the higher one of us. You have a desire that I cannot fulfill, and so I need You. Prayer is an admission that I am nothing without God.
Personal Reflection on God’s Faithfulness
Prayer should always bring you back to the place where you remember each and every one of us has something that we remember. If it had not been for God, things would be completely different.
Each and every one of us has a circumstance, a situation, a trial, a test that we can reflect back on and think about. «God, if you had not brought me out of that, I don’t know where in the world I would be.» Each of us has something that should remind us of God’s faithfulness and goodness. When we think about our circumstances, we should remember that our power is flawed. Without God, we would have been lost, but God has given us His power and authority. Therefore, we can come boldly to the throne of God in prayer.
How many of you have one thing that you can think of at the front of your mind for a moment? Let’s respond to that like we would if we were in private. I guarantee you when you think about it alone, you don’t clap your hands. See, we have church habits; we do what others do because others are doing it. I want you to make this personal for a moment because when you’re by yourself, and you think about how God brought you out, you don’t clap your hands; you open up your mouth and say, «God, thank you.» You begin to weep; you begin to praise God.
You begin to do things like nobody’s watching. We’re in the company of our brothers and sisters, but let me help you out: there’s nobody but you and God in this moment right here. When you get that one thing on the forefront of your mind and think about how faithful and good God has been, when you thought you were going to lose your mind, when you tried to take your own life, when you thought you were going to be in a financial crisis for the rest of your life, when you thought your kids were going to drive you crazy, when you thought you were going to lose your job, when your marriage was being split by any means, and God stepped in and did what only God can do—you don’t clap your hands!
You open up your mouth and say, «God, if it had not been for You on my side, where would I be? God, I come to You because You are good, and I don’t have the answers, and in doing so, God, I say thank you.» We’ve made a habit of doing church instead of being the church. We’ve got the routine down; we know what to do; we know what to say; we’re with our fellow brothers and sisters. But for a moment, I want this to be intimate. In order for you to know the mind of Christ, it takes an intimate relationship. You can learn things corporately, but there are some things that you can only learn intimately.
In this moment, I want you to think about something that God delivered you from when you were by yourself. There was no one else that could deliver you; there was no one else that was around to talk to you; there was no one else that could pull you out of the muck and mire; there was no one else that could heal you. There was no one else that could deliver you; there was no one else that could set you free. Only God can do that! So in this moment, we have to approach Him through humility. How dare we receive the blessings of God without returning prayer to God? How dare we receive what’s in God’s hand without pursuing God’s heart?
Let’s be a people that chase after the intimacy of God, and we only get that through prayer.
Specific and Persistent Prayer
The first way to have an effective prayer life is through humility. Number two: effective prayers are specific prayers. If you want to know how to pray, number one, pray through the lens of humility. Number two, pray specific prayers.
1 Kings 18:43 says, «Go and look towards the sea,» he told his servant. The servant went up and looked. «There’s nothing there,» he said. He didn’t say just go up and look; he said, «Go and look towards the sea.» There’s something specific that you need to pray for. There’s something specific that you should be seeking, something specific that God desires to pull out of you so that you can see it. To have an effective prayer life, you have to pray specific prayers.
Every single day, I want to encourage you to write down what it is that you’re believing God for. Habakkuk 2:2 teaches us to «write the vision, make it plain so that when people see it, they run with it.» I’m a firm believer that you should write it, read it, so that you can run it. It is impossible to run with something that you cannot read or see. It is impossible to understand the heart of God, what God desires, or what it is that you are believing for if you can’t write it down. If you can’t write it down, why do you expect God to fulfill it? Write it, read it, run it. Let’s all say that—"I have to write it, I have to read it, so that I can run with it.»
In order for me to have an effective prayer life, I have to come to God through humility. I have to come to God with specifics. Number three: an effective prayer life is a persistent prayer life. Come on, somebody! In 1 Kings 18:43, it says, «Go and look towards the sea,» he told his servant. The servant went up and looked, and he said, «There is nothing.»
How many years have you been praying and you’ve seen absolutely nothing? How many years have you been believing, and you’ve seen absolutely nothing? How many years have you put your faith out there, and you’ve still received the diagnosis that you would live the rest of your life with what you’ve been dealing with? God is saying, «Come back again. Come back again. Come back again until you get what it is that you are believing for.»
I’m a firm believer that prayer gives you the ability to snatch what you need out of the spirit into the natural. I believe I’m talking to some people who have the authority to snatch back your marriage. I believe I’m talking to some people who have the ability and the authority to snatch back your kids. I believe I’m talking to a group of people who have the ability and the authority to snatch back their finances. When you know that you have the authority and you know that you have the ability to snatch some things out of the spirit into the physical, it’s hard not to pray. Am I talking to anybody who has the authority to snatch some things from what you can’t see into what you know is possible?
Come on! I wish I had about 20 people who really believe that you have snatching ability with your prayer. «God, I believe that you are good, and so I pursue you like you’re good, and I believe You are able.» In Ephesians 3:20, it says, «Now unto Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we could ask or think according to the power that works in us.»
Can we take about 20 seconds to snatch some things out of the spirit into the physical? Come on! I don’t know what you’re believing for, but I believe you can snatch it down out of the heavens and into the earth. The only reason I’m here is because a prayer snatched me from the gates of hell and told hell, «Not today; you can’t have this one.» The only reason you’re standing where you’re standing is because a prayer snatched you from the grips of the enemy. There’s nothing that moves without prayer; there’s nothing that happens without prayer; there’s nothing you will possess without prayer. Everything happens in prayer first. Every decision that you make should be made through prayer first.
This is your opportunity to take back what the enemy is trying to take from you. I don’t care if you’re in this room; I don’t care if you’re watching me at home. I want you to snatch back what it is that the enemy has been trying to hold onto. I want you to take authority over whatever it is that the enemy has been trying to take authority over you. This is your moment to tell God, «God, I believe that you are still good. I still believe no matter what I may be dealing with, I still believe no matter how bad my body feels, I still believe no matter how long I’ve been praying, I still believe no matter how crazy life gets, I still believe that you are good.»
So I snatch my life back; I snatch my kids back; I snatch my finances back; I snatch my job back; I snatch my mind back. The enemy has tried to take your mind, but you can snatch it back. Elijah said, «Go and look seven times.» I want you to go back and see if what I saw in my spirit is there. The servant came back to him again and said, «It’s not there.» He said, «Go again.»
The servant came back again and said, «It’s not there.» He said, «Go again.» His servant came back again and said, «It’s not there.» He said, «Go again.» He did this seven times, and you better believe that the servant was probably getting tired of going back and forth between what he didn’t see and what Elijah told him he would see.
I know you may be getting tired of what you don’t see right now, but I’m telling you, if you can keep going back to the feet of Jesus, you’re getting closer to seeing what it is He said you would see. If you can keep going back to the feet of Jesus, you’re one prayer closer to possessing what it is that He said you would possess. If you can keep going back to the feet of Jesus, I’m telling you, you’re one step closer to walking into the greatest season of your life.
If you believe that, why don’t you give God a 30-second praise break! If you believe that, why don’t you open up your mouth and say, «God, I still believe!» The Bible says, «Knock and you shall receive; seek and you shall find.» I didn’t come to knock just once; I didn’t come to stop knocking at the first no. I didn’t come to stop seeking because I didn’t see it. I came to be persistent with God and say, «God, You’re going to have to deal with me today.» I know You aren’t answering what it is that I need, but I’m not going to stop knocking.
God, I haven’t seen it yet, but I’m not going to stop seeking. Is there anybody that has made up their mind that they will be persistent?
Expectant Prayer
The first way to have an effective prayer life must be humble. The second way to have an effective prayer life must be persistent, and I must be specific. I want you to know if you can be persistent, you can see it.
You can tell your maturity level by your persistence. You can tell where you are with your walk with Christ by your persistence. Are you going after His heart, or are you just going after His hand? This is how I am: if I don’t see what I’m praying for, I say, «Okay, God, what do you have on your mind?» Because maybe what I’m praying for is smaller than what You desire to give me.
What do you have on your mind? Because maybe what I’m asking for is completely different from what you want me to have. What is it that You have on Your mind? I want what You have for me, God. I don’t want what I have for me; I want what You have for me. And God, if it’s not what I’m asking for, tell me what to pray, and that’s what I’ll pray. If it’s not what You want me to see, tell me what You want me to see, and I’ll say, «God, that’s what I want to see too.» I want the heart of God; I want the mind of God.
And when I get His heart and when I get His mind, it doesn’t matter what’s in His hand. I don’t want the blessing without knowing the Blessor. You can have everything; you can have every prayer granted; you can have every request rewarded; you can have every petition answered, and still not know the mind of God, and that would be a life less than what He desires for you to live.
Point number four, and then we’re going to get out of here: an effective prayer life is an expectant prayer life. 1 Kings 18:44 says, «The seventh time the servant reported, 'A cloud as small as a man’s hand is rising from the sea.' So Elijah said, 'Go and tell Ahab, hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.'»
An effective prayer life is an expectant prayer life. I may not be talking to everybody, but I believe I’m talking to somebody who is expecting God to do something great this year. Your prayer life is an indicator of your expectancy. If you’re expecting God to do something big, then your prayer life should reflect that.
I believe that God desires to do something great and mighty in and through us this year, so I want us to expect it. I want us to have tiptoe expectation. I want us to lean in on the edge of our seats because we are believing that God is going to do anything and everything that we have never seen before.
In order for Him to do that, it takes a people that believe. Do you know that God will meet you at your level of expectation? If you have an expectation that God can do incredible and mighty things, God will meet you at your expectation. But if your expectation is that God can do some things, guess what? God will only do something. The Jesus that you see is the Jesus that you get.
If the Jesus you see is limited to certain things, that’s the Jesus you get. But if the Jesus you see is unlimited in what He can do, if the Jesus you see is unlimited in what He can answer, if the Jesus you see is unlimited in what it is that you think He can heal, then that’s the Jesus that you get. I’m a believer that the Jesus that I serve has no limitations; He has no boundaries; He has no setbacks; He has no rules or regulations.
He is the God of all efficiency; He is the God of more than enough. His word says that His grace is sufficient for me. If His grace is sufficient for me, I want all that He wants for me. If His grace is sufficient for me, I want all that He has for me. If His grace is sufficient for me, I want all that He said that I can have. Am I talking to anybody that says this is my year to go after everything that God designs for me? Everything with and I go after it in prayer.
Closing Call to Prayer
I’m going to snatch back my life; I’m going to snatch back my mind; I’m going to snatch back my marriage; I’m going to snatch back my relationship because I’m going to God boldly in prayer. Come on! If that’s you, stand to your feet, lift your hands, and open up your mouth. Begin to pray; begin to pray; begin to pray. Come on, begin to pray. Say, «God, I believe! God, I believe!»