Although the Old Testament prophet, Elijah, was very human, divinity worked through his life in a great way. God ordained him for wonderful things; angels ministered to him. Mighty miracles were performed by him even though he did not have the advantage of living in either the Jesus or the Holy Ghost dispensations. On Mount Horeb the Lord came to him with this visitation: the word of the Lord came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah?…the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, WHAT DOEST THOU HERE, ELIJAH? (I Kings 19:9,11-13).

Twice the Lord asked Elijah what he was doing there. It is a question the Lord is asking all of us in this last and final hour: Why are you here on planet Earth at this time? Are you about your Father’s business?

Before the still, small voice of God spoke to Elijah on this mount, Elijah had been used of God in a fantastic way. He had prayed and the heavens were shut up for three-and-a-half years—no rain in the land—and because of it King Ahab sought his life night and day. Ahab and Jezebel, his queen, were serving Baal instead of the Lord God Almighty.

We read in I Kings 18 that at the end of the three-and-a-half year drought Elijah confronted Ahab and the prophets of Baal. How long halt ye between two opinions? Elijah demanded. If the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him (verse 21).

Elijah put the prophets of Baal to the test, challenging all four hundred and fifty of them. Call ye on the name of your gods, he cried, and I will call on the name of the Lord: and the God that answereth by fire, let him be God (verse 24). The prophets of Baal prepared a bullock, placed it on the altar and prayed from morning to noon, but no voice, no fire answered. At noon Elijah mocked them. Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked (verse 27). The prophets of Baal prayed and prophesied until evening. They cut themselves with knives and lancets, but from Baal there was no answer. Then Elijah prepared an altar, laid wood and the offering on it and ordered four barrels of water to be poured on the sacrifice and on the wood. Two more times water was poured over the sacrifice. Then Elijah prayed, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel (verse 36). When he finished praying, the fire of the Lord fell and consumed not only the burnt sacrifice, but the wood, the stones, the dust and even licked up the water that had spilled out into a trench. Awed by what they had just seen, the people worshipped God. Elijah took the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal down by the brook and slew them there.

However, when Jezebel heard about it, somehow Elijah’s heart failed him; his fear of Jezebel caused him to forget about the great God he served. I imagine a large part of his despair was a reaction to the cutting off of all those heads—that’s a lot of blood! Elijah must have toiled with the smell of blood in his nostrils until he felt he could stand no more. There was no encouragement; no one stood with him; his eye of faith became too dim—for the moment—to see God and the host of Heaven surrounding him. When fear takes over, faith leaves. Fear drove Elijah into the wilderness, fear brought about by wrong believing.

Elijah told God that everyone had forsaken him, that everyone had bowed down to Baal. Since they had killed the prophets of God, Elijah felt he was the only servant left in all of Israel, and he was running for his life. Under the juniper tree he cried out to God, It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life (I Kings 19:4). But the Lord sent an angel to strengthen him.

If there are no human hands to help, to assist you, God will send an angel. The angel that God sent to Elijah cooked for him, stood over him while he slept and fed him again. Elijah received such strength from the angel that he traveled forty days and forty nights on foot in the strength of that food until he reached the mount of God, Mount Horeb, where he heard the still, small voice of the Lord.

Just as God was mindful of Elijah, He is mindful of us: through Jesus Christ we can have a meal from Heaven any time we need it. When our soul is fed we are not discouraged but happy, thinking of Jesus and at peace with God, even though the lightning may be flashing and the thunder rolling. The still, small voice of the Lord let Elijah know on that mount that He had seven thousand left in Israel who, like Elijah, had not bowed down to Baal.

Horror in Place of Paradise

Through these many, many years God has looked down on planet Earth and again and again asked people, “What are you doing here?” We hear God first asking this in the Garden of Eden: What is this that thou hast done? So proud of Adam, God had come down in the cool of the day to walk and talk with him. But now something was wrong—disobedience had entered paradise. God had told Adam and Eve to stay away from the tree; He has told us to stay away from sin. Why are you there? Driven outside the Garden into the thorns, thistles, sorrow and heartache, Adam and Eve for the first time experienced pain, regret and toil. They learned the horror of having one son kill another. They had never seen the cold grayness of a human death before. Will he live again? There didn’t seem to be any answer. Have you ever thought how many days they might have watched over their son Abel to see if he would live again, how carefully they tended to him as the decay and the stench settled in? How many times did they cry for Abel to please answer? Adam and Eve, what are you doing in this place of death? Through disobedience they had arrived in the stronghold of Lucifer, walking the road of failure because their backs had been turned from God. Imagine the despair of it all as they gradually faced the reality that Abel would never return to them. Adam and Eve failed to lead the lives that God had intended for them.

Why are you here today on Earth in this final hour? What is the purpose? What goals do you have; and what are you doing for God? How much are you praying, testifying for the Lord in actions as well as words? Do you have the fragrance of Jesus as you walk in His steps? Are you filled and thrilled with His Spirit, yielding yourself twenty-four hours around the clock to the Holy Spirit, making sure that you are on Rapture ground? Are you ready to meet your Lord? What are you doing here?

Noah Saved Mankind from Extinction

Noah was building an ark for the saving of his household; how long it would take he didn’t know. He only knew the flood was coming because God had said it would. We know Jesus is coming because He said so; and although we do not know the exact time, we know His coming is nigh. The signs of His return that Jesus told us about are all around us today. With gladness we behold His signs as we hurry on to do more for Him. We must evangelize the world; we must let everyone know about the coming of the Lord and how to get out of here, sacrificing time and self as we work to spread the news of His return.

How much vacation do you think Noah took? Did he work from daylight to dark each day? Certainly he had discouragements and setbacks, for he was not the only one who knew there would be a flood—the devil knew it, too—and the devil must have battled him greatly, wanting the human race to end forever with no hope of redemption. Satan longed for God to be a failure. There were eight souls Lucifer had not been able to defeat. If he could keep that ark from being built, mankind would all be lost forever. If he could just keep Noah from building that ark…. Satan must have turned from the people who were his entirely, degraded in the vilest of sins, and spent most of his time working on those eight souls.

Today the devil is working overtime on God’s people, doing everything he can to destroy minds, bodies and spirits. He will try to blot out your view of Heaven, of God’s delivering power. He will try to close your mind so that you cannot take in the Word of God. He will create trouble in your family, neighborhood, job—anything to worry, to torture, to cause you to turn away from the arms of Christ Jesus and the leadership of the Holy Spirit. He knows that only the Holy Spirit can lead you to the place called Rapture ground, that no power can stand before God’s power.

What Takes You Away from God?

Elijah was directed by God to the place from where he was to be raptured. Elisha didn’t know where it was—and perhaps Elijah didn’t either—but Elijah followed the Lord, using miracle power to separate the waters of Jordan so that he crossed dry sod just before he was raptured. We live now in the final countdown to the coming of Jesus. The devil is attempting to occupy your mind with something that will take you away from God; but just as Elisha refused to leave Elijah, you must refuse to leave Jesus in any way. Worldly music, literature, movies, sports—anything that will distract, that will become more important than God—will keep you from giving God the time He needs to get you ready for what you must face in this hour. It isn’t a matter of these things being sinful; it’s a matter of what occupies your time, what takes you away from the Word of God, from that intimate communication with the Lord. You must be able to talk with Him, to keep your mind upon Him, to be in His presence and to come boldly before the Throne of Grace, shut in with the Lord.

Jesus compared our days to the days of Noah. We are not on the outside, but on the inside of the ark, waiting for the door to be closed by the Holy Spirit. Our last seven days of mercy are going fast. The Holy Spirit closed and sealed the ark for Noah, and no one could open it. After the Holy Spirit catches away His own at the second coming of Jesus, once again a door will be sealed.

Television is a wonderful thing when it’s used right; but when it is not, all kinds of devilish things come through it. It will become worse. Already in some places the sexual act has been shown right on the screen; it will happen more and more. Will you be one of those who feast on the sins of this world? Sodom is here again.

A Righteous Soul Is Not Enough

Lot lived in Sodom and his soul was vexed with the evil around him. God warned him to arise and flee for his life—Sodom was going to be destroyed. His wife loved the place; his daughters and their husbands lived there. What are you doing there, Lot? Look around, Lot, there is nothing holy there. Arise, get out of this place; it’s going to be destroyed. Lot had not been preaching nor converting anyone to his God; he had no influence over people’s thinking, not even enough over his own wife to save her. Only two daughters went out with him and did not look back. Lot was aware that Sodom was against everything God stood for, but having a righteous soul is not enough. One must rise up against the devil, must be a fighter in order to conquer.

Jesus rose up against Lucifer, saying, these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils…they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover (Mark 16:17-18). Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil; and He is saying that through Him you can do it, too.

Be careful to not become contaminated with anything that would water down the Gospel of our Lord. Of course, you can watch something wholesome on television if you can find it, but the programs that would embarrass you to watch if Jesus were sitting there with you damage your relationship with God. It’s time to rise up, time to cry to the people, “Come to Jesus! Come to Jesus! Come to the One who can cleanse you, purge you of your sins!” Why indulge in everything coming your way, in what the devil has made so available right in your own living room? Is it what you desire, what you feast on?

Turn from unrighteousness and, with the holiness of God, be clean and pure. You have the same choice as Lot: you can look to God and cry out for the things of Him or else sit by the gate with your righteous soul vexed, watching and doing nothing. Those who sit passively are not really fasting, praying and living in the Word of God and, consequently, do not possess enough power of the Holy Ghost within to make themselves rise up and go against the devil.

Multitudes are waiting to be rescued in this final hour; devil-possessed people can be set free instantly. Lot didn’t have power to deliver the devil possessed, but through the power of the Holy Ghost today they can be set free. We must go beyond a righteous soul. We must have the strength of God, the power, the love, the wisdom and knowledge of God, the greatness of God so that we can come to the stature of the fullness of Christ. No longer children, we must grow up into Christ in all things. The Bible says to take on the mind of Christ. We can do it.

Lot saw steps of God but, failing to do anything about it, he barely escaped with his life. Are you satisfied that you have a righteous soul, that you are not indulging in sin? Are you content in not crying out against sin, in not assisting anyone to reach Jesus? This is not a time to mind just your own business; it’s time to mind God’s business. Jesus said, I must be about my Father’s business (Luke 2:49). Carry spiritual food, the love and fragrance of Jesus. Be a holy vessel filled and bubbling over with the goodness and greatness of God, for in this way will you be of value in Heaven’s sight.

Know What You Can Be in God

The world is not our home; we’re pilgrims and strangers here on our way out to a better world. How many can we take with us? When we could have taken the multitudes are we going to take just a handful? Let the Lord enlarge your vision. The anointing of God will do it in this final hour. The Lord will let you see what you’re able to accomplish, what you can be in the Lord.

Elijah didn’t know what he could be at all times in the Lord; the disciples didn’t know what they could be in Jesus until after Pentecost. It took the Holy Ghost living in them before they could comprehend what they could be for God. Only through the revelation of the Holy Spirit—and that’s thus saith the Lord—can you be made to realize what you can be for God in this your final hour.

You’re on the last leg of the journey, concerned about many things. Jesus visited the home of Mary and Martha. Martha was concerned with feeding the guests; but Mary was sitting at the feet of Jesus, drinking in all of Him that she could. Jesus said, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her (Luke 10:41,42). Our needful thing today is having so much God in us that others will not be able to resist the anointing that flows through our lives, so much anointing that we can pray down Heaven and send the Holy Spirit to deal with the unsaved night and day until they become so miserable without God that they will want to come to the Lord. Don’t take the burden of God’s conviction from people by telling them they are doing all right without God; let the Holy Spirit give you what to say. Listen for that still, small voice that Elijah recognized. People need to know that if they die without God they will plunge into hell, that Jesus is soon coming, that we don’t have long to get out of here. Tell them whatever the Lord gives you, but make sure your words are from the Lord and not from self. Let the Holy Spirit make the way and the time for you to speak to them. God is moving now with a hand of love; soon it will turn into a hand of judgment. All are being offered a chance to come into the ark before the door closes. What are you doing about it?

How Much Time Is Left?

Four hundred twenty years the Israelites were in Egyptian’s bondage, slaves. Had they forgotten about Jehovah God, about the promise He made to their father Abraham? What were they doing about it? Were they going to remain servants to Pharaoh forever? They decided their lives weren’t worth anything; and the Lord sent a Moses to shake them up, to point them to a land flowing with milk and honey. With signs and wonders God brought them forth. He separated the waters of the Red Sea so they could cross over on dry ground. In eleven days they could have been in the Promised Land, avoiding the wilderness; but they grumbled, complained and limited the Holy One of Israel. Today we have a short time until the Lord comes. How many summers do we have left? Not many, maybe none. The end-time signs are closing in; the unrest, the turmoil in Israel and the Arab nations are according to the Word of God, preparing the world for the Battle of Armageddon. What are you doing in the face of the world situations? Is the second coming of the Lord real to you? Are you ready if He were to come today? Are you doing all for Him you can in every way to help evangelize the world? Are you helping send the message to everybody you possibly can? Are your hands free of all people’s blood? The Lord told Ezekiel that if he didn’t warn the people, He would require their blood at his hands when they died without God; but if Ezekiel told them and they died without the Lord, their blood would be on their own heads. Ezekiel cried out what thus saith the Lord.

What are you doing, Daniel? He received a revelation from God of all kingdoms that would come, and of the last Kingdom which would overthrow all kingdoms, even the kingdom of Satan. That Kingdom was Jesus Christ’s. Jesus will set up His Kingdom and reign here on Earth for one thousand years. When will it happen? In God’s time it will come.

A Life Lost in the Lord

What was Daniel, servant of the living God, doing in the kingdom of Babylon? He was in captivity, a slave, not because of his sins but because his kinsmen had sinned against God and lost their power when the enemy came in. Three times a day Daniel opened his window toward Jerusalem to pray to his God. He didn’t fear for his life because he already had lost it in the Lord. We, too, must come to the place where we know we have no life to lose because we have already given it to the Lord. It belongs to Him; we have kept nothing back. In His hands we want to be used 100 percent. Think how God was able to anoint Daniel’s eyes so that he could see down through thousands of years into our day, how He could show Ezekiel the gathering back of the Jews in 1948 after they had been scattered throughout the world for over 2,000 years. He saw the Jews coming forth out of their graves, the dry bones coming to life. Ezekiel’s boneyard stood to its feet in 1948.

If the anointing of God could cause eyes to see 2,500 years into the future, it seems as though we can yield to that anointing and see the signs of the time all around us today. Watch the news and see Persia, Iran, fighting; see Russia getting ready to come down on Israel. God is moving for Israel; the fig tree Jesus spoke of bloomed in our day. Jesus said that the generation on the face of the earth when the fig tree bloomed would not depart until all is fulfilled—read it in the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew. Lift up your heads for redemption draweth nigh!

What are you doing here? What is your life worth? How are you spending your days? Will you be weighed and found wanting or will you be weighed and found 100 percent in harmony with the Word of God? Unless you are in harmony with the Word of God you cannot be in harmony with Him. You cannot have faith in God unless you have faith in what God has said. If you are contending with the Bible, you are contending with God. There is no peace for those who are wrestling with God, who cannot believe all the Word.

Use the Faith of God

Let the faith of God take over; read the Word, using His faith and believe it all. Use the faith of God and everything will fall into place. Through the faith of God see Him as He takes clay and makes a man, as He opens man’s side and takes a piece of rib to create a beautiful woman. With God’s faith read about Abraham and the birth of Isaac when his parents were over 90 years old. With the faith of God you will have no trouble watching the Israelites cross the Red Sea; the waters will split wide open. The faith of God will take you to Daniel as he spends that night in the den of lions, to the Hebrew boys in the fiery furnace. The faith of God will walk right in with them and Jesus. The faith of God says that if you don’t bow, you won’t burn.

Examine your life; listen for the voice of the Lord asking you that question, “What are you doing here?” God wants to know. Will you, like Adam, Eve, Lot and so many others fail to be all that God intended; or will you be among the chosen few who daily follow in the steps of Jesus? Gird up your loins as God corrects and guides you, knowing that He loves you.

There is no time left now in this final hour to hold a grudge or to be offended. There is no time to be insulted or to carry hurt feelings. God’s people now must put on His whole armor or they won’t be able to stand. God is calling you to greater consecration, for He must have pure, clean vessels through which He can serve His power to the nations. What are you doing here? Are you helping to fulfill God’s purpose, the reaping of the end-time harvest? This is the hour when you must draw nigh unto God, or you won’t have the strength to do His whole will. Stop struggling and yield yourself to God. Use that faith God instilled in your heart—His faith—and when He calls to you let your answer be, “Here I am, God, use me!”