Tom and Susan visited Mt. Rushmore in May.

By Tom Shanklin

“What are you going to do with your life?”

That is what I asked a group of adults and young people at the Church of Nazarene in LaMoure, ND, last month. It is a question that all of us would do well to ponder.

After all, God’s Word indicates that He has a divine destiny and purpose for each us.

The Lord told Jeremiah, “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.” Jeremiah 1:5, KJV. The Apostle Paul said that God had “…separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace,” Galatians 1:15, KJV. And the Bible indicates that we are “…called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28, KJV.

What is your calling? What is your divine destiny? What were you born to do?

Many seem to be wandering aimlessly through life, just doing what comes natural, following the crowd, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and mind, and never asking the question, “Lord, what would YOU have me to do?” (See Acts 9:6)

Each of us can have a part in bringing godly change to this sin-sick world. But it is only as we get a sense of our divine purpose and steadfastly pursue it that we can have an impact. We cannot live a life pursuing our own desires and expect to bring forth the will of God in the world. As the old saying goes, “Only one life, ‘twill soon be past. Only what’s done for Christ will last.” A life lived for self is a wasted life!

Moses was a man with a calling on his life, but he found himself on the back side of the desert, caring for his father-in-law’s sheep. It was then that the Lord appeared to him out of a burning bush. The scripture says, “And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.” Exodus 3:3, 4, KJV.

It was when Moses “turned aside” that the Lord spoke to him. The Lord told him that He had heard the cry of His people and He was sending him to deliver Israel from bondage. How many of us are so preoccupied with the things of this world that we never take time to turn aside to hear what the Lord has to say? The scripture says, “For many are called, but few are chosen.” Matthew 22:14, KJV. I wonder how many people have missed their calling in life because they have not taken time to seek the Lord.

When I shared that message in LaMoure, my thought was that it was a good message for young people starting out in life. I believe that it would be good for any young person to “turn aside” to hear the Lord’s voice before going out to pursue a career or marriage or higher education. Take some time to wait upon the Lord. Perhaps get involved in a discipleship program, a time of fasting and prayer. Find some way to get your spiritual bearings before getting under the mind-numbing influence of the world’s system.

But I believe that this message is not only applicable for children and teens, but also for all of us. After all, Moses was 80 when he turned aside to hear the Lord’s voice. That’s right—80! Listen folks, God is not through with you yet. Your best days are ahead!

Turn Aside and Hear What the Lord has to Say

In May, Susan and I traveled to Rapid City, SD, to attend the annual board meeting of Bible Living Ministries, where I shared about our mission to Nepal which we did in partnership with that ministry last November. Bible Living Ministries is headed up by Ray and Wilma Phipps. They are a great example of a couple who sought God’s will and have seen tremendous results in their lives.

Ray and Wilma Phipps

It began in 1946, when Ray was 11 years old. He had a vision while at a prayer meeting in a country church near Venus, Nebraska, where his father was pastor. As Ray knelt to pray with the others, he was transported out of his body and into the atmosphere above the earth.

He saw the earth as a huge globe below him that seemed to be real and alive. The Lord’s presence surrounded him. He then was brought down closer to the earth to a V-shaped land mass with an island just to the right of it. He saw multitudes of people looking up to heaven with their hands stretched upward.

He moved just above the reach of their hands but they did not seem to see him. “They had a look of hopelessness on their faces,” he said. “Their eyes were longing and searching in desperation for something they did not have.”

As he moved over the masses of people, one man in particular came into focus. Ray continued to move toward this person and hovered just above him. The man then looked Ray directly in the eyes and said, “Come and help us!”

Ray asked the Lord, “What is this country?” The Lord immediately replied, “This is India.” He then found himself back in the little country church in Nebraska. He did not previously know anything about India or its people, but the next day at school he saw a map of the country, just as he had seen it in the vision the night before.

In 1953, Ray married Wilma. They both went into the field of education. Wilma taught and Ray earned a doctors degree and became a superintendent of schools for various Indian tribes in Montana and South Dakota. They had a wonderful life serving the native people, but there was no apparent fulfillment of the dream that he had in his childhood.

In 2002, after retiring from their educational careers, Ray and Wilma felt led of the Lord to go on an extended fast to seek God’s will for the rest of their lives. One of the main areas that Ray asked the Lord about during this time was, “Lord, what was the meaning and purpose of the experience I had when I was 11 years old?”

On the 27th day of the fast, he attended an interdenominational prayer meeting with area pastors in Rapid City, South Dakota. One of the pastors had invited a guest to the meeting. The man was invited to give a testimony and to share about his ministry. Ray had the distinct sense that he had met the man before. It soon became clear to Ray that this visiting minister from India was the same man that he had seen 56 years previously in the vision in the Nebraska church. At that time, of course, the man had not yet been born, but when Ray met him, he appeared just as Ray had seen him in the vision.

This man became Ray’s connection to India. As Ray and Wilma’s ministry developed in India, they began holding “Doing What Jesus Did Schools,” training ordinary believers to do the work of the ministry with signs and wonders. As a result of Ray and Wilma’s work in India and in Nepal, thousands of worship centers have been established in those countries and in other nations where their students have gone and many people have come to know Christ as Savior and Lord. Today Ray and Wilma are rejoicing in the fruit of what God has done through their lives. It’s good to “turn aside” and hear what the Lord has to say. You may not be called as a missionary to India, but whatever your station in life, God wants to use you for His kingdom purposes. “Follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you to become fishers of men.”

Doing What Jesus Did School in Nepal.