NFY

Reblogged from Meet Me In The Meadow by Roy Lessin August 23, 2010

Check out his entire blog at:

http://www.meetmeinthemeadow.com/2010/08/nfy/#comment-23345

We need a new button, t-shirt, bumper sticker, or cap that reads…NFY!

 It stands for “Not Finished Yet!”

Regardless of the label people put on you (senior, baby-boomer, retired person), regardless of the number of birthdays you’ve celebrated, you are still here. And as long as you are here, you are not there, and as long as you are not there, it means God still has a purpose for you here.

When Jesus was on the cross, the last thing He said was, “It is finished.” After He made that statement He died. When is God’s purpose for you on this earth finished? It is finished when you die…until then, you are “not finished yet!” (NFY!)

The way in which He uses you may change, but He will never consider you useless, no matter what your age.

A few years ago, I remember someone telling me that my writing days were behind me and my creative work was a thing of the past.  Those words did not discourage me, because a few weeks before those comments were made, I heard God saying the very opposite to my spirit.  The Scripture God used to assure me things were “not finished yet” was from Psalm 92…

I have been anointed with fresh oil…The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree, He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those who are planted in the house of the LORD Shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bear fruit in old age; They shall be fresh and flourishing, To declare that the LORD is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him. Psalm 92:10, 12-15

This passage helped me realize that my ability to flourish in life, to be fruitful in ministry, and to be fresh in creativity, had nothing to do with my age, but with the anointing oil of the Holy Spirit upon my life.

Many define “the retirement years” as the time when our work is done and we settle into an easy chair as a reward for our productive years. For the child of God, our best years do not have to be a thing of the past. God called Abraham to leave Haran and go to the Promised Land when he was seventy-five years old; God commissioned Moses to deliver Israel from Egypt when he was eighty; God gave Zachariah and Elizabeth a child when they were “well advanced in years;”  Paul was still ministering to the body of Christ from prison when he called himself the “aged one;”  the 2nd and 3rd books of John are written by the “elder” John;  Caleb, at the age of eighty-five was still a mighty warrior and received Hebron as an inheritance;  Anna, a prophetess who was well past 80, continued to maintain a powerful prayer ministry, and was one of the earliest believers to see the Lord with her own eyes.

Does the thought of getting older discourage you or make you fearful? Consider these words the Lord spoke to Isaiah…

I will be your God throughout your lifetime– until your hair is white with age. I made you, and I will care for you. Isaiah 46:4

NFY!

*Oh, thank you, Lord…I’m gettin” older…and I love this reminder of Your Plan for my life!!  Amen!