Pioneers never back into a “play it safe” mode when the trail ahead may close up for winter if they hesitate.
Recognize the trail ahead may be open for a measurable moment of mercy. When it closes, the pioneer must wait it out somewhere along the route. If early snow comes, the passes may fill up and lock him down for months.
Mercy is time as opportunity. Mercy says, “Move now! God has made a way and put a pause on the obstacles that appear before you.”
No! You cannot just do “whatever, whenever!” You must move through when “through” is open for going through.
Permission Granted
May 2021 is the month of permission. You may. Ask Father, “May I?” Hear Him say, “Yes, you may.”
Consider where you must be in October as your signal for what you are doing now. Do not measure your present boldness by the green-dusted pollen of spring. Picture yourself in the “dry-leaves scratching on pavement” changes of September.
Winter will be wonderful in 2021! Pioneer yourself toward God’s positioning for it. Preparation for pioneering requires consistent pressing. Pausing for a couple of days is not quitting, but finding a restive stream under shaded oaks may tempt you to see the present climate as your future home.
Pioneers never “get there” if they get comfortable.
The People Need a Rest
The people are not the pioneers. They may be pioneering people, but they are not the pioneers. They would not need your pioneering leadership if they knew the trail, carried the maps, and knew the way through the gaps.
They will sit down if you do. They will stand up only if you push them. They will press through a salt lake of white dust and blistered lips because they trust your accurate anticipation of what’s coming next.
People do need a rest. Pioneering people stagnate more quickly than those enjoying the “out of doors” strolling through designed and designated, groomed, and cultivated public parks. City folks stay close to home.
Pioneers reach the summit of the next hill. City folks wander on weekends in encapsulated camping-gear simulations of the wilderness. Pioneering people live on the trail.
City folks await the next studio premier of canned worship, listening to yesterday and now. Pioneering people keep moving through the latest worship songs to the sound coming from tomorrow.
God started us on the pioneer trail, and we have a tough road before us. God created us for this! God birthed us for this! God called us to this! God anoints us for this! God flows springs of grace that await us in the desert for this!
God demands this every morning: “Get up and move, pioneers! Comfort is not your friend!”
What comes next will never be settled by ordinary people, honey.
Have You Been Enjoying Settlement Too Long?
I had a vision of old license plates. Entering a garage with a gravel floor, four walls, and a shingled roof, a side door, and two paned windows, I saw old rusting license plates nailed to the open studs of the interior walls.
I saw God’s hand reach down to pull the license plates off the walls. His breath sandblasted rust off them, exposing the fresh metal underneath. His burning eyes painted them with renewed colors. He put His thumb on the place where the annual update indicated, “this license is current.”
God says, “I am renewing the original permissions that birthed ministries. I am relicensing the calling of pioneering leaders and people. I am sending fresh orders to warriors at ease. I am reauthorizing dreams from decades of “out-of-date,” but honored memory.”
Do not play it safe now! Restore the pioneering spirit that birthed the thing you have structured for settlement. Get that early spring move back into your ministry with a “where we need to be for winter” vision.
“Up and at ’em, pioneers!”
