PIONEERS

The Lord’s pioneers have been on my heart recently. The word pioneer has several definitions, but interestingly enough, their meanings are closely intertwined. The word pioneer embodies the following characteristics:

• a person or group of people that help originate new thoughts or activities or a new mode of doing things
• one of the first to settle in a an unknown territory
• one who creates a new way or helps prepare a way for others to follow

By design, pioneers, are unique and different from most people. They are the first to head out into the unknown and make a way for others to follow.

Throughout history, the Lord prepares a people – His pioneers – for each new time or movement yet to come. He sends his pioneer first, ahead of everyone else. They will be trained in what the new time will be, in order to help the rest, when the time comes.

Their path will not have made sense to them or anyone else around them. But how could it possibly make sense? They are being trained in the unforeseen future that only God knows. Of course it looks strange and different.

Their journey and training will only make sense when the new season arrives. And when the time changes, the pioneers will flourish because that is what they have been prepared for out of season and in advance. Everyone else will be confused, just as the pioneers once were. But, the Lord sent them ahead to be able to help the remainder of His people.

If you are a pioneer, the very people who misunderstood you and your call will be grateful that the change in season does not affect you, and that you are there to help guide them into the new. You were one of the few who trusted the Lord and ventured out into the unknown, holding onto Him in the midst of the chaos around you. In the next season, you will be helping usher in one of the greatest movements of the Lord.