Your mindset shapes your perspective, your approach to life and eventually determines the level of result you command.
I implore you to open up your heart to receive as you read on and you will see light coming into your life.
Who is a Pioneer?
A pioneer is a person who is among the first to explore an area (not in a physical space). They are explorers!
He is the first to develop or apply new methods or area of knowledge to bring something to bear. A pioneer is one of the first persons to do something (not necessarily big). For instance, you can be a pioneer of being born again in your family).
Pioneers are inventors, innovators, builders, change agents, and pace setters; they love to expand what is already built.
Everyone of us can be a Pioneer because there is more to be done.
The opposite of a Pioneer is a Settler – one who stays and refused to grow/expand in an existing system. Settlers are lovers of comfort zone and stability.
There are 4 stages a Pioneer goes through;
1. Revelation: You receive revelation through the power of the Holy Spirit. (Job 32:8- there is a spirit in man, but the inspiration of the Almighty gives him understanding).
The revelation of Pioneers comes from the Holy Spirit. A pioneer lives by revelation but a settler lives by reaction. Revelation gives you the advantage to work the supernatural in the natural. The Pioneer may feel lonely at this stage because no one else sees the vision. However, the pioneer must learn to believe in himself, when others don’t believe him.
2. Resistance: At this stage, because people cannot comprehend the force of the Holy Spirit that is moving you, they will resist against the vision, because they cannot understand the revelation behind your decision, action, and the pioneering moves; they will fight the vision.
In (Num. 14:10- The whole nation of Israel thought to stone Joshua and Caleb) because they say (in verse 7-8 “The land we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land, and the Lord will bring us into it and give it to us”). The pioneer at this stage needs to be persistent, focused and committed to the vision.
3. Revolution: This is the stage where people can no longer dismiss the idea, because it’s working and producing result that is desired.
The idea at this stage is considered a breakthrough idea! New order of doing things. This stage comes with another challenge -it threatens the status quo; the old way of doing things.
The status quo makes some people powerful and influential with sense of authority over the current systems. The forces in charge of the current system will protest and seek to deny the pioneer the opportunity and privileges he deserves because what the pioneer is doing is now considered better than the system, they have authority on.
As a pioneer, you therefore need to learn how to Recruit Partners, you can’t always do it on your own. To recruit people to your side at this stage, people must see the passion behind your purpose. They want to see what you are ready to give up in pursuing that thing you believe in. Jesus worked with the partners of 12.
4. Reproduction: At this stage, the idea has been implemented, received, and well celebrated. The Pioneer’s task will then be focusing on quality, excellence, and scaling up. It is an exciting stage when what used to be vague, and abstract had become adopted and celebrated because everyone wants to be part of it. For a child of God, your spiritual excellence is to make sure to stay obedient to God. Caleb warned the Israelite not to rebel against God so that God could take them to the promised land – Numbers 14:8-9.
TRAITS OF A PIONEER
Firstly, Pioneers don’t see obstacles, they see opportunities:
In Num 13:33- “There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”
The settlers see their weaknesses from the verse above and call themselves grasshoppers, whereas Caleb and Joshua saw the same opposition, and called them bread, who has lost their protection (Numb. 14:9).
There were so many obstacles in the way of Jesus when He was pioneering God’s kingdom; but He chose to not see any of them. He focused on the work. The vision.
Secondly, Pioneers don’t listen to Naysayers:
According to Num. 13:30- “Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.”
Pioneers don’t take the word of nay sayers seriously.
Faith comes by hearing. Fear also comes by hearing. That is the reason Caleb did not allow the ten spies to dwell on discussing their perception of the promised land for too long.
They stopped them from talking about it so they don’t get his mind corrupted. If you must pioneer anything good, you must be careful about the people you listen to.
People kill dreams with their word. They put off light on a vision with their word.
Thirdly, Pioneers are not afraid to take risk:
The fear of making a mistake or failing is one of the reasons people don’t want to try out a new idea. That is the reason people don’t want to try out a new venture or pioneer a new project. Mistakes are part of life, and only those who can take risk give success an opportunity to. Failure is not the FINAL reality.
If you do something, maybe you start off a company, and it did not work out as planned, you have only learnt how not to do things! So, in actual sense, you did not fail, because you have gained new knowledge.
Fourthly, Pioneers are not slack to act:
Every pioneer is action oriented. They are good at planning, but they are also given to ACTION.
One of the major undoing of so many people is that they stay too long in the planning phase. They are planning to start a company, they are planning to become a doctor, they are planning to start a project. Planning, Planning, Planning…
When will you act? When will you move forward from the planning phase to Implementation?
Until you birth that idea through action, it will remain in your mind or at best in your notebook.
Greatness starts from the mind, but it must not stay in the mind forever; it must be birthed at some point.
Fight procrastination! Fight excuses!
Let us pray – Lord help me to develop the mind of a pioneer. Let the Spirit of pioneer enter into me.
