This feels like a very simple yet direct word for the pioneers out there this week, and I believe it will be a continual theme for the year. It feels as though the Lord is setting us on the right path right now.
He has been shifting us off the wrong track and onto the right one, aligning us with the right conditions and out of the round-the-mountain-goose-chase many have been on.
It almost feels like God is bringing us into an environment or season where things around us finally work or connect.
It no longer feels like we are living in clutter or at least God is beginning the process of getting us out of it.
We can no longer live bombarded by a constant, overwhelming number of influences and distractions on a daily basis.
For the last four to seven years, our pioneering journey has felt noisy, filled with constant swirling chaos.
It’s normal in that part of the pilgrimage. It’s settling sail with little to nothing to go on. It’s the season of trial and error - learning to hear His voice and lead as best as you can.
That’s why 2024 felt difficult because at the end of that road it feels like it’s the culmination of some wins and advances but so many more painful outcomes to navigate, regrets, and even failures.
But coming out of that, the Lord wants to establish us. He wants to set us up for victory in our pioneering efforts so that we are no longer expending so much energy defending ourselves or constantly being on the offensive due to a lack of wisdom in certain situations, circumstances, or decisions we have made.
Over the past few years, we have been moving toward a new level of maturity. I believe 2024 was the year of realizing what was not going to work and what would. Now, in 2025, the Lord is bringing us into a place of settling and clarity in key areas, our people, our mission, and our calling.
Many of us have gone through a season of redefining our calling. As pioneers, we tend to see needs, recognize things that must be done, and take action. However, not all of these tasks are what the Lord has called us to do. Many are simply things that need to be done by someone, but not necessarily by us. The Lord is teaching us to discern what is from Him and what is simply a distraction.
This also applies to the people in our lives. As highly empathetic individuals, we naturally see the needs of those around us. We see hurting people, and we see those who want to run with us. Because we have experienced seasons of isolation, times of feeling like an outsider, there is a part of us that craves companionship. We don’t want to feel like a Lone Ranger right?
As a result, we may gravitate toward people who validate or flatter us. We may also be drawn to those who are needy and require help. While these things are not inherently wrong, they can drain our energy and prevent us from fulfilling our main mission. This is something we must address.
Right now, the Lord is calling us to establish boundaries. He is leading us to greater wisdom and discernment regarding who we align with, who we pour into, and who we allow into our lives. In our desire to avoid loneliness, we have sometimes allowed “bad apples” into our circles. But the Lord is dealing with these misalignments now.
Another challenge pioneers face is our familiarity with mess. We have spent so long dealing with chaos that it has become normal to us. We have accepted clutter and disorder as part of our calling. Some of us have even come to associate progress with drama, as if things must be chaotic in order to be “The Lord”
But I truly believe this next season of pioneering will be different. It will be a season of building from a place of peace and rest. The Lord is bringing the right people into our lives, and He is making our assignments clear.
We are shifting from a pilgrimage phase of pioneering into a settling phase. This means we are coming to the end of searching for the right location or environment. Migrations are still happening but that will begin to change as God anchors people.
Now, it is time to plant, establish, and build the things we have been talking about for the last seven years.
At the beginning of this year, I felt a strong warning from the Lord:
“Do you really want to go around the mountain again?”
There are areas in our lives where the Lord has been calling us to maturity. Yet, it is easy to fall back into old patterns, opening the floodgates once again to unnecessary drama, noise, and distractions.
The Lord is asking: “Do you really want to go around that mountain again? Do you really want to keep expending energy filtering out the noise just to hear My voice?”
I know the answer is no.
The wisdom of the Lord in this season is clear: We must filter better. We must discern better.
We must step out of the cesspool of drama, noise, and constant demands. We must break free from the need to appease people and from our own need for affirmation from the wrong places.
We must embrace the truth that less is more. We must work smarter, not harder.
I believe the Lord wants me to pray today for pioneers, that a great level of discernment and wisdom would come upon your life in this next season.
Write this down in a journal:
People, Assignment, and Heart.
The Lord is calling you to govern and steward these areas well.
He is calling you to guard your heart well.
He is calling you to steward your one true calling well.
He is calling you to nurture the small community of people He has placed around you.
As you do this, you have permission to block out everything else.
Focus on His face.
This will ensure that you are no longer caught in the enemy’s wild goose chase, constantly going around the same mountain, losing time, losing joy, and nearly losing your divine calling.
It is time to move forward with a high altitude, spiritual and emotional aptitude, and a clarity and peace that only comes by getting off the broken carnival car of demonic distraction and coming back in step with Jesus.
I prophesy, you will not go round the mountain in 2025 in Jesus name!
