Presence or Position: Which do you prefer? – Part 1

This is going to be another thought provoking question for you and I, to seriously consider before responding. The objective is to get us to think of what is really important; do we want the position or the presence of God? Think with me for a moment; when someone with position steps into a room, one would hope some sort of recognition is accorded the person, but from close observation, it is not necessarily the case. But compare this same scenario with someone who has presence about them; there is an aura, a persona, an oomph about them that will cause everyone in the room to take notice of the person who just entered the room. Beloved, this is a very serious question; I can assure you, it will impact every aspect of your life, everything is in scope, there is no out of scope item. As is our practice, we would be exploring Biblical text with simplicity and clarity to further help us comprehend God’s insight that will impact our human spirit.

There is one person I have encountered in my life who has both presence and position, that person is my older brother, Jesus Christ. The Bible says, “For God knew His people in advance, and He chose them to become like His Son, so that His Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.” Read Romans 8:29. And before we dig deeper into this context of discussion, we see our leaders today who are mostly positional rather than presential (allow me this nuance for the sake of this write-up). People spend lots of money to equip themselves positionally, yet there seem to be the presence missing or the lack thereof. Politicians and dare I say some men of the cloth would do anything to embrace the position, whilst ignoring the presence, but what they fail to realise is that without the presence, the position becomes a self gratifying project. Let us read what the Bible says in Proverbs 14:34 (MSG), “God-devotion makes a country strong; God-avoidance leaves people weak.” I believe, when people pursue after position only in any sphere of life or work and ignore the presence, then they might have set themselves up for what I call ‘hard labor.’ The Bible says, “It is senseless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night, fearing you will starve to death; for God wants his loved ones to get their proper rest.” Read Psalm 127:2 (TLB). Moses the prophet in the Bible understood the true meaning of position with and without presence. As powerful and influential as Moses was, he was in no doubt of what he required to be a successful leader; GOD’s PRESENCE. Moses said to the Lord, “See, you say to me, ‘Bring this people,’but you have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in My sight.’ Now therefore, If I have found favor in Your sight, please show me now Your ways, that I may know You in order to find favor in Your sight. Consider too that this nation is Your people.” And He said, “MY PRESENCE will go with you, and I will give you rest.” Read Exodus 33: 12-14 (ESV). In other words, with presence comes rest and assurance, and with position only comes hard labor. And I suppose Moses would understand better, because when he tried to use his position without the presence, he ended up killing an Egyptian and fled for his life. Hear what the Bible says, “He will protect His faithful ones, but the wicked will disappear in darkness. No one will succeed by strength alone.” Read 1 Samuel 2:9 (NLT). 

As we seek to investigate Jesus Christ; the one with position presence, character and integrity; it would be interesting to compare and contrast between King David and Saul; what made King David different from Saul? Abraham and Lot; equally a very good example of people in the Bible we can learn from as it relates to the subject of position or presence. I want to go on record and say, Jesus was in a class of His own, he had the position, and the presence; the presence authenticated His position, hence making Him stand in a class all by Himself. I believe one of the greatest challenges facing leadership is the lack  thereof of the PRESENCE. We are so title ridden, too positional, without the necessary substance required. We hide behind big titles in our names; as if the titles authenticate who we are (Selah – calm pause and think).

Watch this, Jesus Christ who is our model example, had position, presence, but above all had character and integrity. Would you agree with me, three key ingredients lacking thereof in leadership is PRESENCE and CHARACTER and INTEGRITY? Think about it, and sure to come back and read subsequent discourse.

It is going to get interesting , and I trust God to enlighten the eyes of our understanding, and to flood our spirit with deep insight that will PROPEL us into the next phase of our purpose and desire in the Name of Jesus. Amen.

We write You read Be encouraged.