28About eight days after this conversation, he [Jesus] took along Peter, John, and James and went up on the mountain to pray.
Luke 9:28
1Summoning the Twelve, he [Jesus] gave them power and authority over all the demons and to heal diseases.
Luke 9:1
1After this, the Lord appointed seventy-two others, and he sent them ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself was about to go.
Luke 10:1
How Do You Have Presence With Everyone?
You don’t.
Jesus didn’t even try to have presence with everyone equally.
He gave 3 (Peter, John and James) the most intimate access.
He gave the 12 disciples the next amount of intimacy.
He had 72 who had a deeper access than the masses, but was still more general compared to the 3 or 12.
You must be intentional about who and when you give Presence to.
The flip side to giving no one your Presence is to try to give everyone equal Presence. This will end in disaster. Usually for you. As well as your family.
You must be intentional about the decisions you make about who gets your Presence and when. Meaning you must answer questions.
First series of questions…
When does your work get your Presence?
When does your family get your Presence?
When do your friends get your Presence?
When do your hobbies get your Presence?
When you say yes to one, you cannot say yes to another. And if you have overlap (say a family business), you must make sure to create boundaries. Is this work time? Is this family time? These will bleed into each other. Making boundaries will make the bleeding less.
Next question after the first is answered…
Who gets your Presence?
If work has your Presence, who needs your Presence today? Who needs your Presence this minute?
Do you have some who have more direct access to you?
Do you have more who have an intermediate access to you?
Do you have the masses who get moments here and there?
When do you Influence with Presence each group of people?
When you’re with your family, does everyone need your Presence? Do you need one-on-one with your wife or a child? Does your extended family need your Presence?
Oh. We haven’t even mentioned the time you need to be Present with God so he can Influence you? Oh…yeah…When do you need to be Present with yourself so you can have a full cup to Influence others?
Question after question.
Oh. Yeah. One more thing. Each season is different too. So once you get a question answered, the answer to that question will change.
Never ending. But here is the good in all of this…
You can only answer the questions for you. Others can help you. Others can see your blindspots. But you must answer the questions.
So my answer for this season will be different than yours. There is no right answers (there may be wrong ones…another topic…another day)
The key is you’re being intentional.
The key to Influencing with Presence the right people at the right time is you’re being intentional with your Presence.
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Have a plan to develop the Influence you have in others through your Presence.
Who do you need to be more intentional with when it comes to your Presence? What next steps do you need to make with your intentionality?
The goal is to lead you to engage with God’s Word so you can Hear & Follow Jesus in the everyday…especially in your leadership. Sign up for daily emails at the button below to receive the content in your inbox. You’ll receive a 1-minute email read with a link to a 5-minute blog read each day.