Elevate Ministries

Visionary ///

2011-05-31T11:09:00.000-07:00

04. Today I don’t feel like doing anything.

This week, I’m allowed to come to work in jeans. Normally, I have to dress in business casual; and in my company we lean toward business more so than casual. So for the first three months, every day I dressed up.     Most people complain about having to dress up for work, but I kind of liked it.   Every other job I’ve had required a uniform or very casual, comfortable clothing. For most people, finding out that I like dressing up is shocking because they’re so used to me being in jeans and t-shirts, but I do like it, I just never have a reason to.

But something happened when I started to wear jeans to work. Now I didn’t have to spend time picking out an outfit, or worrying about keeping up a standard. I could be comfortable. And I noticed that my attitude changed somewhat too. I’m more casual with people.   I’m still the same person and do the same things as before, but there is a subtle difference in the way that I talk to people and carry myself. My head is a little higher, I sit a little straighter, and overall, I’m just a little more formal when I’m dressed for the part.

I think in our walk with God, we do this too. In the beginning, we’re all about it. We always read and pray and go to outreach and help in the church. We tell everyone we know about Jesus. But as time goes on we get relaxed, and a little more comfortable.   So we don’t put forth the effort like we used to. We’ve done things a million times so we’re not as critical as we used to be.   And pretty soon, it just becomes about doing without thinking and we forget the original reason behind why we do things in the first place.

I don’t ever want to lose my cause or forget the reason behind what I do. But it’s hard to keep things fresh.

What do you do to keep from getting lazy?

JENNIFER ING

Jennifer is the co-founder of the blog goingdeep.org.

Connect with Jen on twitter @jenxing
Link: http://www.goingdeep.org

Visionary ///

2011-05-25T22:22:00.000-07:00

03. #258,853,045

I recently joined Twitter (@jenxing). I know that you may be thinking that I’m a little late on the trend or shocked that I haven’t tweeted until just a couple months ago, but the truth is, I didn’t tweet until I felt like I had something significant to say. .

Twitter is an amazing tool to spread information to a large number of people quickly, but it’s only effective if you have a bunch of people following you. The more people that are following you, the more twitter feeds that you invade. And hopefully you say something that is either informational, inspirational, or entertaining enough that you are re-tweeted and invade even more twitter feeds. I guess when you join twitter, even though most won’t admit it, deep down everyone wants to be interesting enough that a bunch of people follow them.

Right now the church is in Bible Conference and we are talking about being “Contagious.” And the whole idea (simply put) is to be so inspired that you “infect” the people around you. Or in Twitter language you want people to follow you.

Lately, the idea that God’s been rolling around in my head is that I really am thankful that I have all kinds of friends. I’ve got really young friends, some well-seasoned friends, people of all different ethnicities and from different backgrounds. I’ve got friends in different states, and different countries, doing a variety of different things. And all these people around me are truly my friends, some closer than others, but there are a bunch of people I can call on if I ever need anything.

In addition to my state of gratitude, my prayer has been to hopefully impart something into others that they can go on to do even greater things than I can accomplish. With technology and the ability to reach such a broad, global audience, there is no limit to what a person can do.

We are all interconnected and often don’t realize what influences us and are completely oblivious to who we are influencing. I am so thankful for all the people I am following and are currently following me. I have learned a lot from the ones who have come before me, and I have great hope for those who are coming after.

JENNIFER ING
Jennifer is the co-founder of the blog goingdeep.org.
Connect with Jen on twitter @jenxing
Link: http://www.goingdeep.org

VISIONARY 02.

2011-04-29T16:12:00.001-07:00

// Visionary //

02. Like a Good Neighbor, State Farm is There

Timing is Everything. I could give a bunch of cheesy examples of this, but we all know what this statement means. Just as important as what we do, is when we do it. Timing is Everything.

I just started a new job and I now work in a cubicle. I swore I’d never work in a cubicle, and low and behold, the dream job has placed me in a little green box. There’s not much to my little box in terms of décor; a few important papers and a couple of little personal touches. But up in the corner where no one but me can see, there is a notecard that says, “God isn't late with his promise as some measure lateness. He is restraining himself on account of you, holding back the End because he doesn't want anyone lost. He's giving everyone space and time to change.” (2 Peter 3:8)

Lately the theme in my life has been “Be Still.” This is challenging for me because I don’t know how to “be still.” Every day of my life is planned out a week ahead and filled with things to do, and lists to complete. And more than being busy, I compulsively need to keep busy throughout the day. I fully admit that I have adult ADD. I am so immersed in my phone and being connected that I have to check twitter every 2 minutes and update my status to let everyone know what I’m doing at every moment of the day. Okay. I don’t post that much, but I do check my phone quite often. I want to know things as it is happening. I want to be able to have access the whole world at my fingertips.

And I want it now.

The need for instant results carries into my relationship with God. When things go wrong, I want God to fix them; and I want it done right away. And when things don’t change in the instant I ask, somehow there’s something wrong with God. What did I do, God, that you didn’t grant me my request. I did X, Y, and Z and therefore I should get what I’m asking for. You said knock and you shall receive. Well I’m knocking and it seems like no one’s home.

“God isn't late with his promise as some measure lateness. He is restraining himself on account of you, holding back the End because he doesn't want anyone lost. He's giving everyone space and time to change.” (2 Peter 3:8)

God’s not a genie in a lamp to grant us our every wish. Timing is everything. My vision is limited (and I have the glasses to prove it). But God’s vision goes beyond what we can see right in front of our faces. We may be doing all the right things, but everything around us isn’t quite in place yet. Or everything else may be in place, but we’re not doing the right things.

God’s got the master plan, and His vision is far greater than mine, but all I can focus on is what is right here and now. A couple of years ago, we showed a video in Youth Aflame and probably at Conference. I can’t remember the exact context of it, but I do remember it was a narrative and the visual that went with it was two hands going through life holding onto something very tightly. And it ended in a church where finally the fists let go and dirt fell through the guy’s fingers at the feet of Jesus. So many times in our lives we hold on dearly to what we think may be important, but is essentially dirt. When we open our hands and let the dirt fall, then we can receive what God has intended for us.

But it’s not so easy to let go. As much as we want to, we just can’t.

It’s not the right time yet.

Be Still.

And know that I am God.

JENNIFER ING
Jennifer is the co-founder of the blog goingdeep.org.
Connect with Jen on twitter @jenxing
Link: http://www.goingdeep.org

VISIONARY 01.

2011-04-29T16:03:00.001-07:00

01. Hello. My Name Is…

“The Lord called me before my birth; from within the womb he called me by name.” – Isaiah 49:1

God is in the business of creating and naming things. He said let there be light, and there was light. He said let me create man, and He called him Adam. Adam’s job was to name all the animals in Eden.

If you wander through the Old Testament, you will find endless lists of names of all the different tribes and what each name means. Names are important. They define who you are and where you come from. I would definitely rather have a first name, middle name, and last name rather than being just a number or other boring way of indicating who I was. I have a name. I am unique.

But quite often, we change our given name. When a woman gets married, her last name changes. When a child is adopted, they can change their name to their new parents’ last name. As a kid, we might have been called Danny instead of Daniel or Alex instead of Alexandria. Or we decide to drop part of our name (Lindsay No-Lohan) or we go by a middle name (Aubrey Drake Graham). Or later in life, we’re given an alter ego like P. Diddy or Black Mamba. But at some point, we’re given a nickname that sticks and that kind of becomes our new name. And the more that people call us by these nicknames, the new people we meet start to only know us by this new name so much so that we begin to take on a new identity. Soon Carlos Estevez is forgotten and Charlie Sheen emerges. #winning.

Back to the point.

As we start to live under our new names, we begin to develop a new persona. We start to do things not because it’s who we are and what we want to do, but almost what others would expect our new identity to do. And it’s not being fake or trying to hide who we really are, but because we are still trying to figure out just who “the real me” is.

When I first started coming to the church, Adam gave me the nickname Jen Bling. Since he started calling me that, others started calling me that, and pretty soon that’s who I was. C’mon being Bling was way cooler than being Jen Ing. Admit it, you added a lil’ dizzle to your name at some point.

As I started doing more in church and in Elevate, more people began to know who I was, and the more the motivation for my actions became not what I wanted to do, but what people expected Jen Bling to do. And it got to the point to where I was taking on too much and needed to stop everything and take a break.

Stepping down from ministry was the hardest thing I ever did. Jen Bling was Youth Aflame, Elevate, Praise Chapel. And one day it all stopped. I didn’t know who I was if I wasn’t doing ministry.

But God didn’t tell my parents to name me Jen Bling; He told them to name me Jennifer Keiko Ing. God had a vision for my life before I was born. God’s destiny didn’t live in the name that Adam gave me, it’s in the name He gave me. And who He wants you to be is far beyond anything you can plan or define.

One of my favorite scriptures is in 1 Corinthians 7:17, “Where you are right now is God’s place for you. Live and obey and love and believe right there. God… defines your life.”

You belong here. God has chosen you, before you were born, to go through everything you’ve gone through to be exactly as He created you to be. Discover God and discover you.

JENNIFER ING

Jennifer is the co-founder of the blog goingdeep.org.

Connect with Jen on twitter @jenxing

Link: http://www.goingdeep.org