Seismic Shifts: When God Has Moved On

Frustrated with the longtime lack of measurable results I was experiencing in the years of my Pentecostal/Apostolic denominational involvement I asked my friend, a noted pastor, and evangelist…Why, even after our strict conduct, our devotion to fasting and praying and disciplining ourselves to the "sanctified lifestyle" as much as we could, why did we still have a noticeable lack in the things of God. The answer he gave me left me upended but ultimately renovated my thinking. He said, "It's because we are living where God was." What did he mean? He meant that with all of our efforts to please the Lord with correct behaviors we had merely pacified our sense of duty to scriptural obligations.
Conversely, at the same time, we missed critical upgrades and updates of revelation necessary to keep us fresh and current with God, who displays a proclivity for shifts and changes. In other words, God had shifted, not in integrity, but methods and revelations, and we had failed to catch those critical shifts. Sadly, God had moved on, and as dedicated and devoted as we were in our approach to God, we had been left behind. That unflattering retort launched me into seeking out and identifying some outdated misconceptions that have kept us lagging behind for years. I also discovered some fresh revelations that would bring us "current" with God. It's upsetting to admit that we, God's people, camped around the statement in Hosea, "I am the Lord I change not." Yet we failed to remember that He also stated: "I will do a new thing."