Ali Rothwell: Responding to the prophetic

Ali shares with us about the importance of responding together to God's word so that we take an active role in fulfilling the prophetic word over our lives individually and communally. There were some sound issues in the first 3 mins or so, so we have transcribed that part of the message for you to read along if you are having difficulty. ''During the last year we had a series on the gifts of the spirit. And during that time we had several teaching sessions, at least one workshop on prophecy and moving prophetically and being a prophetic people and folk came forward to be prayed for and hands were laid on and we’ve seen new people that we haven’t seen before bring prophetic word and move out prophetically.But the thing that’s been on my heart for a number of months now is what’s our response?When somebody brings something and we know it’s from God and we hear that it’s from God, what’s our response. And you can look through scripture and there’s people like Noah. God told Noah to build an ark. A ridiculous thing at that stage in history for someone to do. But he takes literally to the millimetre what God tells him to do and he makes this ark. And the you’ve got the widow of Zarapheth and Elijah says, ‘I want you to go and make some food and I want you to give me some drink.’ And we know that she’s got virtually nothing left, she was expecting to die and yet she did that and she lived.And then Agabus goes to Paul with his hands bound because he knows that when Paul goes onto the next stage of his journey he’s going to be bound. And Paul doesn’t say ‘I’m not going then.’ He’s obedient and he carries on.So theoretically, it should be a really simple answer. When God speaks, whatever he says, we, if we’re believing it should surely just say yes and do absolutely everything that God’s telling us to do; embrace the whole word, whatever the implication is and get on with it. That is what we should do.Then my questions are, what do you think a prophetic word really is? How many prophetic words have come into the church family or into your life individually do you fully recall? In the last month, in the last 6 months, in the last year, maybe in the last decade? And what’s your response when those words come?Is it just for the moment? You hear it and it passes on. Maybe we expect something else to remind us of them. Maybe you write it down in a notebook but then you put the notebook away? Maybe you write it down, maybe you remember it, perhaps you record it? You revisit it, pray into it, you study around it, you keep it alive? What impact do those words really have? Do we really believe that it is God who is speaking? That it is God who is speaking?''