Sid Roth - What I Saw in a Vision Left Me Trembling
Sid Roth: Welcome, Holy Spirit. Go and flow! My guest, David Harris, was raised in a traditional church, but he turned to a lifestyle of drugs and partying at age 16. David, what was the catalyst that made you run to the world?
David Harris: Well, I'll be honest. My parents had taught me the Christian values from a very young age. I'd gone to church all my life, and, you know, it was a very traditional saying, there was no sense of God's presence, it was more about following traditions and rules, and I never truly experienced the person of Jesus. So I didn't really know what Christianity really, truly meant. So I was finding pleasures elsewhere, outside of the church, which were filling my heart, whether it was partying, drinking, getting high on drugs, womanizing, I was just not finding what I needed in the church. And so I was looking for it elsewhere. I'd never been introduced to this person, Jesus.
Sid Roth: Well, 2009, you're channel surfing, I know about channel surfing. And you bump into a movie of all movies, "The Passion of Christ".
David Harris: And I had experienced several people in my life die. One was my father, and I also experienced a young student in a car accident die right in front of my eyes. Thank God I wasn't in the car accident, but I was a witness to that car accident. And I'd seen this young student take his very last breath. My dad was a very healthy man, he was a trained Olympian, he fought in the Olympics, and at the age of around 72, 73, he became terminally ill, with a serious lung condition. And the doctors just said that he's got six months to live. He was here with us for 10 months, and he went on to be with the Lord. And at that point, I had so many questions, Sid. I just wanted to know, what is this life about? What's my purpose? Why do I wake up every day? Why do I do the things that I do? What's my reason to live? And so all of that took place, and I just thought the right thing to do for my family was to start to go back to church again. I just felt like I needed faith in my life. And so I started to go to church, but there was nothing there that was doing anything on the inside of me. I was just going to tick a box, I was just going to make myself feel better. And I fell into this trap of religion. But it was in April 2009, and I began to flick through the channels, and I came across the "Passion of Christ". Many of us have seen it, I've seen it previously to that moment, and it was really emotional. But this time, there was something different, Sid. I felt something come into my room, and I began to physically feel the tangible presence of God. I began to see this Man who was hanging on a cross, who was bleeding. He was unrecognizable. And my heart began to beat so fast. And tears began to come out of my eyes, and I began to see Jesus as a real person. I began to see Him as the Son of the living God that came down to this earth. And He died for me, and the thought just kept going through me, "Why me, God? Why did You die for me? I should be on that cross. I deserve that kind of death," because I thought I was a good person until that moment. I became so convicted of my sin. I could feel the love of God beginning to crush me on the inside, because you know what? I didn't understand this love. I'd never experienced this love in my life before. It didn't make sense up here. And in that moment, Sid, Jesus became the most realest thing to me that I could ever know. He became more real to me than the air that I was breathing, and these tears were just coming out of nowhere. Tears that I'd never cried before. But in that moment, I put my hands out, and I said, "Jesus, I give my life to follow You". And from that moment, in April 2009, my life was never the same. Everything just began to look different.
Sid Roth: From what you told me, you actually felt a heavy presence of the Holy Spirit?
David Harris: Oh, yeah. I mean, no one gave me a theology on the Holy Spirit, Sid. No one gave me an explanation to what I was experiencing. But that day, I can't deny that there was a weighty presence of God that came into the room, and I could feel it pressing upon my chest. I could feel it over my body. I could feel Him swelling in the atmosphere of my room. And He became a real, living person. He came out of the pages that I've read all my life, and I began to see Jesus, the living Word, the manifestation of God's Word come alive to my heart. And that's really what changed me. It wasn't religion, it wasn't rules, but it was an encounter with the presence of God. It was a true encounter that changed my life. And from that point onwards, God began to deliver me from addictions. He began to deliver me from lust, I had been involved in so many relationships. I was so unclean. But you know what, that night, the blood of Jesus washed me, it cleansed me. Condemnation left my life because of His perfect love. His perfect love came and restored every part of my being. Well, I began to know this Jesus who loves me. More than anything in this world, there's a Jesus. There's a God who created this universe that thought about me. And He wanted to come into my life. And it was understanding that even in the mess of where I was, God still came looking for me. It was His divine grace working in that moment. I didn't go looking for God, He came looking for me. I'd never experienced this kind of love before, where even in the mess of my life, God's still saying, "I choose you. I call you by name. Come to Me, because I want to give you the longings of your heart, all the things that you've looked for in this world, they can only temporarily hold the satisfaction in your lief. But I can fill every longing and desire".
Sid Roth: But then you get filled with the Holy Spirit. Tell me briefly about that.
David Harris: Literally. So literally a year after my salvation, I went through a journey where, you know, there began to come people into my life, mentors and pastors, and I began to get plugged into a local church. But as I began to read the Scriptures, I began to hunger for the things that I saw in the Book of Acts. I began to hunger for the encounter that I see in the early church. And one day, my friend invited me to his house, the only friend I had at the time. And he said to me, "I want to do a Bible study with you". I said, "What's the Bible study about"? He said, "Well, we're going to study the Scriptures, and we're going to look at where the Holy Spirit came upon people, and how they began to speak in unknown tongues". And I was, like, "Great, let's do it". So we studied through the Scriptures. And then by the end of it, we felt that we should lay hands. And so he came and he laid hands on me, and just by faith, I just began to feel just, like, a light wind, like a light, rushing wind come over my body, and I just began to allow words just to come up, just bubble up from the inside. And just by faith, I just began to speak these words. You know, my flesh was telling me, "You're going crazy". But the Spirit inside of me was telling me, "You've got this. You've just received". And from that point onwards, I would go to the back of my shed, I would lock the door, and I just begin to cultivate this heavenly language. I began to connect with God in worship, and in His word as I'd pray in the Holy Spirit. So that was an encounter with the Holy Spirit, which definitely was a moment that marked my life.
Sid Roth: Okay, but then you marked again what you call the "immersion," or the "baptism of fire"?
David Harris: Yes. The baptism of fire was something that was never taught to me. I didn't have any practical lessons to understand this gift. And one day, I would switch on the television, and I would see this fiery evangelist on the television, preaching about the blood of Jesus. He would preach about the Holy Spirit, he would preach about Pentecost. And I heard that he was coming to the UK, and there were going to be some revival gatherings in the north of England. So I took a four hour drive, and I went there with a group of about four people, and we went to these gatherings. And I received an impartation. I had the Man of God lay hands on me, and I felt the power of God go through my body. And what happened, Sid, what I had planned was not to be at the final meeting, I'd planned to go back to London because at that time, I was leading the youth in the local church, and I felt like I needed to go back. But God was saying, "No, I need you to be there at that final night". And it was completely sold out, but someone came and said, "We've got some tickets for you. We know that you've got to be here". So we went there. My friend sat in the balcony. I sat on a seat downstairs. But this night was different, Sid. AS soon as the worship began, I told you, the glory of God came into that room. I didn't know we could experience Jesus like this, but He became so real that night, the presence of God became so weighty. You know, the Scriptures talk about the weighted presence of God, the Kabod. And that reflects the weightiness of who Christ and Jesus is, and He came into the room. The worship team, they couldn't worship. The preacher couldn't preach. But there was a sound that came into that room, Sid. There was a heavenly sound, it was as if I could hear angels singing in that room, a sound I'd never heard before. And the only thing I could reflect upon was this Man, Christ, Jesus. And I was just having this encounter, and the tears were coming out of my eyes. And then, I began to have this rock come over my body; I couldn't control it. I just began to rock back and forth. I was, like, "What is this"? all I could say were these words, Sid, "Jesus. Jesus. Jesus"! It felt like the vocabulary within me left, and the only words that I knew that hold any value were, "Jesus"! And I kept saying, "Jesus"! And then, Sid, I began to feel the presence of the Lord come over me. I couldn't stand. I was that weighty presence that we hear of in Second Chronicles, Chapter 5, the cloud of God's glory came into that room. And I sat down, because I couldn't stand under the weight of His glory anymore. And there was this elderly man, Sid, I'd never met him before. And he places his hand around me, and he says, "Son, I feel the Lord's going to show you some things". And as he did that, I felt the fire of God. I felt like my body had gasoline thrown over it, and a match was thrown on me. It was like a volcano erupted. And I began to feel the presence of the Holy Spirit, like I had never felt before. This was different. This was different than me just praying in the Holy Ghost. This was the Holy Spirit, the fire of God burning on the inside of me. I felt my whole body was so saturated in this immersion, that my clothes began to become drenched. And I don't perspire; this was supernatural, Sid. This was the fire of God, completely changed my life. I was in that experience, and I began to have visions. I began to speak in tongues that I had never spoken of in before. And I was speaking in these tongues, I began to understand what I was saying. I began to hear an interpretation. It wasn't for anybody around me, God was just speaking, I was, like, "What is this? What is this"? There was a river that I had not known that existed that was flowing on the inside of me. There was a river that was flowing from God's throne, and somehow it was present here in my belly. And I could feel it on the inside of me, Sid. I feel it now in this place.
Sid Roth: Me, too.
David Harris: There's a river.
Sid Roth: I'll tell you what, when I began just reading about David Harris' experiences, my whole body was trembling with the presence of God. I believe this same tangible presence is either coming on you right now, or is about to come on you. Be right back.
Sid Roth: Now, after having this immersion in fire, speaking in tongues, tell me about your first encounter at that conference.
David Harris: Yeah, well, I had never had open-eyed visions. I didn't even know what they meant. But in this moment, it felt like it was even more than an open-eyed vision. It felt like I had come out of my body. It was like an experience that Paul speaks of in Second Corinthians 12:2, he didn't know whether he was in the body or out of the body. It was that kind of experience. But this never been taught to me, Sid. And it felt like I had been lifted up, and all of a sudden I'm in a room. But this room has no walls, it has no ceiling. And there's a light. There's a light that's filling this atmosphere, and the color of this light is blinding to the eye. It's so brilliant in its brightness, and it was consuming everything that was there. And as I began to focus on this light, I began to see where this light was coming from, Sid. And it was coming from the One who was seated upon the throne. It was coming from the face of the One who was on this throne. And then I began to see myriads, Sid, myriads of worshippers surrounding His throne. And all they could do was behold this Man. All they could do was look at Him. They had no other assignment, they weren't concerned with anything else. And they were being filled, they were being satisfied. I could feel the longing of the bride of Christ being satisfied. And as they looked, it was that same glory, that reflection that was coming off of the face of Jesus. And this light was really the glory of His presence. And it was that same glory that was covering the bride. And they just, it was just a continuous, it was just a, they just kept going, they just kept doing the same thing, but no one was getting tired. No one was getting tired of this song. They didn't get tired of looking at Jesus. And it was glorious. It was so glorious, I didn't want to come out of that. I didn't want that vision to ever end. And then I began to, after that moment, the Scripture began to come alive to me. And I began to see, this is something that was spoken of in the Book of Revelation. And I was, like, this is real, that there is a Holy God. I felt the fear of God. This wasn't a fear that was trying to push me back into a corner, but there was a holy reverence in this place. It was a holy awe of this Man who was on this throne, and everybody was captivated. Everybody was awestruck by the presence of this Holy One who was on this throne. And that's all I can really say, that the whole room was filled with this magnificent glory. And that's what I want in my life, Sid. That's what I want to experience every day.
Sid Roth: Hey, if that wasn't enough, at the same conference, he has another supernatural encounter. What happened?
David Harris: Well, I had several encounters at this conference. The Lord gave me the calling of my life, He spoke to me about different things, about ministry, but then what happened is, that at the end of this whole thing that was going on, out of nowhere, people were starting to come up to me. People were being brought to me. I didn't have anybody lay hands on me, Sid. God came into the room that night, but something happened in that moment, and then people just came to me. They were being brought to me, and they said, "Can you begin to prophesy and pray over me"? And I had never been taught the five steps to prophesying, I had never been given the training to give a prophetic word, and what not to do and what to do. But on the inside, as I began to pray, there became an unction. I could feel the Holy Spirit begin to give me words of knowledge. He began to give me words to encourage these people, things that they were going through. He was giving me such words, and people began to weep under the presence and the power of God. God doesn't just reserve this for one person. He's coming up for a bride. He's coming back for the nations of the earth. And we've got to begin to preach. We've got to begin to preach about the Holy Ghost. We can't be preachers that are afraid to let God do what He wants to do, because He wants to possess His people, Sid. We've had too many structures. We've tried to contain the Holy Spirit. But He's telling me, "Let Me take My church back, because I want to fill My bride". I want everyone to experience the fire of God. I want everyone to be experiencing this love that I had experienced in that encounter, that I still experience up until today. It carries on changing me; it wasn't just a one-time, momentary experience. I go to my bedroom every day and I have these encounters all the time. God opens my eyes, He visits me. He comes. He comes, and He wants to come into all of our lives. This is why he died.
Sid Roth: Okay. You said that one of the keys is that you are a worshipper. Just briefly...
David Harris: Yeah?
Sid Roth: ...how do you worship?
David Harris: Yeah. Look, Sid, I'll be honest. I don't play any instruments I don't sing very well. But a true worshipper is someone who comes and yields their heart to Jesus. They recognize, Sid, that He's the King of Glory. That He deserves every part of our lives. He bled to possess us. He bled to redeem us, to bring us back to Himself. You know, our lives don't belong to us anymore, they belong to Him. And now of thanksgiving to recognize, you know what, we deserved a tunnel separation. We deserve to die in a tunnel death, to never be in the presence of this beautiful Savior. And worship is a place to recognize what Jesus has done for us on the cross of Calvary, and we come, and we can now live in this wonderful presence. We can lift up our hearts to Him daily. This is the place where God's calling His church back to, Sid, He's calling us to worship Him in Spirit and in truth. He's not looking for the next best song, he's just looking for a hungry heart. He's just looking for a heart that says, "God, I want You, and nothing else in this world will do. And I'm going to give you every part of my life, as a living sacrifice, God". This is worship. We don't need to go into a worship set to experience worship. We can worship God on our way to work. We can worship God while doing the dishes. We can worship God cleaning our diapers of our children. We can do it, Sid. We can do it. We really can. This is worship, when we come with a thankful heart to Jesus.
Sid Roth: You know what I believe? I believe there are people watching that are going to literally move from where they are, stuck...
David Harris: Thank you.
Sid Roth: ...to going from glory to glory.
David Harris: Thank you, Jesus.
Sid Roth: I believe there are people watching us right now that say, "I heard about religion," just like David did, "Now I want to know Jesus for myself. I want my own experience". It's wonderful David had an experience.
David Harris: Oh, yes!
Sid Roth: "I want my own experience".
David Harris: Yes.
Sid Roth: Repeat this prayer out loud and mean it to the best of your ability.
David Harris: Thank you, Lord!
Sid Roth: Dear God I've made many mistakes in my life. And I'm so sorry. I believe the blood of Jesus has washed me clean. And now that I'm clean come into my heart. Live inside of me. I make You not only my Savior, but my Lord. Amen. David, I want you to pray that those that know God, or just said this prayer could you pray that we receive the fire of God just like you did?
David Harris: Yes.
Sid Roth: Would you do that, look in the camera.
David Harris: Thank you. Thank You, Lord. Right now, to all the viewers who are watching this, I just begin to pray an impartation of hunger. I began to go off to God with every fiber of my being, and I pray over you that you would begin to go off to Jesus, like He was the very thing that you was depending on life for. And I pray for the fire of God to begin to consume you. I pray for the baptism of the fire of the Holy Ghost! I pray it now in the Name of Jesus, the same fire that came on me, I pray, Lord that you would baptize every single person that's watching right now. Right now, let the fire of God, let it consume every person. Lord, let it begin to fill every home. Let it begin to fill every living room right now. In the Name of Jesus, I pray, Lord, that You would intoxicate the viewers with this presence, Lord, that they would be filled with the glory of God. They would be filled with love for You, Jesus! They would be filled with a fire, Lord, that longs to burn for You alone. Jesus, I pray in the Name of Jesus, Amen.
Sid Roth: I say you got the full dose!