SID: I am fascinated by an experience Larry had a couple of years ago, where he had a vision that was life-changing. Tell me about it; where were you?
LARRY: I was at a revival service and the power of God just fell in that place. People were running toward the altar. The Holy Spirit had me run up there as well. I knew He wanted to deposit something into my heart that would change my life. I didn’t know what it was at the time, so I was up there and I felt His presence so strongly, Sid, and what happened was, the singer, Lydia Stanley Marrow, was up there. She was singing a prophetic song and over and over again she sang the words ‘open up the gates; open up the doors’, and as she sang that, the Lord gave me a vision of the mind. I saw this picture in my mind of, like, an old ancient, rusty castle gate and, you know, it was a gate that had bars and there were areas through these bars that stuff could go through, obviously, but it was very limited, but the gate was, like, shut. The gate was down, and as she sang this and as people cried out for God, that’s what was happening in this moment. People were crying out for God in hunger and desperation for Him to move, and I saw that that gate would actually rise up based on the intensity of the people’s cries for hunger and just desperation for God. So as she sang ‘open up the gates’ the gate would rise up and I’m like, God, what does this mean? What does this picture of the gate mean? And I felt like the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, “Throughout history, Larry, I have been moving.” Throughout history there have been people, men and women, who have actually pressed into the supernatural. Some people think, you know, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit happened in the book of Acts and then maybe it happened years later on the day of, you know, the Azusa Street revival, but there’s actually a long history of people, men and women, throughout time who have pressed into God. One person I think of immediately is St. Francis of Assisi. He was a man who modeled Jesus. He knew Jesus’ life and ministry was accessible and he just modeled Jesus and saw amazing miracles, signs and wonders. So throughout history this has happened and there have been people who have pressed in for it, but I felt like the gate in our generation was just rising up with an increased speed. Why? Because I feel like, where we are now, there’s a company of people, not just one or two or three or four or a monastic community like back in the Middle Ages; there’s a whole community and company of people in this generation who are pressing in to experience the supernatural power of God and I just see that gate rising up, so I guess the principle the Holy Spirit showed me was, God’s sovereignty has nothing to do with the level of supernatural power that’s released into the earth, because so many people think, you know, God’s sovereign. If He wants to do this kind of stuff, if He wants to heal the sick, do supernatural miracles, He’ll do it. He’s always wanted to do it, Sid, since the day of Pentecost.
SID: As my wife’s grandmother used to always say, “God works in mysterious ways.” Well, not for His children!
LARRY: Yes.
SID: It’s mysterious for those that don’t know God, so that’s why these principles and this understanding, the intimacy and pressing in are so important. Tell me about Kathryn Kuhlman. I know you’ve studied everyone. She’s one of my favorite people.
LARRY: She’s one of my favorites as well, and here’s why. Kathryn Kuhlman, this woman who saw amazing miracles, unprecedented miracles, entire stadiums filled with people where the power of God would break out, she wouldn’t even need to touch them! Healing power would just fall on those people. And this woman, I remember hearing her speak to a student body at ORU and she opened up with this prayer and she said, “Lord, there’s no one hungrier for more than me, the one who’s speaking.” And I thought to myself, ‘Kathryn! You’ve seen all these amazing things! Things that so many people in my generation want to see God do, and yet, you’re saying you’re hungry for more!’ And I remember watching that and thinking to myself, she’s really a leader who’s setting the example because she sees so much of God’s activity because she remains in this place where she thinks to herself, there’s always more. There’s always more. I’m not arriving; I’m not gonna camp out at this one place in God; I’m not gonna just stay here and be content. There’s always more of His power and presence to see in my life.
SID: Okay. You told me before we sat down at the set that God spoke to you last night and told you to pray for people. Do that now.
LARRY: Yeah. Father, I pray right now that whoever is watching, that You would touch them like You touched me when I was 16 years old. God, touch them with Your reality, whether they know You, whether they’ve prayed for Jesus to be their Lord and Messiah, or whether they don’t know You, whether they’re saying, ‘God, if You’re real…’ In fact, I believe there are some people who are watching right now and you are literally thinking or saying to yourself, ‘God, if You’re real, I need You to touch me!’ And I believe right now in this moment as we pray, the Holy Spirit is gonna come invade your room and your life, and He’s gonna touch you in the same way He touched me and that experience and that encounter is gonna be a place for you to draw life from and faith from and strength from for the rest of your life, and it’s gonna keep you going from glory to glory, experiencing more of God than you could ever imagine possible, so Father, I pray right now that the Spirit of God would touch those people who are hungry and saying, ‘God, I know You. I know Jesus, but I want more. I want to see Your power and Your presence released in my life in a greater way than I’ve ever seen.’ Touch them, Lord. Release a fresh baptism of fire, Father, and for those who don’t know You, God, for those you are curious like I was at 16, curious about You but have never known Your reality, never felt You, never experienced You, they’re saying, ‘God, if You’re there’, Holy Spirit, I pray that You’d reveal Jesus the Messiah to them like never before. Touch them even now, God. Touch them, Father, in a spectacular way, in a subtle way, it doesn’t matter. It’s supernatural, no matter how He touches you, and that encounter will change everything. I believe He’s doing that even now in this moment in Jesus’ name.
SID: And I’ll tell you something else. Hunger, supernatural hunger is coming through the television and computer, your cell phone, right now, and that hunger will not stop until you have experiential knowledge with the Living God. I tell you, I’ve had experiential knowledge, and whatever He’s done for me, whatever He’s done for Larry He’s about ready to do for you. Breakthrough Faith now!
Tags: its supernatural, Sid Roth
Tags: its supernatural, Sid Roth