Transcript
Speaker: Welcome to the Saved by Grace podcast, bringing you stories of hope, restoration, and God's faithful love.
Speaker: I'm your host, Sylvia Puentes.
Speaker: Hi, and welcome to another episode of Saved by Grace.
Speaker: I'm your host, Sylvia Puentes.
Speaker: And today I'm so excited to have Minister Paula Cornett on the show.
Speaker: Paula is the founder of Paula Cornett Ministries.
Speaker: She's also the podcast host of Revelations from the Heart, a weekly podcast where she does teachings and also she has guests come on and share their testimonies.
Speaker: Today, Minister Paula is going to share her testimony of her journey of faith.
Speaker: Minister Paula, welcome to Safe by Grace.
Speaker: Hello, Sylvia.
Speaker: Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker: So glad to be here.
Speaker: How are you?
Speaker: I'm good.
Speaker: I'm good.
Speaker: I'm very excited to have you on today because everyone has a different testimony.
Speaker: You know, everyone's encounter with the Lord is different, powerful nonetheless, life transforming.
Speaker: but different.
Speaker: And we've had many guests come on, share their testimonies that, you know, basically they were going in a wrong direction in life and Jesus stepped in and rerouted them and, you know, set the crooked path straight.
Speaker: So your testimony, though, is a little bit different.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Go ahead, share with us what your testimony, because it's a beautiful testimony and also life transforming.
Speaker: Amen.
Speaker: Well, once again, thank you so much for having me.
Speaker: So glad and honored to be here and thank God for what it is that he's doing in your podcast and how he's using you to just continue to share the gospel.
Speaker: But you know what, Sylvia, I did not think I had a testimony because when I was a, um,
Speaker: little kid, most of the times when people would come to our church, you know, to minister, they would begin by sharing their testimony of faith.
Speaker: And when they did that, you know, I noticed that their testimony was always one of how they had, you know, just lived a life that an ungodly lifestyle and how they came to the Lord, you know, or what have you.
Speaker: But my testimony was different.
Speaker: And I knew at an early age that I had a call of God on my life.
Speaker: And so I knew that things for me were not going to be different or the norm, so to speak.
Speaker: And so it's amazing to me that I've had the opportunity to share my testimony in so many
Speaker: avenues in so many ways and how it is blessed people.
Speaker: But my life is a testimony of how I served the Lord from the age of a child to the present.
Speaker: So when I was about four years old, that's the first time I can remember actually having like a spiritual encounter, so to speak.
Speaker: And so during that time, my parents, they would drop my two, I have two older brothers and I have a younger sister.
Speaker: So at the time I was, since I was four, my sister was two.
Speaker: So she would stay home with my parents.
Speaker: And so they would drop off my brothers and I at a church that we attended, the family attended on the south side of town.
Speaker: And so they would drop us off and we go to Sunday school and then they would like pull the curtain back and we come over for the big service.
Speaker: And so one particular time, you know, I was listening to the minister as he preached and I was getting convicted at four years old.
Speaker: And so I leaned over to my brother and I said, when he did the altar call, the pastor did the altar call, I said, I'm going to go up there.
Speaker: And so he said, my brother said, well, you better wait and ask mom, you know, before you just, you know, do the do something.
Speaker: So.
Speaker: Three years later, my parents got saved.
Speaker: My mom had been raised in a Baptist church and she had got baptized at 12, but she really hadn't, you know, really gotten saved.
Speaker: That's just the thing that they did.
Speaker: And so she has just a powerful testimony of how God radically saved her.
Speaker: And then my dad,
Speaker: He didn't really grow up in a home, you know, where they went to church regularly, you know, and things like that.
Speaker: And so they both got saved.
Speaker: And so they started going to Bible study and then we started attending church together as a family.
Speaker: And so at this time I was seven years old.
Speaker: So I was going to church, you know, regularly as a family hearing, you know, the message of the gospel.
Speaker: But this is one particular day on Easter Sunday morning.
Speaker: in I believe it's 1986, 1986.
Speaker: And I can just remember it very vividly, very vividly.
Speaker: Anytime when you've had an encounter with the Lord, you can always remember it so vividly.
Speaker: But sometimes it's hard to describe into words because it's just such an awesome experience.
Speaker: So this particular day was just like any normal day.
Speaker: My mom got me and my sister dressed, you know, on our Easter best.
Speaker: You know, we were decked out from head to toe with our dresses and bows and, you know, all that kind of stuff, lacy socks and all that kind of wonderful stuff.
Speaker: And we drove to church that morning.
Speaker: And when we got out, my dad let my mom, my sister and myself, he let us out at the door while him and my brothers went to go park the car.
Speaker: So as we're walking into the church building,
Speaker: Now I'm looking back now, I know it was the voice of the Holy Spirit says something very special is going to happen to you today.
Speaker: Wow.
Speaker: And so as I walked in, you know, to the church, to my Sunday school class, I remember sitting in Sunday school and I'm sure the teacher minister talked something about the resurrection or, you know, because it was Easter Sunday.
Speaker: But all that I know is that at the end, she asked, is there anybody that wants to receive Jesus into their heart?
Speaker: And it's like my hand shot up like a rocket.
Speaker: And that day I said the sinner's prayer.
Speaker: And I just remember after saying that prayer, I felt so new.
Speaker: I felt so clean.
Speaker: It's like I could see things, you know, just so clearly.
Speaker: And so it was at seven years old that I realized that I was a sinner in need of a savior.
Speaker: And so I made a commitment that day, even though I was seven years old, I made this commitment to the Lord.
Speaker: I said that if I can't serve you with all my heart, then I don't want to serve you at all.
Speaker: It kind of reminds me of Daniel, Daniel 1, 8, how Daniel, the Bible says that Daniel purposed in his heart.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: I purposed in my heart that I was going to serve the Lord.
Speaker: And like I said, I always knew and, you know, that I had a call of God in my life.
Speaker: I was always just just different, you know.
Speaker: And so thank God for my mom and my dad who recognized that early on.
Speaker: And so they cultivated that.
Speaker: And so how.
Speaker: My mom cultivated that is she sought the Lord to see what he wanted us to do, how he wanted her to raise us.
Speaker: And so one of the things he told her to do is that when you go to a prayer meeting, you don't stay home, you take them with you.
Speaker: So it was actually, you know, as the time of a young child that I was trained on how to pray.
Speaker: And so now to this day, you know, we see that, you know, one of the things, one of the giftings is intercessors, you know, I am an intercessor.
Speaker: And it was because of the intercession of my mother.
Speaker: I mean, I was, as a little kid, you know, we would do circle prayer and I was a little kid, seven, eight years old, praying with the grown people, you know, praying with them.
Speaker: So, you know, this is, you know, just been a lifestyle for me.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: What a gift though.
Speaker: You know, what a gift to have had that.
Speaker: What a gift to have, you know, your mom taking you to, you know, to the adult Bible study, to the prayer group, to teach you at so young in life intercessory prayer.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: You know, looking back now, I'm like, wow, you know, I just I thank God, you know, for that.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And in addition to that, the following year, we had a revival at my church.
Speaker: And so it was a week long revival.
Speaker: You know, they don't have those too much no more, but it was a week long revival.
Speaker: Pastor Gary Pleasant was in town from I think at the time he was living in New Jersey.
Speaker: And over this one particular night, I must have talked about the Holy Spirit or what have you.
Speaker: But he asked for those to come that wanted to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues.
Speaker: And you have to understand something that as a kid, I was really shy, really timid, and I was just bound by the spirit of fear.
Speaker: this was like out of the norm for me in fact when i got when i gave you know sunday school when i uh gave my life to the lord and we came out in the big service you know they'd obviously you know that any kids you know give their life to the lord so they have us come up and i can remember the pastor had to pick me up and put me into the microphone and i said you know i received jesus into my heart i was about to cry because you know i was just so um just that shy you know to say it but um when he asked you know for people to come up to i knew that i i just knew that i i want that
Speaker: I want that.
Speaker: And so I remember looking back as my mom was a usher.
Speaker: I looked back at her and was like, is it OK if I go up there?
Speaker: And I walked up there by myself.
Speaker: I walked up there by myself, stood in the line.
Speaker: And when he came around, he called some people to come up to stand behind those that were, you know, standing there.
Speaker: So I was kind of like, this is the things, thoughts that went in my mind.
Speaker: You're a little kid.
Speaker: I don't know that was the enemy.
Speaker: What are you doing there for your little kid?
Speaker: You know, what do you, what do you, this is, it's not going to work.
Speaker: This is silly.
Speaker: This is, you know, but I was getting ready to get a powerful gift and Satan didn't want me to receive it.
Speaker: And so when he came to lay his hands on me,
Speaker: He laid his hands on me and he just, you know, he said, begin to just, well, he called somebody up to, you know, stand behind us.
Speaker: And the person that stood behind me was actually my Sunday school teacher that, you know, had just, you know, led me in the, in the student's prayer.
Speaker: And so she stood behind me.
Speaker: And when he prayed for me, you know, like my mind is like, what is going to happen?
Speaker: What's going on?
Speaker: And so,
Speaker: He's like, just start to thank the Lord.
Speaker: And I just started, you know, thanking the Lord in English.
Speaker: And the next thing I know, it just started to just gush out.
Speaker: It just it just came out just rivers of living water.
Speaker: And it's like that was the burst of power that I needed.
Speaker: And then thereafter, my Sunday school teacher, she told my mom, she said, I'm gonna go talk to her.
Speaker: You know, she just told me, like, you know, you've been endued with a gift.
Speaker: This is the power of the Holy Spirit, you know, whatever.
Speaker: Just kind of explained it to me.
Speaker: And all the way home, I was just speaking in tongues.
Speaker: I could not stop.
Speaker: I was so filled.
Speaker: My siblings were like, what is wrong with her?
Speaker: And my mom was like, just leave her alone.
Speaker: You know, God's, you know, doing the work in her life.
Speaker: And it's from that infilling at a young age, I believe that's the reason why I was able to live my life, a righteous life, because the power of the Holy Spirit was on the inside of me.
Speaker: And not to say that, you know, I haven't been
Speaker: tempted with things because, you know, we all live in this world and not to say that I don't have desires and feelings and not to say that I have not done things, you know, but as far as drinking, smoking, you know, shacking up with me and all that kind of, those are not, those are not those.
Speaker: I did not do those things.
Speaker: You know, I have lived a life of holiness and I have lived a life of righteousness.
Speaker: And I knew that in order for the power of God to flow through me,
Speaker: the way that I wanted it to flow through me to touch people, you got to live right.
Speaker: You got to live right.
Speaker: And so that requires a consecrated lifestyle.
Speaker: And so, you know, it's just like a lot of times people turn away from that.
Speaker: But that was something that I embraced.
Speaker: I didn't want to do everything the other kids were doing.
Speaker: I just didn't have a desire, you know, to do those things.
Speaker: My desire was to serve and please the Lord.
Speaker: It was to serve him, praise the Lord.
Speaker: So from there, I can tell you the first time that I really remember hearing the voice of the Lord.
Speaker: And I want to say, too, that as a child and even to this day, the Lord will visit me in the night.
Speaker: And I didn't know, you know, at the time what, what was going on and what that was, but he would visit me in the night and how it happened is like three, four, five, six o'clock in the morning, I'd wake up and you know, you wake up and you're just up.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Not sleeping no more.
Speaker: And like when that happens, that's the Lord beckoning your heart.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: You know?
Speaker: And so I would begin to pray and just, you know, and that's how I was trained, you know, like in the things of the spirit and
Speaker: acclimated my ear to hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit and to obey his commands and what he would tell me to do and things.
Speaker: And so one particular time, this was after I got filled with the baptism of the Holy Spirit, I was at a pool party with my little friends at school.
Speaker: Somebody had a birthday pool party.
Speaker: I couldn't swim.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: So my mom had told them, you know, please just watch her.
Speaker: She can't swim.
Speaker: You know, I got to stay in three feet pool, but all my little friends, they could swim.
Speaker: So at the time I didn't know how a pool was set up.
Speaker: You know, I never seen the bottom of a pool without the water in there.
Speaker: And so, you know how the three feet is, is three feet.
Speaker: And then it's kind of still three feet.
Speaker: And then it drops.
Speaker: You know, so I didn't know that part.
Speaker: So they didn't have the rope up yet.
Speaker: And so my friends, most of them were over there and I was, you know, in the three feet by myself.
Speaker: So I kind of wandered over to the, to that, to that part.
Speaker: I bet I was probably like at the tip of slipping, you know, to, to, to the deep end.
Speaker: And I heard, I know now it was the Holy Spirit said, turn around and go back.
Speaker: Wow.
Speaker: And I turned around and went back and shortly thereafter they put the rope up.
Speaker: But years later, when I saw a pool empty, it's like my mind went back to that.
Speaker: And I said, I could have drowned or, you know, anything.
Speaker: I said, but God kept me.
Speaker: And I'm so glad that I obeyed his voice.
Speaker: And that would be so very paramount as I became older is not that just the Holy Spirit is speaking to you, but are you listening?
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: So what he's telling you to do?
Speaker: because he's a spirit of truth and he knows what's up ahead.
Speaker: And if we if we take time to listen to him, we'll save ourselves a lot of money, time.
Speaker: We'll save ourselves a lot of heartache and, you know, a lot of trauma because the Holy Spirit, he knows and he God wants us to follow his path and his plan.
Speaker: And so, you know, I just made that decision at an early age and I just I wasn't going to do those things.
Speaker: I went to high school, went to regular public school.
Speaker: This public school at the time was like the top in the state that I live in.
Speaker: And so but still had, you know, all those things that are that are there.
Speaker: But I had to make a decision that the other kids were cussing and using profanity.
Speaker: But I wasn't going to do that.
Speaker: I had to make a decision that, you know, the other kids were partying and I didn't do those.
Speaker: I didn't do those things.
Speaker: They invited me to parties.
Speaker: I didn't say, well, I'm a Christian.
Speaker: I got to call it out on my life.
Speaker: You know, I really to be honest with you, because I knew I had a call of God on my life at an early age.
Speaker: And it's kind of like you live with this mark on you, so to speak, or this pressure on your shoulders.
Speaker: Sometimes you wonder, are people gonna really understand?
Speaker: Sometimes they don't fully understand.
Speaker: A lot of times they know something's different, but they don't quite know what it is, why you don't do certain things, you know, why you, and not that, you know, you think you're better than anyone, but you just know that there's an anointing on the inside that I have to protect and I cannot let it be tainted
Speaker: by the things of this world.
Speaker: And so, you know, I would just tell them, no, I'm not coming.
Speaker: And they would say, Paula, you don't ever come to none of the parties, you know, but it's not like I was, you know, some people can be kind of goofy and just kind of like out of touch so much.
Speaker: I was, I was just trying to blend in.
Speaker: I'll put it like that.
Speaker: I was just trying to blend in, but I couldn't.
Speaker: I was just trying to blend in, but I couldn't.
Speaker: And now that I'll say kind of the cat's out of the bag, that they know, okay, that's what it was.
Speaker: She was a minister.
Speaker: And a lot of the kids I went to school would say, it makes sense.
Speaker: It makes perfect sense because there was always something different about you.
Speaker: And when God has his hand upon you, there's an aura about you.
Speaker: There's an essence about you.
Speaker: When we walk into a place, people should see Jesus Christ in us.
Speaker: They should see Jesus Christ in us.
Speaker: And so, you know, that's just how I've always, you know, just lived my life.
Speaker: One of my friends said, it's Apollo, it's like you, you love righteousness.
Speaker: You love righteousness.
Speaker: And, you know, my thing was, I said, Lord, you know, I want your power to flow through me.
Speaker: And the only way that your power can flow through has got to be the vessels got to be clean.
Speaker: See, the purer the essence, the greater the power.
Speaker: And so I need his power because I encounter people that need healing on the spot.
Speaker: You know, I was somewhere the other day and a woman, she had pain in her back and needed, you know, I don't have time to get my life right.
Speaker: And I need the power of God to flow right then and there.
Speaker: And so I try to, you know, live my life right so that God can hear my prayers because the Bible says he only hears the prayers of the righteous.
Speaker: You know, a lot of times people don't want to talk about that or, you know, say, well, that's being too harsh.
Speaker: There was a young lady I was, um,
Speaker: ministering to.
Speaker: And she was just struggling and just, you know, just really, she had some things going on in her life that some, some sin that she needed to step away from.
Speaker: And I told her, I said, look, I said, you got to get out of sin first.
Speaker: You got to get out of sin.
Speaker: I said, because God is not hearing your prayer.
Speaker: And she was like, you mean to tell me I'm praying?
Speaker: He's not, no, he's not.
Speaker: It's not that he can't, but the Bible says you got to have clean hands and a pure heart.
Speaker: You know, and so she said, so he's not even, I said, no, honey, you got to get out of sin first.
Speaker: You know, you're in a mess and God does not bless mess.
Speaker: You know, so sometimes people want the blessing of God and the benefits of God, but they don't want to pay the price.
Speaker: They don't want to pay the price.
Speaker: And there's a price that you have to pay to walk in the anointing of God, but it's all worth it.
Speaker: And, you know, God doesn't make you give up anything.
Speaker: that he doesn't, you know, give that much more to you, whatever you've given up or feel like you've, you know, had to give up.
Speaker: So I want to touch actually on some of those points for, um, any listener out there who doesn't have that intimate relationship, um, that you have, um, that I have, you know, my testimony is that I got saved at 40.
Speaker: So, uh,
Speaker: big chunk of my life, I was not, you know, I questioned whether he existed and his goodness, et cetera.
Speaker: So I just want to address that when we say give up,
Speaker: You know, it seems like that's a lot to, you know, well, I don't want to give this up.
Speaker: But what I found is that in the giving up, it's like when you're in an intimate relationship or you have a closeness with anyone, be it.
Speaker: a sibling, a child, a romantic relationship, whatever it may be, the posture of your heart towards that person, right?
Speaker: You're not going to want to do anything to hurt that person.
Speaker: You want to align yourself with that person, do good for that person,
Speaker: And so when the things that we give up along the way, and I talk about when we are the new creation, we go through a process.
Speaker: We're continuously going through a process.
Speaker: And as we go through that process and draw near to him and get to know the Lord more intimately, it's not that we feel that he's taking things necessarily, you know, like grabbing things away from us.
Speaker: It's this surrendering, actually.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: It's this it's this surrendering that our hearts are aligned with his heart.
Speaker: And we have this conviction that we know that his thoughts are higher, his plans are better.
Speaker: And he is only going to want good for us.
Speaker: He you know, he knew us before he knit us together in our mother's womb.
Speaker: So he knows exactly the things that we need, the good things and all good things come from him.
Speaker: And that's like that's the conviction, right, that we walk and that we live with that knowing that he's a good God.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: That's right.
Speaker: You know, when you get saved for real, when you get saved for real, you know, you don't want to do those things.
Speaker: It's not so much that he's like, you know, it's because some people might have a nicotine addiction, you know, whatever.
Speaker: I don't want to give up the cigarettes.
Speaker: I know some people say, well, I don't want to serve God because I got to give up smoking weed.
Speaker: So, honey, when you serve God, you don't need to smoke weed.
Speaker: You know, you don't have to.
Speaker: You don't need you don't need that stuff anymore because he feels all those voids.
Speaker: I don't have to go out here and get drunk.
Speaker: That doesn't do nothing for me.
Speaker: Because when you live a life for the Lord, it's so much joy, because you don't have those hangovers and feeling sick.
Speaker: And the enemy makes things look so appealing, which all those things, that stuff leads to death.
Speaker: I tell you, it's like I said, I know you think I was just polypurebred and everything didn't do anything wrong, but let me tell you a little bit of what I did, okay?
Speaker: So this particular time, I probably was in a high school,
Speaker: I was listening to some secular music, okay?
Speaker: Because it sounded so good, you know, just sounded so good.
Speaker: So I'd go in my room and felt like I was sneaking, you know, didn't want nobody else to know, you know, supposed to be Christian, but I'm listening to this, you know, secular music.
Speaker: And so the Lord was dealing with my heart, like, you know, you can't serve two masters.
Speaker: You gotta, you know, you gotta choose what, but he didn't stop me, but I just always would feel convicted, you know, after I'd listened to the music, it's just like, so this is why I said, I said, well, Lord, the Christian music that's out there, it's just kind of,
Speaker: uh, what's the word?
Speaker: It's just not really hip.
Speaker: I guess that must've been the word, you know, it wasn't real cool.
Speaker: And I said, you know, if you can show me some people that I can listen to that the music, you know, is then, you know, okay.
Speaker: And so during that time, uh, Fred Hammond had just come out.
Speaker: And so, you know, his music kind of had a different, you know, it wasn't,
Speaker: like just all church music, you know, it was like, you know, it was the word of God.
Speaker: So I started listening to him and little by little, as I began to listen to more and more, I no longer had a desire to listen to, you know, I mean, I would get, I don't, I don't know if you remember, they had, I wanted a radio station, a hot nine at nine or something like that, hot something, where they would play the top, you know, and so I would be there, you know, in my room jamming, you know, to the music.
Speaker: But like I said, then I would come away and I would just be like, this isn't right.
Speaker: I can't, I can't be,
Speaker: you know, I felt like I was, you know, like living a lie, so to speak.
Speaker: And I remember when I went to Bible college, my first semester, I had, I used to get these because I was listening to the music.
Speaker: I would get these hip hop magazines.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So I'm from the hip hop generation.
Speaker: So I get these hip hop magazines, all these, you know, folks and things, you know, in, in these magazines.
Speaker: And so when I came in from Bible college, you know,
Speaker: I was just became a totally like new person.
Speaker: When I came home, I gathered all those magazines up.
Speaker: Nobody told me to do this, but it's like, I just knew that I had to get rid of some things.
Speaker: And I took those magazines, got them all together, took them, didn't give them to nobody, took them to the dumpster, took them to the dumpster.
Speaker: And it's like, when I took them out there, I realized I said, this stuff is heavy.
Speaker: Sin has weight to it.
Speaker: It's heavy.
Speaker: but there's freedom and liberty in christ jesus and so you know it's like even though i was saved at a young age you know the word salvation is a greek word sozo it's a continual process so i'm being saved more and more more saved than i was you know before uh you know years ago and even there's still things you know sometimes somebody might give you something and you look and be like this this i need to get rid of this you know you just start to clean house and and get rid of things
Speaker: you know, that are not of God.
Speaker: And so sometimes there's things in our lives and in our hearts, you know, that we need to just let God purify and get rid of and get out.
Speaker: And, you know, once you do, you realize I didn't even need that because God fills it with so much more, so much more greater things, you know?
Speaker: That's absolutely true.
Speaker: You know, I know that immediately after I had my encounter, it was like the Holy Spirit walked me through my house and started highlighting things that were just really not good to have in the house, you know, like either statues or, you know, just different things that may look innocent enough, right?
Speaker: But the Holy Spirit was just so, just in His love and grace and mercy,
Speaker: He was just highlighting things.
Speaker: And like you said, I was just like cleaning house, cleaning house also from the inside because he came to do a work in me from, you know, and us and all of us from the inside out.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: And when I minister to people or I also coach and mentor women in their walk with the Lord and knowing what their purpose is and whatnot, it's one of the things that I immediately work on is the matters of the heart because we allow him to just
Speaker: clean out our hearts, right, of unforgiveness and any of those things.
Speaker: And so those things that can hold us back from getting to where he wants us to be.
Speaker: And I always say, he says, come as you are, but I'm not going to leave you as you are.
Speaker: That's it.
Speaker: That's it.
Speaker: Because, you know, he has so much more for us for
Speaker: that finished work of the cross, that Jesus went to the cross to give us that abundant life, right?
Speaker: That the word talks about.
Speaker: So we're gonna segue into, for example, the things that can hold us back.
Speaker: And so Jesus said, I came that you may have a life in abundance, an abundant life.
Speaker: And the contrast to that is that the enemy
Speaker: comes and he comes to kill, steal, and destroy.
Speaker: And so one of the things that I know, though our testimonies are so different, but we have, we've both have had experiences with, for example, the spirit of fear.
Speaker: And so what would you say, Minister Paula, when you're ministering to someone and
Speaker: know you see that spirit of fear on them well you know the best advice is you gotta do it afraid you got to do it afraid you know i can remember i went through several healing lines anytime there was a you know for uh to be delivered from the spirit of fear i would go up and get prayed for and nothing seemed like nothing would happen you know and i was still fearful i mean i was
Speaker: When we say the spirit of fear is different from being, you know, it's like a natural fear of new situations.
Speaker: You know, you don't know what to expect.
Speaker: But the spirit of fear is actually something that hovers over you continually.
Speaker: So I can remember being in school.
Speaker: And many times I would know the answer to the questions, you know, and I just wouldn't say anything because I was paralyzed by fear.
Speaker: And I remember the classes I had, we had to do participation for your grade.
Speaker: Oh my goodness.
Speaker: I think it was in my Spanish class.
Speaker: You had to, like within that class period, you had to participate like five or three times.
Speaker: Well, I would get those out of the way real quick so then I could sit back and not have to, and just the worst for me was speech class.
Speaker: because just the fear of public speaking.
Speaker: And people say, oh, kids are always a no, no, no.
Speaker: I mean, I would have anxiety, knots in my stomach, couldn't sleep the day before, sweaty palms, shaky knees.
Speaker: But because there was a gift there that God had placed, when I would get up there, it's like even then, even though I was doing something that wasn't like a church setting, but
Speaker: It was shine through and the teachers would see it and they would say, you know, you really have.
Speaker: They couldn't quite explain it, but it's like the Holy Spirit would just take over, you know.
Speaker: And so I realized that the reason why the enemy attacked me in that area in that way was because he knew there was a preacher on the inside of me.
Speaker: And he said, if I could just lie to her and tell her, you know, that you don't have nothing to say or, you know, just all this these emotions, you know, just just mess it up.
Speaker: But when I found out who I was, yes, when I found out who I was and it wasn't until I had a literal encounter with the spirit of fear when I was in Bible college and.
Speaker: I know sometimes people get freaked out when you talk about, you know, spirits, but, you know, the spirit world is real.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: The spirit world is very, very real.
Speaker: A lot of times what we see manifesting through people is demon spirits.
Speaker: And so I was in Bible college and that was amazing in and of itself because I was away from home for the first time.
Speaker: And it was like, you know, God had to just kind of take me away from everything that was familiar, you know, and just there he did a mighty work in my life.
Speaker: So I come home from, you know,
Speaker: from class that day and lay down to take a nap.
Speaker: And I laid down for, you know, probably Joe's off to sleep about 30 minutes.
Speaker: And within that time, I had these crazy thoughts come in my mind, just stuff that it just was crazy.
Speaker: So I woke up and rebuked it like, what in the world was that?
Speaker: That was terrible, you know?
Speaker: So I rebuked her.
Speaker: So I laid back down, dozed back off, kind of went to sleep.
Speaker: Now, before I came to Bible college and when I was a teenager, my mom had given me these scriptures, 2 Timothy 1 and 7.
Speaker: And she also gave me the scripture, you know, perfect love casts out all fear.
Speaker: And she told me, you know, that when you feel fearful, when you feel afraid to say these scriptures.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So when anytime that thought of fear comes, say these scriptures.
Speaker: So I'll be saying my eyes closed, you know, trembling and nothing would happen.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So I'm asleep.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: So all of a sudden, while I was asleep and I know now that.
Speaker: And in that moment.
Speaker: And
Speaker: you, they put that thing on your chest when you go get an X-ray, they put that thing on the chest.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: The lead, the lead apron.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Now see the video is trying to act up because the devil know I'm about to expose him.
Speaker: So, you know, I can see it kind of trying to freeze like, okay.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So it's, you know, they put that thing on you and that's what it felt like.
Speaker: Like it was all over my body, a weight and it's all happened like simultaneously.
Speaker: And then something, it didn't have hands, but my tongue was tied where I couldn't talk.
Speaker: Couldn't say nothing in my eyes.
Speaker: It wasn't literal hands, but it was like only I could describe it.
Speaker: Just they were closed.
Speaker: Like I knew they were I couldn't open them.
Speaker: So I'm laying there like this, you know, and I heard the voice of my mother say that you got to call on the name of Jesus.
Speaker: And it seemed like it took me forever to get that name out, because like I said, my tongue was, you know, tied and, you know, my eyes were closed.
Speaker: shut in this weight, like I said, simultaneous all.
Speaker: And after wrestling, I don't know how long it was.
Speaker: And in my mind, I'm thinking, okay, if I yell out Jesus, they might hear me and think, what is going on in there?
Speaker: What have you?
Speaker: But finally I got it out and I said, Jesus.
Speaker: And as soon as I said that name, that present left the room.
Speaker: And I jumped up out of my bed and I knew that it was the spirit of fear.
Speaker: But I realized in that moment that greater is he that's in me than he that is in the world.
Speaker: And from that day forth, I started to walk in the authority that God had given me.
Speaker: And so, you know, we one of the number one things that as believers we face is fear.
Speaker: Fear will paralyze you.
Speaker: Fear will cause you not to fulfill your purpose.
Speaker: And you got to step out of that fear and walk in the purposes of God and do whatever God tells you to do, because he will always make provision for his vision.
Speaker: He won't ever give you an assignment or something to do without providing the money, the people, the resources.
Speaker: He will provide it all.
Speaker: Now, he don't finance your vision, your plan, but his plan, his vision.
Speaker: There's nothing I've ever had to do for God that I've ever had to pay for ever.
Speaker: And people will find you to finance the work that God has placed in your hand.
Speaker: Amen.
Speaker: You know, I love that you touched upon how this spirit that does not come from the Lord, obviously, will hinder you.
Speaker: You know, the fact that even as a little girl, and these are things that I can relate to, so I'm
Speaker: going to say, obviously, any listener out there can surely relate.
Speaker: And if you're listening to this and, you know, um, you're, this might resonate and this is, you know, this goes on as Paul, as minister Paula said, there's healthy fear.
Speaker: And then there's the fear that paralyzes, there's the fear that holds you back that never, ever comes from the Lord, you know, and, and, you know, um,
Speaker: In your growing relationship with the Lord, you will learn to discern his voice from the enemy's voice.
Speaker: And you'll know that through the power of his Holy Spirit, you can go forward.
Speaker: Do it scared, as Minister Paula said.
Speaker: Do it scared.
Speaker: But when you know that you know that the Lord has called you to do something or
Speaker: has, you know, or something is from God, do it scared because he will, he will part the waters and level the mountains.
Speaker: He will, you know, he will do it.
Speaker: He will make sure he's there with you.
Speaker: He will never leave you, never forsake you.
Speaker: You know, the word says, I think it's in, I'm not remembering right now, but be bold and courageous for I, the Lord, am with you.
Speaker: I'm with you wherever you go.
Speaker: He is always with us.
Speaker: So, Minister Paula, you have, I can feel...
Speaker: the anointing and the power of the Holy Spirit in you over here.
Speaker: Amen.
Speaker: Amen.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I thank you for your yes to the Lord.
Speaker: I thank you for your surrender and your submitting to him to allow him to use you to be his vessel, his hands and his feet, because you're doing mighty work.
Speaker: for him, for his kingdom, touching lives, transforming lives.
Speaker: And, um, it's just beautiful.
Speaker: It's to me, it's just such an honor to serve the Lord.
Speaker: And, uh, and then to meet a sister like you as well.
Speaker: Um, tell us where, you know, we're wrapping it up, but tell us about your ministry and your podcast.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Well, Paula Cornett Ministries was birthed in 2009.
Speaker: And that came from there when I was in Bible college.
Speaker: We did a spiritual warfare class.
Speaker: And the basis of the class was on the book from Rick Renner called Dressed to Kill.
Speaker: And it gives a very detailed, just an awesome handbook on spiritual warfare.
Speaker: And so as I was going through that and reading that, I said, somebody needs to teach this, like do a conference on this, you know, what have you.
Speaker: And the Holy Spirit said, that's what I want you to do.
Speaker: So it's, you know, when I came home because I graduated in 2000, so it took nine years and I finally I went to my pastor and I just was like, this is what God wants me to do.
Speaker: He wants me to have this conference and I'm going to teach on, you know, spiritual warfare.
Speaker: And so that's how Paula Cornett Ministries was actually birthed.
Speaker: It was it was through there.
Speaker: So under this umbrella, I preach and teach.
Speaker: I preach at the women's prison.
Speaker: I minister and preach in area churches.
Speaker: And then in I think it was 2000.
Speaker: 18 something around there.
Speaker: Well, five years ago.
Speaker: So what was that?
Speaker: Were we 20, 23?
Speaker: So yeah, I started Revelations from the Heart podcast and the podcast started out really as I just was teaching for the first like four years.
Speaker: I laid the groundwork and taught on things that most times we don't hear on Sunday morning.
Speaker: And really, God was saying, he said, I want you to lay the foundation and get the people equipped.
Speaker: you know equipped to live in the end times because i know that that is my assignment is to prepare the people for uh the last of the last days you know the end times that that is the time that frame that we're in right now and so uh you can listen to revelations from the heart it's an audio and video podcast on youtube at revelations from the heart and also um audio podcast at just you can i think i know it's on apple iheart radio spotify
Speaker: Google, Amazon Music, most of the major ones.
Speaker: And you can listen to their listen on there at any time.
Speaker: It's very powerful teachings this year.
Speaker: I just opened it up to starting doing some interviews of other people.
Speaker: I've had some powerful, powerful guests, powerful, powerful testimonies.
Speaker: of how god has just saved and delivered and uh set people free and um in addition to that you can also visit my website at www.paulacornett.weebly that's w-e-e-b-l-y.com and from there you can access um all of those things as well send me a message let me know that you were blessed um or encouraged or strengthened um you know by this episode
Speaker: And I think that's it.
Speaker: I think that's it.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Amen.
Speaker: Oh, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Facebook, Paula Cornett ministry.
Speaker: If you put in Paula Cornett, you're going to see all the stuff.
Speaker: Instagram, all those things like that.
Speaker: So.
Speaker: Well, Mr. Paula, I always go to the Lord and ask him to put a scripture on my heart for the guest.
Speaker: And this scripture that I'm about to share that he put on my heart for you is a scripture that's in my heart because it's one of the scriptures that he gave me to stand on for this podcast, for Saved by Grace, when he told me that, you know, to start Saved by Grace.
Speaker: It's Revelations 12, 11.
Speaker: And they overcame him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony.
Speaker: Amen.
Speaker: And I can absolutely see how fitting that scripture is for you.
Speaker: So once again, I just want to thank you, Minister Paula, for coming on, for sharing your powerful testimony and your journey with the listeners of Saved by Grace.
Speaker: And I'd like to ask if you could close us out in a prayer.
Speaker: Sure can.
Speaker: I thank you so much for having me.
Speaker: It's been an honor and it's just been a blessing to connect and just looking forward to a blessed and continued relationship.
Speaker: Let's just go before the Lord.
Speaker: Father God, we just thank you for this day.
Speaker: We thank you for this time.
Speaker: Father God, we thank you that we're able to come to you at any time and any hour.
Speaker: And I have the assurance and confidence of knowing not only do you hear, but that you answer prayer.
Speaker: Father God, you said in your word that you're far from the wicked, but you hear the prayers of the righteous.
Speaker: Father God, you tell us in your word to come boldly before your throne of grace.
Speaker: And I come boldly before your throne today, Lord God.
Speaker: You know those that are listening.
Speaker: You know those that are watching at this very moment, at this very hour.
Speaker: Father God, I thank you that you are the one.
Speaker: that sets people free so father god i pray for those that are bound by the spirit of fear in the name of jesus and i speak for deliverance to come right now in the name of jesus i thank you father god for just renewing passion and purpose i thank you for igniting the hearts of those that are listening and that are watching that they're not listening or watching by accident but by your divine appointment and i thank you father god that they have had an encounter with you lord god
Speaker: i thank you that you be glorified i thank you for sylvia lord i thank you for the vision that you've given her i thank you that you've saved her god and that you've brought her into the kingdom for such a time as this i ask that you continue to bless the work of her hands that you breathe the fresh and a new lord god and that you continue to help her to walk in your ways
Speaker: Father God, if there's someone that's listening that doesn't know you as their personal Savior, God, convict their heart that they would come to know you, Lord.
Speaker: If there's one that's listening or watching that needs to rededicate, let them know that now is the time.
Speaker: And Father, we give you glory and we give you honor and we give you praise.
Speaker: We thank you, God.
Speaker: We thank you, Father, for your goodness and your mercy and your grace and your everlasting love.
Speaker: I give you glory and honor and praise in the mighty matchless name of Jesus Christ, I pray.
Speaker: Amen.
Speaker: Amen.
Speaker: Amen.
Speaker: Thank you so much.
Speaker: Well, this has been another episode of Saved by Grace.
Speaker: We look forward to seeing you next time.
Speaker: Thank you for tuning in to Saved by Grace podcast.
Speaker: Do you have a God story that you'd like to share with the world?
Speaker: If so, please send us a message to Saved by Grace, p-d-c-s-t, at gmail.com.
