385 | Paula White-Cain | The Power Of Your Thoughts

Okay, so have you ever wondered, like, if there was just some superpower that I had, something that I could just grab hold of, whether it's the cloak of invisibility, or maybe I had super speed or maybe I had, like, amazing strength and it would help me so much. But I'm telling you today, we're going to talk about one of those superpowers that you already have and you don't even know about it. And I am just over the moon right now because I have one of my coolest friends. Such an amazing. Just an amazing leader, an amazing woman, an amazing pastor. Paula White. You know her from Paula White Ministries. You know her. Her involvement with. In the political arena, like, she is just always fighting for what's best. And today she's going to show us how to fight for what's best for you. Paula, I am so happy to be talking with you today. When I saw your book, I'm like, oh, yeah, that's what I'm talking are your thoughts.

I love it. Hannah. It's such an honor to be with you and everyone listening. I'm excited about this because it really is driving our life. It's such a radical proportion that I don't even know if we recognize. So people are always hoping and wishing for this life, and it really is residing in the power of their thoughts. And that sounds so simple, but we're going to back it up by the Bible. We're going to go through how this works, because we know as Christians especially that the battlefield really is the mind. So we are a product of our thoughts. And someone wants, oh, no, it's not just that simple. But it's not much more difficult than that.

You know, that's. That's the trick. Like Jesus said, you know, take my yoke upon you. It's easy, it's simple. It's refreshment, recreation for your soul. We always tend to confuse the simplest things. And. And it's like such. It is a superpower. Like, when I first recognized that I'm a product of my thoughts and I started intentionally changing that around, my life looked different. And I think the problem is people are living unintentionally and they're frustrated at their life, but they don't realize that they were the ones who kind of authored that. Because, I mean, proverbs tell us above all else. Not just. That's not like, hey, this is high on your priority list. It says, above all else, guard your heart, for out of it flow all the issues of life. Everything you look and see and are experiencing it probably originated in. In between your ears.

Absolutely. And that's an interesting etymology on your heart because people think this, you know, physical beating organ here. But the word literally means the way you see something and the way you feel about something. So it really is coming out of our mind. What we know is our mind, and that's the key. Do we have a spiritual mind, a carnal mind, or do we have a natural mind? There are three different types, so. So we have to take ownership for that. You cannot conquer what you don't confront. This was difficult for someone like me. If you look at my childhood, if you look at my prognosis, because those core beliefs, 85% of our personality is formed by the time we're six years old. Now, I didn't come out of my going like, yeah, think about that. I wasn't the one that, you know, I. I had two alcoholic parents. I had a father that committed suicide. I had rejection by a grandmother. I had everything that set me up for absolute failure in life. So there was a lot of. They call them ants, automated negative thoughts. And when we have core beliefs, those core beliefs turn into what they call, like, thought constellations. It's like a. A leaf that grows into a branch that grows into something bigger. So that begins to create these. Not just a core belief, but the branches that go out with that. And how I saw life, how I saw people, how I was treated. It can be something so simple, maybe that you didn't have a horrific childhood or really, the real terminology is abusive because abandoned, abuse, etc. So when someone has grown up with an alcoholic parent or two alcoholic parents, Add on suicide to that, Add on moving continually, add on all the different things that. That happen there. Let's take a different situation. Mom got sick for two weeks, and she couldn't hold you, she couldn't touch you, she couldn't breastfeed you. Maybe that's going to impact the way that your mind, your brain, your development, your emotions, everything is. Is functioning. So it really does start with these core beliefs that go into constellations that then come out as these repetitive thoughts. Now, here's where it gets interesting, Hannah, because those repetitive thoughts become such a part of us, they're so deep, most people might know it by something more like the iceberg syndrome. And that 90% of your thoughts, it's really your unconscious, are beneath water. And so if you've gone through trauma, which I don't know anyone, I don't.

Think anyone escapes that, because really, as a child, our Brain's so egocentric anyway, we make everything about us. And so even if you're thinking, well I didn't grow up in an abusive home or neglectful home, sometimes that experiences that we encode as children, we encode it as trauma, we realize we do that. Absolutely.

I mean a teacher could be having a sick day or a rough day or going through a divorce. Not look at you, right? I mean there's so many things you could have.

So many things the enemy can use.

Oh my goodness. Today with social media and the things that people face, I. It's just, it's a whole new. Well, you look at the CDC reports. The CDC report from last year said that our daughters, girls under 18 years old, 38% have attempted suicide. We are all time rates, 60 something percent are in depression. So when you start thinking one out of three girls that, you know, our sisters, our daughters, our little girls don't think about it. They've attempted to take their life. That is so far different from where we were growing up.

Right.

That is different. So that the pressures, the, the way society, the images that they see, we didn't have that. I mean, I can remember as a little girl, we had like three channels.

Yeah, yeah.

And then.

Do you remember what happened at midnight?

Yeah, it went off.

Yeah, it went off. I was explaining this to my kids like you had the nationally anthem and then went. And they're like, wait, like there wasn't any. I was like, no, there was nothing. You go to bed, there's nothing. They couldn't comprehend, couldn't even comprehend that.

And the craziness of this is the frontal lobe doesn't even, you know, it's developing on male and females till they're 25, even longer on the male brain. So when we look at how all this does and then we, we have interpretive patterns that then lead to our emotional output. And emotionally, if you had in that thought constellation, that thought, you know, that is so deeply in your unconscious that you aren't even aware of. And this is going to take the spirit of God and sometimes professional help. I think it can be both, you know, and people are like, oh, but if someone said, hey Paula, you have cancer, I'm going to go get a diagnosis. I'm going to believe God for healing. I'm going to stand on the basis of Isaiah 53 and that Jesus was wounded for my stripes. I'm going to all I can. And I'm also going to see what my medical options are. Yes, I'm going to use doctors and the best of technology and the best of everything. Well if our brain think about this because it's a, it's the most important organization.

Yeah.

Very few people ever have a brain spec or a brain scan or know like if you've had a concussion it's going to impact you. If you have emotional reactivity because there's inflammation in your body, all of this matters. And so it's not the one approach. Well, if my brain is not healthy, shouldn't I also get help? Should I learn what foods are and what the right environment is? And so it, it is really this holistic of for me it started with the word of God washed my mind and, and I think we can focus on that. But what happens is those thought constellations get interpreted, they go into the emotions and then ultimately what we think about oursel, what we believe, the Bible confirms it, it declares and I like the I, I wrote down the NSAB of course Proverbs 23:7 says for as he thinks within himself, so is he. And one translation says as a man thinks, thinks at last he is. So basically what you are is a result of what you think. So hardest part and I think sometimes is digging deep to find out what we think. In my situation, I took the word of God. I took who God is, who he shows our himself to be. I listed his characteristics and then I begin to attack. I didn't even know they were automated negative thoughts. I had no idea about this. But I begin to just kind of pull those strongholds down and say that's not true, God's word is true. And I remember I'll give a very practical story to someone and then I'll tell how I had to do a lot deeper work and get into the, the things that were beyond what I was cognitive of because when you have those thoughts that are negative, that produce anxiety or depression or more of a fear or let's say an unrealistic fear can be paranoia for someone or grandiose, all kinds of things. Trauma gets embedded in our nervous system and so there's a lot that's down within us. And you know, I, I learned how to, I write a book about, or I write in the book about being a mass. Taking the mask off. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you can take the mask off. And for most people they can consciously do that. But for me I needed extra help because it was so embedded in my nervous system. So I had like a volcano that was underneath because, and rightfully so, there was a lot of anger, there was a lot of rage, there Was a lot of guilt. And, and not because necessarily I did something because I was not formed right in the bonding process. Didn't happen properly with my mom or dad. Yeah. And so what happens with a lot of people. But let's give it real practical. When I was five years old, my mom was in a drunken state, my father died and my brother was pretty cute. He was a good looking boy. I was real awkward. All my teeth were messed up and you know, I had squinty little eyes and I was very hyperactive and I, I guess, you know, I interpreted that I was a difficult child from my mother. Now I don't that was necessarily true after putting into practice the power of thoughts and getting a lot of help and letting God's word wash me. But that was my interpretation. I remember walking in one day and my mom was laying on the couch with my brother and said oh God. And I have no idea why she said God because we didn't go to church. I never knew God. She didn't believe in him. She was basically agnostic, you know.

Yeah.

Really was God. She goes oh God, why'd you give me such a beautiful boy and such an ugly little girl? Now in her state of having too much to drink and stuff as an adult I could just maybe go, you know, and fluff that off as a five year old kid. In you, those seeds became part of just what you said, my identity. My 5 year old self believed that didn't know what an automatic negative thought was. Didn't know to ask myself is that true? Is that absolute truth? It didn't know to counteract. So growing up, no matter how I developed or what I looked like or how much I succeeded or how many straight A's, what did I feel? Ugly.

Yeah.

And no matter what, guy loved me, didn't love me. So what did I start do? Because those feelings, those thoughts turn into feelings. Those feelings. Right. Turn into actions. Those actions turn into habits. Those habits turn into our behavior. So all behavior comes out of our actions. Right. But those come out of our thoughts. So they come from thoughts. So that thought that I'm ugly, I'm not worthy, I'm not good. That was the, that was in the interpretation. What did I do? I would create the behavior that I believed about myself.

Absolutely.

Am I going to put myself with someone that actually treated me well? I didn't know what good treatment is. So you can imagine growing up and I became very self destructive, bulimic, anorexic, purging, not such good relationships. Didn't Know that abuse was abuse. And that might sound funny to someone, but I didn't know verbal abuse.

But you don't understand that. The parameters, you have no idea because it's all already encoded in you. That that's normal.

Exactly.

That's what you should expect.

So people go, what? How'd you get there, Paula? What'd you do? I remember when I got saved at 18. It was so radical, Hannah. I. For the first time, I mean really, I truly got saved. When, when the gospel was shared with me in a, in a little trailer at a person's home, I say this. I walked outside and the grass was green for the first time and the sky was blue, which simply meant like everything that was blinding me. And revelation came and I knew Jesus was Lord. So that. That started it. But then as I started, I said, man, I need that book. They told me to go find a church. I went to a few places. Everybody was really old. They would be young now. I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm right. Unbelievable. But everybody was so old. I was like, I just need that book. I need that book. So I got a Bible, I started reading it. Well, I didn't know that the word says that the word of God washes your soul. So here I am, not knowing, just reading because that's what. When the person that led me, the Lord, he is reading out of the Bible. So I'm like, that book is. I mean, this is my silly little mind. That book is magical, you know, I.

Mean, it kind of supernatural. Is supernatural, right?

Like, it is very supernatural. I was like, I didn't know the power was in relationship with God. The book was that God didn't separate himself from it. So in my sweet little innocence, I'm reading it, not even knowing it's washing my soul. So what happens? I am stuck on this self destructive behavior and having these setbacks and going into these dark, dark places. And the Lord spoke, when I say spoke to me, it wasn't audible, but I felt this impression as reading psalms. I put every characteristic of God down. And God said, I want you to begin to tell me and begin to confess my word that you are fearfully and wonderfully made over every part of your body. So I thought the only compliment I remember my mom ever saying is she said, I, you have nice hands. Because they were big like my dad's. She had little short hands. And so I said, I just started, I said, Father God. And it was so silly. I said, thank you for these beautiful hands. I just give you Praise for them. I have hands to praise you. They're fearfully and wonderfully made. That's probably the only scripture I knew.

You know, God works through seed, Right. That. That was enough seed. Yeah.

And I just kept on, and I just went to the next natural part, which was my, you know, little, you know, wrist here, my arms forms. Then I got to my elbows, and I got silly because I had kind of a wicked sense of humor. I. I was like, God, I just. Thank you. I was in a little Pentecostal church by this time. So I said I was in my private time. I'm like, I thank you for these elbows. They're so beautiful now. Elbows are ugly, right? They're so beautiful. I'm like. And make a man lust, you know, I mean, it would.

So stupid.

So I just did this over two years.

Yeah.

And I made these confessions because words are so important. They are. It wasn't. It wasn't so conscious. But over two years. I can't tell you the day that I woke up, but I remember looking in the mirror and not feeling shame or ugly.

Oh, yes, God, yes.

And that's the simplicity. I didn't know the psychology or the psychiatric or the deep science or neuroscience to it at that point. I didn't know the word real well. I just had a simple thing that God said, here, speak this scripture over yourself. And that really took the stronghold out of my mind and down. Imaginations, Right. And so what I was doing was replacing the false thought with the real truth, which was God. Yes. I was doing the process, but.

But the beauty of it is, is we don't have to know everything. Like, I think there is such a sense of relief. I remember one of my clients, I was. She's like, I feel like I should be doing this. I should be doing this. And I'm like, what if you're actually okay right now and God's going to meet you right there? And she said, oh, my gosh, that feels like such a relief, like, I don't have to figure it out. And I think that's what a lot of believers are like, I got to figure it out. I got to figure it out. But look at what God did for you. He met you right where you are when you got in the word. So, like, it's all in the power of our word. And I feel like a lot of times, you know, Paula, I feel like you are in this ministry of reconciliation where you are helping people reconcile their mind with the mind of Christ and that reconciliation. Yes, yes. If we can just take it to a conscious level. The problem is like our thoughts, I call it a dull roar. Like sometimes all of our negative programming, all those ants you're talking about, operate as like in background noise. And for example, I remember when I was a little kid, we had a grandfather clock and it was the, you know, do. Little bird came out and all the things. I guess my great uncle. So I remember we had that. And every hour, every half hour it would chime. And when friends would come over to the house, they'd be like, oh my gosh, that goes off every hour. I would not even hear it because it had kind of gone, you know, under my reticular activating system. I'm not taking it in because now it's just subconsciously encoded. And that's what happens. We hear the negative programming so long we're not even conscious of it. So we can take it from unconscious and just make it conscious. Just huh. What am I thinking?

Wow.

And this, in this one question that you even said, is this 100% true?

Yes. That's really key. So when, what you want to learn to do is begin to. When you have a conscious thought, catch.

It, catch it, catch it. You can't do anything about it unless you are conscious of it. That's why take it captive.

So notice when you don't feel good about yourself. Notice when you're feeling down or blue or depressed or anxious or. Yeah. Or wounded or put all these things. Sad, angry.

All the things.

Yeah, all those things. So catch that thought. What are you thinking? And ask yourself these questions. Is it true? Wow. Since. And then say, is it absolutely true?

Yeah.

And then say, what do I feel like? What do I feel right now because of that? And then if you can, if you can recognize that that's not absolute truth.

Right.

Because I. I'm going to guarantee, I would say 100%. But you, let's just say 90% it's not. It's not absolute truth, then you can begin to change it. And when you recognize that's not absolute truth, then you say, if that's not true, what would I feel?

So good.

Literally changing the direction. Because feelings are profound. Now, feelings are interesting. They come up from a Latin root word to flow. So our feelings are not to ever be. You know, people act like as Christians, feelings are not important, but they are. They're not.

They are very important as feedback. Like we have to look at that.

Exactly. So I tell people it's not the engine, you know, that's. That's your spirit and your soul is the engine. That's the thought is the engine that's driving this in this particular conversation. But it is the indicator lights. So if I'm driving my car and it says airbag is exploding, you know, I'm going to stop if it's gas lights on, I'm not going to continue to drive, you know, 300 miles. I'm going to run out of gas if it shows me that my tires are out of alignment. Feelings are the indicator lights. They're pointing to something that's not right. So we have that feeling. We, we think we're just supposed to stuff that down. Not at all. They're supposed to move. They're supposed to, you know, we are. The Bible tells us be angry and sin not right. So anger is one of your most healthy actual. Because it tells you something's wrong. It's not. We don't want it to turn into rage. We don't want it to turn into murder. All those come out of anger and murders. You're going to go kill someone. It, it means that something's dying. Something.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Killing off something. And it's something that may, you may be essential for your growth.

So we, we can, we've got to catch it. We've got to ask, is this true? Is it absolute truth? How do I feel about that? And if this is not true, what do I feel? And then we start to move in that direction because we now have made a conscious decision to change our emotion, change our direction. And what we're doing is we're replacing that. And then we can ultimately replace it with the truth. Because sometimes that takes a little bit deeper dives.

Sometimes it does. It does. Sometimes just we have to be conscious and give it enough tweak, enough shift so that we're able to move into a different version of ourselves. But just enough to do that. Absolutely.

Another really I think fundamental thing too for people to recognize is there are three types of minds that the Bible refers to. A natural mind which is not born again. They, they have no ability to hear God, see God.

Right, right, right.

God. Then there is a carnal mind. And I think this is where most believers wrestle. It's a carnal mind versus what is a spiritual mind. So natural is where Paul refers and says this man's blinded. They have any ability to walk in revelation, etc.

Right.

The, the solution to that is receive God through his son Jesus Christ. And somebody might be saying just say God, show me are he's standing at the door knocking right now.

Yes, yes, yes.

You just simply open the door. And you don't have to be at a church service or at an altar. Right now, right here, right on Hannah's program, you just simply say, God, I need you. You know, I. I want to know are you real? Show me who you are. Jesus. And that's simple prayer.

God, that's simple. That's simple. I always say, like right now, you could just say, jesus, just take my life and do something with it.

That's it.

And there you go.

And then of course I go to Romans, chapter 10, verse 9 and 10, which is if you confess with the Lord Jesus Christ and believe. It's hard to believe if you don't just say God. And he'll do it. He does.

He'll do it. He knows what he's doing.

So then the second part is carnal. So what's a carnal man? A carnal Christian is referred to someone who is born again. And that's. That means if they died right now, as messed up as their life is, as horrible of a condition.

Yeah.

They would go to heaven on the basis of receiving Jesus Christ and the finished work that his blood covenant, the basis of our Christianity. Now you can live, saved, but a total shipwreck, total wreck. A carnal mind. What's a carnal mind? You're led by your senses that what you see, what you hear, what you smell, what you taste, what you feel, you, you are more on a world system than the kingdom of God. Then there's spiritual man. And that spiritual man, his mind or her mind is connected and controlled by the Holy Spirit. When we get there, we start living out of Philippians 2, 5. We do hold the thoughts and the feelings of the Messiah. So one of the things like let's take my five year old self that my mom said, why'd God give me such a beautiful boy and such an ugly little girl? Think how I could have perceived God.

Yeah.

Think how I perceive what my mom thought about me. How does that affect my relationship with women? How's that affect my relationship with men? My father not being there now, it was a dynamic that went far reaching. So when I begin to go now with a spiritual mind that I hold the thoughts and the feelings, the Messiah would Jesus say to me, you're ugly. I would say to me, and your brother is beautiful. Or would he say to me, daughter, I created you perfect. Yes, you were supposed to be. Exactly. You're supposed to have that mouth. They would call me motor mouth. You know, I talk too much and I'd always get in trouble. I'm going to use your mouth one day.

Yes. Look at that.

Use everything about you so you might use your elbows.

You don't even know, like, right.

You have seven wonderful children. They. I have two grandchildren now. Asher, my granddaughter, is seven. Nick is five. I always ask myself, because if I say that to myself, if I would have thought that negative, faulty belief that would be driving my life, I said, would I say I would I say that to Asher? Would I want that for Asher? And the obvious answer is absolutely no. So why would I receive that for myself? So I'm responsible as the grown adult to take the word of God. I believe neuroscience helps us a lot too. The brain works and how the process works. And I deal with a lot of that in the book to take in good information and to treat myself the way I would treat Asher. So why do I punish myself and reward her? Why do I, why am I self destructive but uplifting and encouraging to her? So I've got to change the own behavior I have towards myself. Why do I tolerate certain treatment from people? Not put boundaries in? But I would never allow that to happen to Asher.

Right, Right. So beautiful. So beautiful.

Changing our mind, changing our life.

Oh, then that's what it's all about. I, oh my goodness. I wish we could just talk for hours about this.

Just.

I feel like you just scratched the surface. And guys, if this is, if you're hearing this, watching this right now and it's like, wait, I am really resonating with Paula right now. Like, maybe you came from that childhood or maybe you have just constantly running up against wall after wall after wall and no matter what, you just, just can't stop the patterns. This is where you go, you go to your thoughts. And I want the power of your thoughts. Guys, she has a new book out. You have got to get this into your hands because this is your superpower. Like, if someone was like, I'm going to give you a superpower and literally it is gift wrapped. And all you have to do is unwrap it, take it, use it. It's going to change your life. This is that book, book. So I'm so grateful.

Thank you. And this applies in every area because we can be very like in. When it comes to business and work, I've always been very confident. But when it comes to relationship, I wasn't, I was very. I kept attracting or some people struggle with this in the area of finances. Like, they're literally. They don't understand why do I work so hard why have I made so much or not?

But I have nothing.

But I have nothing.

Right, right, right.

Because your, your financial success does not start in a bank account. It starts in your mind.

Starts in your mind.

And so that is it. Doesn't people think, if I get a better job, if I get a better.

No, no, no. You change your thoughts. You will change your life in every single area. That's what's so beautiful about the word of God. Because it's not just a business book, a relationship book book, an emotional book, a health book. It is the entire picture book is the whole thing. And so get in that. I love that everything you do, everything you do, everything you say, Paula, and I just want to honor you for just a moment comes out of that relationship you have with God through Jesus. And I am so grateful for how you're showing up in this world because we need more people like you. And guys, you need to change your thoughts. Thank you so much, Paula.

Love you, Hannah. So proud of you. So grateful to be with you.

Oh, I love you so much. You are such a blessing. Thank.