Hope with God... with Andrew and Wendy Palau

Sharing the Good News of Jesus can begin to feel disingenuous when you personally feel disconnected from God. Take a moment and examine your heart right now. It’s okay, you have to be honest with yourself. Has your relationship with God become distant? 1 Peter 3 says… …in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord, always be prepared to give an answer to anyone who asks you for the reason for the hope t...

2 Corinthians 4 says… "We now have this light shining in our hearts! But we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure." This is so true! We are like clay jars; fragile. Yet His great power lives in us. Do you remember what your life was like before you knew Jesus as your Savior? What were your deepest fears? What were the things that overwhelmed you to the point...

I have this great memory of my dad. He was being interviewed by a New York Times journalist. And it was during the days leading up to a big festival in Central Park. And after hours of conversation, this tough journalist, she started to get more personal in her questions. She said, “Luis, you talk about God like he’s real, like he’s right there. How can you ever know?” And he thought for a moment...

Charles Spurgeon said, "Evangelism is like one hungry beggar telling another hungry beggar where there is bread." It’s so important to remember that no matter what we may do to serve the Lord, our righteousness doesn’t come from our own strength—it comes only from Jesus, our rescuer, our savior, the One who shed His blood as payment for our sin. Humbling ourselves—being honest about our...

One thing that holds us back from sharing the Gospel is the temptation to live an individualistic life. We can be honest with each other; it’s a lot easier to live for ourselves! However, Wendy and I have found that our lives have the most powerful impact when we intentionally share our lives with others. When we’re willing to live with vulnerable openness about our own struggles, God forms real r...

I’ll never forget the moment someone said to me, “You’re an answer to our prayers! We can’t believe that God has brought you into our parents’ lives! They’ve been so closed off. Thank you!” I had just shared the Gospel with an elderly couple in our neighborhood and prayed for the husband when he was on the way to the hospital. After many years of hardness, their hearts were softening toward the Lo...

I remember being a young mother – thrown into the deep end of life. I felt like I was drowning. There were days I felt like a failure, and days that I really just failed. One day I confided in a woman and I said to her “I just don’t think I’m getting this right.” And she looked me in the eyes and said, “Wendy, you HAVE TO get it right! You have to!” Years later, I realized how wrong she was. And t...

Have you ever held back from sharing the Gospel with someone because you think, what could I possibly say that would convince this person to receive Jesus? It takes prayerful discernment to decide when and how to share with certain people. But, you know what’s comforting? Even when we don’t know what to do or what to say, God does. In Acts chapter 1, Jesus said this to His disciples, “You will rec...

What motivates you to share Jesus in your daily life? For me, one precious truth that motivates me to share the Gospel is this: We don’t grieve as those who have no hope . Knowing Jesus means that there is always hope, no matter the circumstances of life, no matter how painful the situation. And I want everyone to have this hope! When someone gives their life to Jesus, their troubles are still the...

Have you ever bought into the lie that people just don’t want to hear about God? That lie can hold us all back from sharing the message of hope in Christ. I have so many stories of being afraid to share the Gospel. Even though I’ve chosen to spend my whole life in evangelism, it’s my calling. And after all these years, I still sometimes get anxious and nervous. God has shown me again and again tha...

1 Peter 3:15 says, "If someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it." So, why do we struggle to be quick and confident to share the Good News of Jesus? What’s holding you back? Do you feel unqualified to share the Gospel? Are you worried about seeming self-righteous? Maybe the task feels too weighty and you feel burdened with pressure and fear. Whatever the b...

Have you ever witnessed someone being made new by God? I’ve been serving the Lord in ministry for a long time. But in the many places where we have served… nothing comes close to the joy and the awe of seeing God rescue people. There is nothing on earth like it. The despair falls away and people become filled with hope. Guilt and shame are washed away. They become clean—covered with the holiness o...

What kind of things have stopped you from sharing the Gospel? Maybe you’ve thought, “God doesn’t need me… there are other people way more educated, more qualified to share the Good News than me.” But the truth is, God will use whoever is willing. When Jesus rode into Jerusalem, just days before His crucifixion, people began to declare Him as Lord and they began to worship Him! The religious leader...

Both my husband, Andrew, and I came to faith as adults. And our encounters with God were radically life-altering. But since those days, our lives have not been without major struggles. And we’ve learned that experiencing pain or grief or difficulty does not disqualify you from sharing the Gospel. In the book of John, Jesus said… I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on ea...

Have you ever shared the Gospel? Wendy and I both come from families that love Jesus and are dedicated to evangelism. But personally, we didn’t experience the joy of sharing Jesus until our late twenties—after we responded to the Gospel ourselves. And I tell you, we did not know what we were missing. John 5:24 says… Those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. T...

You do not have to be perfect in order to share the Gospel. You will never be perfect. God has always known that. And that’s why He sent Jesus, the only perfect One, to die in our place—to forgive us of our sins. When you tell others about Jesus, it’s okay to be honest about your own flaws and weaknesses. Even the apostle Paul, who wrote much of the New Testament, said this about his own Gospel-sh...

Joy is the emotion, the posture in life we are all longing for. The word joy means an emotion of delight or happiness found by something exceptionally good or satisfying. We all want it, we long for it and we rarely find it. The world tells us that we just need to strive for joy, but God says, "I give joy." It's a gift, and it's free, and He offers it to us. He promises that His joy will...

These words were spoken long ago by the Apostle, Paul, For I decided that while I was with you I would forget everything except Jesus Christ, the one who was crucified. Paul realized that he didn’t need fancy words, or pre-planned arguments from his years of training in order to show people the way to Jesus. Instead, he chose to use simple words and stay focused on the cross of Jesus Christ. Truly...

Are you offended at God? There was a time in Jesus’ life when people from His hometown were offended at Him. They thought they knew Him, that they understood Him, that He was even one of them. Then, Jesus started doing things they weren’t expecting. He revealed His authority and His power and they were offended. This happens to us. We think we know God, that we have Him figured out, but then He re...

We don’t know everything. Even though we have the Bible to guide us, and the Holy Spirit living inside us, sometimes we just get it wrong. Sometimes we misunderstand the Scriptures. Sometimes we think we know where God is leading us, and we realize later we made a mistake. When we share the Good News of Jesus with others, it’s so important to remember. We are saved by grace alone, not anything we’...

What if I told you- you have the ability to see something that’s invisible? Listen to this verse from the Bible: Hebrews 11:27, By faith that Moses left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger. He persevered because he saw him who is invisible. This verse is talking about a different kind of sight. Moses was not literally seeing God at that point in the story. He was seeing, believing, and staying foc...

Do you trust God for your future? For your family, your education, your career? Have you fully placed your life in His hands? It’s a big step. It takes humility and submission, but you’ll never regret it. Listen to these words from Isaiah 50:7 , Because the Sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore, I have set my face like a stone, determined to do his will. And I know I will not...

When you look at the natural world around you, you’re training yourself to understand the One who made it. Some think of creation as God’s most universal way of revealing Himself.-His power and majesty. A visual representation of the beauty, order, and goodness that are so essential to His very own character. Listen to this verse from Romans 1… For ever since the world was created, people have see...

God has seen fit to deposit His treasure in us. Isn’t that stunning? 2 Corinthians 4 tells us that the treasures of God’s light-, His mercy, His knowledge, His presence- live in us by His spirit. You might think: I’m broken and weak, I fail so many times. He’s also said I know how you’re formed, I know that you are dust. Yet, it is His pleasure and His will to live in us, to mold us and change us...

It can be daunting trying to show people who God is… when He is invisible! You can say, “God is love, God is everywhere, God hears your prayers.” But often, people want evidence. They want to understand what God’s love looks like. How does He really, tangibly interact with human people? Those are fair questions! Colossians 1:15 says this, Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existe...