Hope with God... with Andrew and Wendy Palau

Jesus calls Himself The Good Shepherd in John chapter 10. Listen to what He says about Himself as a shepherd. He calls His sheep by name. He leads them. He goes before them. They know His voice. He knows them and they know Him. And—the ultimate act of care… He lays down His life for His sheep. What beautiful imagery to help us understand the way Jesus deals with us. And this is for you! Is He call...

Have you ever met a perfect person? Someone with zero flaws, who never made a mistake? There has only been one such person in all of history—and that’s Jesus. He lived a perfect human life. But He took the punishment for the sins of the whole world and absorbed it into Himself. In His sacrifice of love, the power of death was broken. Jesus conquered it and rose from the grave. All your sin has bee...

Jesus knows me, and He knows you. Does that scare you a little? He knows every thought you have—everything you've ever done or will do. He created you. The Bible tells us that He knit us together in our mother's womb. What a beautiful image. That just means He is a creator of all—including us. This shouldn't scare you. This should comfort you. He knows your battles, your struggles, your past, your...

Who is Jesus? Here’s one way to think about Him…God took all His love for us and put it into a person. That’s Jesus—God’s love in human form. But His love is not like ours. It doesn’t change and fade. It doesn’t abandon us when things get messy. And it’s a love that’s so much bigger and stronger than ours—so big that He was willing to sacrifice Himself for us in order to give us eternal life. 1 Jo...

Do you ever find yourself looking forward to the end of your workday, or to the weekend? I bet what you’re longing for in those moments is a sense of peace and refreshing. What if you could have life and peace throughout the week, no matter if you were working or resting? I believe there is a deep peace and a never-ending source of life available to all of us through the Holy Spirit of God. And it...

I have a couple favorite verses in the Bible. One of them is Hebrews 12:2, Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him, endured the cross. These words give me such comfort. Our faith journeys are bumpy roads, ups and downs, round and round, each of us with our past habits, our weaknesses, our scars. But these words remind us that our journeys...

Do you believe in miracles? I do. And the greatest miracle of all is that God—the one who made all the stars and planets, who existed before the beginning of time—became human, and sacrificed Himself for us. He came in the person of Jesus Christ—He was fully God and fully human. Imagine this…a human baby, helpless, being tended by His mother, and at the same time, with infinite power, sustaining t...

How can we know what God is like? Do you ever wonder what God is like? In John chapter one, verse one, it says, In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. That is Jesus. The Greek word used here for Word in these verses simply means something that is said. When Jesus came, He had a lot to say. And we have four amazing accounts of His life. All the things He said...

Have you ever been in a conversation and suddenly felt the need to defend yourself? Sometimes we do it without even realizing it. Something makes us feel attacked, and before we know it, our shields go up and a friendly conversation turns sour. Though we don’t like to admit it, underneath the need to protect ourselves is a sense of personal insecurity and the deep belief that if we don’t protect o...

Have you ever felt like there is so much suffering in the world, you might as well give up caring? True, you can’t solve the world’s problems yourself, but hardening your heart to the ache of compassion is not God’s will for you. In Psalm 82, the psalmist calls on God this way: Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed. Rescue the weak and the needy He call...

In Exodus 20, God describes Himself as jealous. He says, Don't worship other gods because I'm a jealous God. Have we always been told that jealousy is wrong? Yes, selfish jealousy is wrong and destructive. But God's perfect jealousy comes from the most beautiful place of love. Imagine that the God of the universe loves you so much that He feels jealousy when your affections turn elsewhere. God doe...

Do you ever find yourself on edge to the point where all it takes is a small annoyance and you’re suddenly angry? Anger has its proper place, but left unchecked, rage, anger, and bitterness can consume our lives and they can destroy our most precious relationships. What’s really interesting is that most of the time, beneath all that anger is… hurt. The Bible tells us that the Lord is merciful and...

God calls Himself compassionate. God, the most mighty, the most holy, the most righteous, the Lord, past, present, future—is also a God of compassion. Psalm 145 reminds us that the Lord has compassion on all He has made. This is amazing because He doesn't have to be compassionate. Many of us know mighty, powerful people who have lost their compassion. Yet God isn't worn down by our failures, our r...

If I told you I was perfect—that there was nothing lacking and nothing broken in me—I’d be lying. I’m so far from perfect—we all are! We all fall short and wish we could change things about ourselves. Don’t you? But God is the God of Shalom. And that means that within Himself, there is peace, completeness, wholeness, and a perfect harmony—with nothing missing and nothing broken. Although, in ourse...

Wouldn’t it be nice if we were born with a roadmap, spelling out everything that would happen in our lives? But we’re not. Instead, we get to navigate this beautiful and sometimes scary journey of life by… faith. Who do you put your faith in? The God of the Bible is sometimes called the “Alpha and Omega,” which means, “the beginning and the end.” I believe God created every person with a good plan...

Does your life ever feel like a battle? There’s a real enemy of our souls, called Satan, the father of lies. And the Bible says his goal is to steal, kill, and to destroy. But that’s not what God wants. He wants to give us life to the full. Life feels like a battle because spiritually speaking, it is! Maybe you’re thinking, Well…who is gonna win this battle? One of God’s names is Yahweh Sava-ote....

There's a beautiful name for God used in the Old Testament—Adonai. It means Lord. The full meaning is Lord of all. It's a Hebrew word that refers to God's absolute authority. He's not just a Lord, He is the Lord. There are people in this world who have heard about Him, and they call Him God. And there are people in this world who know Him, not just about Him, and they call Him Lord. Is He your Ado...

Do you ever feel overwhelmed by the chaos going on in the world? So many of us—we watch the disturbing headlines scroll by and think, “When will all the discord and division end?” I take comfort in knowing our God is Elohim. That means, “Supernatural Judge.” When the world as we know it is remade, God will rule. And under His rule, all wrong things will be put right. God’s justice and righteousnes...

When awful and unexpected things happen in our lives, it’s easy to feel like God is far away, or like He’s forgotten about you. Have you ever felt like yelling out, “God, where are you?!” When Moses was wandering in the desert as a shepherd, I suspect he felt that nothing in his life had gone according to plan. But in that moment God spoke through a burning bush, sending him to bring freedom to hi...

In the book of Job, what's called the Book of Suffering in the Old Testament, the word El Shaddai is used 31 times—more than in any other book of the Bible. El Shaddai is the name for God that means God Almighty, not just a mighty God, but the Almighty God—stronger and more powerful than anything or anyone. Job faced unimaginable suffering, death and loss, yet he continues to refer to God as the A...

Do you ever struggle with doubting God? I for one am so glad that the truth of who God is does not change based on the strength or weakness of my belief. I’ve had times in my life when I doubted, and I found comfort in one of God’s names, “El Elyon,” which means “The Most High God.” That name is used first in Genesis when Melchizedek is described as both a king and priest of the Most High God—the...

The very first time the word is used to describe God as provider is in a dramatic moment in the Old Testament. Abraham has been asked by God to sacrifice his precious son. In Genesis 22, as Abraham is about to take his son's life, he sees a sheep caught in the bushes, and he calls that place “The LORD Will Provide,” meaning God will see to it. The significance of this is so beautiful—a moment in t...

Do the daily routines of life ever wear you out and make you wonder…will this situation ever change? Is there hope for me? In the midst of our messes, let’s remember that God has the power and desire to change our lives. In fact, He is so powerful that ancient people showed reverence by never speaking His name aloud or even writing it out. The oldest copies of the Bible used a code Y-H-W-H, in the...

What do your prayers sound like during the worst seasons of your life? Do you have a harder time bringing negative emotions before God in prayer? Maybe you don’t want to seem ungrateful or don’t want God to think you’re complaining. Honestly, God is okay with you bringing the full range of your emotions—positive and negative—before Him in prayer. We know this because…that’s what Jesus did. When Je...

I'm an emotional person—passionate and full of vision one day, tired and cynical the next, irritated and frustrated the next! It's a roller coaster. But God isn't surprised by me or by you. He made you, and you don't have to hide from God. He knows all your emotions, all that you're feeling and thinking and imagining—and He loves you. And He says, Come to me. You know the Psalms are songs full of...