Evangelist Luis Palau asks for prayer following cancer diagnosis

World-renowned evangelist Luis Palau has asked for prayers when he announced on Thursday that he has stage IV lung cancer.

Palau shared the news with his sons Kevin and Andrew in a video that was posted on social media as well as the Luis Palau Association web page.

"Everything is ready and if the Lord wants to take me home in the next few months or two years or whatever it is, I'm ready," the 83-year-old preacher said in the video.

Kevin explained that the evangelist and his wife Patricia had been traveling around the world, sharing the Gospel, and had just returned from a long trip to the U.K. in December "with kind of a chest cold ... that wouldn't go away." He noted that an early report that came just before Christmas indicated that Palau had "some form of cancer" in one of his lungs.

"To our shock, just a few days ago, we got the word that it's stage four lung cancer. And that's a shock. Especially for someone who's always been as healthy as dad," Kevin said in the video.

Despite the diagnosis, Palau said that he currently feels "fine" and is full of energy. He went on to note that he does not feel "panic or horror," but he asked for prayers as he expects the treatment to limit his preaching and traveling schedule.

Palau said that he often preached about heaven because his father passed away when he was young, adding "[n]ow, it's reality for me."

Andrew assured his father that he can rest, knowing that his sons and the ministry will keep preaching the Gospel.

The Argentine-born evangelist said that he still looks forward to preaching at several festivals he planned this year.

"If the Lord gives me energy, strength, and the treatment works as we pray it will, or the Lord does a miracle, off we go," he said, as reported by CBN News.

Palau and his team had preached in hundreds of cities across the globe, including in London, Hong Kong, Singapore, Chicago, Moscow, Madrid, Mexico City, and his native Buenos Aires.

In 2015, Palau held one of the biggest evangelistic rallies in New York City, with about 60,000 attending the event to worship and hear the Gospel. The Palau Association has organized similar campaigns in dozens of countries, including major evangelistic festivals on all five continents.

His ministry has estimated that his message had reached 30 million people in 75 countries. He had authored dozens of books and has been featured in radio broadcasts in English and Spanish on 3,500 radio stations in 48 countries.

Last November, the ministry announced that it plans to release a film about Palau's life and legacy in theaters in North America, South America and Spain this coming October.