By Lillie Jaenchen
Denzel Washington has one piece of advice he’d give his younger self — “pray more.”
“Pray more. That’s it. Pray more,” the Oscar winner said with a smile when asked what he’d tell his younger self. “That’s what I would tell that younger Denzel Washington. Pray more. Get on your knees more.”
Washington doesn’t shy away from proclaiming his faith, even getting baptized and receiving his license to become a minister last December.
“It took a while, but I’m here,” he said at the time.
He shared how over 50 years ago, a woman at his mother’s beauty parlor prophesied he was “going to travel the world and preach to millions of people.”
Washington grew up in the church. His father was even a pastor.
“The biggest moment of my life was when I was filled with the Holy Spirit,” he said, recalling an instance the 1980s when he decided, “I’m just gonna give it up to God today, whatever that means.”
“Things I said about God when I was a little boy, just reciting them in church along with everybody else, I know now,” he said. “God is real. God is love. God is the only way. God is the true way. God blesses.”
Though Washington works in a world consumed by awards and accolades — many of which he’s achieved — he grounds his life in the Bible.
“You have to fill up that bucket every morning,” he said of his daily Bible reading. “It’s rough out there. You leave the house in the morning. Here they come, chipping away. By the end of the day, you’ve got to refill that bucket. We know right from wrong.”
He revealed last November that faith even impacts what roles he plays.
“…my faith has always informed the roles I choose. Always. I’ve always been led by God, and most of my performances are faith filled. Even if I was playing the devil…Even in the darkest stories, I’m looking for the light,” he wrote in an essay for Esquire.
The A-lister is unashamed of his faith, an impressive feat considering he works in an industry that rejects God.
“I don’t care what anyone thinks,” Washington said. “See, talking about the fear part of it — you can’t talk like that and win Oscars. You can’t talk like that and party. You can’t say that in this town.”
“It’s my job to lift God up, to give Him praise, to make sure that anyone and everyone I speak to the rest of my life understands that He is responsible for me,” he emphasized.
Washington’s advice to his younger self and the way he keeps God first are things we all can take to heart.
Read Next: Denzel Washington Recalls Divine Encounter: ‘My Life Is Not the Movies I Make’
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