Academy Award-winning actor Denzel Washington recently encouraged people to pray on a regular basis and to remember that gifts given by God — such as strength, leadership, and patience — should be cherished, not abused.
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As reported by The Christian Post, Washington, speaking at the recently held The Better Man Event, “an annual 2 hour power-packed men’s event designed to equip, encourage, and engage men to become Better in Christ,” told the audience, “At 66, getting ready to be 67, having just buried my mother, I made a promise to her and to God, not just to do good the right way, but to honour my mother and my father by the way I live my life, the rest of my days on this Earth.”
Washington continued, “I’m here to serve, to help, to provide. In every prayer, you know. The ego is interesting, you just don’t know, but in every prayer all I hear is ‘feed my sheep.’ That’s what God wants me to do.”
“I’m like, ‘wait a minute, what does that mean?'” the Training Day actor added “Well, what I found out in the last couple of years of hearing it was that there’s all kinds of sheep, so that’s why I talk to the experienced shepherds.”
The Academy Award winner also took the opportunity to talk about God’s gifts to men, and how people should cherish these gifts instead of abusing them.
“The world has changed. What is our role as a man?” Washington pondered. “The John Wayne formula is not quite a fit right now. But strength, leadership, power, authority, guidance, patience are God’s gift to us as men. We have to cherish that, not abuse it.”
Washington then asserted that fame and money aren’t godsends, revealing that he believes fame itself is nothing but a monster that leads people to do anything to achieve the status of being famous.
“It [the Bible] says in the last days we’ll become lovers of ourselves. The number one photograph now is a selfie. So we all want to lead. We’re willing to do anything — ladies and young men — to be influential,” Washington said.
He further explained that “Fame is a monster and we all have these ladders and battles, roads we have to walk in our given lives. Be you famous or whoever’s out there listening, we all have our individual challenges.”
“It’s cliché [but] money, don’t make it better. It doesn’t. Fame just magnifies the problems and the opportunities,” he continued.
Encouraging others to listen to God, Washington added, “Stay on your knees. Watch me, but listen to God. I hope that the words in my mouth and the meditation of my heart are pleasing in God’s sight, but I’m human. I’m just like you.”
“What I have will not keep me on this Earth for one more day,” the Man on Fire star declared. “Share what you know, inspire who you can, seek advice. If you want to talk to one someone, talk to the one that can do something about it. Constantly develop those habits.”
A devout Christian, Washington does not shy away from expressing his beliefs and sharing them with others, having openly discussed his faith multiple times in the past, .
In 2017, in an interview with Christianity Today, the actor confessed that he was sharing the word of God because that’s “what God told me to do from the beginning.”
“I’m doing what God told me to do from the beginning,” Washington said. “It was prophesied that I would travel the world and preach to millions of people.”
He then explained that “It was prophesied when I was 20. I thought it [would be] through my work, and it has been.”
Washington has also openly supported the police and American soldiers, standing as one of the few Hollywood celebrities that have not only encouraged others to support these institutions, but also condemns the actions of those who constantly put them down.
“I have the utmost respect for what they do, for what our soldiers do, [people] that sacrifice their lives,” asserted Washington when promoting The Little Things; a film that marks the 13th time the renowned actor has played a law-enforcer. “I just don’t care for people who put those kind of people down. If it weren’t for them, we would not have the freedom to complain about what they do.”
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