A Prayerful Denzel Washington Tells Young Actors, ‘Get on Your Knees in the Morning’

Denzel Washington recently told a group of young actors that a good way to make sure you pray every morning is to put your shoes “way under the bed at night” so you “gotta get on your knees in the morning.”

The Academy Award-winning actor was seen speaking to the young people in a video R&B singer and actor Tyrese Gibson posted on Facebook Sunday. He encouraged the group of seemingly aspiring actors to use their talent for good and always remember to pray.

“I pray that you all put your shoes way under the bed at night so that you gotta get on your knees in the morning to find them. And while you’re down there, thank God for grace and mercy and understanding. We all fall short of the glory. We all got plenty,” he said.

“If you just start thinking of all the things you’ve got to say thank you for, that’s a day. That’s easily a day,” he added.

The actor, who is currently starring in a Broadway adaption of Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, told the young actors that before every show he and the cast gather for prayer led by a young boy, Bryce Clyde Jenkins, an actor in the show.

“We have a little boy in our show—we’re doing Raisin in the Sun—and we have a circle. We pray every day,” Washington noted. “And his prayer—this boy is prayed up. He just prays that we go out and touch someone tonight. He says, ‘God, somebody out there needs us tonight.'”

Washington also encouraged the group to realize that while it is good to have money, they should not abuse their gifts for material gain.

“And we all have that unique gift to go out and touch people to affect people. Understand that gift, protect that gift, appreciate that gift, utilize that gift. Don’t abuse that gift,” he told the actors.

“You’ll never see a U-Haul behind a hearse. … Now, I’ve been blessed to make hundreds of millions of dollars in my life. I can’t take it with me, and neither can you. It’s not how much you have but what you do with what you have,” Washington said.

Watch the video below.