Prayer beats holiday stress, says “The Chosen” star

Prayer is the best antidote for the busyness of the holiday season, said Jonathan Roumie, star of “The Chosen” and “Jesus Revolution.”

During an interview with Fox News, the 49-year-old actor talked about his faith in the advent season and how has found building a habit of prayer can make all the difference as he promoted a 25-day prayer challenge that goes until Christmas on the Hallow app. Roumie said the goal of the prayer challenge is for people to “disconnect from the chaos of the real world, the divisiveness, the anxiety” that exists and find peace and a deeper relationship with Christ.

“As you consistently tap into that habit, you find your relationship with Jesus growing deeper and deeper, just automatically,” he said. “And as a result, you then experience much more peace, tranquility and serenity in your life and the ability to really muscle through some of the most difficult obstacles and challenges that life can throw at you.”

The “Jesus Revolution” star previously said that although faith had always been a part of his life, things changed five years ago when he surrendered his career to God.

“And once I let him take the wheel, everything changed,” Roumie said. “The decisive moment was that simple prayer of surrender. And I think that’s really difficult for people, especially when we feel so out of control. When we turn on the news and see what’s going on today, it feels like we have no control in our own lives. But God hasn’t forsaken us. He’s not abandoned us. He’s faithful to us to the very end. And it’s a matter of tapping into that faith and allowing him to be more involved in our lives, and surrendering is the first step to getting there.”

He also credited his role playing Jesus on “The Chosen” with bringing people into the church, both those who left and those who have never been.

“I’ve had so many people say they’ve cultivated a relationship with Jesus through prayer because they heard me talk about the app or because they watched ‘The Chosen’ and then they started seeing this pop up in other places,” Roumie said. “Some people who’ve never been to church started going to church. Some people who haven’t been to church for 20 years have come back to the church.”