Michael W. Smith: The Extraordinary Power of an Ordinary Prayer

CBN.com There is nothing cliché about Michael W. Smith, or his music. From the very beginning of his career, he stood out from many other talented Nashville song writers by simply being – himself.

Michael W. Smith has won 3 Grammy’s and even been named one of People magazine’s ‘Most Beautiful People.’

Year after year his artistic expressions find greater heights. In 2009, Smitty, as he is called by his friends, was inducted in the Gospel Music Hall of Fame.  But everyone agrees that Smitty has stayed humble.

Michael W. Smith: If there’s anything that I’m proud of - proud of in a good way - or thankful for, I may say that, is that I’ve survived success.

 Scott Ross: How have you been able to keep that perspective?  A good wife…

MWS: A good wife, great friends… I think more today than ever I know who I really am.  A man saved by grace. Everything’s a gift – how dare I think, ‘Whew, check me out.  I’m the – I’m the guy,’ You know? It’s simply not true.

I love playing for people and I love to see what it does to people.  Even in my living room, or even at New River Fellowship where I go to church and lead worship, you know.” 

When I think about being blessed, I don’t think about my house. I don’t think about the car I drive. I think about my kids. I think about my wife.

Michael and Debbie’s 29 year marriage began with love at first sight.

MWS:  I’ve never been more in love than I am today with Deb.  We’re doing really, really well. I think it’s been extraordinary - the mercy and the goodness of God of what I do. I travel and I’m in Indonesia or I’m in Romania and I come back and I sorta can come back in ‘Oh, how’s it going?  Let me fix you breakfast.’  You know what I’m saying?

What tore at Smitty’s heart was recognizing the growing trend of despair he was seeing around him, even among Christians who came to his concerts.  

MWS: You start to find out that a lot of those people did not have what I had. When I say that, I’m talking about my parents.  Great mom and dad who still, to this day, are my biggest fans - just have blessed me and just encouraged me, edified me to no end.

You’ve got a lot of people who walk with me and support me who’ve never had that.  So there’s a lot of despair.  There’s a lot of uhh head’s down, huhhh, you just – uhhh, you just can’t seem to get out of the gutter. So, I decided that I would just pray a blessing over them at the end of this concert.

Scott:  You stood up in a concert or after a concert and started verbalizing that, proclaiming blessings to people?

MWS: I did that and you could hear a pin drop.  I mean, it was powerful.  I felt like even when I was proclaiming it over them, blessing them, that there was something supernatural going on.

‘In the name of Jesus Christ, I bless you with all the promises of God which are yes, and amen. May God bless your ears to hear the lovely, the uplifting and the encouraging.’

…and I remember walking off the stage going, ‘Wow. That was amazing.’  Because you could just sense something was happening.

From that experience came the idea for Smitty’s 12th book. It’s called, ‘ What I Learned From A Simple Blessing: The Extraordinary Power of an Ordinary Prayer’  In it he writes about speaking words of blessing, and encouragement over others.

Scott: If you bless someone, they in turn should turn and bless someone else – and it becomes a reproductive process. Have you seen that?

MWS: Absolutely.  Scott, the greatest joy in my life really, is pouring my life into people and blessing people.  The happiest people I know in the world are people who just bless people. 

You know, you’re blessed to be a blessing to others.  That’s really the bottom line.  That’s the bottom line of the whole book.