His Mighty Strength

Have you ever wondered about the source of Jesus’ power when he was on earth, or how you can access that power for yourself? If so, this book is for you. Randy Frazee offers clear explanations from Scripture in His Mighty Strength: Walk Daily in the Same Power That Raised Jesus From The Dead.

Frazee, a pastor as well as an author, was under contract to write a book about these truths he had recently discovered. Then he experienced a personal crisis when three trusted friends suddenly and unexpectedly betrayed him. For months, he was clinically depressed. He finally managed to write a draft, but it wasn’t easy to write about accessing the power of God when he felt like he was drowning “without a life preserver in sight.” The words had come from his head, and he eventually trashed that manuscript. This is a complete rewrite, written from a place of great vulnerability and, in his words, “flowing from my life—from my soul to yours.” Without unnecessary details, his betrayal experience is woven through the pages as a real-life illustration for applying the principles he writes about.

In the introduction, Frazee invites the reader to locate himself on a simple empowerment scale. He assures us that no matter where we see ourselves on the scale—hopeless in our struggles, cruising along in a mundane existence, or feeling like we can handle anything—the truths in this book offer “new promise and new possibilities.”

The book is organized into three parts, each having a section on Jesus’ life followed by a section of application to our lives.

In Part 1, the author explores what Jesus emptied himself of before he came to earth. Many of us normally think of Jesus being God and having all the attributes of God. Among them, he’s omnipresent (everywhere at once), omniscient (all knowing), and omnipotent (all powerful). When he came to earth, he performed miracles, he spoke with unearthly wisdom, and he rose from the dead. We may think, Of course he could do those things; He was God!  But the truth is astounding, and it will change our lives if we take hold of it.

Jesus voluntarily left all of his divine “superpowers” behind when he came to earth. He still had them; he was still God. He just didn’t have them with him. Frazee illustrates this with a personal experience. He met friends at a fancy restaurant, but when it was time to pay the bill, he discovered he’d left his wallet at home. He still had the ability to pay, but it was back at his house. In the same way, Jesus still possessed all of his heavenly powers when he was on earth, but they were back home where he’d purposely left them. Jesus had emptied himself of his godly attributes so he could completely identify with man and not have an advantage over him.

Frazee then discusses what we need to leave behind to live the life Jesus did. We are “asked to empty ourselves of the illusion of control—that exhausting effort of pretending we have power over what happens in our world—so we can find freedom from worry and access to a power greater than our greatest foes.” Emptying ourselves is not a one-time event but a way of life, and he gives steps to move us in the right direction.

Part 2 looks at how Jesus aligned his will with his Father’s will while on earth. Scripture reveals a distinct pattern in his life. The first instance we see is when Jesus was only twelve years old. After anxiously searching for him, his parents found him “in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions” (Luke 2:46). He was consumed at an early age with knowing his Father’s will.

Later, he told his disciples, “My food…is to do the will of him who sent me…” (John 4:34). He was devoted to doing his Father’s will. He never decided for himself what he would do on earth. He determined to do and say only what God commanded. “…I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me” (John 8:28).

And at the climax of his life on earth, Jesus prayed to his Father that perhaps there was a way other than the cross to accomplish the work he came for, but ended with, “Yet not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39).

Jesus lived to be aligned with his Father, not only in his actions, but also in his inward desires.

Jesus wants us to follow him (Matthew 4:19), and that means aligning our will with God’s will. To do that, we must hear his voice. Frazee says that “God’s Word is the foundational source for hearing God and knowing his will.” Jesus didn’t have to stop and pray for guidance when he was tempted by Satan because he had hidden God’s Word in his heart. Every follower of Jesus also has the Holy Spirit living inside them; the Spirit can bypass our flesh and mind and speak directly to our spirit. A third aid in hearing God’s voice is circumstances. They can confirm God’s will, but only if they concur with the Word and the Spirit.

Part 3 examines the source of Jesus’ power to do his work on earth, since he had left his own power back home. Matthew documents the source: “As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him” (Matthew 3:16). The Spirit didn’t just make an appearance and then ascend back to heaven. John testified, “I saw the Spirit come down…and remain on him” (John 1:32).

After the Spirit led him into the desert to be tempted by Satan (Matthew 4:1), Jesus began his ministry, empowered by the Spirit to resist temptations, perform miracles, and align himself with his Father’s will in every way. The Spirit never left him. In fact, Jesus also didn’t raise himself from the dead. He was “made alive by the Spirit” (1 Peter 3:18).

Before Jesus returned to heaven, he promised this same Holy Spirit to his followers. “¹⁶I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—¹⁷the Spirit of truth…he lives with you and will be in you” (John 14:16-17). We have available to us the same power that Jesus depended on when he was on earth!

The author begins this book “stuck in the valley” following his traumatic experience of betrayal. He ends it “dancing on mountains” because of the truths in this book that he has embraced and internalized.

Jesus came to earth with none of his divine powers. He had to completely rely on his Father’s will for guidance and the Holy Spirit to empower him. If we truly understand that, we can follow Jesus’ example and live the same empowered life he did.

We, too, can rise from the valley and dance on mountains—in His mighty strength!

Scripture quotations are from NIV.

Quotations other than scripture are from His Mighty Strength.