The Art of Dying to Control to Let the Church Live

How surrendering power unleashes God's power

The man who chose not to control the impossible

Two million Israelites. A river in flood rushing impetuously toward the Dead Sea. Forty years of desert wandering culminating in an insurmountable obstacle: the Jordan blocking entrance to the Promised Land.

Joshua could have organized a hydraulic engineering committee. He could have developed military strategies to divert the river. He could have tried to control the situation through human planning, technical competence, organizational effort.

Instead he did something radically different.

He told the people: "Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you" (Joshua 3:5, NIV).

Not: "Prepare yourselves, because tomorrow WE will do the impossible." But: "Consecrate yourselves, because tomorrow THE LORD will do amazing things."

Joshua had learned the most counterintuitive secret of spiritual leadership: sometimes you must stop doing to allow God to do.

He had to surrender human control to open space for divine control.

And when the priests put their feet in the water, the river stopped upstream for forty kilometers.

Man's control had yielded to God's miracle.

The most lethal drug for a leader

Control is the most lethal drug for a spiritual leader. It gives you the illusion of security, the feeling of being indispensable, the gratification of seeing everything work according to your plans.

But control and the Holy Spirit are like two magnets with opposite polarities: the more one grows, the more the other moves away.

Like Joshua at the Jordan, here's what dying to control means practically: allowing meetings to go in directions you hadn't programmed if the Spirit moves that way. Giving space to emerging leaders even if they do things differently than you. Accepting that the church grows in ways you hadn't predicted and toward destinations you hadn't chosen.

But members also have their toxic relationship with control. You prefer to control your level of spiritual commitment instead of letting God challenge you beyond your comfort zone.

You want to control how much God can disturb your life instead of submitting completely to His will. You choose to control through passivity: "If He doesn't ask me anything, I don't have to risk anything."

But dying to control isn't spiritual anarchy—it's leadership at the highest level.

Jesus: the model of voluntary self-destruction

Jesus modeled this principle when he told the disciples: "Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these" (John 14:12, NIV).

He didn't say "You will do works similar to these" or "You will continue my works". He said GREATER works.

He was so free from the need for control that he desired his followers to surpass him. He was so secure in his identity that he didn't fear being eclipsed.

He didn't seek to be the permanent center of spiritual attention. He sought to be the temporary catalyst of permanent transformation.

"But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away" (John 16:7, NIV).

The most revolutionary statement ever made by a leader: my absence will be more blessed than my presence.

But to say this, Jesus had to be dead to control. He had to choose the Kingdom's success over personal success.

And you? Are you willing to say "it's good that I step aside" if this liberates your community's potential?

When David died to his dreams

David had a dream that consumed him for decades: building the temple for God. He had gathered materials for years, made detailed plans, invested heart and soul in that vision.

Then God told him: "You are not the one to build a house for my Name" (1 Chronicles 28:3, NIV).

David had a choice: rebel against God's control or die to control of his dreams.

He could have insisted: "But Lord, I've dedicated my life to this! I've made all the plans! No one loves Your house more than I do!"

Instead he wrote: "The Lord has chosen my son Solomon to build the house of the Lord" (1 Chronicles 28:6, NIV).

No bitterness. No attachment. No control.

Only submission to God's will, even when that will completely changed his plans.

And Solomon's temple was more glorious than anything David could have built.

Not because Solomon was better, but because David had courage to die to control of his vision.

The control that kills life

But why is it so hard to die to control? Because control promises something the human soul desperately craves: certainty.

When you control, you know what to expect. When you release control, you enter uncertainty.

When you plan everything, you minimize risks. When you allow God to guide, you maximize possibilities but also the unknown.

This is why many churches prefer controlled death to unpredictable life. They prefer planned decline to uncontrollable revival.

They prefer knowing exactly what kind of failure they'll have rather than not knowing what kind of success God might give them.

And members? Often they prefer controllable spiritual mediocrity to unpredictable growth.

You prefer knowing exactly how much God will ask of you rather than submitting completely without knowing where He'll take you.

But here's the truth that liberates and terrifies at the same time:

God isn't interested in your backup plans. He's not impressed by your risk containment strategies.

He wants everything. Or nothing.

He doesn't want to be consulted on your projects. He wants to be the architect of His projects realized through you.

Symptoms of necessary control death

How do you know when it's time to die to control?

For leaders:

• You're afraid to delegate because "no one will do it as well as you"
• You interpret every change as a threat to your authority
• You plan everything to avoid surprises, even those that might come from God
• You measure success by your ability to predict and direct results

For members:

• You avoid responsibilities that might change your routine
• You prefer others to make spiritual decisions for you
• You resist any calling you can't completely control
• You always choose "safe" service instead of what God might ask of you

For everyone:

• Your church looks more like a perfectly synchronized clock than a living organism
• Surprises are always seen as problems, never as possible blessings
• Growth happens only in ways and times you've planned
• God is welcome as long as He doesn't disturb your programs

The moment of total surrender

But there comes a moment—maybe this is the moment—when you must reckon with a truth that will change everything:

Maybe God is waiting for you to stop controlling to start blessing.

Maybe the reason you don't see miracles in your church isn't that God doesn't want to do them.

Maybe it's that you've organized everything so well that you've left no room for miracles.

Maybe the reason people don't grow spiritually isn't that they don't want to grow.

Maybe it's that you've created such a controlled environment that authentic growth - which is always unpredictable—can't happen.

And you, as a member, maybe you need to admit that:

Maybe the reason your spiritual life is stagnant isn't that God doesn't want to use you.

Maybe it's that you've maintained such tight control over your availability that God can't ask you anything that disturbs your plans.

Maybe the reason you don't experience God's power isn't that you don't have enough faith.

Maybe it's that you have too much control.

The impossible mathematics of surrender

In God's Kingdom a mathematics functions that defies all human logic:

When you surrender control, you gain influence. When you stop directing everything, you start transforming everything. When you accept not knowing how it will end, it often ends better than you could have ever planned.

But this mathematics requires faith. Not the theoretical faith that sings in choirs.

The practical faith that puts feet in water without knowing if the river will stop.

The faith that says: "Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things" based on God's certain promise, not on vague hopes.

The faith that chooses radical obedience over prudent planning.

And yes, it's terrifying.

Dying to control means giving up the security of self-management.

It means accepting that God might ask you things you hadn't planned, take you in directions you hadn't chosen, use you in ways you hadn't imagined.

It means your church might become something completely different from what you had in mind.

It means your life might be revolutionized in ways you can't predict or control.

The final test of control

Here's the final test to know if you're ready to die to control:

Leaders: If God told you tomorrow to cancel all your programs for the next six months and wait in prayer until He shows you what to do, would you do it? Or would you try to negotiate a more "reasonable" compromise?

Members: If God called you tomorrow to a ministry that requires all your free time and takes you out of your comfort zone, would you immediately say yes? Or would you try to negotiate more manageable conditions?

Everyone together: If the Holy Spirit began moving in your church in ways you've never seen before, that disturb your routines and challenge your traditions, would you welcome it as blessing or try to bring it back to familiar tracks?

Because your answer reveals whether you're serving God or using God to serve yourself.

If you're using God to bless you without disturbing you, to help you without changing you, to support you without transforming you, then you're not worshiping God—you're worshiping control.

And God can't work through control idolaters.

He can only work through those who are dead to control.

The last act of faith

But here's the hidden promise behind dying to control:

When you finally let go, often you discover God had much bigger plans than yours.

When you stop directing spiritual traffic, often the traffic starts flowing much better.

When you allow God to be God instead of trying to be the general manager of His work, often the work takes off in ways you never imagined.

Joshua didn't know the Jordan would stop for forty kilometers. He hadn't planned a miracle of that magnitude.

He had simply obeyed the last command he'd received: "Consecrate yourselves".

And God did the rest.

David didn't know Solomon's temple would become one of the wonders of the ancient world.

He had simply obeyed when God changed his plans.

And God built something more beautiful than David had ever dreamed.

Jesus didn't know His "departure" would result in billions of people's conversion over the following centuries.

He had simply obeyed the Father's plan, even when it meant dying.

And God transformed that death into life for the whole world.

The choice that determines everything

Now it's your turn.

Will you continue holding tight to control, convincing yourself that without your management everything will collapse?

Or will you have the courage of Joshua, David, and Jesus—the courage to let go to see what God can do when you're not directing everything?

Will you continue choosing the security of controlled mediocrity?

Or will you choose the terrifying and glorious adventure of uncontrolled greatness?

Because this is the choice.

You can't have both.

You can't control God and experience His power.

You can't direct the Holy Spirit and expect Him to surprise you.

You can't plan miracles and expect to see them.

Miracles happen when you stop planning and start obeying.

When you stop controlling and start trusting.

When you put your feet in the water without knowing if the river will stop.

But trusting that if God told you to put your feet in the water, He'll take care of the river.

And then—only then—you'll see what Joshua saw: the impossible becoming inevitable when God controls what you have released.

The final question remaining is simple:

Are you ready to let go?

Today?