This book enables us to surrender self-rule and instead delight in God’s goodness and greatness.
Do you feel secure? Is trusting difficult? Is your solution to grab control?
Meet Jonny, a Christian believer and a self-confessed control freak. Here he takes a perceptive, honest, and often hilarious, look at his personal struggles with the question: “How can my restless heart meet the reign of Christ?”
Let’s face it, Jonny’s not alone. We all lack security in a scary world of unknowns. We feel vulnerable. Anything could happen.
But could it? What if the Christian life is something we’ve been called to through the promises and provision of a sovereign King and a good, good Father? Someone who is powerfully bringing about his wise plans and planning for our good?
This book enables us to surrender self-rule and instead delight in God’s goodness and greatness. Yes, we worship the Ruler of the universe, but we also bask in the love of a kind Father who desires only our very best.
A (Very) Personal Preface
Restlessness: Our Angst in an Uncontrollable World
1 The Burden of Counterfeit Control
2 Controlling My World by Controlling Others
3 A World That Kicks Back
Reign: God’s Control through His Coming Kingdom
4 A Restful Reign
5 King Jesus, Ruler and Refuge
6 Earth, As It Is from Heaven
Rest: God’s Work in the Christian Control Freak
7 A Non-Anxious Presence
8 Practising the Reign of God
9 Surrender to Enter
Appendix: Stacey’s Visit
| Contributors | Jonny Ivey |
|---|---|
| ISBN | 9781068394614 |
| Format | Paperback |
| First published | September 2025 |
| Dimensions | 138mm x 216mm x 15mm |
| Weight | 0.20 kg |
| Language | English |
| Pages | 144 |
| Publisher | Union Publishing |
Connected to many of life’s anxieties, control freakery is a burden we were never meant to bear.
With readable honesty and humour, Jonny Ivey penetrates to the heart of our desire to control: in life’s chaotic seas, will we grip the reins of our efforts or trust the reign of the King? Richly bringing Scripture to life, this book leads us to prayerful stewardship of things that overwhelm us. Fittingly, each chapter ends with prayer to the One who is truly in control. For all of us who struggle with things outside our control, Control Freak will help us to slow down, surrender to Christ, and let our restless hearts find true rest in Him.
In this short but powerful book, Jonny Ivey describes how our desire for control instead leads to a life that is absolutely out of control. Speaking from Scripture and his lived experience, he explains why personal sovereignty can never offer the security we really want … and how only the gospel offers a true solution. As he says, ‘We do not find life by tirelessly working for greater and greater control over the world, but by a deliberate surrender, an intentional letting go of it.’
This book goes beyond bumper-sticker platitudes to show how the present and future reign of Jesus mean we can deal with all that happens in life; especially when it’s beyond our control. True security is found in surrender, and Jonny shows us how God’s reign brings rest and refuge in the face of sickness, mortality, suffering, and grief.
