seven souls gold, sevensouls gold

How the party behave affects how well you can heal them... how soon your MP runs out, etc. I'm normally the one who tells people "back up" when the group has run after the puller into the middle of dangerous territory, etc. Also, don't hesitate to buy seven souls gold tell the party "stop after this for a moment - need MP".

Sometimes I'll outright threaten to let them die if they don't cease doing something when I need a break, etc.

There's nothing wrong with this at all - you're doing them a favor by being bossy like that, because if you weren't, they'd do whatever, you'd run out of MP, and everyone would die.

Generally people will listen to you as a cleric - they know your job is only to keep them from dying and they'll gladly do something you need to help you keep them safe 

Sometimes I'll let myself die, someone will res me quickly, and I can keep anyone else from dying. Look at it this way... you can get groups almost instantly unlike any other character, so XP is easy enough for you to get compared to most.