To Your Tent, O Israel? Not Anymore

Why self-preservation isn’t the Kingdom way

Beloved Friend,

While praying the other day, the Holy Spirit began to unveil a subtle deceit of the enemy, selfishness masked as survival. There’s always something going on, a new crisis, a family issue, a work demand, a personal struggle. It almost feels endless. Somehow, without noticing, we become fixated on our own lives, our own healing, our own success. We stop interceding. Not because we’re wicked, but because we’re overwhelmed.

It sounds harmless, but this is one of the quietest ways the adversary isolates believers. He convinces us that everyone has something they’re dealing with, so we stop carrying one another’s burdens. Yet Scripture says otherwise: “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2). The Kingdom was never designed for self-preservation. It thrives on self-giving love.

When Job prayed for his friends, that was when his own restoration came. God restored him when he turned outward in compassion. The same principle runs through the story of Abraham who interceded for Sodom even when he was still waiting on God for his own promise. Moses pleaded for Israel’s mercy when God was ready to destroy them, though he himself had been deeply offended by their rebellion. Jesus, in His agony at Gethsemane, still interceded for Peter, saying “I have prayed for you that your faith will not fail.” What love thinks of others even while in pain? God’s kind.

Do we take out time to intercede for our pastors and shepherds too, or do we only express gratitude with words and a big “God bless you”? More often than not, the greatest gift you can give someone is not just to pray for them, but to intercede on their behalf.

Intercession goes beyond mentioning someone’s name in prayer; it is standing in the gap for them, carrying their burden before God until there is a release in your spirit. It is more than a passing act of kindness, it is a divine partnership where God allows His compassion to move through you.

Jesus Himself models this for us. He didn’t just pray for us; He continues to intercede for us before the Father. Just as we give thanks for God’s timely help in situations we never even prayed about, it could be someone’s intercession that made that help possible. You may never know that at the exact time you faced a struggle, someone felt the nudge to pray for you. There are times you knew, and it humbled you deeply.

How many times did we feel restrained from going a certain direction because our parents’ prayers held us back? God has a system. He is not lawless; He established laws and order in His Kingdom. When Daniel prayed and his answer was released, the messenger was delayed, and Daniel had to keep praying. God responded by sending Michael to help. When Peter was held in prison, the church interceded, and their raised voices sent him timely help. Even Paul constantly requested the prayers of the saints while interceding for them too. This is how Heaven’s partnership with man works, intercession keeps the lines open.

We often say, “Let me fix myself first before I help anyone else,” but truthfully, we are never the ones who do the fixing. As we obey God in loving and interceding for others, He tends to us. “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.” The tending of our lives is God’s responsibility; ours is to tend His garden, His people.

However, this doesn’t mean He only tends to us when we serve others. God is a Father who daily loads us with benefits. His care is constant, whether we’re praying for nations or simply trying to find strength for the day. But when we partner with Him in caring for others, we position ourselves to experience that care more deeply.

So no, this is not the time to say, “To your tent, O Israel.” It is the time to say, “To your post, O intercessor.” It’s the time to remember that we are members of one body. When one part suffers, the whole feels it. When one part rejoices, the whole shares in it.

If you ever feel too weary to really intercede for others, say a short prayer anyway. Heaven still counts it. As you do, you’ll find that God, in His kindness, has already started tending to your tent while you were tending to another’s.

This is something I’m learning too. There are times I’ve been too weighed down to pray beyond my own needs (definitely why the Holy Spirit addressed this), yet God reminds me that the safest way to rise again is to lift others up. There’s grace for it, there always is.

With thoughts of kindness,

ABBA’s Shofar