“Pastor, God told me to travel abroad, but I’m surprised that after all I invested to process my visa, I was denied. What could be wrong?”

Did God promise to get you a visa at the first attempt? He may have told you to travel abroad, He may have even guaranteed you that your visa would be granted, but I’m quite sure He never told you that you’d get it at the first application.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying it’s not possible to get the visa at the first attempt, ofcourse it is. However, quite a number of factors can cause an unfavorable outcome. Factors can be a lack of adequate preparation and readiness, both physically and spiritually. It can also be influenced by God, just to strengthen your heart for the journey. Let me show you two instances from scriptures.

In Judges chapter 19, the bible begins to tell us the story of an abomination that happened with the Benjamites, a tribe in Israel. Certain sons of Belial raped a woman till there was no more life left in her. According to scriptures, they took rounds on her from the night till the morning. Her husband was so bitter that he cut her body into different parts and sent them to the various tribes in Israel to judge the matter. The whole of Isreal agreed as one man to punish the perpetrators, unfortunately, the Benjamites refused to produce them. At their refusal, the children of Israel agreed to destroy the whole tribe of Benjamin.

Before they commenced the battle, they enquired from God to know which tribe was to go and battle the Benjamites first, and God responded. Let’s read from scriptures.

Judges 20:
18 And the children of Israel arose, and went up to the house of God, and asked counsel of God, and said, Which of us shall go up first to the battle against the children of Benjamin? And the LORD said, Judah shall go up first.
19 And the children of Israel rose up in the morning, and encamped against Gibeah.
20 And the men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin; and the men of Israel put themselves in array to fight against them at Gibeah.
21 And the children of Benjamin came forth out of Gibeah, and destroyed down to the ground of the Israelites that day twenty and two thousand men.
22 And the people the men of Israel encouraged themselves, and set their battle again in array in the place where they put themselves in array the first day.
23 (And the children of Israel went up and wept before the LORD until even, and asked counsel of the LORD, saying, Shall I go up again to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother? And the LORD said, Go up against him.)
24 And the children of Israel came near against the children of Benjamin the second day.
25 And Benjamin went forth against them out of Gibeah the second day, and destroyed down to the ground of the children of Israel again eighteen thousand men; all these drew the sword.

So here we see that on two occasions, God told them to go and fight the Benjamites, yet on those two occasions the Benjamites destroyed forty thousand Isrealites. Think about it, God approved the battle two times, yet they failed the two times. Somebody else would have given up after the first time, and perhaps you’ve considered giving up on the plan to travel abroad, but learn from what the Isrealites did next.

Judges 20:
26 Then all the children of Israel, and all the people, went up, and came unto the house of God, and wept, and sat there before the LORD, and fasted that day until even, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD.
27 And the children of Israel inquired of the LORD, (for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days
28 And Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood before it in those days,) saying, Shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother, or shall I cease? And the LORD said, Go up; for to morrow I will deliver them into thine hand.
29 And Israel set liers in wait round about Gibeah.
30 And the children of Israel went up against the children of Benjamin on the third day, and put themselves in array against Gibeah, as at other times.
31 And the children of Benjamin went out against the people, and were drawn away from the city; and they began to smite of the people, and kill, as at other times, in the highways, of which one goeth up to the house of God, and the other to Gibeah in the field, about thirty men of Israel.
32 And the children of Benjamin said, They are smitten down before us, as at the first. But the children of Israel said, Let us flee, and draw them from the city unto the highways.
33 And all the men of Israel rose up out of their place, and put themselves in array at Baal-tamar: and the liers in wait of Israel came forth out of their places, even out of the meadows of Gibeah.
34 And there came against Gibeah ten thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and the battle was sore: but they knew not that evil was near them.
35 And the LORD smote Benjamin before Israel: and the children of Israel destroyed of the Benjamites that day twenty and five thousand and an hundred men: all these drew the sword.
36 So the children of Benjamin saw that they were smitten: for the men of Israel gave place to the Benjamites, because they trusted unto the liers in wait which they had set beside Gibeah.

Did you see that? They approached God with fasting and sacrifice the third time. This proved to God that they were really serious about correcting that abomination. This time, God still responded, and with a guarantee that He would give the Benjamites into their hand.

It was at that point that the Isrealites developed a strategy to defeat the Benjamites. That’s the very word right there, “strategy”. Just because God told you to go doesn’t mean you shouldn’t strategize. For instance, did you prepare yourself to respond to the interview questions correctly? Oftentimes, God’s will for you would require a good strategy from you to come to pass.

So go and apply again, and be sure you’ve developed a strategy that will work without fail. Get a job if you need to, especially if you don’t have the needed funds ready. If it takes 5 years to gather the money, that’s okay, God’s word never returns until it delivers. So you can be sure that God won’t change His mind about you traveling abroad. After all your efforts the second time, if you fail again, then develop the strategy even more. If your strategy is correct, then you can’t be denied.

Having said that, denial can also be the will of God. And in this case, God will tell you that He’s the one behind the denial. We saw this happen to Moses and Joshua. God told Moses to command Pharaoh to let Isreal go, yet we were told that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart so that he won’t release them easily, even ten times. God told Joshua that He had given him Sihon and his land and that he should go and posses it. Instead, Joshua wrote a letter pleading with Sihon to let him have a safe passage to the next land. Even as he was writing that letter, God told him that He had hardened the heart of Sihon so that he would not listen. Joshua had to contend with him in battle as God commanded. (See Deut 2,
Exodus 2, 3, 4, 5 for the full story).

I hope you got that though, if the denial is from God, He’d tell you. If He doesn’t tell you, then your strategy is definitely flawed.

I hope this has brought enlightenment to someone.

Remain ever blessed, in Jesus precious name!

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