Some years back, I went to the High Commission of a major European country in Lagos, Nigeria to book a visa interview appointment; my wife was there with me! Ordinary, such event shouldn’t be a big deal but it usually was in our setting due to the hassles involved.
In the past, applicants went to the High Commission to book their visa interview appointments in person and that meant going there to join the usually long and rowdy queues formed daily. In order to lessen their burden therefore, many of them arrived at the place sometimes as early as 2.00 am each day. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough to guarantee their being attended to at the end of the day. And most of the subsequent visa interviews that took place weeks or months after appointments were given, ended up in disappointment.
In any case, we got to the High Commission around 10.00 am because of my earlier commitments and as expected, we met hundreds, if not thousands of disorderly people, on various queues; sweating, yelling, cursing, pushing and fighting. And the Nigerian security men on duty that day made the situation even worse as they were more interested in brutalizing the people rather than maintaining law and order. All above and more seriously discouraged me and I opted to return to my base after all, I knew I could remain in Nigeria, excel and help people get well as a medical doctor. That was my thinking but God’s was different (Isaiah 55:8). He wanted me out of the country!
So, as we were going back to our car, 2 Chronicles 20:15 flashed through my mind. It says: ''…Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours but God’s''. Instantly, I knew God was ready to fight my visa ‘battle’ for me irrespective of the prevailing intimidating atmosphere and this stirred us to turn back and I approached the meanest security officer in sight. I told him what my mission was all about and I asked him to act on it. Immediately, there was great silence all around as everyone waited for him to deal mercilessly with me. Anyway, he only looked at me menacingly and then shouted ''who are you by the way?'' And I introduced myself to him very calmly, mindful of the enormous power at our disposal (1 John 4:4).
Soon, his contorted face relaxed and he ordered his men to open the massive gates for us to come in. Then, he held my hand very gingerly, and led us into a vast waiting room where he introduced us to his colleagues as his ‘special friends from home’ and he pleaded with them to assist us as much and as quickly as they could. And in next to no time, a young, amiable official of the High Commission attended to us. To begin with, he perused my papers and said they were excellent therefore; I needed no further visa interview. That was an unimaginable occurrence in our setting because even if your papers were okay, you still had to go through the mandatory visa interview. Next, he asked me to pay the required visa fees to the cashier and I did. Guess what? I was issued a valid visa in less than 3 hours from the time we arrived at the place; a feat that took most people several weeks, months, years or even a life time to accomplish. Not even the rich, powerful and highly connected people close to the corridors of power in Nigeria could boast of such a feat. That means, God fought and won my (His) battle spectacularly for me and all the people that heard about my experience were amazed, and they joined us to glorify His holy name (Psalm 126:1).
Friend, I have gone this far to let you know that you needn’t fear your battles or fight them by yourself anymore. Please, hand them over to God in prayer today as they are His anyway, and He will make mincemeat of them. He did it for me and for countless other people in the past and He’ll do it for you too in Jesus name, amen. Remember that He is still mighty in battle (Psalm 24:8)!
Jesus is Lord!
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