Pre-approved for Healing

Ever get those credit card applications in the mail that say that you’re pre-approved for a new credit card, car discount, or whatever?  (Nowadays they are more likely say that you were “pre-selected” or “pre-approved to get this application” which is meaningless, of course, as they can still turn you down.  It is like a car dealer flyer that says, “Our goal is 100% credit approval!”  Does that guarantee that they will definitely approve you for financing?  No, they were careful not to say that!)  But they used to send notices of “pre-approved” credit cards.  All you had to do was sign your name and send back the completed application.  You were guaranteed to get the credit card, to say nothing of the right to have your supper interrupted for a while by telemarketers pitching “payment protection plans” to cover you if you lose your job, various insurance policies, shopping services, travel clubs, and so on, all administered through the same bank and conveniently billable to your new credit card.

If someone responded to such a pre-approved offer the way Christians act toward healing, he would:

-- Send back the application with a list of good references who can vouch that he is truly deserving of this pre-approved credit card.  “Joe has lived a good moral life.  If anyone is deserving of this credit card, surely he is.”

-- Write a passionate letter pleading for the card.  “PLEASE give me this card!  If you do, I promise that I will rack up big bills with it.  I will make only the minimum payments and help you build your next skyscraper downtown with all the interest I pay you.  I will even make late payments after I come back from a long vacation to incur more charges and pad your coffers still more.”

-- Throw up his hands and say, “Well!  If they really wanted me to have this credit card, they would just send it to me.  I guess they really don’t want me to have it.”

-- Say, “No way do I want this credit card.  Sinful Sam down the street got this same offer.  I’m insulted to be offered exactly the same terms as Sinful Sam."

You can’t do a thing to deserve your healing.  Jesus made you worthy to receive it.  Jesus already paid a price so that you could be healed.  You are pre-approved for healing.

I didn’t receive my pre-approved credit card the last time I got one of those mailings.  You know why?  I didn’t send in the application!  That wasn’t the credit card company’s fault.  The only reason I didn’t get it was because I did not act on the pre-approved offer.

God already made provision for your healing when Jesus suffered and died.  You had not done a thing to please God.  Your salvation was reserved for you while you were still in sin.  Healing is available on a gift basis only.  It is not a trophy for a handful of especially consecrated Christians.

The problem is not God, but modern philosophy and theology, as reflected in Proverbs 32:1-6, which you may read now as long as you realize that the real book of Proverbs has only 31 chapters!  (These verses aren’t actually in the real Bible but people quote them as if they were!)  The truth of the matter is that God will never say “no” to a request backed by His covenant.  1 John 5:14-15 makes this clear.

Some people even tell us that sickness is a friend and a blessing.  If sickness is a blessing, instead of gifts of healings operating in the Body of Christ, we should have gifts of sickenings.  Preachers should be heard saying, “There’s a man in the third row, and God showed me that you are well.  As I speak, God is blessing you with pain in – I think it’s your lower back, but I could be wrong...”

Healing is available to you on the same pre-approved basis as salvation from hell.  It does not become yours to enjoy until you respond to God’s offer.  The good news is that you can’t be turned down when you send back your application in faith!