In today’s blog, I want to share a wonderful devotional book called “The Supplied Life” I bought over 15 years ago. It was first published in 1995 by a wonderful brother in Christ, Bill Freeman. He has gone home to be with our Lord and enjoying the fullness of our Lord without any distractions. His devotional is no longer in print. However, you can get a copy in PDF on the Olive Tree Application for FREE.  https://www.olivetree.com/store/product.php?productid=16677

 

I want to share a few of his devotionals that have blessed me over the years. I pray you enjoy them as well.

 

 The Supplied Life: Daily Devotional

January 4th

 Unconditional Love

 

“The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; but because the LORD LOVES YOU.” DEUTERONOMY 7:7-8

To speak of God’s unconditional love is to utter a wonderful fact about God’s nature. He loves because of who He IS… and He chooses to, for no other reasons. His love is not dependent upon finding something in us that merits His love. His love is without conditions — it is unconditional. It is this kind of love that is expressed to Israel in the above verses. In other words, God loves because He chooses to love, not because of a reason found outside of Himself.

God’s unconditional love is revealed throughout the Old and New Testaments, but the most detailed description of His love is found in the book of Hosea. When we touch this book that unveils the nature of God’s love, we are treading ground that we have never trodden before. We see God’s unconditional love coming to the least likely object of love. Gomer, the name of the woman Hosea was to take as a wife, reveals the depths of the nature of God’s unconditional love.

Gomer is derived from a Hebrew word (gamar) that means “cease, come to an end, and fail.” In other words, God was telling Hosea, “Go take failure to be your wife,” or “Go take that which has come to an end to be your wife.” This illustrates the nature of God’s love to us. He loves us when we have no potential, no victory, when we have come to an end — when we are nothing but failure. Gomer not only means failure, but it also has the meaning of “completion” or “perfection.” So this woman was complete or perfected in her failure. She was a harlot/prostitute. She filled up the measure of harlotry to the uttermost. She committed not merely one transgression but a thousand transgressions. She reached a state of completion and is ironically spoken of as being perfected in harlotry. She was that low, that base. She was perfected in her harlotry because she was fully experienced in sinning and in rebellion. She was fully developed, perfected, and completed in the realm of failure. She was not partially a failure, but she was a total failure. Yet God tells Hosea to take this “wife of harlotry” to be his wife (Hosea 1:2). Later, God tells him to love her. This demonstrates the Lord’s love toward us. He takes us and then lavishes His love on us, despite our failed condition.

 

No matter who you are or what you have done, we have a Father and Lord WHO IS LOVE! Their love have no beginning and no ending. Because of their great love for us, our Father and Lord will do whatever it takes to pursue us and bring us home to them… all we have to do is receive them and enjoy living within us!

 

Surely Your Goodness and Your Mercy will pursue after me ALL the days of my life!

Psalm 23:6 paraphrased