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Walk in love

This is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands…his command is that you walk in love
2 John 1:6

There is nothing quite so romantic as walking hand-in-hand with the one you love. In Genesis 3 God walks in the garden in the cool of the day, longing to share the moment with the people he has made. But sin has broken the relationship, and Adam and Eve are in hiding.

After the crucifixion of Jesus, two of His disciples were walking
along the road to Emmaus. They were understandably confused
about what had happened to Jesus – and, I suspect, were even
a little scared. But then ‘Jesus Himself came up and walked along with them’ (Luke 24:15). He shared their journey, and gave them comfort and encouragement.

Throughout the Old Testament God’s people are constantly exhorted to ‘walk in *obedience*’. John picks up this same thought as he writes about what it means to love God. There is a closeness, an intimacy, in walking together. But there is also a purpose. There is a journey to be made, a destination to be reached.

As Open Doors moves on in its journey we have discovered that the closer we walk with God, the closer we walk with our persecuted brothers and sisters who share the journey. We walk with them out of obedience; we walk with them out of love.

People who walk together share a common experience. When we walk with the persecuted church we will be aware of what it means to suffer for Christ; we will also share in what it means to know the joy and the strength of His presence.

As we walk with them it is our joy and our privilege to know you are with us. Our walk together will be full of solidarity and fellowship, full of purpose and full of love: for the Lord and for his family.

Eddie Lyle
CEO Open Doors UK & Ireland