Dearly Beloved in Christ,

It has been said that:
Through Easter God took away the fear of death.
Through Pentecost God took away the fear of life.
After Pentecost the disciples lived this way - completely free from fear.  Do we?  We can.  For the promise of the fullness of the power of the Holy Spirit is for us also.  We too can overflow with this living water, but only if we are first willing to be completely filled up.  Oswald Chambers puts it this way:
If you will give God your right to yourself, He will make a holy experiment out of you. God's experiments always succeed. The one mark of a saint is the moral originality which springs from abandonment to Jesus Christ. In the life of a saint there is this amazing wellspring of original life all the time; the Spirit of God is a well of water springing up, perennially fresh. The saint realizes that it is God Who engineers circumstances, consequently there is no whine, but a reckless abandon to Jesus.

How did the disciples, the women, Mary the mother of our Lord and his brothers prepare for the coming of the Holy Spirit in power?  By devoting themselves to prayer.

I have been re-reading Richard Foster's book "Prayer: Finding the Heart's True Home."  And I have been reminded about breath prayer - short phrases or even just a word repeated throughout the day: in the car, drinking coffee, brushing teeth, walking, sitting.  It can be as simple as "help," "come," "guard," "heal."  Mine recently have been: "Lord, teach me to trust more deeply in your love."  "Lord, teach me to love you more."  And the Lord has so graciously answered these prayers. 

Do you want to be filled up to overflowing with the life giving waters of the Holy Spirit?  To live free from the fear of death, and free from the fear of life? Listen for a breath prayer that the Lord might be giving you - and pray it to him throughout the day.  Perhaps there is a breath prayer for you in the words of this hymn:

Breathe on me, breath of God, fill me with life anew, that I may love what thou dost love, and do what thou wouldst do.

Breathe on me, Breath of God, until my heart is pure, until with thee I will one will, to do or to endure.

Breathe on me, Breath of God, till I am wholly thine, till all this earthly part of me glows with thy fire divine

In His Peace, Grace, and Love,
Rev'd Sarah+