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The Holy Spirit Is Our Iron Lung

Holy Spirit Spiritual Life Dependence on God

Source: "Paul Alexander - 'The Man in the Iron Lung' - dies after 70 years living in tank" by Sky News, UK, Thursday 14 March 2024

Link to Source: Click here to view source

Contributed By: Illustration Exchange | Date Posted: 2024-04-24

Scripture: Genesis 2:7 ; Job 33:4

Author: Illustration Exchange
6

ILLUSTRATION

According to the WHO,

Polio is a highly infectious disease that attacks the nervous system and can lead to ... respiratory paralysis, and in some cases death. ...

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, frequent epidemics saw polio become the most feared disease in the world. A major outbreak in New York City in 1916 killed over 2000 people, and the worst recorded US outbreak in 1952 killed over 3000. 

Many who survived the disease faced lifelong consequences. Deformed limbs meant they needed leg braces, crutches or wheelchairs, and some needed to use breathing devices like the iron lung, an artificial respirator invented for treatment of polio patients. 

By the mid-20th century, the poliovirus could be found all over the world and killed or paralysed over half a million people every year. With no cure, and epidemics on the rise, there was an urgent need for a vaccine. ...

[It was not until] the early 1950s, the first successful vaccine was created by US physician Jonas Salk.

That vaccine came too late for Paul Alexander.

Sky News reports:

Paul Alexander, widely known as "Polio Paul," contracted the viral disease [Polio] in the summer of 1952 when he was six years old and was left paralysed from the neck down. He was rushed to hospital in Texas - and woke up inside the metal cylinder where he would spend the rest of his life. ... An update on his GoFundMe page by its organiser Christopher Ulmer reads: "Paul Alexander, 'The Man in the Iron Lung', passed away yesterday [March 11, 2024].

 

An iron lung is a type of negative pressure ventilator (NPV), a mechanical respirator which encloses most of a person's body and varies the air pressure in the enclosed space to stimulate breathing. It assists breathing when muscle control is lost, or the work of breathing exceeds the person's ability.

 

APPLICATION

Polio Paul, as he was known, became literally dependent upon a machine -- an "iron lung" -- to act as a giant bellows, raising and compressing his chest --  every day of his life, for 72 years! -- to move life giving air in and out of his lungs. Without it, he was helpless, and would ultimately be lifeless.

The Greek word, pneuma occurs hundreds of times in the New Testament. It can mean "breath" or "wind" or "spirit." In context, it is most frequently used to refer to the Holy Spirit – the Third Person of the Trinity – who regenerates the believer unto newness of life, and then takes up residence and dwells within, sealing the believer for the day redemption (Ephesians 1:13-14). At the moment of salvation, the Lord literally "breathes" new life into us "through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit" (Titus 3:5) causing us to be "born again" (John 3:5).

The Holy Spirit is to our spiritual lives what that Iron Lung was to Mr. Alexander. We can no more live spiritually without His life-giving power than Polio Paul could live without his Iron Lung. Without Him, we are helpless, and would ultimately be lifeless.

"Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature" (Genesis 2:7, ESV).

"The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life" (Job 33:4, ESV).

The Importance of Every Member of the Church

Spiritual Gifts Holy Spirit Church/Body of Christ

Contributed By: Joe Chebat | Date Posted: 2019-03-06

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 12:12 ; Romans 12:4

Author: Joe Chebat
5

ILLUSTRATION

Have you ever experienced the performance of a world-class symphony? I don't mean listening to music through tiny white earbuds, or even your fancy home theater system.  That would be listening to the music. I'm talking about experiencing it!

There is a major difference between listening to a recording of Mozart and experiencing it live at the symphony hall. The notes may be the same, but our awareness of the conductor and each of the members of the orchestra, and the distinct movements and sounds of various instruments is completely lost when we only hear a recording of the sounds. There is something about seeing the music created before our eyes that results in a sense of wonder and exhilaration. Rather than thinking of the music as a technically satisfying product, we experience it as a profoundly incredible work of art.

I took my wife to the Pacific Symphony for a Christmas concert last year. Famous songs I had heard hundreds of times before came to life as I watched the 50-piece orchestra create the melodic sounds of Silent Night and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. It was amazing to pan across the stage and see each of these unique and gifted musicians, playing individual notes on their instruments that resulted in this incredible symphony of sounds that filled the concert hall.

When they did Sleigh Ride and they got to the second verse where you hear the “Giddy up, giddy up, giddy up let’s go. Let’s look at the show. We’re riding in a wonderland of snow.” I noticed the percussionist using two wooden blocks to make the clop, clop sound of horses running that you hear in the background of the song. I wouldn’t have even noticed this guy hidden way in the back with his wooden blocks in hand, except that he was featured on the giant video screen in the hall as the camera zoomed in on him making his clop, clop sound.  I had never realized how important this little additional sound in the background was to enhancing the rich texture of the melody and the life-like experience of the song.

APPLICATION

I thought about this as I was reading Paul’s description of different parts of the body this week. The percussionist was not in a prominent position. He didn’t play the violin in the 1st chair right next to the conductor. He was tucked in the back, relegated to slapping two wood blocks together. Yet without him adding his unique sound to the mix, the music would have been incomplete.

Similarly, understanding how spiritual gifts work melodically in a church body takes more than just listening to the harmony the members make when tuned in to their gifts. It takes seeing each member of the church as an essential individual instrument, vital to the whole body.  And it takes an appreciation for the work of the Great Conductor, the Holy Spirit - who gifts and guides each individual and the body according to His will and according to His purpose: the building up of the body of Christ.

27 Contacts

Obedience Holy Spirit Vision

Source: "Doctors find 27 contact lenses in woman's eye," By Nancy Coleman, CNN Updated 1:26 AM ET, Wed July 19, 2017

Link to Source: Click here to view source

Contributed By: James Miller | Date Posted: 2018-12-28

Scripture: Isaiah 44:18 ; Matthew 13:15

Author: James Miller
13

ILLUSTRATION

The British journal of medicine reported in July of 2018 that a woman in England had 27 contacts removed from her eye.  She would put them in but wasn't always able to find them, so she just assumed they had fallen out. 

Actually, the lenses were slipping to the back of her eye and getting stuck.  She just kept adding new ones in, and they piled up. But despite having 27 lenses in her eye, her vision was not 27 times stronger.

APPLICATION

We can add more and more theological information to our minds, but if our hearts aren't transformed, it won't give us a clearer vision of God .  Information without the Holy Spirit can't bring about the life that God desires.

"They cannot comprehend or understand, for He has shut their eyes so they cannot see, and closed their minds so they cannot understand" (Isaiah 44:18). 

You Are The "Fiber Optic Light" Of The World

Jesus' Love Compassion Holy Spirit

Contributed By: Dan Kelley | Date Posted: 2018-07-13

Scripture: John 8:12 ; John 15:5

Author: Dan Kelley
6

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The Secret To Losing Weight

Holy Spirit Temptation New Birth

Contributed By: Illustration Exchange | Date Posted: 2016-12-14

Scripture: Romans 7:22

Author: Illustration Exchange
6

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Why's That Smirk On Your Face?

New Birth Holy Spirit Sin Nature

Contributed By: Illustration Exchange | Date Posted: 2016-11-05

Scripture: Ecclesiastes 3:4 ; Micah 6:8

Author: Illustration Exchange
5

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The Coming Super Bloom

Second Coming Word of God Holy Spirit

Contributed By: Illustration Exchange | Date Posted: 2016-05-17

Scripture: Psalms 23:4 ; Isaiah 35:1

Author: Illustration Exchange
4

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Proving Your Citizenship

Grace Salvation Holy Spirit

Contributed By: Illustration Exchange | Date Posted: 2016-01-07

Scripture: Ephesians 1:13 ; Matthew 7:22

Author: Illustration Exchange
7

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Making Use of the Spirit of Power

Holy Spirit Spirituality Fruit of the Spirit

Contributed By: David Bell | Date Posted: 2015-05-20

Scripture: 2 Timothy 1:7

Author: David Bell
7

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If I Had The Spirit of God

Holy Spirit Fruit of the Spirit Spiritual Gifts

Contributed By: John Reed | Date Posted: 2014-07-24

Author: Unknown
17

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