And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp.
But Moses said, It is not the sound of shouting for victory, neither is it the sound of the cry of the defeated, but the sound of singing that I hear.
There are certain events that you can tell what is going on by the sounds that are made. For instance, you can tell the sound of a ball game by the sound that is made when the bat hits the ball and the cheers that are made from the audience. You can tell the sound of a battle by the gunshots and groans of people. You can tell the sound of a party by the music and commotion.
You can also tell the sound of what is going on within a person by the words that come out of their mouths. Some people speak words of dispair and discouragement because within them there is a battle that is warring and they keep being defeated.
These are those who are stuggling with things that keep coming back over and over again. Paul understood this in Romans 7.
Rom 7:15 — Rom 7:23
For I do not understand my own actions [I am baffled, bewildered]. I do not practice or accomplish what I wish, but I do the very thing that I loathe [which my moral instinct condemns].
Now if I do [habitually] what is contrary to my desire, [that means that] I acknowledge and agree that the Law is good (morally excellent) and that I take sides with it.
However, it is no longer I who do the deed, but the sin [principle] which is at home in me and has possession of me.
For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot perform it. [I have the intention and urge to do what is right, but no power to carry it out.]
For I fail to practice the good deeds I desire to do, but the evil deeds that I do not desire to do are what I am [ever] doing.
Now if I do what I do not desire to do, it is no longer I doing it [it is not myself that acts], but the sin [principle] which dwells within me [fixed and operating in my soul].
So I find it to be a law (rule of action of my being) that when I want to do what is right and good, evil is ever present with me and I am subject to its insistent demands.
For I endorse and delight in the Law of God in my inmost self [with my new nature].
But I discern in my bodily members [in the sensitive appetites and wills of the flesh] a different law (rule of action) at war against the law of my mind (my reason) and making me a prisoner to the law of sin that dwells in my bodily organs [in the sensitive appetites and wills of the flesh].
Rom 7:15 — Rom 7:23
For I do not understand my own actions [I am baffled, bewildered]. I do not practice or accomplish what I wish, but I do the very thing that I loathe [which my moral instinct condemns].
Now if I do [habitually] what is contrary to my desire, [that means that] I acknowledge and agree that the Law is good (morally excellent) and that I take sides with it.
However, it is no longer I who do the deed, but the sin [principle] which is at home in me and has possession of me.
For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot perform it. [I have the intention and urge to do what is right, but no power to carry it out.]
For I fail to practice the good deeds I desire to do, but the evil deeds that I do not desire to do are what I am [ever] doing.
Now if I do what I do not desire to do, it is no longer I doing it [it is not myself that acts], but the sin [principle] which dwells within me [fixed and operating in my soul].
So I find it to be a law (rule of action of my being) that when I want to do what is right and good, evil is ever present with me and I am subject to its insistent demands.
For I endorse and delight in the Law of God in my inmost self [with my new nature].
But I discern in my bodily members [in the sensitive appetites and wills of the flesh] a different law (rule of action) at war against the law of my mind (my reason) and making me a prisoner to the law of sin that dwells in my bodily organs [in the sensitive appetites and wills of the flesh].
For those who are saved, there is a constant war going on inside of us. We fight to no do certain things and to do the things God wants us to do. It is a non stop battle.
Then Paul goes on to say in Chapter 8.
Rom 8:1 — Rom 8:2
Romans 8
THEREFORE, [there is] now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live [and] walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit.
For the law of the Spirit of life [which is] in Christ Jesus [the law of our new being] has freed me from the law of sin and of death.
The battle is between the flesh and the Spirit of God. And when we allow the Spirit to rise up in us and destroy the flesh, there is freedom and we can begin to speak things that are positive and lovely and full of freedom.
Lord, help me today to walk in your Spirit and to do the things that you want me to do and not the things I want to do make me feel good for a short time. The only freedom I have is walking in your Spirit.
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