The Word of God should not only be a check on our thoughts, but the source of them, which is a far deeper thing. We see it in Christ, the only perfect One. He only could say, "By the word of Thy lips I have kept Me from the paths of the destroyer." The Psalmist David could say: "Thy word have I hid in Mine heart, that I might not sin against Thee." Psa. 17:4 and 119:11.
There is a preserving power in the Word to keep the feet from sliding, which those only know who receive the truth in the love of it. Merely having the Word hid in the memory and mind will not do. There is no preserving power in that. There must be the action of the truth on the heart and conscience, separating from all defilement, otherwise its preserving power cannot be experienced.
Whenever there is a surrender of what the flesh holds dear and cleaves to, for Christ's sake, there is blessing, and the soul that dares to mortify the flesh and resist its claims is ever rewarded by a clearer revelation of the Lord Himself. As it were, the displacing of the lower makes room for the development of the higher and purer affection.
The reason why there is often so much darkness and uncertainty as to God's will among us, is that the flesh is allowed to work, and the result is dimness of spiritual vision. It costs us too dearly when we cannot say, "No" to the clamorous demands of our fleshly natures. Never till we see it in the light of the judgment seat of Christ shall we know how much we have suffered in soul, and how much eternal reward we have lost by our weakness and cowardice in resisting the flesh and its claims. People complain of weak faith, but they would speak far more truly if they complained of their weak obedience. "Light is sown for the righteous." Psalm 97:11. "If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine." John 7:17. Let us see in Christ, our heavenly Pattern, the path of the just, which shineth more and more unto the perfect day. We will see in Christ the perfectly dependent, obedient One. Words Of Truth