Psalm 119:4 says, “You have commanded us to keep Your precepts diligently.” My mind goes back to Deuteronomy 28:1. It says, “…if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments…” The chapter continued with the blessings of obedience and the curses of disobedience.

Peter reminded his readers in 2 Peter 1:5 to give all diligence to add certain inward graces to their faith. Both verses were written to others, but we can make personal applications. Our diligence is evident through our actions or inactions. All actions follow thoughts.

Proverbs 4:23 says, “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.” Our heart is our belief center. Our life is a vineyard that needs to be tended. What have you neglected to prune from your thoughts?

When we fill our mind with thoughts based in God’s word, our actions will be righteous. Our hearts will be guarded by His inner sentinel of truth. Our discernment will be sharp. As Proverbs 2:11-13 says, “Discretion will preserve you; understanding will keep you, to deliver you from the way of evil…from those who leave the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness.”

We will not stray from the truth of God’s way when it becomes our guiding compass. Psalm 73:24 says, “You will guide me with Your counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.” Psalm 32:8 says, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye.”

Psalm 64:10 says, “The righteous shall be glad in the Lord, and trust in Him. And all the upright in heart shall glory.” Being attentive, alert, and willing to follow are key components in our progressive sanctification.

I have been meditating on Psalm 119:3 for several days. It was written about those who walk uprightly. It says, “They also do no iniquity; they walk in His ways.” There is an essential key for us.

Psalm 18:30 says, “As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the Lord is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him.” Perfect. No way to improve. Complete. Then verse 32 says, “It is God who arms me with strength, and makes my way perfect.”

Walking in God’s perfect way keeps us from sin~protects us when tempted. When we stray from His way we get derailed. His way is truth, our way is based in self-deception. Anytime we put our way ahead of God’s we will sin. Sobering truth. Romans 6:1-2 states that we don’t have to sin because we died to sin at salvation.

All thoughts bear fruit ~ life-giving or destructive. When we meditate on God’s word, He expands on His truths through life-sustaining rich insights. Insights empower. They bring clarity, wisdom, understanding, and direction.

Proverbs 23:7 says, “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he…” Caroline Leaf is a Christian neuroscientist. She uses a very gnarled wire tree to illustrate how our toxic thoughts create such chaos in our brains.

We are a reflection of our thoughts. Meditation on God’s word changes our brain’s neural pathways. Amazing. We are truly fearfully and wonderfully made. Psalm 139:14. 

Consider: all of God’s thoughts are life-giving. Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thought of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Psalm 139:17 says, “How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them.”

Years ago I sawed off a low hanging branch on a tree in my backyard. It exhausted me and I went in to lay down. I went out a half hour later to drag it to the dumpster in our mobile park. It was totally wilted. I was amazed.

Once the Lord prunes a fruitful branch it will bear no more fruit. It is done. In 1999 He pruned one of my fruitful branches. He stopped that ministry with His pruning shears. Perhaps you can relate.

God’s goal in pruning a fruitful branch was stated in verse 8. It says “By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, so you will be My disciples.” The test of discipleship is fruit borne as we abide in Him. Verse 5 Amplified says, “…Whoever lives in Me and I in him bears much (abundant) fruit. However, apart from Me (cut off from vital union with Me) you can do nothing.”

Last night I came to John 15 in my daily reading. As I read verse 2, I stopped and looked it up in other translations. The Greek for “He takes away” means to raise, lift up, take away, and to remove. In my mind I envisioned Him picking up the branch and inspecting it.

Verse 2 clarifies that John was talking about believers. It says, “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” Only a believer can be IN Christ.

Fast forward to Ephesians 1. I encourage you to circle the word ‘in’ or write it down. Here are two. Verse 3 says that we are blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ. Verse 4 says, “Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world…”

Psalm 119:7 says, “I will praise You with uprightness of heart, when I learn Your righteous judgments.” I want to make something clear. This verse is talking about our progressive sanctification ~ a learning process.

Our standing was stated clearly in 2 Corinthians 5:21. It says, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” The moment we accept Jesus as our Savior, we are given His righteousness. This verse stated an instant impartation.

Walking upright is a process of reading God’s word and applying it to our lives. It is an ongoing work that bears fruit. Isaiah 32:17 says, “The work of righteousness will be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever.”

Psalm 11:7 says, “For the Lord is righteous, He loves righteousness; His countenance beholds the upright.” As we behold the One beholding us, we are transformed according to 2 Corinthians 3:18.

Any hidden sin defiles our walk, as well as contaminates those we are around. We cannot represent the Lord with inner defilement. Hiding His word in our heart and walking in it, will purify our thoughts, words, and actions.

A leader with hidden sin, does not lead in righteousness ~ but in defilement. Sobering thought. Beware of the doctrine of this world from getting mixed into the meal of your life. What we hide in our heart will permeate into every aspect of our lives ~ for righteousness or unrighteousness. 

Here is the fruit of walking upright. Proverbs 3:32 Amplified says, “…His confidential communion and secret counsel are with the (uncompromisingly) righteous (those who are upright and in right standing with Him).”

Fresh revelation of truth comes as we meditate on His word. Psalm 25:14 Amplified says, “The secret (of the sweet satisfying companionship) of the Lord have they who fear (revere and worship) Him, and He will show them His covenant and reveal to them its (deep, inner) meaning.”

In my first book I have a chapter called Inner Defilement. Colossians 2:8 says, “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, not according to Christ.”

Man’s philosophy is empty. One who walks upright does not embrace the world’s ways. We are called with a holy calling. 2 Timothy 1:9. Paul warned his readers to not be conformed to the world. Romans 12:2.

John wrote in 1 John 2:16 that, “For all that is in the world…is not of the Father…” We cannot be imitators of God and walk in the darkness of this world at the same time. Ephesians 5:1.

How bright is your light to those around you who live in darkness?

I was meditating on Psalm 119:1. It says, “Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord!” When we read the next two verses we gain understanding on the walk of the upright.

The upright walk in the law of the Lord, keep His testimonies, seek Him with their whole heart, do no iniquity, and walk in His ways. Here is another example. 1 John 2:6 says, “He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.” 1 Peter 2:22  says of Jesus, “…nor was deceit found in his mouth.” 

One part of being undefiled is the freedom from bitter root judgments. A bitter heart, according to Hebrews 12:15 says that they defile all those around us. Like one rotten apple in a barrel, it will defile all the other apples. When we daily apply God’s word, we will remain free from satan’s entrapments.