Psalm 1:1-3 - Blessed to Bless Others

I will never forget, as a brand-new believer, how I was encouraged to memorize scripture by my dad, J.O. Grooms. Right after I told him that I felt like the Lord was calling me into the Gospel ministry in 1971, he actually told me, that all I need to do to prepared for it was to memorize the entire New Testament, large portions of the Psalms and Old Testament, and go for a week to a pastor’s school in Chicago area. My Dad set a pretty good example himself as he had memorized more of the Bible than anyone else I have ever known. I first memorized the 180 verses that were in a little book that my dad had recently compiled called Treasure Path to Soulwinning. I fell in love with the Word of God and went on to memorize my first chapter in the Bible, James 1. Shortly after that I memorized Psalm 1 and continued to spend at least an hour or two every day memorizing Scripture by the chapters and even most of the Epistles. One of my biggest regrets in ministry is that I did not memorize more of the Bible, especially when I was younger, and it appeared to be easier. Needless to say, Psalm 1:2-3 became a couple of my favorite verses in the entire Bible! They have motivated me to continue to take the time every day personally in the Word and to encourage others to do the same. These verses have been a cornerstone in the ministry that the Lord has blessed me with. I have, by God’s grace, done everything I could over the 47 years as a pastor to encourage others to listen, read, study, memorize and meditate on the Word of God in a systematic way. I believe every believer should read through the entire Bible at least once every year. It only takes about 15 to 20 minutes a day to accomplish this. We spend more time than that getting ready every morning. Think of all the time we spend looking at social media on our mobile phones and electronic devices. Goodness! We have no excuse not to spend time in a discipline that will literally bring us the greatest blessings in our life! By the way, on my website, https://www.pmiministries.org/ , I post a couple of monthly Bible reading schedules that will help you to read through the Bible each year. One schedule, Plan A, will take you through the Old Testament once, the New Testament twice, the Psalms twice and the Book of Proverbs every month. The other schedule, Plan B, takes less time each day, and will take you through the Old and New Testaments once and the Psalms twice. Over the years hundreds of friends and church members have joined with my wife Edith and me to use one of the plans to read the entire Bible every year. One of the greatest blessings I have received is hearing from these dear people how thankful they are that they were encouraged and motivated to take the time each day to read or listen to their Bibles. Over and over, we find Scriptures that commands us, encourages and motivates us to be in God’s Word daily. God told Moses in Deuteronomy 6:6 to tell the people of Israel: “And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.” God went on to say in the following verses that they were to talk about them and keep them before them all the time and teach them to their children! I think Jeremiah the prophet must have been thinking of Psalm 1:1-3 when he wrote this in Jeremiah 17:5-8: Thus says the LORD: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the LORD. He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land. “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.”