Higher Ground
BIBLE
REFERENCE:
Know ye not that they which run in a race run all,
but one receiveth the prize?
So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the
mastery is temperate
in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an
incorruptible.
I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth
the air:
But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any
means,
when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.
1 Corinthians 9:24-27
Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice
in the day of Christ,
that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain.
Philippians 2:16
If by any means I might attain unto the
resurrection of the dead. Not as though I had already attained, either were already
perfect:
but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of
Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do,
forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are
before,
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:11-14
Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with
so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily
beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the
author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross,
despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:1-2
Johnson Oatman, Jr. - Lyrics
1856-1922
Born: April 21, 1856, near Medford, New Jersey.
Died: September 25, 1922, Norman, Oklahoma.
Buried: Mt. Holly, New Jersey.
Charles Hutchinson Gabriel -
Composer
1856-1932
Born: August 18, 1856, Witon, Iowa.
Died: September 15, 1932, Los Angeles, California.
Buried: Gabriel�s ashes were interred at the Chapel of the
Pines,
Los Angeles, California
HYMN HISTORY:
Johnson Oatman. Jr. was born near Medford, New Jersey,
on April 21, 1856. He became a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, when was nineteen years of
age. Soon he was licensed to preach and was ordained by his denomination, although he never actually
pastored a church. In his early life, he was actively involved in the family�s mercantile business,
insurance business, and, upon his father�s death,
entered the insurance business. In 1892, he started writing gospel songs, and, from then till his
death, in 1922, he wrote approximately 3,000 gospel hymn texts. It is reported that Oatman generally
averaged four to five new texts each week, throughout this period of his life, receiving no more
than $1.00 for each of his songs. His texts were always in great demand by the leading gospel
musicians of his day, such as Kirkpatrick, Excell and Charles Gabriel.
Johnson Oatman is also the author of such popular hymn texts as �Count Your Blessings,� and �No Not
One!�
The composer of the music, Charles Hutchinson Gabriel, was born on August 18, 1856, in Wilton, Iowa.
Gabriel is generally considered to be the most popular and influential, gospel song writer during
the evangelistic crusade decade, 1910-20. In his association with the Rodeheaver Publishing
Company as music editor, Gabriel continued his prolific musical output, until his death on September
15,1932, in Los Angeles, California.
It is estimated that Charles Gabriel was involved in the writing of more than 8,000 gospel songs as
well as in the editing of numerous compilations and hymnals. In many of his songs he authored both
the text and the music. Often Gabriel attributed his texts to his pseudonym, �Charles G.
Homer.�
Charles Gabriel also supplied the music for the gospel hymn �O That Will Be Glory.� Other well-known
gospel favorites written or composed by Charles Gabriel include: �More Like the Master,� �Send the
Light,� �My Savior�s Love,� �He I So Precious to Me,� �He lifted Me,� and �O It Is
wonderful.�
�Higher Ground� was first published, in 1898, in the collection, Songs of Love and Praise, No. 5,
compiled by John R. Sweney, Frank M. Davis, and J. Howard Entwisle. In his autobiography, Sixty
Years of Gospel Song, Gabriel recalls that he composed this tune after his return to Chicago in
September, 1892, and sold it for the grand sum of five dollars.
�There is not a heart but has it moments of longing, yearning for something better, nobler, holier
than it knows now.� Henry Ward Beecher.
�There is not a heart but has it
moments of longing, yearning for something better, nobler, holier than it knows now.�
Dear Brothers and Sisters in
Christ,
Know ye not that they which run in a race run all,
but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the
mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an
incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the
air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have
preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.
1 Corinthians 9:24-27
The apostle Paul compares himself to the racers and
combatants in the Isthmian games, well known by the Corinthians. Those who ran in these games were
kept on a strict diet and were always in training. They all had the same goal and that was to obtain
the prize. They knew that only one would receive the prize so they were diligent to keep themselves
physically fit and conditioned themselves to endure hardships.
A true Christian should also seek, �the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.� The
Apostle Paul tells Christians to guard their souls by putting on the Armor of God and to combat the
fiery darts of Satan. Just as the those who were in training brought their bodies under subjection
we must not be ruled by the flesh but be ruled by the spirit. The apostle Paul presses this fact on
the Corinthians. He sets before them the danger of yielding to fleshly desires, pampering the body,
and its lusts and appetites.
I speak after the manner of men because of the
infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to
iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto
holiness.
Romans 6:19
The apostle Paul knew it was not by his own
righteousness that he sought the things of God, but it was the righteousness that he obtained
through faith in Christ Jesus. He ran the race in the power of His resurrection, and he had
fellowship in His suffering by which he would attain the resurrection of the dead.
That I may know him, and the power of his
resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his
death;
Philippians 3:10
This simple dependence and earnestness of soul were not
mentioned as if the apostle had gained the prize, or was already made perfect in the Saviour's
likeness it was something that Paul strove for daily.
Not as though I had already attained, either were
already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am
apprehended of Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:12
Paul did not boast in the thing he had accomplished, so
as not to be content with past trials or present measures of grace. He pressed forth toward the
prize.
Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended:
but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those
things which are before.
Philippians 3:13
Those who run this race, must never stop short of the
end, but press forward as fast as he can. We must keep heaven in view, pressing forward to it,
in holy desires and hopes, and constant endeavors.
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high
calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:14
Eternal life is the gift of God, but it is only in
Christ Jesus. There is no other way to make heaven our home. We must recognize the Holiness of God,
and acknowledge ourselves as sinners and repent of our sins and receive the righteousness of
God.
The enemies of the cross of Christ mind nothing but their sensual appetites. Sin is the sinner's
shame, especially when gloried in it. The way of those who mind earthly things, may seem pleasant,
but death and hell are at the end of it. If we choose their way, we shall share their fate. The life
of a Christian is in heaven, where his Head and his home are, and where he hopes to be
shortly.
(For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and
now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: Whose end is
destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly
things.)
Philippians 3:18-19
A true Christian sets his affections upon things above;
and where his heart is, there will his conversation be.
For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also
we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it
may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even
to subdue all things unto himself.
Philippians 3:20-21
There is a glorious body waiting for the saints of God,
in which they will appear at the resurrection.
At the resurrection the body will be made glorious; not only raised again to life, but raised in the
image and likeness of the Lord Jesus Christ. May we be always prepared for the coming of our Lord
and Savior; looking to have our vile bodies changed by his Almighty power, and to employ our body
and soul as instruments of righteousness in His service.