Request A Prosperous Life

The thing they taught me on sales school was to communicate with your customer in such a manner that they expect to be communicated with. We had a successful salesman who changed his appearance to look very much like the purchasing manager of a large financial institution (similar clothes, even grew the same goatee beard!) - he did very well and is now retired at the age of 40.

People undoubtedly listen if the message is coming over in a language that they can understand.

I'm not sure if there is a type of person that visits your island, but I would imagine that visitors/residents are more affluent than most and drawn to the finer things in life. After all, I don't see them driving up from their trailer park in New Jersey to Canada - but I could be wrong.

I think I would weave a "No man is an island" theme with something like the text below which I got off of the web.

In any event, if you decide to speak, I'm sure that God will speak on your behalf so don't worry, your faith and trust will see you through.

"In the middle of a very long list of genealogies, recorded in the book of 1 Chronicles, there are a few short verses about a man named Jabez who was a descendant of Judah. We never read about him again, but it appears Jabez was included in this list because of his bold request...and God's gracious response.

1 Chronicles 4:10
"Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, 'Oh, that You would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let Your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.' And God granted his request."

Passages on asking and receiving can be difficult to teach. For example: "How much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him!" (Matthew 7:11). These passages are full of truth, but those who preach a "prosperity" gospel have abused the scriptures to say God wants everyone to be financially rich and all we must do is ask or repeat some special prayer. Although this type of prosperity teaching receives a wide following, it is far from God's truth.

But God DOES want us to prosper: "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future'" (Jeremiah 29:11). And, He wants us to ask! "You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives" (James 4:2-3). God has a plan to prosper us, but we often do not receive His blessings because we are asking to satisfy our own selfish desires or cover worldly fears.

We also fail to prosper because we don't understand God's definition of prosperity. A Godly prosperity has little to do with finances or possessions, and a great deal to do with peace and contentment. A prosperous life is also one which bears much fruit and completes the work God has asked us to accomplish; "I have brought You glory on earth by completing the work You gave Me to do" (John 17:4). How petty to think that God's prosperity involves the riches of this world which rust and fade away.

A truly prosperous life begins by drawing near (and remaining near) to the presence of God. Without first abiding in His presence, we won't even know what will allow us to prosper; "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart" (Psalm 37:4). As we draw near to God, He places the desires on our heart which lead to true prosperity - then we must ask. It's in the asking, and in the expectation of the answer, that we exercise our faith and prove it to be real.

Let's ask God to increase our territory - to increase our realm of influence in His Kingdom. Let's ask Him to keep us in His protective arms, give us His abundance of peace, and accomplish great things in and through our life. Let's draw near to God and boldly request a prosperous life."

Americans have loads of funny sayings too ..

"Boondoggle"
"You all"
"Front and center"
"Did you get the number of that Mack truck?"
"What I want to say is ..." (Well ****** say it then!!!)
"Yo Adrian" (Rocky)
"George W for President"
etc
etc

Current song: "The Lebanon" -- The Human League