We have already discussed how we should pray and believe for more than enough finances and then ask God what to do with the surplus. Luke records Jesus sharing a parable of a man that didn’t know what to do with the more than enough that God had provided for him. Let’s read that story.

And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’

“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ “This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God” (Luke 12:16-21).

In this parable Jesus never rebuked the man for having more than enough. In fact he gave no indication that this would not be the normal pattern. He was teaching about what to do with the surplus that God so graciously provides for us. The rich man in the parable moved right out of living the life of faith and giving and moved into self-preservation, materialism and greed. He didn’t realize that it was prosperity with a purpose. He did not realize there was a reason for the surplus he was experiencing.

Remember, giving is the very thing that breaks the power of money as an idol in our lives. So, by hoarding it, the rich man actually was empowering money to become a god in his life. He had no knowledge of what to do with the more than enough.