There are only 75 days left until 2014, and of course you will not want to start the New Year bringing bad things with you. So, what should you do with that pile of envelopes you have at home, which are vows you cannot pay up?

I’ve received many comments on my blog and emails about this subject and, though they’ve come from different parts of the world, the stories are very similar:

“The pastor gave the envelope in faith. I realised that the purpose was of God and I took it, but now I am stuck. Why didn’t God honour my faith?”

The answer is: it was not faith. It was probably an emotion that put you in this situation, and when the emotion was gone, you were left with the envelopes and the doubts. But you’ve probably noticed that you’re not the only one, right? I for one have made this mistake, and I felt like the most irresponsible person in the world, with no faith to demand anything from God (after all, I was indebted to Him, and the devil took advantage of that situation to accuse me).

But after meditating about it and asking God for His guidance, I realised one thing: All challenges of faith in the Church are of God, and I can’t make a vow just because of that; otherwise, I would have to take part in all them! It’s obvious that you can’t participate in everything, not only for financial reasons, but also because you should not divide your faith.

At the Universal Church, we are taught to focus our faith, and not divide it. In this way, you should be attentive to the voice of God. Whenever a pastor talks about a challenge of faith, pray to God and ask Him to speak to you, giving you the assurance of whether or not you should take part in it. If you can’t take an envelope, it’s okay. Don’t turn it into a problem and don’t let the devil accuse you.

But whenever you take part in a challenge of faith, live it intensely until the day you return the envelope. A challenge of faith is not limited to presenting an offering and a prayer request in an envelope; it’s about living the spirit of that challenge. For example, if you take an envelope on a Sunday to be returned on the following Sunday, you should pray with your envelope in your hands every day of the week, read the Bible passage that inspired that purpose, meditate on it and prepare your offering as soon as possible.

When in church, pray with your envelope in your hands and don’t be ashamed for not taking another envelope before fulfilling your vow. Live one purpose at a time, focusing all your strength on it. And you don’t need to tell anyone that you did not take today’s envelope because you took one yesterday… Relax. Nobody needs to know about your faith and your vows to God. This is between you and God.

And if you have accumulated envelopes at home, which are vows that you failed to fulfil, I advise you to speak to your pastor and see what he says; just don’t stay like that. When it happened to me, I took all my envelopes and put them in a large envelope, prayed, asked God to forgive me for the vows that I could not keep and returned them with an offering, which represented my request for forgiveness. I felt very relieved, and I learnt my lesson not to make a “chain of envelopes” at home!

How about taking this Sunday to solve this problem?

“When you make a vow to God do not delay to pay it; for He has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you have vowed—better not to vow than to vow and not pay.” Ecclesiastes 5.4,5