If we ask God for a miracle publicly we will either be put to shame and embarrassed, or God will do something amazing. If it were merely a matter of chance, then we ought to ask more, and accept the embarrassment, so we can see the power of God. But there are several things the scripture says must be happening, before we should expect God to answer us.

The first, is that it has to be God’s will, for God to answer our prayer. There are many ways God reveals his will to us, here are a couple of them:

- We can sometimes feel God’s emotions, the joy of the Lord is one example, but we can also feel his love, compassion... Sometimes the scripture said that Jesus had compassion on the person before he did a miracle.¹

- Also God might teach us his will by bringing scripture to mind and the circumstances are lined up to act on that scripture.²

Another thing the bible tells us must be happening before we should expect God to answer our public prayer is, the person should have the right heart to receive the sign or miracle.

Before Jesus did a miracle, sometimes the bible said, he saw they had faith to be healed. God won’t be mocked, if their heart won’t glorify God at what is done, we shouldn’t even ask God to do it. The miracle itself won’t necessarily change the condition of a heart. Jesus said even if a man came back from the dead and told about heaven and hell, some people still wouldn’t believe.³ Jesus didn’t do many miracles in his home town, because of their lack of faith. If we sense that a person would likely mock God, or they would not give the credit to God, but rather try to reason it away as coincidence, or trickery, or demonic, their heart is not yet ready. But if we sense that they want to see God’s power or are open to receiving healing, or a miracle might help them believe, then they do have faith, and their heart is ready.

If we feel it’s God’s will and the person’s heart seems ready, and if nothing is contradictory to the bible, we should ask God if it would be good, and if he doesn’t show us something different, what are we waiting for? God didn’t give us a spirit of fear, let’s resist the enemies last ditch attempts to stop us, and obey what God has given us to do. God said He’s prepared these good things, in advance, for us to do.⁴ In fact, if we know the good we ought to do, but don’t do it, we sin. But this only applies if we know it’s God’s will. If we are still on the fence about public prayer, we shouldn’t feel pressured to act. The scripture says to test the spirits, and if things don’t quite feel right, there is a good chance the enemy is involved. There were some people in the scripture trying to cast out a demon in Jesus’ name, but because they weren’t believers, and weren’t acting out of God’s will, the demon turned on them. It’s not a sin to be cautious. God cares most about our heart not our actions, so let’s strive to please him, whether that means we pray publicly or hold back. But let’s not be like the man in the parable, who buried his treasure. God rebuked him for being so scared of failure, that he wasted what his master gave him. If God see’s our heart is right, we don’t need to fear, God knows we are learning, he won’t punish us for trying to please him.

① Mark 1:41 / Mathew 15:32    ② Acts 11:16    ③ Luke 16:31    ④ Ephesians 2:10