Peter went to the house where they were praying and knocked on the door. Rhoda went to the door peered out and seeing Peter ran back inside to tell the others who were praying. Their response to her news of Peter's release was very interesting: "'You’re out of your mind,' they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, “It must be his angel" (Acts 12:15).
Though they had been praying for they very thing Rhoda said had happened, they could not believe Peter was actually free. Amazing! But how like us. No, they were not particularly lame in their faith as disciples go, they were about average, like most of us. Honestly, how many times have you prayed for something but was not surprised that it did not come to pass? How often have you been surprised that a prayer was answered?
What surprises me is that God often does answer our prayers that are so lacking in faith, but he often chooses to even though we are warned not to expect anything when we ask in doubt (cf. Js 1:6-7) - but he sometimes will. However, even if we receive what we have asked for in doubt, we fail to live in the joy and peace of one who has no doubts.
I think we need to pray like the man in Mark 9:24, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” And then strive daily to grow in our faitth, asking the Father, fully expecting and resting in the belief that he will answer our prayers.
It's going to take some doing, considering how long we've gone about asking but not being certain of His answer. But we can grow and we can learn to trust in God's power and goodness, knowing that he will answer our prayers in accordance with that goodness. It may be that the answer looks different than what we expected, but it will be in response to what we ask and be for our best.
Jus' Sayn.
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