Belief patterns

Acts 12:5-16 (NLT)
But while Peter was in prison, the church prayed very earnestly for him.
The night before Peter was to be placed on trial, he was asleep, chained between two soldiers, with others standing guard at the prison gate. Suddenly, there was a bright light in the cell, and an angel of the Lord stood before Peter. The angel tapped him on the side to awaken him and said, "Quick! Get up!" And the chains fell off his wrists. Then the angel told him, "Get dressed and put on your sandals." And he did. "Now put on your coat and follow me," the angel ordered.
So Peter left the cell, following the angel. But all the time he thought it was a vision. He didn't realize it was really happening. They passed the first and second guard posts and came to the iron gate to the street, and this opened to them all by itself. So they passed through and started walking down the street, and then the angel suddenly left him.
Peter finally realized what had happened. "It's really true!" he said to himself. "The Lord has sent his angel and saved me from Herod and from what the Jews were hoping to do to me!"
After a little thought, he went to the home of Mary, the mother of John Mark, where many were gathered for prayer. He knocked at the door in the gate, and a servant girl named Rhoda came to open it. When she recognized Peter's voice, she was so overjoyed that, instead of opening the door, she ran back inside and told everyone, "Peter is standing at the door!"
"You're out of your mind," they said. When she insisted, they decided, "It must be his angel."
Meanwhile, Peter continued knocking. When they finally went out and opened the door, they were amazed.


Is Anybody else struck by why they were amazed to see Peter?
After all, Hadn't they been praying for his release?
Does this happen to you sometimes? Praying earnestly that God will deliver someone from a situation and the very moment we get up off our knees, we begin to make preparations for them to stay where they are, or more to the point, we don't really believe that God will help.
In this passage, God really moves in a big way for the church, and keep in mind, these people had seen first hand the things God was doing in there time yet they still had a lack of faith.

Are you praying for something or someone to change, or to be set free? Maybe someone is in an addiction and you have been praying for them to be released from it. Someone is stuck in prostitution or something worse. Make this the day when you decide that when they are standing at the door of deliverance, that you will open it gladly with a great expectation, because we serve a God that wants to set the prisoner's free. God could be simply waiting for you to truly believe that HE can.

Be blessed and Keep on praying!