Saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the
Holy Ghost. But Peter said unto him,Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money. Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent therefore of this
thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven. Acts. 8:19-22

Explanation

After Peter rebuked Simon for making a bid to buy the power of God, he immediately sensed
that there was something still not right with the state of Simon's heart. This is why Peter stated
in our text that Simon's heart was not right in the sight of God. This is an important statement
as it infers that one's heart could be right in the sight of man but not right in the sight of God. It is
also important to note that if Simon never made a pitch to buy the power of God, Phillip would
not have known that his heart was not right with God because he had already embraced
Simon. Hence, when your heart is not right with God it is not obvious to the natural eyes; this is
possibly why Phillip did not know that Simon's heart was not right in the sight of God, even though Simon continued with Phillip after his baptism (Acts 8:13).This also means that there can be several people around us whose hearts are not right in the sight of God, and this can be especially dangerous if they have a level of influence over us. We therefore need to
conduct“check”first on ourselves, then on those around us to ensure our hearts are right in the sight of God. One of the ways of doing this is by checking that the motive for our actions is always in line with God's word. As much as Simon had acknowledged that the power of God was
superior to what he was doing, the possible motive for wanting to purchase His power was to
continue to have inordinate control over the people of Samaria. We need to remain under the search light of God's word to ensure that the motives for the things we do are aligned with His word and will, in order to prevent the devil from hijacking our motives by planting his own
motives in our hearts and minds.

Prayer

Father, I humbly bring myself under the searchlight of YOUR word to expose any ulterior
motive in my heart and reprogram my motives to line up with YOUR WORD and WILL in Jesus
name. Father I ask that YOU open my eyes to recognize anyone the devil has planted in my
local assembly, business or organization, who has ulterior motives in Jesus name. Father
open my eyes to recognize those around me whose hearts are not right in YOUR sight and
have other satanic agenda in Jesus name