Acts 8: When the Enemy Moves God Moves in Equal Power

In Acts 8 we see that when the enemy moves, God moves with equal power. Satan brought great persecution beginning with Stephen’s death. This would be used by the Holy Spirit to expand the church beyond Jerusalem—into Judea, Samaria, and Ethiopia.

And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison. Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. (Acts 8:1-4 ESV)

When Stephen was stoned to death, Saul stood by and watched the executioners, giving them his approval. The persecution that started on that day was so fierce that all the disciples, except the apostles, left their homes in Jerusalem and fled to Judea and Samaria. As Saul was ravaging the church, dragging people from their homes and throwing them into prison, he was being used as an instrument of the enemy. But no plan can succeed against the Lord.

As the enemy moves in with power, the Lord also moves in equal power. The enemy used Saul to scatter the believers, yet the Lord empowered them to spread the Good News to more territories.

When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him. (Isaiah 59:19 NKJV)

As the enemy deployed his strategy to come against the believers, the Spirit of the Lord lifted a standard against him. The Hebrew word translated by lift up a standard against is nus (noose), which, in the Strong’s Concordance, also means to cause to flee, or to put to flight. The Holy Spirit knows how to combat the enemy; therefore, when troubles and afflictions come, we need to seek Him, as the apostles and Philip did in Acts 8.

There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the LORD.” (Proverbs 21:30 NIV)

[Then] He will cover you with His pinions, and under His wings shall you trust and find refuge; His truth and His faithfulness are a shield and a buckler. You shall not be afraid of the terror of the night, nor of the arrow (the evil plots and slanders of the wicked) that flies by day… (Psalms 91:4-5 AMPC)

No plan of the enemy can succeed against us if we will trust in and take refuge in the Lord. We must not fear the plans of the enemy so that God can protect us. Fear is the opposite of faith. It is through our faith that God moves in great measure as the enemy moves upon the Earth. Let’s see how the believers of the first church handled the attack:

Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ. And the crowds with one accord paid attention to what was being said by Philip, when they heard him and saw the signs that he did. For unclean spirits, crying out with a loud voice, came out of many who had them, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. So there was much joy in that city. (Acts 8:5-8 ESV)

Despite the persecution, Philip didn’t stop preaching. He wasn’t an apostle, he was a deacon, yet astounding miracles came to confirm what he preached. In this place, the enemy already had a foothold: There was already someone in the city who was claiming to be working in the power of God.

But there was a certain man called Simon, who previously practiced sorcery in the city and astonished the people of Samaria, claiming that he was someone great, to whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is the great power of God.” And they heeded him because he had astonished them with his sorceries for a long time. (Acts 8:9-11 NKJV)

People were following a sorcerer whom people wrongfully called “great power of God.” Not every “miraculous” thing done is legitimately from God. These scriptures make it clear that sorcerers do some astonishing things. We know they use their connections to demons to impress and amaze people to gain power and influence for themselves. This brought glory to a person who was called “great” instead of directing people to He who is the greatest: God. The enemy will use this tactic again:

Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon. It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence, and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed. It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people… (Revelation 13:11-13 ESV)

There will be a False Prophet that comes into power one day. He will do legit miracles and many will be fooled into following the AntiChrist because of this. When seemingly impossible things happen, from God or the enemy, people can start believing all sorts of things. We see this with Philip.

But when they believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized. Even Simon himself believed, and after being baptized, he continued with Philip. And seeing signs and great miracles performed, he was amazed. (Acts 8:12-13 ESV)

The Holy Spirit flowed with such power that even a sorcerer believed and received baptism. The conversion of Simon the sorcerer reveals so many things. He was used to people respecting him, because they even called him the ‘great power of God.’ This is taking God’s glory for ourselves to increase our worth. After hearing Philip preach, he believed, got baptized, and was amazed by Jesus and began following Philip.

Believing in Christ Jesus and receiving the baptism of repentance is not what saves us. It is an invitation to go deeper into knowing God, through His Son. Even the demons believe and tremble at His name. We know Jesus through the Holy Spirit, Who reveals Him:

“But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.” (John 15:26 ESV)

No one can truly receive Jesus without being led there by the Holy Spirit. This is the next step that was revealed by the disciples.

Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, for he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. (Acts 8:14-17 ESV)

The apostles in Jerusalem sent a delegation to Samaria to pray for the new believers so that they might receive the Holy Spirit. When Peter and John, the apostles, prayed for the new believers they received the Holy Spirit, this was another manifestation of God’s power coming mightily against the enemy. The enemy's next move was one that has been very successful in the world today.

Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money, saying, “Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 8:18-19 ESV)

Simon wanted to be great again. He wanted the power to decide who would receive the Holy Spirit. This was not his to decide: it angered the Holy Spirit, who then moved in great power through Peter.

But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.” (Acts 8:20-23 ESV)

How many ministers try to entice offerings by claiming that you should “sow a seed” to receive a blessing or gift from God. This is buying and selling the things of God which brings a curse into our lives. They offer prayer, or impartation of the gifts, “suggesting” a donation amount which is no better than putting a price on receiving a gift from God. Unfortunately many have given money seeking prayer or the gifts of the Spirit. Like Simon, they think they can obtain gifts of God by giving money to someone to pray for them. This is operating under the principles of the world and it is not God’s way.

Freely you received, freely give. (Matthew 10:8 NKJV)

When Jesus sent out His disciples, this is how Jesus said we should operate. If you have tried to purchase or sell anything anointed, you will need to repent because the same type of sin of Simon may have activated a curse in your life! The enemy leverages greed, wrong heart motives, which is wickedness. Bitterness comes from not having what others have. When we are focused on money and prestige, it creates a prison of iniquity.

Peter’s response reflected the Lord’s position on buying or selling the things of God. This is, again, the Holy Spirit, lifting a standard against the enemy, revealing what is in the heart that no person can know. The example of Simon shows that a person can believe the Good News, be baptized, and still not be saved! It is what is in our hearts that matter.

Simon received a baptism focused on himself and not sully submitted to God. The thief on the cross was saved by truly believing that Jesus was Lord and saying so. The Lord escalated the manifestation of his power after the enemy tried to infiltrate the church, using Simon.

Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place. And he rose and went… (Acts 8:26-27 ESV)

God sent His angel to Philip telling him to go to a certain road that was a desert place. Philip didn’t complain, question, or talk about how illogical it was to just go to a desert place. No, he rose and went. As Philip was obedient, the Holy Spirit moved in great power.

And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.”

So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” (Acts 8:29-30 ESV)

Here again, Philip demonstrated obedience. Not only did he go, but this time around, he ran! Chariots are pulled by horses, like the prophet Elijah, he ran as fast as horses! The power of God continued to be revealed because the court official happened to be reading a passage in Isaiah that pertained to the sacrifice of Jesus. Only God can arrange timing like this!

The court official could not understand what he was reading because he didn’t have the Holy Spirit. The Lord had sent Philip to minister to him, to reveal Jesus through the scriptures that he was reading. So, Philip started from there, and through the power of the Holy Spirit, he preached the Gospel, the Good News about Jesus.

After hearing about Jesus, the next step is baptism. What are the chances of finding water on a desert road? Yet, by the end of the Philip’s evangelizing, they arrived here:

And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. (Acts 8:36-38 ESV)

Miraculous timing once again: In the middle of the desert is water! The eunuch received the Gospel with an eager heart and a desire to get baptised. This is the right attitude. When the Holy Spirit empowers us and we evangelize with Him, there is fruit or good things that come from it: a desire to continue with Jesus.

As Acts 8 concludes, we see another principle of God’s amazing power that we need to always keep in mind. When God sends us to do a job, He provides all we need. When the job is done, He also brings us home safely.

And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through, he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea. (Acts 8:39-40 ESV)

The power of God manifested in one of the most extraordinary ways. The Greek word hērpasen (her-pa-zen) translated as “carried” means to seize, snatch suddenly, or take away quickly. This word implies a sudden removal, not a gradual movement. The Holy Spirit made Philip disappear and reappear in a different location. And based on the geographical estimation of this event, the Holy Spirit translocated Philip from the Gaza road area to Azotus instantly. This was about 40–50 km, which was about 25–30 miles. If we will trust in and rely on God, nothing is impossible!

Overall, this chapter reveals an essential truth: when the enemy moves, the Lord responds with equal power and purpose. What may seem like opposition is often the stage upon which God demonstrates His authority, faithfulness, and victory.

We must choose to trust in the Lord deeply—not just in moments of ease, but especially in times of pressure. He must be our “lord” which means owner, master. If we get baptized for any other reason, then we are not really His. We must commit ourselves to learning His ways and walking in obedience even when it stretches us at times. As we do, the Holy Spirit searches our hearts and reveals anything that does not belong—any bond of iniquity, any hidden agreement, any lingering lie, so you may come out of agreement with it.

The Lord is active, attentive, and ready to move. As you walk in His ways and surrender more fully to Him, you will begin to see His hand at work in ways that surpass your understanding.