“And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” (Genesis 2:7)
“And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.” (Genesis 3:14)
“And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” (Revelation 12:3-4, 7-9)
How did the ancient “serpent” in Genesis become a great red dragon by the time we get to Revelation? Because mankind has fed him and helped him to grow in size. Don't believe me? What was man made out of in Genesis 2:7? Dust. What does the Bible say that Satan must eat for food? Dust. Genesis 3:14 said, “And dust shall thou eat all the days of thy life?” Want more proof? Isaiah 65:25 says, “and dust shall be the serpent's meat,” or food.
1 Corinthians 15:47-49 (ESV) says, “The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.” The first man Adam was a “man of dust.” But the second man, the last Adam, is “the Lord from heaven.”
The whispering serpent has grown into the bellowing dragon because Adam's race has made him what he is. The old nature of the old man is the only thing that the serpent can feed upon. Over the centuries, men and women have fed him and thus, his reputation has enlarged. The only place where Satan can live and move and have his being is in the soul, in the minds of men and women. He feeds upon dust–the serpent's food. The devil is not our problem. What we think about the devil is our problem!
As mentioned, the devil can only feed upon dust, which is the carnality of the first man Adam. When you were born again, we are no longer men and women of the dust. Having now been born of the Spirit, we are of the Spirit, not dust. The new man has been raised up out of dust to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. From dust you may have come, but to dust you shall return no more. Stop talking about the devil. Stop giving him credit. Stop feeding him. Lest the serpent grow into a dragon in your life. Satan can only eat dust. Be renewed in the spirit of your mind and starve the devil to death.
Remember what 1 Corinthians 15:47 said: “The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven.” This is one of those nuggets in the Bible that many overlook. If God had tried to save mankind through a human being, born of dust, satan could have continued feeding upon that dust forever. But when Jesus came, not a man of dust, but a man from heaven, He was not born of dust. Now, we, His children, are no longer children of the dust, but of heaven.
After satan had tempted Adam and Eve to sin against God, God’s wrath was so indignant against the serpent that He said to him, “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15). Now, catch this next verse: “the carnal mind is enmity against God” (Romans 8:7). The word enmity in both the Hebrew and the Greek means “hostility or hatred.” You may ask, “What is the purpose in all this?” Read what Psalm 30:9-12 (ESV) says: "What profit is there in my death, if I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it tell of your faithfulness? Hear, O Lord, and be merciful to me! O Lord, be my helper! You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever!”
Our dust man (carnal nature) cannot praise Him, but our new spirit man can! In other words, if we feed the dust–we feed satan; if we praise in the Spirit–we feed our inner spirit man. Thus, the question must be asked: Who are you feeding the most - your fleshly, dust man, or your spirit man? Think about that each time you get ready to feed one of them. Let it sink into your mindset and stay there. We do NOT want to feed the snake any more!